Poker News

If you're saving up your money to play in one of the big $10,000 events on the poker circuit, these five tips will help make you a winner.

1. Don't lay odds on your pre-flop raises.

In these big tournaments, after about level four, antes are introduced to go along with the blinds. For example, if the blinds are 400-800, the ante will be 100. With nine players at the table, there will be 2,100 in the pot before the cards are even dealt.

If you have a hand that you want to raise with, I suggest making it 2,000 to go. The so-called standard raise would be to 2,400 (three times the big blind), but you can get away with a smaller raise and accomplish the same objective.

With a smaller raise, say 2,000, you risk less to win the 2,100; the standard raise costs you 2,400 to win that same 2,100 pot.

2. Protect your chips before protecting the pot.

When you're involved in a pot, the first thing to think about is protecting the chips that you already have. Then you can focus on protecting your hand and not losing the pot. In other words, in marginal situations, where you probably have the best hand but could easily be wrong, err toward the side of caution.

Yes, this approach will cause you to get outdrawn by your opponents more often, but when they do, you'll lose the minimum rather than all the chips in front of you. For example, you hold pocket aces and the board reads K-K-7-2.

If your opponent checks, play cautiously and check as well. If he bets on the river card, you should usually just call and hope that he doesn't have the third king in his hand.

3. Avoid coin flip situations.

When you make it all the way to the end of the tournament, try to avoid playing large pots in situations where the odds of you winning are close to 50-50. Having a middle pair versus two higher cards (7-7 versus A-K) is a classic example.

The best way to stay out of trouble in a marginal situation like this is to avoid re-raising before the flop. Instead, just call to see the flop first. And don't go crazy with the all-in bets!

If you continually put all of your money in before the flop, you're destined to go broke. Sooner or later, your small pair will be in terrible shape against a bigger pair, or you'll be in that coin flip against two overcards. Both are situations that good players try to avoid.

4. Don't bluff too much.

If you bluff too much, your table image will be damaged. It will be less and less likely that you'll be able to get away with future bluffs as the tournament progresses.

Small semi-bluffs are okay for the most part, but when risking a large percentage of your chips, you should rarely be bluffing big.

5. Understand your stack size and never give up.

I often see short-stacked players make desperate moves. They think they have no other choice since they're so low on ammunition, but their desperation is often premature.

You needn't be overly concerned with how your chips stack up against the tournament average. It's more important to focus on your stack size in relation to the blinds and antes. For example, if you have 12,000 in chips, and the blinds are 600-1,200, you only have ten times the big blind.

At that point, when you do decide to play a hand, you'll need to push it all in. That doesn't mean you should go all-in with a trash hand. You can wait at least one full round before taking your best shot at the pot.

These five tips are the recipe for success in deep stack tournaments like the World Poker Tour. Keep them in mind and you'll outlast much of the competition.
By Daniel Negreanu

We played our annual holiday poker game in Madison, Wis. -- a pot limit hold 'em game with $5-$5 blinds, a $1,000 buy-in and $500 rebuys.

A few hours into the game, the following hand came up:

Tim Belstner called $5, Pizza Jimmy called $5, I called $5 with 10-9, Mark ''Poker Ho'' Kroon called $5, Brett Weum called $5 and Green made it $35 to go. Then Belstner called $35, Jimmy called $35, I called $35, Ho called $35 and Weum called the $35 and raised it up $245 more. Green called $245, Jimmy called $245, I called $245 and Ho called $245.

The flop was Qd-Jh-4d, and everyone checked to Weum, who moved all-in for his last $395. Green called, I called with my open ended straight draw and Ho called. The turn card was the 10s, Green checked, I checked and Ho bet $900. Green folded, and I called. The last card was the 8c, I immediately moved all-in for my last $1,240 and Ho folded. I was awarded the nearly $5,000 pot with my queen high straight. Weum showed down pocket kings and Ho showed trip fours.

Let's talk about this hand for a moment.

