04 March 2010

Shout-Outs (Multi-Table Tournaments)

In Europe, “rounders” are not the people who go from table to table, or even that cult movie with Matt Damon and Edward Norton (and if you don’t know what movie we’re talking about, you have no business saying that you love your poker!).

Rounders are step tourneys, or multi-table tournaments. They are similar to American shoot-outs, which are typically played online as live events.

Once in a while, the World Series of Poker holds a shoot-out event. Some websites also hold shoot-out satellites, or “independent rooms” that are extensions of other tournaments. These allow several players to participate in the game. However, because of the sheer number of people required for the shoot-out to be successful, shootouts are usually held by large websites that have a big enough membership base to support this kind of game.

This is how the typical shoot-out works. It’s a lot like several single-table tournaments. The average number of people per table is 10 and everyone starts with a certain number of chips, say 3,000. Then the game starts. It is usually no-limit Texas Holdem. The blinds are increased as the tournament progresses. One by one the players drop out, until the original 10 drops to three.

At shoot-outs, how much you have left by the end of the round doesn’t matter. You could have 100,000 worth of chips or be hanging by a single thread (or in this case, a single chip). As long as you have something left and are in the final three, you can proceed to the next round. However, unlike sit and go tournaments, you get to keep your final chip count. You may receive a bonus number of chips (it depends on the tournament organizers) just to give you a fighting chance just in case you don’t have enough to make a decent bet. But take note: if one player gets a bonus, so does everyone else. And you have to watch those blinds-they’re increasing, and the gameplay gets harder and the opponents get tougher at every stage.

So it goes on and on, the payouts increasing. Sometimes less than three players advance to the next stage; and at a certain point, some tables end up short-handed. It all depends on how many survive, and the game is about survival. This is one reason why shoot-outs are so exciting. The play has to be very very tight, or you’ll lose. It’s a hard game, but it’s a relatively rewarding one. For most tournaments you break even just by getting to the second round, possibly more. But it admittedly does not have the high pots that you can find in big tournaments.

Shoot-outs are fun, but they do demand a kind of poker personality. If you are the kind that likes a low to mid level tournament, then by all means sign up. But if you prefer high stakes and slugging it with less experienced players, you may be surprised by the level of competitiveness in shoot-outs. You also need time. The first round takes the longest because of the number of players, and there’s waiting time between rounds. (Remember you can’t start the next round until the other winners have been named.)

Some sites also offer replay features and bonuses for those who don’t make the final cut.

About The Author

Paul Graham is a poker enthusiast, a writer, researcher, speaker, and consultant. You can visit his blog and sign up free to get blog updates by email, along with game winning tips, tested poker strategies, the latest poker news, free poker tools, additional resources, and a whole lot more! Go now to http://www.SmokePoker.com and you’ll also receive a Free Poker Bot for streamlining and automating your poker play, as a thank you for visiting!

Author: Paul Graham
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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04 March 2010

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – How to Enter Your First Tournament

Ever since the world watched in awe as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu master Royce Gracie won the first, second, and fourth Ultimate Fighting Championships in the early 1990s, Jiu Jitsu has become increasingly prominent in the international martial arts community. Many people decided they wanted to begin training themselves when they saw Gracie fight much larger and physically stronger opponents from all kinds of other styles like boxing, karate, judo, tae kwon do, and wrestling, and time after time he would submit and defeat them all. If you’ve started learning Jiu Jitsu recently and have put in some quality training hours already, then it’s probably time to enter your first sport Jiu Jitsu tournament. Jiu Jitsu tournaments continue to grow in popularity worldwide so chances are excellent that there is more than one near you.

If you’re a serious student, then the sooner you enter your first tournament, the better. Don’t be intimidated, just get in there, relax, and have fun. You can’t continue to learn and progress in Jiu Jitsu just from study and practice alone, although of course they are important. You have to spend a lot of time actually applying your newly learned techniques and skills in as close to a real-world fight as you can without getting unnecessarily hurt; which is exactly why tournaments exist in all martial arts.

