It is a dream closely nurtured by many aspiring poker players: To ditch the dreary 9-5 job to make a living from a game that thrives on infinite skill, knowledge and, above all, wit. What freedom!
Across the world, millions have tried and failed their hands at earning a crust from the infamous game. Ever since the internet revolution a new evolution of online players have spawned across the globe.
But is a run of Big Slicks enough to give up the day job?
Winning $140,000 (£100,000) might be enough to take a long, well earned sabbatical – but will not put bread on the table for a lifetime.

The good news for wannabe poker entrepreneurs is that the payouts from many casinos are uncapped, claims Richard Prew, media director of poker association, APAT. He says there are ‘no winning limits’ in licenced UK venues. APAT also advises there is no substitute to vast pots of money and playing experience when it comes to bringing home the bacon from poker.

Having the right psychological makeup and personality is also a trump card when playing for small fortunes. Players must also have the mettle and money to ride out the bad times when suffering streaks of bad luck, he stresses.
So who actually makes a living from poker? Prew believes the ‘majority’ of poker players play the game for fun and/or to supplement their income, with a small nucleus of professionals doing so to make a living. Traditionally, casinos don’t offer much value for money for recreational players, he says. But for high stake players, wanting to gamble on high stake tours, there are enticing yet risky opportunities to make fast and furious bucks.
The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour, launched in 2007, is a series of poker festivals that take place across venues and online. Each festival features several warm up events with buy ins ranging from $140 (£100) to $1400 (£1000) for the four-day main event. The stakes are raised to $4199 (£3000) at the end of the year for the tour’s Grand Final. As with the scale of poker played across the world, its winnings are far from loose change: Prize money for the televised main events in the tour’s first year topped $4.9n (£3.5m).
Professionals, amateurs and internet qualifiers number those who have pitted their wits for a place in history and life changing amounts of money.

With one player winning $105,000 (£75,000) for the first event this year, livelihoods can clearly be made – but for how long? Surely the odds of winning such sums over a lifetime are slim? Maybe, maybe not. Whatever the chances, it is vital the player knows the game inside out before he or she endeavours to pay off the mortgage. Again, having a king’s ransom in cash reserves goes without saying!
For online poker players, Prew advises there is no best global region in which to play poker, provided the site is international and properly licensed and governed. Legally above boards sites, he says, are carefully regulated, and display terms and conditions for banking, fraud prevention and account protection.
Those who play online or at casinos every Friday night will not need a maths lesson to realise that poker can be a slippery science to make a living. Likewise. APAT advises that cheap ‘Rebuy’ poker tournaments, which enable players to buy more chips when they lose them, are not recommended as poker gold mines.
Organisations such as APAT, Sky Poker, Virgin and PKR aim to provide recreational players with professional online and poker tours with ‘many starting chips’ and buy ins for under $140 (£100). Such events sell out within minutes of going on sale.

Inevitably, these sums are not enough to live on for a year; the art of poker playing demands a seasoned rounder not only to make a living, but to cover losses.
Unlike other games, practice makes viable, but not perfect poker. This, of course, is the substance of dreams. Few of us will be lucky enough to take home $8.5m (£5.8m) as won by Peter Eastgate, at last year’s World Series of Poker final. But there’s no harm in dreaming is there?

Joining unusual-size ring games is a very good tournament practice. The quantity of your practice depends on the type of tournament you are interested in.

Practicing for multi-table tournaments
All multi-table tourneys are terminated with short-handed games. If you prefer to be prepared for it, you should first practice in short-handed ring-game conditions. Multi-table tourneys alone don’t provide sufficient chances to practice short-hand games, however, because you allocate the vast majority of your time at full games.  After you at last make it entirely to the end, and table size begins to shrink, your level of skill becomes critical. Completing just one position up at the standings may mean as much as double your prize money.

For that reason, if nothing else, I suggest you practice a lot with head’s-up and short-handed play. If the stakes are high enough, you get nervous enough and thinking “Oh nice, now I’m at head’s up. I absolutely have no idea how I should play, and five grands are at stake.”
If you face a long drought without winning prize money in multi-table tournaments, you should consider occasionally brushing up your shorthanded skill through ring tables (because the drought implies you haven’t seen short-handed games in some time).