I love the way Weum played his hand; he just called $5 hoping that Green would raise and allow Weum to trap everyone in the middle for $35 apiece. Then Weum ''closed the trap'' by making a pot-sized reraise. This $245 reraise would have allowed Weum -- under most circumstances -- to win the pot right then and there.

On the flop Weum's all-in move was natural, my call was natural as I now had an open-ended straight draw, and Ho's call with trip fours was OK. I would have loved to see Ho make some sort of raise on the flop, of perhaps $500 to $800. Then Ho could further protect his hand by moving all-in after the 10s came off. Of course, Ho was waiting for one safe card to hit before he made his move.

On the turn I would love to see Ho bet a lot more. I mean why bet only $900 when there was already $3,000 in the pot? In fact, if he bet $2,000, then I would have folded for sure and Ho would have won the pot. As to my $900 call on the turn, I like it. In fact, I was on the verge of folding my hand, but it suddenly hit me that Ho didn't have a straight.

You see, I couldn't put Ho on A-K (I know he would have reraised it himself before the flop with A-K), and it was hard to imagine that he had K-9. Thus, I called the bet feeling that Ho had two pair, perhaps queens and 10s or jacks and 10s, but not a straight. I felt that I needed an eight or a king to win the pot, and that there were eight of them left.

In the end, I made a huge mistake by not only betting quickly (a sign of strength), but also by betting everything I had left (another sign of strength). I should have taken my time and bet about $500 or so.
By Phil Hellmuth

LAS VEGAS | A judge turned down a motion to lift a freeze on half the World Series of Poker pot and said a TV producer would likely win his claim to the $6 million.

U.S. District Court Judge Roger L. Hunt turned down the motion by lawyers for main event winner Jamie Gold to lift an injunction set in September on half the $12 million pot won in the annual no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament.

Hunt said he had concerns Gold would turn over the money to plaintiff Bruce Crispin Leyser if the TV producer were to win his case.

"His actions, in the court's view, do not give the plaintiff much assurance that the money would, in fact, be available in the event of a judgment in his favor," Hunt said. "The likelihood of success weighs on the side of the plaintiff."

The injunction keeps the money in the legal possession of the poker tournament's host, the Rio hotel-casino, until the case is concluded. Gold has already withdrawn half the winnings, or $6 million, most of which he has placed in an investment account, his lawyers said.

Leyser alleges that Gold, a former Hollywood talent agent, agreed in July to split his winnings in exchange for Leyser helping him find celebrities to play in the main event while wearing the "Bodog" label of an offshore Internet gambling site.

Bodog paid the $10,000 entry fee for Gold, who beat 8,772 players to win the world's largest poker tournament and the $12 million top prize.

Leyser alleges he fulfilled his end of the deal -- getting Scooby Doo star Matthew Lillard and Punk'd comedian Dax Shepard to wear the brand, but Gold has refused pay Leyser.

Leyser's lawyers hailed the decision.

"We're pleased with this result because it prevents the money from being squandered by someone who admits he didn't keep his promise," lawyer David Chesnoff said.

Gold's lawyers said they were not surprised by the decision.

"Disappointed, yes, but not surprised," lawyer Patrick Byrne said. "We recognize our client made the promise. But we believe that when all of the evidence of the case is before a jury that they will see there was no consideration for the agreement."

Byrne argued that Gold promised to share his winnings only after Leyser had gotten celebrities to play, reducing the arrangement to a gift, rather than a binding oral contract.

Leyser has kept a voice mail from Gold on the final day of the tournament in which Gold promises to pay Leyser "your half."

Gold later said in an affidavit that he only intended to make a gift of some of his winnings, but it never amounted to 50 percent, and accused Leyser of harassing him with text and phone messages during the tournament.

Both sides agreed Thursday to have the judge move the frozen funds into an interest-bearing account while the case proceeds.
By RYAN NAKASHIMA

Australian poker king Joe Hachem has pocketed nearly $3 million after winning the world's second biggest poker tournament.

His victory at the Bellagio Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, earned him $US2.2 million ($A2.8 million), News Ltd reports.

"He's very emotional, very humble and over the moon," brother Tony Hachem said.