There will be a fee to enter the tournament, and depending on where you live you might need a license from a sports governing organization such as the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). You will definitely be signing a waiver releasing organizers from liability should you get injured, but again, you don’t have to fear for your safety. These are not Mixed Martial Arts cage fights where nearly anything goes. There are strict rules designed for your safety. There will also be various categories of competition with classes for a range of age, gender, sometimes weight, and belt rank. You won’t be expected to compete with a master if you’re a beginner. You should be competing with people of roughly the same experience and ability as you so that it’s a rewarding challenge and learning experience for everyone.

Search online to find Jiu Jitsu tournaments and directories or contact local Jiu Jitsu clubs.

Once you enter a tournament, you will likely be added to at least one mailing list. Martial arts is a tight-knit community and word of competitions gets around quickly. Also you’ll be pleased to find when you finally get to your first tournament that there will probably be a table or a bulletin board of some sort with flyers for upcoming competitions within the area.

Jiu Jitsu Technique Videos
Jiu Jitsu Tournament Videos

Author: Richard N. Clemmons
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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04 March 2010

5 Free Online Poker Tools to Improve Your Results Now!

How To Get Better Results

The purpose of my “How to Win a Poker Tournament” blog continues to try to help you improve your results. I want you to do better and win poker tournaments. But, if you want to improve your poker results, you need to do more than just play the game. You need to spend more time studying and thinking about your game.

To date, I believe I have written over 200 articles and posts about tournament poker strategy. I think there is more that I can learn, and as I uncover more information I will pass it along in my blog.

5 Free Online Poker Tools

Here are five of the top online poker tools that are totally free and can help you improve your poker game now.

1. Cardplayer.com

This site has an excellent archive of free articles on poker strategy from a range of pros and poker authors. They recently updated their site so you can review strategy articles by author, concept and type of game.

In addition, they have a poker odds calculator so you can know for sure how big a favorite you were when you took that bad beat…again.

2. ProPokertools.com

When it comes to poker tools my favorite site is ProPokertools.com. This site provides hand simulations for all the most popular poker games including Hold’em, Omaha Hi, Omaha Hi/Lo, and Razz.

3. Pokerlistings.com

I believe this site has been adding more and more solid poker strategy articles. I wasn’t that impressed when I checked them out over a year ago, but I’ve been impressed with the latest work.

4. Bob Ciaffone web site

Bob is the leading authority on poker rules and has a site pokercoach.us. His “Robert Rules of Poker” book is free.

The reason I have included a site of rules is because many players at brick and mortar card rooms don’t know them. An example, the “show one, show all rule.” This does not mean that if you show one hole card you have to show your other hole card. It means that if you show one player your hole cards, everyone at the table has the right to see these cards as well.

5. Free Poker IQ test

I developed a Free Poker IQ test on my Tournament Poker web site (see link below). The key to this test is to help you find holes in your poker game. Over 1,500 poker players have taken my Poker IQ test. When you have a few minutes, please check it out. It may help you improve your game.

More?

If there are other sites that provide excellent tournament poker tools, please let me know. I would like to share them with everyone. Thanks!

Mitchell Cogert is the author of “Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves.” It is the only reference book to reveal the plays the Pros use to win a poker tournament. These plays are based on reviewing 20 years worth of tournament poker strategies and by actual play against Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren, David Pham and other top pros. The book is highly rated with 4.5 out of 5 stars on amazon.

For my Free Poker IQ test, go to my website: Tournament Poker.

Read more poker strategy articles on my blog: How to Win a Poker Tournament.

And you can also tweet me on Twitter: Mitchell1969

Author: Mitchell Cogert
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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04 March 2010

Texas Hold’em – Horse Poker Introduction Series

This is article number 2 out of 6 of the “HORSE Poker Introduction Series”.

Overview:

Texas Holdem is the H in “h.o.r.s.e”, Texas Holdem is the most popular poker variation
at live casinos and poker room around the world, also the most popular poker game online, the online poker rooms are great place for players, because it’s cheaper, you can play from home, and you even can play for free , you cannot do that on real casino. Texas Holdem can be played in several different styles the most popular today is No-Limit but when you play it in horse game you’ll play the limit style.

How to Play:

Every poker game has force bets, the force bets at Texas Holdem are called blinds,
one player posts the small-blind, the player to his left posts the big-blind.
The big-blind is twice as much as the small blind.

Texas Holdem game has four stages with 4 betting round after each stage.

The stages are: pre-flop, post-flop, turn, river.

Pre-flop: Each player gets dealt two cards.

