Is the WSOP slowly dying?

The World Series of Poker started the poker madness we live on today. It was the fire that started the online and offline thrill and excitement of the poker world, and showed us that is was possible to become a millionaire by performing another sport. Long time has passed when Chris Moneymaker won $2.5 million out of pretty much thin air, and although the WSOP Main Event still is one of the most attractive tournaments in the planet; we wonder if it’s losing its shine…

The magic recipe that used to attract so many is the same one that has eclipsed the very own characteristic that made the WSOP so great: an elite tournament with the best players of the world that declared the ultimate player champion, and the chance of anyone on becoming such champion. This has made many serious players concentrate on other tournaments such as the “poker tour” series from PokerStars and the WPT. And numbers do not lie either:

Year	Players
2003	839
2004	2576
2005	5619
2006	8773
2007	6358
2008	6844
2009	6494

Although it is true the change in the laws affected heavily the amount of players, the format chances have also affected the attractiveness of the event. For instance, the final table been played on November has had a lot of bad comments on most players. Now the Tournament of Champions might be a strategy the organizers are using to try to change the image of “freeroll nesting” the event has become. Let’s hope in the future the event gets more innovative alternatives or we will see the so loved WSOP Main Event perish and become just another tournament out there.

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The Art of Bluffing

It is impossible not to bluff at least once during your poker life. This is one of the hardest things to do while playing poker, but once you know how to do it you will find the greatness of bluffing. This is a fundamental strategy, but very hard to accomplish.

There are many factors you need to keep in mind before even considering a bluffing strategy. Position is one of the key factors you need to succeed while bluffing during a poker game. You should consider bluffing if you are close to the dealer’s button or the last to act, this is because you already saw what your opponent’s actions and you are able to read if they have a great hand or a bad hand. When you bluff, you automatically open aggression, and if you are not ready for it then you shouldn’t go for it.

If you are playing Texas Hold’em and you want to use your bluffing strategy remember that you are not threatening anyone if you don’t go all-in during your bluff. The reason for this is very simple, if you have a smaller stack or even a big stack and you don’t put your opponent all-in, you probably don’t have such a good hand, giving your opponent the chance to go for it and since you are bluffing you are probably going to loose. So once you decide to go all in remember that you are being aggressive.

If your opponent got your bluffing strategy and now you are in a very uncomfortable situation because now everyone knows that you don’t have a good hand, then you should keep in mind that this happens to everyone and it will not be the first or the last time that will happen to you or anyone else. If your opponents call your bet the best strategy is to check the next hand hoping that your opponent doesn’t raise your bet. If your opponent does that, then fold; you already know that you don’t have the winning hand so there’s no reason for you to keep loosing money.

Always remember to analyze the board and which possible hand your opponent might have; this is the first step to develop a great bluffing strategy. If you bluff without figuring your opponent out, it is possible that you will end up failing. If by any chance you got to the river with just one opponent left, and when you both show your cards you won after all, remember that there are many fish out there and they might thought that they had a better hand that yours even when you are bluffing. This kind of things happen, so keep on practicing your bluff strategy and you will get better and better with time; eventually you will find yourself winning many pots by following these simple rules.

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Full Tilt Poker Review

GENERAL INFORMATION FULL TILT POKER
Network	Full Tilt Poker
Multi Tables	Up to 12
US Players	Yes

Full Tilt Poker was launched in 2004 and since then it’s been one of the biggest and most famous poker sites now days. They aren’t just famous because of their great games, software and service, but because they have a team of poker legends like Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer and Allen Cunningham. The great thing about Full Tilt is that they give you the chance to interact with all their famous poker players with their “learn, chat and play with the pros” slogan.

Their software is one of the best out there. They have great graphics, fast games and customizable options. They have statistics and player notes for you to get the most out of the poker experience. You can use the multi-table option with the mini-view; you can open up to 9 tables with this option without overlapping them.

They offer a great variety of games and tournaments. Their variety of games include: Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Seven Card Stud (hi-lo), Razz, 5 Card Stud, Draw Poker and mixed games like H.O.R.S.E.