The 39-year-old from Melbourne shocked the poker world last year by winning the main event of the World Series of Poker, pocketing $10 million.

"He's a true-blue Aussie and everyone wants to take him on," his brother said.

"But he's beaten the best players in America, some of whom have playing the game for 40 years."

He will play in the $US10 million ($A12.7m) Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas next week before returning for the Australian World Series at Melbourne's Crown casino.

I recently emceed the “Playin’ The Hand” Charity Poker Tournament in Phoenix for the Taser Foundation For Fallen Officers, held at the Fort McDowell card room. The Fallen Officers charity gives money to families of police officers who have died — or were seriously injured — in the line of duty. Like many of us, I became a bigger fan than ever of law enforcement and firefighters after 9/11. When Taser called on me to host the event, I knew that I’d do it.

The event was unique in that we had three poker tournaments: the first tournament featured a $200 buy-in with unlimited rebuys; the second was the $1,000 buy-in “VIP tournament”; and the third tournament combined the final three players from the first two tournaments (six total) and gave away a seat to the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP). One half of all of the tournament entry fees went to charity, and the other half went to the prize pool. In effect, by playing in this tournament you could do your part in helping to raise money for a worthy charity, and still win $10,000 for first place!

With 80 runners in the VIP tournament and five people getting paid, Kevin O’Donnell, who owns a bar in Phoenix — and is also a semi-pro poker player — Taser board member Bruce Culver and I made the final three. I was donating all of my winnings to the “Fallen Officers,” and I would have been more than happy to win the event and give the $11,000 first-place prize to the charity. After I finished in third place, Culver and O’Donnell had a spirited battle for the trophy and the first-place cash. With the blinds at $10,000-$20,000, Culver called — in the small blind (in heads-up play the small blind is on the button) with Kh-8c, and O’Donnell checked with Jd-2c. The flop came down Ah-Qh-Js, O’Donnell bet out $20,000, Culver raised it up to $40,000 to go and O’Donnell called. The next card was the 6h, and both players checked. The last card was the 8d, O’Donnell checked, Culver moved all-in for his last $60,000 and O’Donnell called and won the pot. At this point, the chips were counted down, and it was determined that Culver had $3,500 left. O’Donnell had all the rest. In fact, he had a whopping $236,500 in chips.

Let’s discuss this hand. First off, because the blinds were so hefty relative to the chips in play, I would like to see Culver raise it up with K-8 before the flop and give himself a chance to win the pot right then and there. I would suggest a raise of say, $40,000 or so. By the way, if Culver had raised it up, then I'm pretty sure that O’Donnell would have folded, and Culver would have won this pot. I like O’Donnell’s bet on the flop. He flopped a pair, and the bet was a good one. Culver’s raise on the flop here was too weak. If you’re going to make that bluff raise, then make it for a much bigger number; like $60,000 or perhaps move all-in. O’Donnell’s call here was natural and routine even though he only had bottom pair, because it was only $20,000 more to call. After the 6h came off and O’Donnell checked, I would like to have seen Culver move all-in and represent that he had hit his flush. After all, Culver now had a straight draw (he needed a 10) and a flush draw (he needed a heart), and he may have been able to get O’Donnell to fold his hand. Culver started down the bluffing path, and now it was the time to finish the job! After the 8d came off, I think that Culver’s all-in bluff was OK, but O’Donnell’s call was terrific! At this point — a flush, a straight, a pair of aces, a pair of queens were all possible — O’Donnell could only beat a bluff, and he made a tough call with a fairly weak hand.

The rest of the story goes like this: Culver said, “Good game,” and stood up to leave. Of course, he was quickly reminded that he had a few chips left. So we began the formality of playing it out, amidst many jokes (“If Bruce doubles up his $3,500 three times, then he has enough to post the big blind.”). I have never seen anyone come back from a deficit like that before, but nine hands later, with the spectators staring on in disbelief, and the energy level in the room way up from all of the exciting hands that we announced consecutively, we handed Culver the trophy! O’Donnell then told me, “Phil, that's my luck. I have never won a tournament before, but I've been close so many times.” Usually you have to wait quite a long time to have another crack at winning, but in this case O’Donnell had to wait about ten minutes for his next chance in the six-handed “Winners” WSOP seat giveaway. Amazingly, I finished third again, and O’Donnell and Culver played heads up one more time, with O’Donnell winning this time around. Congrats to Culver and O’Donnell for winning their first poker tournaments. Y’all won, and still managed to make money for the “Fallen Officers!”