Preparing for single-table tournaments
If you prefer to play single-table on demand tourneys, you should first practice on unusual-size games, because these tournaments move from full game to short game quickly. If you play comfortably and have a bit luck on your side, you may quickly go from a full game to short-handed to head’s up, so you have to make sure you are ready to play at all levels..
After you systematically enjoy success in single-table tournaments, you don’t have to return and keep playing the ring game variants.  And if you find yourself continuously losing at a certain level in the tourney, even if you are in the prize money, you should find a ring game of the size you are having trouble with and brush up your skill again. For example, if you are always busting out of no-limit tourneys in second place, play a few head’s-up ring games.

As a complement to my Beginners guide to poker (hold em), I’ve put together a Poker Tournament guide. Wrote it awhile ago as a draft, and now it’s finished! Here it is.

The busiest online poker rooms have fifteen times the number of people you can find in a real life poker establishment. Due to the sheer quantity of players, you can continuously find thriving tournament scenery, regardless of the time. Your choices start from head’s-up tourneys, where you deal with a single opponent (your entry fee versus his), all the way to immense multi-table tournaments where you’ll be able to win armored cars laden to the gun holes with hard cash.

Technically you won’t see any tournament forms online that you can’t encounter in the real life poker world. However, the truth that they inhabit the online realm does allow them to mutate slightly.

Any given poker web site has tournaments on demand that start in size from ‘two players’ head’s up to some short-handed games (5 or 6 players, depend entirely to the site) to full single-table tournaments. You also come across scheduled tourneys that you can pre-register for and start on a certain time and day. Pre-registration tourneys are always big multi-table affairs. To find any of those tournaments, simply click on the tourney tab of your site’s main screen.  In many cases, you buy-in (in free-rolls you need to register, without a fee) for a specific entry fee amount, plus a little registration fee that is paid to the house (for example $15 entry fee and $2 registration fee). And in exchange for the fee, the site provides a pre-determined amount of tournament chips (about 1,500) and an open seat in the tourney.

The tournament lobby (where you can register for the tourney) has a great deal of information, including:

• The time when the tournament begins.
• The elapsed time (if the tournament has started or already over).
• The prize pool and the distribution.
• The names of players playing in the tournament (and the number of players are currently participating).
• Your chip rank compared to other players in the tournament.
• Rules on add-ons and re-buys.
• The standings of opponents as they fall.

Some poker sites also have a unique wrinkle in their Hold ’Em and Omaha tournaments.
When blinds get quite large (say 300/600), they will add an ante, which is generally ten percent of the small blind (twenty-five percent in some cases), that everyone adds to the pot on each hand. The ante grows as the blinds rise. Sites add up the ante to urge betting actions later in a tourney, partially by raising the pre-flop pot amount and partially by adding extra pressure to the short stack.

The Sting (1973) is one of the best three poker movies I’ve seen, the movie is set in 1936. It stars Paul Newman, Robert Reford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Ray Walston, Eileen Brennan, Harold Gould, John Hefferman, Jack Collins, Lee Paul, and many other actors.

The screenwriter of The Sting was inspired by a real life story that he created into a motion picture. The musical score of the movie, especially the main theme track, is one of the reasons of its wide popularity. It made over $160 million and was a huge box office hit. It got seven Academy Awards.

The Sting is distributed into different sections with conventional title cards with illustrations and lettering.

Chris Ferguson was born April of 1963, in Los Angeles California. Although he’s been playing poker before reaching his double digits, Ferguson went on to UCLA, where he got his PH.D in computer science. He took that intelligence with him as he played poker in chat rooms all through college, and continued skillfully dominating when he played in tournaments during the mid ’90’s. Overall, Ferguson has won 5 World Series of Poker bracelets, and through tournament winnings, has pulled in more than 7 million dollars. Among those wins, Ferguson was also a large contributor in the launching of Full Tilt Poker, which is an online poker cardroom. It can be viewed from 2 domains: fulltiltpoker.com and fulltiltpoker.net. Ferguson is known for his ability to become unreadable during a match, and the nickname “Jesus” isn’t due to the fact that he plays poker divinely, but because he ‘resembles’ Jesus with his dark brown beard and long locks.

