Some of the globe’s biggest Poker stars have already paid their ten thousand euro entry fee.  This large sum of money is of course peanuts to these players who are used to winning large poker pots.  Some of the poker stars included local players Patrik Antonius, as well as Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu.  All of these poker pros are ready to ‘fight to death’ to win Europe’s most prestigious poker title.

Many of the European Poker Tour’s best players sank in day one of the tournament’s shark infested waters, the sport star poker enthusiasts held their own nicely. Sporty poker players included Teddy Sheringham, former Tottenham & Man U striker. Sheringham is no stranger to the UK poker circuit and has won very large prizes, including the 2009 London based WSOPE.

The European Poker Tour will take place later this week and 1 lucky player will walk away with a swagger in his step and one million Euros in his back pocket.

Several hopefuls belong to Team PokerStars Pro.  More than twenty of their members managed to complete day one, including: Johannes Steindl, Joe Cada, Alex Gomes, Chris Moneymaker, and Vicky Coren.

The PokerStars team online members that continued to day two of the tournament included: Grayson Physioc, Alfio Battisti, Luca Moschitta, Jorge Arias, Liv Boeree, Aaron Gustavson, Anton Wigg, Harrison Gimbel, Carter Phillips, and Kevin MacPhee.

The European Poker Tour runs from April 25 to 30 2010 at the prestigious Le Sporting venue, based at the luxurious Monte Carlo Bay Hotel. Dutch Team PokerStars Pro Pieter de Korver won last year’s European Poker Tour – the first prize was a whopping €2,300,000.

You can find full reports of the The European Poker Tour Grand Final on the PokerStars video blog and blog at PokerStars.tv.

Most commonly used poker terms:

Poker Bets:

• Blinds: Players are forced to make a bet in place of an ante. The player who sits on the left hand side of the dealer first pay the small blind and the player after him pays the big blind.

• Draw: Players are said to be on a draw when they are hoping for more cards from the board to complete their hand.

• Preflop: This is the betting round that you make after you get two hole cards, and before there are any cards on the board.

Poker odds:

• Pot Odds: The poker odds you get when you draw.

• Implied Odds: Implied odds is like pot odds but it also take into account the wagers you will make as the game continues. This means that you can call on the flop but still have the advantage of implied odds of creating bigger bets if you hit your draw on later rounds.

Poker Cards

• Board Cards: Community cards placed in the middle of the table.

• Flop: Holdem’s first three board cards.

• Turn: Holdem’s fourth board card, the one after the flop.

• River: Holdem’s fifth & final card, the card after the turn.

• Outs: These are the cards that you can get that will improve your hand.

Poker Games

Shorthand: When a poker game has six or less players.

Longhand: When a poker game has seven plus players.

Limit Poker: When a poker game has fixed-size bets.

Position: This is where you sit at the poker table. The best position to be in is the dealer as you then get to play last, after you get a sense of what the other players are doing. The worst position to be in is the small blind spot because this player is the first to act.

If you read the previous blog you would know that the pot odds was quite simple. It was as follows:

Let’s say there is seventy dollars in the pot and your poker opponent decides to move all in with his last ten dollars. It will therefore cost you ten bucks to call, after which you could win a total of eighty bucks. This will mean that your pot odds are 80 to 10, or 8 to 1, which is the same thing. Other ways of expressing the odds are 8:1 or 1:8. It does not matter in which order you write it or how your write it, as long as you know your story.

The decision that had to be made here was quite simple. The opposing player was all in so our decision would end the poker betting, no matter if we decided to call or fold.

If the opponent, however, had another $1 500 left, things would be very different. Pot odds are more complicated to calculate when there is more betting to follow. Your betting odds chances will still be eight to one as above but only if you are able to see both the river and turn card.

You might have to bet more money before the end of the hand. If you don’t win on the flop and your opponent places a big bet when the turn comes around, you will have to bet more if you want to win. This means that the pot odds have changed.

Although basic pot odds can be easy to calculate, it becomes more difficult as more factors are added to the equation. The most basic thing you have to remember is that if there is more betting to follow; you will not only have to calculate the direct pot odds but also factor in what is sure to happen later on.

Here is a poker odds term that you should remember. ‘Effective odds’ is when the pot odds are modified for later action (that must still follow). This will formulate what it will cost you in order to go home with the pot.

In short, pot odds is what happens when you compare the cost of playing to how much you can win. For example, let’s look at this poker game that’s on the flop.

Let’s say there is seventy dollars in the pot and your poker opponent decides to move all in with his last ten dollars. It will therefore cost you ten bucks to call, after which you could win a total of eighty bucks. This will mean that your pot odds are 80 to 10, or 8 to 1, which is the same thing. Other ways of expressing the odds are 8:1 or 1:8. It does not matter in which order you write it or how your write it, as long as you know your story.