They have tournaments that go from $1 to $20,000. Their games are always busy with many players on them. Full Tilt Poker offers many freerolls for all game varieties. They also offer packages for live events like WSOP, WPT, EPT and many others.

Full Tilt’s support is one of the best, they respond with quality and fast. You may contact them via e-mail: support@FullTiltPoker.com

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BWIN Poker Review

GENERAL INFORMATION BWIN POKER
Network	ONGAME
Multi Tables	Up to 12
US Players	No

Bwin Poker is a very popular poker room that’s been running since 1999, owners of OnGame network, Bwin has become part of one of the biggest networks out there. They have a huge player database, something around 270,000 real money players. It is really easy to find plenty of action here.

Their software is very nice, with top graphics and user friendly applications. They have clean tables and players’ actions are displayed in bright colors. Bwin offers a nice download client and mobile poker; if you have Mac or Linux computer you are also covered with Bwin.

Bwin offers a huge variety of games, the games they offer are: Texas Hold’em, Omaha and its variations, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Draw – all these with fixed limits, no limits or pot limits. They also offer massive tournaments every day, including freerolls, $25,000 and $50,000 weekly tournaments or even bigger tournaments.

Something very important and attractive that Bwin has is their Loyalty Program and Promotions, it is called b’inside and it works by splitting player points into market and status points. Status points are credited into your account when you play on a real money table and it brings up your status at the b’inside program. Market points are credited into your account and are valid for 12 months, with these points you can buy gadgets.

They have a really nice support, with fast answers and good quality. You can contact them via phone (1-350-777-61) or e-mail: support.en@bwin.com

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Omaha Strategy Part 2

On our last article we started with a brief introduction on how Omaha is played and the most notable facts of the games. However, it is also important to know which hands are recommended to be played or not. This doesn’t necessarily means the hands not included are always going to be bad hands, every hand has a big chance of conforming the best hand; however, it involves a lot of variables whether to play or not a starting hand. This is just a quick guide on the hands that are most likely to be played at the start.

Recommended hands: unlike Texas Hold’em, the best cards in the game will be a combination of many possible big hands. The best hands to play are pairs; ultimately you should seek to play AAKK. These hands give a big edge on other starting hands as they are the best 2 pairs on the table. They will also give you a possibility of hitting a 3 of kind with the ace or the king. The other sets of hands that are most viable to play in Omaha are suited hands; no, not all of them of the same suit but 2 suits combined, this means 2 cards of 1 suit and 2 cards of another suit, this gives you the chance of getting a flush on 2 different suits. It will be even better if they are consecutive cards such as AK56. This will also give you the edge on having a flush, a straight or a straight flush. You should raise with these hands, but remember to always study the board.

Non recommended hands: unlike the hands above these are hands that have less chances of helping you out, AAAA is hand that will not help you much as there is no chance for a straight, flush or 3 pair, or even a full house. Another bad hand to play is the one made out of the same suit, for instance diamond, diamond, diamond, diamond. It reduces the chances of getting 3 extra diamonds in the board, so this is an automatic fold as well. Another important fold will be the all consecutive hands such as A234 or 5678, very low chances are of getting 3 other consecutive cards on the board to form a straight.

These is a small guide of the best and worst hands, again it really depends on many variables such as the strategy, your opponents strength in terms of chips and their skill, as well if the table is full or it’s a heads up table. Just follow the golden rule, look at the board and study your chances. Keep on reading us and find out more tips about these and many other great games in this amazing world of poker.

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Omaha Strategy Part 1

Omaha is the second most popular variation of poker after Texas Hold’em. In Omaha you will receive 4 cards as pocket cards, but you can only use 2 of these 4 cards to make a game with the cards on the board. With this your hand will be determined by the cards on the board and not by your pocket cards. The fact that you have more cards to choose from makes this game easier to understand and fun to play.

Even with all these great characteristics, it’s really hard to find many players at Omaha tables or even poker rooms that run tables with Omaha games. The reason for this is that even though you have more chances to hit something good, the hand ranking goes up and this makes the pot higher than in Texas Hold’em.