Ladies have their magazines, runners have theirs and even teens and tweens can claim a few magazines at the check-out counter. So where are the magazines for the poker lovers of the world? You won’t find them between an inane tabloid and a ridiculous soap opera magazine. But you can find them right here. Beneath are a list of 3 poker magazines you might want to get your hands on.

1. Deal magazine: Within the slick pages of this magazine is everything an updated poker junkie is going to want. Each issue you get had a poker DVD, and you can find out more by visiting the official website: dealmagazine.com
2. Card Player Magazine: If you haven’t a clue what Card Player magazine is, then think of it this way: it’s the bible for poker players. It’s one of the originals and one of the best, but if you’re a beginner, steer clear.
3. All In: A relatively new magazine, with new ideas, great interviews, fun facts and more. You cannot do wrong by picking up a bi-monthly copy of All In.

Some people take poker so seriously that they never nurse the idea that there’s anything ‘fun’ about it. Well, there are, and here are a few cool facts you may, or may not have, known about the world of poker.

Did you know that about 65 million Americans passionately play poker? And another thing you might want to keep in mind is that, legally, Las Vegas casinos are not obliged to pay off any gambling debts. Many famous people who have made a name for themselves doing something else love poker. For example, President Richard Nixon was a huge poker player, and his campaign endorsements speak volumes about how great of a player he really is. A lot of the money for his campaign come out of his own pocket, money he got from playing poker.

On April 30th, 1968, Mike Matusow entered the world. From a young age, he harbored the unmistakable passion towards gambling, like many professionals, but unfortunately for Matusow, it came in cataclysmic doses. Rather than taking his passion and using it constructively, Matusow found himself stealing from his mother, playing videopoker at casinos and being reduced to attend a gambler’s anonymous program, due to his addiction towards the trade. When he put his poker passion on a less destructive path, it paid off tremendously in the end. Mike has won hundreds of thousands of dollars in World Series of Poker alone. He’s also participated in the European Poker Tour, the World Poker tour, and has made appearances on poker shows broadcast on TV. But the list doesn’t stop there. If anyone knows the name Mike Matusow, they must know what he brings to the table–no, I’m not talking about skill for the trade, but something less pleasant and not covert. Like John Mcnea’s ill-tempered and combative ways are revealed on the tennis court, the same goes for Mike Matusow at the poker table, which is why he’s called ‘The Mouth’. Trash-talking has earned him a reputation you either love, hate, or admire.

My Beginners guide to poker above is good, but here’s another good guide that’s really easy to follow (yes, the both sites share some content). So if you have a friend that needs to learn to play around your home table, direct them to that site before the game. Another fun site that I run  is pokercelebrities.org, between hands I use to watch Youtube poker  videos so why not publish the best ones in a blog. The best ones must be the WSOP videos and “Phil Hellmuth blows” videos (there’s alot of them).

Anyway, hope you like the two resources. Write a comment if not

World Series of Poker, abbreviated as WSOP, is not just one of the most popular gaming spots for poker players, but it is the most popular spot. It’s the equivalent of the Olympics for athletes and the Oscars for stars. You can bet your money that anyone who knows how to master the skills behind the game to an uncanny, unmistakably brilliant level will be there.

The most popular names–like the ones listed in this blog–of poker will attend the competition, which is held annually in-you guessed it-Las Vegas, Nevada. Since 1971, when the first competition was held, the fame of the event has reached as high as the skys, and the desire in poker players all over the globe to be a participant has managed to climb higher than that. This is the spot where records have been shattered and names have been made. Either you ‘personally’ remembered the event when Hoyt Corkins won his first bracelet in 15 years, or merely read about it, as well the time in 2007 when they tried out the new (hit-and-miss) ‘Poker Peek’, which caused everyone to misread the board, that events that occur within the World Series walls are as unforgettable as any event can get.

Joe Hachem’s famous name is pronounced as Joe Hashem, and, while the names sound very familiar, he holds no relation to Joe Hasham. Hachem was born in Lebanon in November of 1966, but moved to Australia with his family when he was six years old. Unlike the two above, Hachem’s career path wasn’t about to lead him into the hands of poker. Initially, he had decided to become a chiropractor, but after things didn’t work out, he chose poker as a career worth pursuing.