When the blinds get really big, you should raise it up with:

A) ace high hands

most king high hands

C) pocket pairs

D) all of the above

Answer: D
Phil Hellmuth

The ability to bluff your opponents with a poker face might seem a little fanciful, but bluffing isn't really the way professional poker players make a living.

In fact, one of the biggest mistakes amateur players make, when playing against professionals, is thinking that the pros are pulling Jedi mind tricks on them when making bluffs.

The truth of the matter is that pros win consistently, not because of bluffing tricks, but because they play with solid fundamentals and are able to recognize dangerous situations; they lose the minimum on a bad hand where an amateur may lose his entire stack.

If you've watched poker on television, and who hasn't, you know what I'm talking about. I can't tell you how many times I've seen an amateur call a huge bet on the river with a meager hand just hoping that a pro is trying some elaborate bluff.

Almost without fail, the pro will turn over a superior hand, and the amateur is left wondering why he called such a big bet with a lousy pair of deuces when the board read Q-9-8-6-4.

This was one of the most important epiphanies I've ever had in poker. When I first started playing in Vegas, against the likes of poker legends Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson, I was in awe of them. It seemed they had some sort of supernatural power; that they could "see through my soul" and bluff me at will.

After getting my feet wet a little bit, though, I realized that, while they were obviously great players, they couldn't see through my soul at all; they were not supernatural beings. What made them better was that they simply made fewer fundamental errors than their opponents did.

It wasn't magic. Their years of experience showed in their ability to get away from trap hands, to make good value bets, and to play the right cards in the right situations. Their success wasn't based on taking huge risks on monster bluffs.

And that's why they're still top players today.

Here's a piece of advice that should help you immensely should you ever play in a tournament against any of today's top professionals: When a pro puts all of his money on the line into one pot, he'll usually have the absolute nuts -- the best possible hand.

"Wait," you're saying, "I've seen plenty of pros make huge bluffs."

Yes, pros take risks, but they do it differently. Most of them look to make tiny bluffs in smaller pots. The strategy is known as chopping away. A player who chops away will play many small pots and be aggressive in them. His aim is to steadily increase his stack size with little risk, rather than getting involved in too many marginal situations for big money.

It's similar to a boxer who's throwing lots of jabs, while at the same time keeping his guard up. He's being patient, waiting for an opening so that he can score the knockout punch. It's the same way in poker.

Here's the bottom line: When a pro plays a big pot, he'll rarely be bluffing, especially in a tournament where one misplay can cost him all of his chips.

As your game improves, your approach should mimic those professionals. When you decide to play a monster pot, make sure you have the nuts or pretty close to it.

Leave the foolish gambling to the suckers!
By Daniel Negreanu

Plenty of history and prestige was at stake at the World Poker Tour's no-limit hold 'em championship at the Bellagio in December 2004, not to mention a first-place prize of $1.8 million dollars. On the third day of the five-day marathon tournament, the following hand came up between Player X (an amateur) and me.

Everyone had been randomly reshuffled to new tables at the $15,000 buy-in event, with 45 players remaining (out of 400 entrants). With the blinds (required bets) at $3,000-$6,000 and a $500-a-man ante, Player X (with $164,500 in chips) opened for $15,000 in the 7-seat, and, sitting in the 3-seat, I looked down at K-K (holding $285,000 in chips).

What to do? Although I loved having pocket kings, I couldn't decide how to play them. Should I ''smooth call'' (underbid) the bet and hope to extract a lot of chips from my opponent later on in the hand? Or should I re-raise the bet before the flop and give the amateur a chance to re-raise me?