Post-flop: The dealer deals three community cards.

Turn: Another community card has been dealt.

River: Fifth and last community card dealt.

Then comes the showdown, each player that didn’t fold his hand shows his cards.
The best hand wins the pots, if 2 or more players have the same hand they will split the pot between them.

Texas Holdem Lingo for Starting Hands:

American Airlines – pair of aces in your hole cards.

Cowboys – pair of kings in your hole cards.

Hilton Sisters – pocket queens.

Hooks – JJ’s – pocket Jacks.

Speed Limit – 55’s – two fives.

Ducks – deuces.

Big Slick – ace king, also known as Anna Kournikova.

Big Chick – ace queen.

Ajax – ace jack in your hole cards.

Dolly Parton – nine and five in your hole cards.

Beer Hand – deuce seven off suit (the worse starting hand possible in Holdem).

ATC – short for: any two cards.

Play Horse Poker
Texas Hold’em Rules
Texas Hold’em Strategy

Author: Jimmy Taylor
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Filled Under: Poker Articles

04 March 2010

Poker Moves – The Block Bet

Experienced poker players know that, since everyone gets the same cards over time, those who win more when ahead and lose less when behind take the chips in the end. There are a wide number of strategies and moves involved in ensuring that your expectation at the table is positive. This article looks at a subtle – yet very effective poker move – the block bet.

The block bet is used when first to act and entails making a small bet designed to prevent your opponent from making a bigger one (possibly so big that you can not profitably call). There are two scenarios where using a block bet can be effectively used. Firstly when drawing (for example to a flush) and secondly when you have a good – but not great – hand on the end and would like to prevent your opponent making a bet you do not want to call.

As you will see the reasons for making the block bet mean that this move should be reserved for when you are ‘out of position’ or first to act.

Here is a scenario where you might use a block bet when drawing. You hold 9-10 before the flop and call a small raise from the big blind, the flop comes down Ace-7-8 giving you a draw to a straight. You check first to act and your opponent makes a bet of half of the current pot which you call. The turn card is an irrelevant ‘3′.

You (correctly) suspect that you opponent holds an Ace and that if you check that you will be faced with another bet. Since you have 8 outs to make your straight and expect to win at least one more bet if you make it then you would like to see the river card as cheaply as possible.

This is a great spot for a block bet – bet a reasonably small amount (not too small!) that should allow you to see the next card for less chips than checking and calling the bigger bet made by your opponent. Effectively you have confused your opponent (who will be wondering what you have at this point) and put him in a position where he will only raise a real monster. If you then hit a Jack or a Six you are likely to win at least one more bet on the river.

The block bet can also be used after all the cards are out. You do this when you are facing an opponent who is only fairly likely to have you beaten and is just as likely to bet a large amount on the end as a bluff. By betting a smaller amount first you have made your opponent far less likely to try a bluff. Sometimes your block bet will win the pot when your opponent folds, those times he calls and does have you beaten you will lose less chips than if you had checked and called the larger bet made by your opponent.

The levels of thinking in poker are often deep and complex – look out for a article on ‘Defence Against the Block Bet’ coming soon.

Mark R Holland is an online poker pro, blogger and writer for high-quality poker sites. For great poker strategy articles and tips covering SNGs, Poker Tournaments and Satellite Qualifiers visit ePassporte Poker Rooms today!

Author: Mark R. Holland
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Filled Under: Poker Articles

04 March 2010

Increase Your Online Poker Winnings Part Two

Welcome back. Hopefully the tips in part one of this article have already got you rolling in the poker dough. Well, don’t stop there! I have more tasty tidbits to improve your game, bamboozle your opponents and most importantly, take their money! If you missed part one I should let you know that these tips came to me courtesy of my own poker coach who took my game from break even to money making. You can do the same…here’s the advice, take it, run with it and you will make more money playing online poker.

1. Think more about how much to bet and why you are betting in the first place. This is particularly true in no limit holdem. Why are you betting? Is it to find out another’s holdings? To sweeten the pot? To chase away those who are on a draw? Or to bluff the heck out of everyone else and steal the pot? You need to know exactly why you are putting chips in the pot and how much to put in to accomplish your goal.