The table rules are basically the same as in Hold’em; keeping the three main positions: Dealer button, Small Blind and Big Blind; Betting Rounds: Opening, Flop, Turn and River.

If you are going to play Omaha, you need to remember a couple of things to succeed. In Omaha it’s really easy to get a good hand, because you are getting more cards than in hold’em and you can choose 3 cards on the board. This makes hands like Flush or Straight useless. If you are playing Omaha your strategy should be to bet only if you get a hand better than a Full House, otherwise you will find out that many of the other players at your table have similar hands or higher than yours.

Even when Omaha gives you the advantage of having many cards to choose from, you need to remember that Omaha is not a huge game and not many players go for it. If you are planning to join an Omaha table, you should sit out for a bit and observe your opponents. Omaha players usually have a lot of experience and they might find a way to build their bankroll in you.

There are many Omaha variants, such as Omaha Hi-Lo, this variant uses the same rules as normal Omaha, but the hand ranking is really important. What Hi-Lo stands for, is that if you will win a percentage of the pot if you get the Highest hand (Hi) or the Lowest hand (Lo), so if you are playing this variant you have more chances of winning since you don’t have to focus on getting the best hand, but you can also get some money for having the lowest hand.

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Doyle's $50,000 Bounty - Wednesday at 9:30pm ET

Play Wednesday's bounty tournament and you'll have the chance to hunt not one, but two members of the Brunson family. In addition to both Todd and Pam, you'll also be chatting, playing and hunting "The Mad Genius of Poker" Mike Caro, poker's foremost educator and master of tells.

For just $27.50, bounty hunters can buy into Wednesday's Tournament at 9:30pm ET and if it's your first time playing the tournament, you get your buy-in back and get to keep anything you win!

Register From the Poker Lobby: Tournaments > Scheduled > DOYLE'S $50,000 BOUNTY > 8382407

$1,000 David and Goliath Heads Up Match

Chris Moorman of The Brunson 10 is going head-to-head with DoylesRoom player DMTRX for $1,000. DMTRX enters the match through a special promotion after winning Monday's Beat The Brunson 10 tournament.

The head-to-head action begins at 7pm ET/23:00 GMT, just before DoylesRoom's $50,000 Bounty Tournament.

Best of luck and see you at the tables, Keep up to date with all the latest at www.the-royalflush-club.com Follow us on Facebook & Twitter!

The Sports Bet Club Now Online!

The Sports Bet Club Now Online! The Royal Flush Club is proud to announce that The Sports Bet Club, sister site of the Royal Flush Club is now online! To Celebrate this occasion the Royal Flush Club will be offering Great deals on all your Champions League Semi Final Betting Action.

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Your $150,000 April Points Race - Week 3 We told you our $150k Points Race was extreme. Just when you thought the money was off the tables, we’ve gone ahead and put another $25,000 up for grabs. Just keep earning Frequent Player Points to win a piece of it. This is a great week to play at DoylesRoom because, on top of the $25,000 that we’re giving away, every point you earn will be multiplied by three towards your $50,000 Monthly Final Points Race total.

Limited Time Reload Bonus April 15th - April 18th. Deposit now through Sunday, April 18th at midnight ET using promotion codeSpring50 and receive a 50% bonus up to $300! Claim Your Bonus! Lock in your bonus by using promotion code: Spring50 when you deposit into your account using any of our fast and easy deposit methods.

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Absolute Poker Review

GENERAL INFORMATION ABSOLUTE POKER
Network	CEREUS Poker
Multi Tables	Up to 14
US Players	Yes

Absolute Poker is one of the best sites out there now days. After they merged with Ultimate Bet, their player database became the largest in the world. This moved Absolute Poker to the CEREUS network, which is one of the best and safest networks to play in. After joining the CEREUS network, their traffic increased, making Absolute Poker one of the most popular rooms today.

Absolute Poker is the home of almost 30,000 players a day, and it offers a wide variety of games and tournaments for them to choose from. Their game variety includes: Texas Hold’em, Omaha (hi/lo), 7 Card Stud (Hi/Lo), and razz. The majority of the players could be found from low to mid limit stakes.