On the one hand, smooth calling entailed merely calling the current $15,000 bet in order to disguise the strength of my hand and make it seem much weaker than it was. Later on in the hand, I would try to draw another $40,000 to $120,000 into the pot when everyone would assume my hand was weak. However, a re-raise before the flop would alert my opponent to the strength of my hand and likely cause him to fold before the flop. The benefit of the re-raise was that it might cause my opponent to move all-in with a hand like J-J, Q-Q, A-K, or worse; thus causing me to be a huge favorite for a ton of chips.

Finally, I chose an extremely safe play. I would make a huge re-raise before the flop for two reasons. First, I wanted to protect my hand from being beat (in case players with weak yet still potentially winning hands decide to wait for the extra cards given the relatively low stakes). Second, I wanted to simply move all-in for the rest of my chips on the flop, in the event Player X called the massive re-raise, and a non-ace flop hit (such as Q-9-4 or 2-2-7) -- thus protecting my hand from losing one more time. So I raised the bet up to $80,000, making a relatively huge $65,000 re-raise into the $40,000 pot.

One minute later my opponent moved all-in for $164,500.

I immediately called and turned my K-K face up. My opponent's face looked ashen as he showed me Ad-Jd (I was a now a 2.5-to-1 statistical favorite). Then the flop came down K-Q-J, and I was about to take the chip lead with $460,000 -- the $340,000 in the pot plus the $120,000 I still had in my pile -- when the turn card came in as a 10 for him to make straight (K-Q-J-10).

I still thought that I would win the hand with a king, queen, jack, or 10, but alas, the last card was an eight.

Oh well, that's poker!
Phil Hellmuth

You'll occasionally find yourself in a poker game where it seems you can do no wrong. This is known as playing a rush.

Depending who you ask, you'll get a variety of advice on what you should do when the cards keep coming and you're on fire. One thing's for sure, you should never leave a poker game that you're destroying.

If you're winning most of the pots, then by default, other players are losing; now's the time to take advantage of their potentially weakened mental state. At minimum, continue playing until the rush appears to be over and you've given back a bit of your profit. The real question is whether you should change your playing strategy.

Many players believe that when you're on a rush you should play almost any hand to keep the hot streak alive. For example, if you've just won three hands in a row -- with K-K, then A-Q, then 6-6 -- they'd advise you to play the next hand, even if you're dealt 10-6.There is a major flaw with this thinking.

Let's say you flip a coin and it comes up heads nine times in a row. What are the odds that on the next flip it will be heads again, even though heads is on a "rush"?

That means you should play any single poker hand the same way you would have had you not won the last few hands. That's the simple answer. If your opponents are convinced that you are in the midst of a mystical rush, use that notion against them. You own a psychological edge; the other players will believe you'll win any hand you play. You'll also project a powerful table image that will allow you to bully and bluff.

However, keep in mind that the same can be said in reverse when you're dealt a bad run of cards.

When your opponents believe you're running cold, this makes it difficult for you to play aggressively since your powerful table image is now long gone. In fact, other players will try to bluff you back more often because they no longer fear you if you've been losing and are on a cold streak. Most importantly, play fewer hands until things start to turn around. And in marginal situations, where you could go either way, play more cautiously and with patience.

Playing a rush will happen in poker. The problem is that you can never know when it will begin or end. Stay in the present and don't dwell on your past run of good luck or bad. Instead, focus only on playing each individual hand the best you can.
By Daniel Negreanu

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Dec. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest James Bond movie features an intense high stakes poker game for millions of dollars and GSN brings this fantasy to reality with real money being played by high rollers in the only poker cash game on television. The third season of HIGH STAKES POKER ("HSP 3") premieres on Monday, January 15 at 9 PM ET/8 PM CT from the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Although not quite as dramatic as James Bond defeating the bad guys, HSP 3 newcomer Jamie Gold pulled off his own amazing accomplishment beating over 8,500 in the 2006 World Series of Poker. Gold is one of 14 new players who will be making their debut this season on HSP 3, which features the toughest field of players ever.

As in the past two seasons, HSP 3 features the players buying in with at least $100,000 and up to $1 million of cash to play no limit Texas hold 'em.