2. This one harkens back to making notes on your opponents…you need to cater your bets to your opponents. If you have been watching (and you really don’t have to watch that hard) you will notice that some players are so tuned in to making the final three that they will only play their monster hands. When it is late in a sit n go game, this can work in your favor. The blinds are ripe for the picking, raise your opponents out of their blinds, re-raise a player who is trying to steal. If you notice that one of the players is always raising when entering the pot you must assume that they are not always holding monster hands. Re-raise them, you’ll be surprised what happens.

3. When you are entering a pot late in the round, and there are many limpers in front of you, you should limp in with just about anything. Why, you ask? The pot odds are in your favor. You are able to enter a largish pot cheaply with the possibility of hitting the flop. If the flop does not fall in your favor, just fold, and try again next time. If you average out the times you will make money from this move and the times you will not, you will end up ahead so it is worth it to throw a few chips at a large pot to see a flop.

4. When you have medium holdings, but you’re not in position, don’t over play your hands. This often happens where you go in pre flop, don’t hit your flop, and try to bluff the players still to play out of the pot. Chances are, you will not be successful in this venture. Here is a lesson that all poker players need to understand: “It is okay to put some chips in the pot and then let the pot go.” It is a hard lesson for a poker player to learn, but it is an essential one. If you do not learn this principle, you will never, ever win at poker.

Of course these lessons are only scratching the surface of what makes a great poker player, however if you follow the moneymaking tips above you will go from break even to money maker when playing online poker. Good luck and may all your flops fall the right way!

Find out what tools Colin Adams uses to be an online poker success and try them for free. Dominate the tables. Use the tools the pros are using. To learn more visit [http://www.infoburbia.com]

Author: Colin Adams
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Filled Under: Poker Articles

04 March 2010

Betting On Poker – Is Internet Poker Legal

This article is not to be taken as legal advice it is intended only to provide some general information about the legality of Internet poker.

There is no one good answer to the question is Internet poker legal. Everywhere there are different local laws that concern gambling and betting in general. Recently there has been legislation passed in the U.S. that will affect American based players.

Chances are that you will not get in any trouble playing Internet poker very few if any people ever have. It is your local or state/provincial laws that you have to be careful of, however these laws are mostly directed towards casinos or bookies not the players. In some unfortunate places all gambling is illegal.

U.S. federal laws are concerned with the casinos and the money being bet not the players. So if you are not braking any local or state laws federally you are free to play legally. In September 2006 legislation was passed that makes it a crime for a bank or financial institution to transfer money to a gambling site. The affect of this is many online poker sites have stopped taking deposits from Americans.

So is Internet poker legal? The best answer is maybe, but from the player’s point of view if you can find a reputable site that you can deposit money with you can play without worrying too much about going to prison. With all the online poker sites being forced to operate out side of the U.S. the thing to worry about is if the site that you decide to play on is legitimate.

Jeff Mcclure is a texas holdem expert, also as a professional poker player and webmaster of HoldemKnow-how.com

Author: Jeff Mcclure
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Electric Pressure Cooker

Filled Under: Poker Articles

The Indiana Golf Association organizes a tournament of golf every year. Being a golf fan from Indian, or from any other state, you may want to be a spectator at the event this year. Golf has been a very popular sport and its popularity has only increased through the years – people young and old enjoy their game of golf today. Golf is more of a tradition than a game, and you will see families passing the love of this sport down to their forthcoming generations. Indiana is a place where many people enjoy their golf.

Many different events of golf are organized in Indiana every year. You will see amateur tournaments, men’s tournaments and women’s events as well. The mid golf event is a very popular tournament in Indiana. Become a member here at the Indiana golf association, and you will get all the necessary information on the tournament every year, and also how you may be a part of it.

The members not only are involved in the planning stages of the events they also know exactly when and how to apply to take part in it should they wish to do so. It is possible to get other inside info as well, on events to take place in Indiana and other states. When you know before hand which events are going to take place in the world of golf, you will have ample time to not only prepare yourself as spectator, but maybe even take part in some of them. Today it is quite simple to get hold of information on the tournaments about to take place across the country, if you are part of a club such as the Indiana Golf association.

Maybe you are looking to get involved with the Indiana golf tournament this year, but you are not part of any golf club, in Indiana or outside. Well, don’t worry there are other sources of information you can look towards. One great source today is the Internet of course. Just Google the key words and you will be able to know before hand about where and when you may get tickets for the Indiana mid golf tournament.