Their SNG traffic is very alike to their ring game traffic. Many games are played, usually for low limits. Even though they have the multi-table option, they lack of resizable tables, which makes harder for players to be able to handle many tables at the same time. There are also Freerolls if you want to try the software and players. Absolute Poker offers a huge quantity of small freerolls.

Their loyalty program awards points a bit different than other sites. These points are not awarded based on the rake you make, but on the stakes you are playing in. These points can be exchanged for buy-ins for special tournaments, buy from their store, advance on their VIP ladder, and to clear bonuses. There are many poker products you can buy at their store, from clothing to electronics.

Even though their loyalty program is not based on rake, they still offer a great deal for all the players out there. If you sign-up through www.the-royalflush-club.com today, you can get up to 30% rakeback. If you are in the US, this is not only a great deal for you, but it’s your chance to be part of one of the biggest rooms that accept US players.

Absolute’s poker lobby is very clean and organized, really user friendly. They have tabs with filters for you to search for buy-ins or games. You can also choose a tournament with the tournament tab and when you join it a new lobby will open up for the tournament. Their tables are easy to utilize. There are 3 different views for you to choose from. They also have hotkeys that you can use to bet, raise or fold. They also offer customized avatars for you to use at the tables.

Absolute Poker offers support via e-mail. Their staff is friendly and responds to all your questions. They might take some time to reply to your question usually 48 hours.

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Doyle's Room Limited Time Private Bonus April 15th - April 18th.

Deposit on Thursday, April 15th, through Sunday, April 18th at midnight ET using promotion code Spring50 and receive a 50% bonus up to $300!

To claim this limited time offer, you must use the promotion code at the time of your deposit via any of our convenient methods.

Bonus code is valid for 1 transaction.

* Reload Terms and Conditions

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When your mind can cost you money!

When you play poker, whether is online or live, your mind can cost you several amounts of money. Like on any other new activity you do, you will learn to master these mind mistakes and be able to maximize your winnings. Please remember that poker is about practice and the more you play the better you will play on the long run. Nevertheless, we would like to help you by explaining some of the most common mistakes:

Learn when to quit: We have all been here at some point, we just want to play this last hand to get the money you lost previously back, but usually “this last hand” turns into many last hand and you end up losing all your money. Sometimes you might hit a hand and recover, but this is not usual. When you are on tilt is hard to quit, because it’s hard to believe it. When you experience one of these problems, just try to keep your mind clean and try to know when you are experiencing this and quit. If you are playing live tournaments it’s a bit overwhelming, because you are not only having these issues but you have the pressure of other players. Don’t over play if you already lost significant amounts of money.

On the other hand, you might have the opposite reaction, when you are winning. As a player, it is very common to quit while you are up and don’t play much while you are at “your moment”. This is all part of a bankroll management strategy that you must master deeply and you will find success.

Learn where to play: This is one of the most common mistakes; as soon as we see a table open we jump in and sit down. You have to be selective and study the table before you join. If you have a small bankroll and the play is too aggressive then you will be calling big bets and catching a lottery. And if the table is too tight then you end up minimizing your winnings. Always observe the table before you sit, look at the players, their money at the table, how they play and how they don’t once you know how the table is set make a decision whether you should join or not based on your game style.

Don’t over bluff: This is a very delicate part of the game, while it is important to bluff every now and then, it is most important to know how to do it, and your mind might get in the way sometimes. Sometimes you might be too fixed into a pot that you want to steal it and a good player will catch you and make you lose. Study each pot individually, based on your opponents, the cards on the board, and your cards. Don’t over bluff when you can always minimize losses.

As you can see most of the mistakes above are related to the game itself and how to read such game. Train yourself to be less impulsive and focused. If you are playing poker to win money don’t have extra distractions, this is a serious business so take it seriously. You can´t focus properly if you are watching a movie, eating, chatting and on top looking at the kids while they play. Find the place and time to play and you will do better in your poker.

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