"HIGH STAKES POKER is a hit for GSN. Poker continues to gain momentum with a record number of players participating in the World Series. In addition, major films including 'Casino Royale,' have featured high stakes games," said Rich Cronin, President and CEO of GSN. "We have put together an all-star line up of players who brought more money to the table than ever before. With the NFL regular season and college bowl games over on January 8th, viewers will enjoy the new season of HIGH STAKES POKER action on Monday nights beginning January 15th."

Once again Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza call the action on HIGH STAKES POKER. In an unprecedented move, Kaplan, a renowned poker player himself, will play this season. Kaplan will take a seat at the table on a couple of episodes and one of the players will switch places take over the analyst role on the broadcast.

Joining Kaplan and Gold is a star studded line up of newcomers including 2006 WSOP runner-up Paul Wasicka, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Patrick Antonius, David Benyamine, John D'Agostino, Victor Ramdin, David Williams, Bill Chen, Dan Harmetz, Dan Shak, Illya Trincher and Brian Townsend.

The star players who made HIGH STAKES POKER a smash in the first two seasons also return for more action. The line-up features:

Daniel Alaei Brad Booth
Doyle Brunson Todd Brunson
Eli Elezra Antonio Esfandiari
Sam Farha Barry Greenstein
Jennifer Harman Phil "The Unabomber" Laak
Erick Lindgren Mike "The Mouth" Matusow
Daniel "Kid Poker" Negreanu Shawn Sheikhan

The second season brought high drama, intensity and the largest pot in the history of HSP. It included Daniel Negreanu losing a pot of $575,000 when his full house was defeated by Gus Hansen's four-of-a-kind. That hand topped the first season's record pot of over $350,000 when Sam Farha's pocket kings beat Barry Greenstein's pocket aces when a king appeared on the flop.

The new 13-week season of HIGH STAKES POKER 3 is on Monday nights at 9 PM ET. It repeats at 2 AM ET on Mondays with an encore showing on Thursday nights at 9 PM ET.

GSN is supporting HSP 3 with a strong marketing presence. In addition to on-air, print, radio and on-line campaign, GSN.com will also have marketing elements and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the taping of HSP 3 beginning in January.

Henry Orenstein serves as the Executive Producer of HSP 3 with HSOR, L.L.C. Mori Eskandani and Eric Drache are the Executive Consultants with Phil Smith handling the producer role. HSOR produces more poker for television than any other company.

GSN, the Network for Games, is the only U.S. television network dedicated to game-related programming and interactive game playing. The network features game shows, reality series, documentaries and casino games. As the industry leader in interactivity, GSN's interactivity allows viewers a chance to win prizes by playing along with GSN's televised games via GSN.com. Now reaching more than 60 million Nielsen homes, GSN is distributed in the U.S. through all major cable systems and satellite providers. The network is jointly owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Liberty Media Corporation. For further media information, visit GSN's press website at corp.gsn.com.

December 11, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - Angry poker players have beaten the house, helping topple a congressman who pushed through an Internet gambling ban.

They were furious when Congress enacted the ban - which included online poker - over the objections of a poker organization, which considers it a game of skill.

The Poker Players Alliance last month set its sights on Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa), who steered the ban through the House. Leach, a longtime incumbent, ended up being one of the most unexpected casualties of the midterm elections, losing by 3 percentage points.
By GEOFF EARLE

Here are three simple tips guaranteed to raise the game of any beginning or low limit Texas hold’em poker player to the next level. You needn’t be a rocket scientist or Doyle Brunson to apply them either. All it takes is discipline and the desire to play winning poker.

1. Fold more than you raise,
raise more than you call
Too many players call unless they have a strong reason to do otherwise. It’s their default position. But calling is passive poker, and goes against poker’s strategic Rule No. One1: — Be selective, but be aggressive.

Aggressive play provides two ways to win — it can cause an opponent to fold a better hand, or you can make the best hand. A caller can only win in a showdown.

While it’s fun to play a lot of hands, folding weak hands — rather than calling — is what’s required for winning poker.