You can also become an online member with the Indiana golf association, and if you do so then you will be directly connected to the club that holds the event you are interested in. You could get some historical information of the events organized by the club as well as meet other enthusiasts like your self, right on the web site. And of course you will get to know how you may get hold of tickets to the events and tournaments organized by this historic club.

Abhishek is an avid Golfing enthusiast and he has got some great Golfing Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 63 Page Ebook, “Understanding And Enjoying Golf” from his website http://www.Golf-Skills.com/97/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.

Author: Abhishek Agarwal
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Latest trends in mobile phone

03 March 2010

Kalooki Tournaments – An Alternative to Poker

I love the people versus people aspect of online poker. Compared with casino games where you’re essentially playing against a random number generator, the best part of playing poker is reading the other players, understanding their strategies, their styles of play, then using them against them to hopefully win the pot!

But I don’t like the amount of cash you have to be willing to lose! The point is, you never get it 100% right, and those mistakes can be very costly.

For a while now I’ve been looking for an alternative to online poker. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll never stop playing poker, but I wanted another game to play occasionally, but a game that would offer me the same things as poker – people versus people, strategy and tournaments.

And now I’ve found one – Kalooki. Online Kalooki is a variation of Gin Rummy, a card game played by between 2 and 4 players. It’s easy enough – you’re dealt 13 cards and you have to lay them down in sets and runs. Sets are 3 and 4 of a kind, runs are running flushes. First player to lay down all their cards wins.

The strategy comes in at the point where you have to pick up and discard cards. You can choose to pick up from the deck (face down) or from the discarded pile (face up) Obviously, choosing from the discard pile indicates to other players which cards you’re looking for, but it also enables you to see what they’re after – and keep those in your hand!

Rummy Royal also offer loads of tournaments including daily, weekly and monthly freerolls. There are also buy-in tournaments of various formats – multi-player, single table and multi table, where you can compete with hundreds of players worldwide in knock-out Kalooki tournaments that can last days – and win thousands!

There’s also the facility to chat, either in the lobby or at your table – again giving you an insight into your opponents’ personalities.

And Rummy Royal run frequent promotions, such as the current sign-up bonus – 100% match up to $200.

It’s similar to the board game Rummikub, so if you’ve ever played that, you’re off to a head start – think of it as online Rummikub!

And best of all, it’s completely legal, even in the US of A. So if you, too, want an occasional alternative to poker, give it a go. I promise you – you’ll enjoy it!

Andy Follin is webmaster of Kalookiplayers.co.uk. It allows Kalooki players to play kalooki online, against a thriving community worldwide. With full details of Kalooki tournaments and kalooki bonuses, it’s simply the best kalooki advice site on the net!

Author: Andy Follin
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera Information

“Sit and Go” online casino poker, is also known as single table tournaments. It is a great way to learn poker if you are a novice. Poker has become popular, and it is a test of skills and strategies.

In this “Sit and Go” online casino poker , players would buy-in a predetermined amount of chips, for example $10.With the same buy-in, player will receive the same amount of chips as everyone else on the table. Once the table seats are filled up, the games get started. The objective of this game is to win every player’s chips on the tables. The advantage of the game is that you can limit your loss because the maximum loss is the amount you” buy in” for the game.

Everybody on the table started with the same amount of chips, and if you’ve lost all of your chips, you will be eliminated of the game. You can start off with small amounts at the blind level. The tournament has a Super Turbo, Turbo, Standard or Deep stack structure , which determine the set time intervals that determine the time taken to complete the game.

If you are very skilful, you may want to try the more challenging Multi Table tournament, which may involve up to a few thousands players. Therefore for a small buy in, you stand a chance to win big money. The ultimate aim is to win every player’s chips on the tables.

Multi table tournament online casino poker works in the same way as Single Table Tournament “Sit And Go”. When players are eliminated along the way, some tables are closed with some of these players filling empty places on other tables. Players are also occasionally moved in order to keep the number of players on each table constant. Most of the online casino or betting exchange would set a minimum prize pool and adhere to it, it can attract many poker players to enter the games and challenge the prize money. In fact, it is a low risk, high value game.

About Eric Smith :

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Author: Eric Y Smith
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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