Over the past few years, Hachem has been traveling around the world, competing in poker tournaments and coming out with a handful of wins and modest earnings. His name didn’t become as well known to many poker fanatics until, in December, he won over two million dollars when he won his very first World Poker Tour. Since then, and even before that day, Hachem has won thousands in winnings, and it doesn’t look like he’s ready to slow down. His bank account, which has brought in over 10 million dollars in poker earnings, is the affirmation anyone with a morsel of doubt will need if ever they chose to doubt Hachem’s credibility.

Would you give up your 4 incredible years in college for the chance to pursue an uncertain career? If you’re not among those who would say Yes, then you’re nothing like Phil Hellmuth. After dropping out of the University of Wisconsin, Phil Hellmuth went off to pursue a topsy-tervy career in poker.

If you’re a fan of Hellmuth and you consider him to be either the best poker player ever, or among the few, you’re not entirely out of place to be throwing around an accusation like that. They’re not blind, that’s for sure. After coming in first place in 20 tournaments and taking home 11 bracelets, at the very least, Hellmuth is one of the better players that has walked this earth. If that’s not good enough, then you might consider the fact that Hellmuth won 3 gold bracelets in just one year. Only 2 other players in this world can say they match up to that astounding talent. Phil Helmuth, aka ‘The Poker Brat’, was born in July of 1964, in Wisconsin. He currently lives with his wife and 2 children–his wife is also a famous poker player. You may recall the phrase ‘trash-talker’ in Matusow’s biography. Well, that same phrase can be applied to Hellmuth. He’s not only famously known for playing and winning game after game…he’s controversially known for his disrespectful remarks to fellow players.

You can watch some fun videos of him here, Phil Hellmuth.

Although there are a lot of poker players who think that a pocket pair does not account for much in the game of poker, it can be said that, sometimes, these pocket pairs that others think are somewhat “useless” may just be the winning cards that will make your hand win the pot money.  So, let us study the poker strategy of pocket pairs and how you can turn it into your advantage.

The Middle Pocket Pairs

The middle pocket pairs can be considered as the pocket tens and the pocket jacks, but these middle pocket pairs can be somewhat tricky when used during a tournament because there are so many players who think that these middle pocket pairs are the highest pocket pairs.  So one strategy that you can use is to avoid thinking that these middle pocket pairs are, indeed, the highest pocket pairs.  The pocket tens and the pocket jacks may only be “good” hands, but to use them in a tournament, you need to play your hand well.

Playing with Middle Pocket Pairs

If you have a pocket tens or a pocket jacks, the best thing that you can do is to make a small raise.  By making a small raise, the pot builds up and more players fold, thereby limiting the playing field.

Now, when you see a small to medium raise in the pot, it is somewhat okay if you make a call when you have a middle pocket pair.  But be warned though that the next raiser might have a higher pocket pair than what you have, especially if you see that the flop turns out to be low cards.  For this reason, you can then make or raise a medium bet.  But if your challenger re-raises the bet, you should muck your hand.  When your challenger re-raises, it could mean that his pocket pair is much higher than yours, and you will lose.  On the other hand, if your opponent calls, you can then make another bet during the turn and then check during the river.

Now, if over-cards turn up, the strategy that you can employ is not to act that you have a weak pocket pair.  What you can do is to put on your poker face and wait it out and hope that your opponent will not bluff.  But if he sees through you, he will make a bluff, and then you lose if you have a lower pocket pair than what he has.

But still, these strategies will not guarantee you any sure win.  You still have to study the hand rankings.  You also should read up on odds and probabilities if you want to get ahead of your opponents.  If you do not know all these, you are opening yourself up to other players who are far stronger than you are.  Luck will not make a winner out of you if you are ignorant of the hand rankings, the odds, the probabilities, and other strategies employed in pocket pairs.

There are a lot of mistakes commonly made in poker both by newbies and even by the professional poker players, so a player should know what they are in order to avoid them, and here are some of the common mistakes made by poker players.