2. Don’t bluff players who call too much
It’s tough to bluff when the table sheriff is involved in a pot with you. Forget about bluffing habitual callers. Instead, try betting your good hands for their intrinsic value, secure in the knowledge that your opponents will pay you off with relatively weak hands.

3. Narrow the Target
You can’t present your opponents with a big target and expect to win very much money. If you take the worst of it by risking too much money in unfavorable situations, you won’t win.

Don’t call a raise hoping for a miraculous card that overcomes the long odds against you. Don’t play weak starting cards in early position, and don’t try to prove what a tough, tricky player you are by bluffing players who usually call.

You’ll win far more money by virtue of your opponents’ mistakes than you ever will through your own strokes of genius. While it takes great skill to maneuver a skillful player into making a serious error in judgment, nothing more sophisticated than basic poker technique — the stuff found in most beginners’ poker books — is all that’s needed to rake in those extra bets from players who called when they really should have folded.
By Lou Krieger

You'll occasionally find yourself in a poker game where it seems you can do no wrong. Every hand you play comes out a winner and lady luck is definitely on your side. This is known as playing a rush.

Depending whom you ask, you'll get a variety of advice on what you should do when the cards keep coming and you're on fire. One thing's for sure: You should never leave a poker game that you're destroying.

If you're winning most of the pots, then by default other players are losing; now's the time to take advantage of their potentially weakened mental state. At minimum, continue playing until the rush appears to be over and you've given back a bit of your profit.

The real question is whether you should change your playing strategy in the midst of a rush, since you've been so lucky.

Many players, including some professionals, believe that when you're on a rush you should play almost any hand to keep the hot streak alive. For example, if you've just won three hands in a row -- with K-K, then A-Q, then 6-6 -- they'd advise you to play the next hand, even if you're dealt 10-6.

Well, there is a major flaw with this thinking.

Let's say you flip a coin and it comes up heads nine times in a row. What are the odds that on the next flip it will be heads again, even though heads is on a "rush"?

The mathematical truth is that the 10th flip still is a 50-50 proposition. What's happened in past coin flips -- or poker hands for that matter -- has no statistical bearing on the outcome you'll have on the next hand.

That means you should play any single poker hand the same way you would have had you not won the last few hands.

That's the simple answer, but there is a bit more to it than that.

If your opponents are convinced that you are in the midst of a mystical rush, use that notion against them. You own a psychological edge; the other players believe you'll win any hand you play.

You'll also project a powerful table image that will allow you to bully and bluff your opponents, who will by now feel like punch-drunk boxers.

However, keep in mind that the same can be said in reverse when you're dealt a bad run of cards.

When your opponents believe you're running cold, they'll be more likely to try and bully you, thinking that you're hard-luck streak will continue. This makes it difficult for you to play aggressively, since your powerful table image is now long gone. Your bluffs won't work as well, either. In fact, other players will try to bluff you back more often because they no longer fear you.

If you've been losing and are on a cold streak, you'll need to make some significant adjustments to your playing strategy. Most importantly, play fewer hands until things start to turn around. And in marginal situations, where you could go either way, play more cautiously and with patience.

Playing a rush will happen in poker. The problem is that you can never know when it will begin or end. Stay in the present and don't dwell on your past run of good luck or bad. Instead, focus only on playing each individual hand the best you can.
By DANIEL NEGREANU

WASHINGTON — They like to think of it as the green-felt revolution — the upset defeat of Iowa Rep. Jim Leach, father of the Internet gambling ban, in last month's congressional elections.

Leach had been in online gamblers' sights ever since Congress passed the ban as one of its final acts before the Nov. 7 elections. Stunned by the new law, the Poker Players Alliance rallied members to take their outrage to the polls and cast ballots against those who voted for the ban.

Now, the group plans to use Leach's experience as an example.

A post-election poll commissioned by the poker players suggests that gambling may have helped do in the 15-term Republican congressman. The poll of 1,000 voters by RT Strategies showed that, among voters for whom the gambling subject was a pivotal issue, Leach's Democratic challenger, David Loebsack, enjoyed a 5 percentage point edge. Leach lost by 3 percentage points.

As the group starts introducing itself to the new Congress that takes over in January, the poker players plan to highlight the poll as part of its lobbying effort.

The group wants Congress to exempt poker players from the ban and study ways of legalizing online play as a legitimate licensed and taxed business.

"It's not a warning," said Michael Bolcerek, president of the group that counts 125,000 members. "It's that people care strongly about this issue and will consider that in their voting decisions."

Online poker playing, he said, is an issue that members of Congress "need to deal with."

Bolcerek said the group also urged its members to support poker-friendly members of Congress, including Nevada's Republican Rep. Jon Porter and Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley, who authored legislation to study regulating online gaming.

Berkley was re-elected by a landslide in which the online issue likely was relatively inconsequential. And though Porter won by a narrow margin, the group did not poll to see whether the green-felt revolution helped sweep them to victory.
By Lisa Mascaro

Poker on television is serious business, but when you play at home, it's the perfect opportunity to have some fun with your friends. Playing with wild cards might be just the thing to liven up your games. While you won't see any wild card games on television, that doesn't mean they aren’t lots of fun to play. They are, but like in any form of poker, there are winning strategies too. So have fun while raking in some pots.

Wild cards add more of the luck element to the game of poker, so the strength of your starting hands must be even better. In most wild card games, you don't want to leave the gate without holding one.
Here’s a short list of wild card games that are commonly played.

Follow the Queen

It's a seven-card stud game where all queens are wild. Also, any card that comes immediately after the queen is wild. For example, if player A is dealt a queen face-up, then player B's next card automatically becomes wild. In other words, he can make it any card he wants. So, if he catches a seven, then all sevens are wild for all players.

However, if another queen hits the board at any time, sevens are no longer wild; the next card dealt will be the new wild card (along with queens). This element of change is what makes the game so exciting.
A queen in the hole is a huge advantage. Having a hidden pair can also make for a powerful hand if that pair becomes wild on a later street. As a rule, if you don't have at least one wild card by fifth street, dump your hand.

Kings and Little Ones

In this game, all kings are wild as is the lowest card that you have in the hole. It's a seven-card stud game, so you'll end up with three down cards and four up cards. The lowest card you have in the hole will be wild for you alone.

If you have two or more of that card, all of them are wild and, not surprisingly, you have a powerful hand. You also have the opportunity to have your last card dealt face up, but you must pay a penalty for that privilege.

Why would you do that?

Well, suppose you have (7-7) K-A-7-4. Here on sixth street, you hold five aces -- the best hand you can get in wild card poker. However, if you gamble and take your last card down, and it’s a six or lower, it will wipe out your three wild sevens. So, if you caught a deuce face down, you'd now have five sevens.

Forget about a full house winning in this game. In fact, even four of a kind is a relatively weak hand.

You absolutely must start with at least two potential wild cards to have a shot at winning: either a king(s) or a low pair. In fact, any pair you start with can be wild, provided that your other down card isn't lower than that pair. (7-8) 7 gives you two wild cards, but with (7-8) 8, you only have one wild card.

Always pay the penalty and take your last card face up if you have a pair of little ones. Otherwise, you can safely take the last card down.

Pregnant Threes

There are lots of wild cards in this form of seven-card stud, but you don't need a monster hand to win. In this game, threes are always wild. Sixes are wild only if you have a three in your hand. And if you have both a three and a six in your hand, then nines also become wild!

The three is the key power card here, not the six or the nine. If you start with, say, (9-9) 2, you'd have to catch both a three and a six to make the nines wild.

Any hand starting with two threes, or a three and a six, are powerhouses. But even if you’re dealt a single three card along with a couple of high cards, stick around to see the next few cards.

Don't get suckered into playing hands like 9-6-2 that leave you praying for the lucky three. Instead, look to start with a three and build a hand with a guaranteed wild card.

Wild card games are just the ticket to lighten up your home game. They keep you thinking and add lots of outrageous finishes.
By Daniel Negreanu