Being Emotional

The biggest mistake that one can do in poker is becoming too emotional.  By showing too much emotion, you are making it easy for others to read you and act accordingly depending on your outward emotions, unless, of course, that is a part of your strategy.  But too much emotion on the table like cursing or cussing not only makes you appear foolish but it also makes you look like a sore loser and a brat, so put on your poker face and let them continue guessing about what is on your mind.

Too Careless

You can become careless in a lot of things when you are playing poker.  First off, you might not be protecting your cards that well.  For this reason, you need to always remember to put a hand over your cards and protect them from peeping Toms.  Likewise, you also have to be careful and always have your eyes to your own cards and not on other players’ cards.  Your innocent glance to your side might be mistaken for looking at another player’s cards, so do not be too careless so as not to be called a cheater.

Always Taking Things at Face Value

Another common mistake that a newbie or even a pro makes is to always take things at face value.  For example, just because a player frowns does not mean that he or she has a bad card.  Instead, it could mean that the player has a very good hand and was just using a ruse to confuse other players into thinking what the player wants them to think.  For this reason, you have to avoid taking things at its face value and start studying facial expressions and learn when they are bluffing and when they are not.

Folding as Opposed to Checking

Do not be too rash and fold during your turn when you do not like the turn or the flop.  Remember, you can check if you are the first one to act.  Now, when all the players have also checked, you will have the opportunity to see the next card.  This happens to be true, too, if you do not happen to be the first one to act.  When all players have checked before your turn, you should also check so as to find out what the next card is.  Who knows?  That next card might just be the winning card that will make your hand win, so do not fold just yet.

Not Knowing the Tilt

Another mistake that players make in poker is not knowing when they are on the tilt.  Remember, if you are on a losing streak, let the game go and just fold.  Do not try to recoup all your loses, thinking the next round will be a better round and make you win back what you have lost.  It is better if you relax for a moment or even stop for the day before playing poker once more.

Many players are dreaming of winning it big in tournaments and reaping all the benefits that becoming a winner gives them.  But before any player should participate in any kind of tournament, here are my ten advices when playing tournaments:

You should practice.

That age-old adage “practice makes perfect” really do matter in tournaments.  If you want to win, you have to practice your game in order to hone your skills.  You will need not only luck but excellent skills as well to win against players, especially those that are better than you are.

You should have a good rest.

Before the day of the tournament itself, you should have finished all the practicing and all the perfecting of your skills.  What you will need is a good day’s rest so that you are relaxed during the game.  Remember, a heavy head in need of a deep sleep is a harbinger of losing a game.

You should be focused.

Of course, you need determination in winning in any kind of tournament, so during the game itself, you should always concentrate on what’s before you and not on what’s around you.  Before the tournament, you should practice and acquire the skill of blotting out unnecessary sounds and distractions so that you become more focused on your game.

You should be a good sport.

If you win, accept it gracefully, and if you lose, you should also accept losing just as gracefully.  Never become a brat.  Instead, always be a good sport.

You should have patience.

Not all players are the same.  You will meet different players of different temperaments, so you should have lots of patience in dealing with their kinds.

You should be confident.

This is very important in playing and winning a tournament.  You should have confidence in yourself.  If you lack confidence, then your lack of it will surely show in the way you play your game.

You should always be on your guard.

It does not matter what kind of tournament you are playing at, but being on your guard at all times assures you that you will not be cheated by those thinking of cheating in order to win the tournament.  So always listen and always be alert.

You should not be too transparent.

Of course, you should not be too transparent when it comes to playing at tournaments.  Your usual habits when you know you are doing well or vice versa will serve as an invitation for others to react based on how you usually react.  Change your habits once in a while to keep them guessing.

You should not talk too much.

Everybody dislikes a talkative player.  It may be just a strategy or it may simply be the player’s nature, but either way, this kind of attitude distracts other players, so you should learn to respect other players if you want them to respect you in return.

You should not be too overconfident.

Just because you have practiced a lot and know you are good in your game does not mean that you will win the tournament.  There is always the possibility of somebody else being far better than you are that you might actually lose the game to him, so before any kind of tournament, you should not expect too much.  Instead, you should go into the tournament without being too overconfident.