The formula for calculating pot odds is therefore:
All the money in the pot IN RELATION TO the money you would need to bet to win it.

Great, now you know how to calculate pot odds, but pot odds does not mean anything if you do not compare it to winning odds.

Let’s return to the above example where we said there is seventy dollars in the pot and your poker opponent decides to move all in with his last ten dollars. It will therefore cost you ten bucks to call, after which you could win a total of eighty bucks. The pot odds are 8:1. In this example your winning poker odds will have to be better than 8:1 if your call is to be correct. This means that if you call and your winning odds are worse, you are bound to lose money in the long run if you decide to call.

Therefore make sure that your winning odds are better than your pot odds if you want to continue to win money off poker games.

Firstly, players often make the mental poker mistake of choosing the wrong games. Now, you don’t need to be the best player in town or the best player at the table, but you do need to ensure that you are better than most of the players who are taking part in that particular game. Always pay particular attention to which tables you choose and don’t be shy to quit a table if you are not satisfied with the players.

Secondly, we all bluff when playing poker but we should always try to avoid bad bluffs. You have to consider the hand you are representing when you are deciding to bluff, otherwise good opponents will catch on and call your bluff. Bluffing when playing poker is always more effective when you ensure that you have a good back-up plan. A back-up plan means knowing what you will do if someone calls your bluff. Having a back-up plan to a bluff, and considering the hand you are representing will help you to avoid bad bluffs.

Thirdly, don’t continue playing too long after you realise that you are stuck. It’s natural for most poker players to want to continue with the game even though they realise that they are stuck as they want to get out of the hole and even the playing field. Digging yourself out of a hole is not a good mental poker position to be in though. Give yourself a couple more minutes but remember to call before it’s too late.

Lastly, also don’t do the opposite than what we discussed in point number three. Try to not book wins prematurely. It’s understandable that you will want to book any win if you are coming out of a downswing, but you should not do this if you usually quit shortly after the buy-in. Ensure that you are not that predictable, otherwise your opponents will read you like a book.

And remember that the less mental mistakes you make, the more money you can make when playing poker. Good luck!

There were a couple of famous players at this event, including Vicky Coren who was a recent London finalist in the GUKPT event.  Others included the super cool poker player, Mark Goodwin and Jake Cody the EPT Deauville champion.

Surprisingly, none of these famous players made it through to the final tough field, though.  After three days of play in which we saw bets, bad beats, and bluffs, Daniel Carter impressed with a stack that stood very tall.  He had 1.4 million chips at the final table and almost everyone assumed that this would mean a win for him, as this is a huge chip advantage.

The final was going to be more dramatic than that though. 3-bets were made, followed by 4-bets all around.  All the players were hoping for a stroke of luck and to gain momentum.

Several hands later, Joe Grech finished in third place and it was to be decided between Dave Jones from the United Kingdom and Gilles Augustus from Belgium.  It started with twenty hands of reasonably small ball poker play before everything was bet and a flood of chips landed in Augustus’ lap.  The Belgian earned his spectacular first time live tournament poker win of  £46,100 with his final board reading of  Kc, 4s, 6h, 9c, 5d.  He was also awarded with a seat in the £5000 EPT London poker tournament.

Augustus looked comfortable throughout the game and ended his tournament with his usual ritual of downing two well-deserved tequilas.

The Final Table payouts were as follows:

1: Gilles Augustus won a whopping £46 000

2: Dave Jones won £29 400

3: Joe Grech won £16 100

4: Dan Carter won £12 700

5: Paul Rigg won £10 200

6: Marius Lietuvnikas won £8 200

7: Chris Brice won £6 600

8: Ben Dobson won £5 000

9: Andrew Booth won £3 500

10: Ben Crellin won £2 500

Pre-flop

Playing your JJ pre-flop isn’t that difficult because what you have to do is generally clear. The problems typically occurs post flop. The first thing that will influence how you play your middle pair is your table position. When you’re in early positions, you want to raise at least 3 times the big blinds. This accomplishes a few things. The first thing you’ll say happening when an early position player raises is that many opponents will fold their hand, and this is exactly what you want. It’s easier to win against fewer opponents.

When you’re in middle position, how to play your hand can be trickier but it usually involves a raise. If no one raised before you and most folded, then betting 3 times the big blind or more is a good play. If someone raised and everyone else folded, you can call. If someone raised, and other players called the raise, you have a difficult decision to make. If you call, then it’s likely that a big pot will grow and since there’s a bunch of players acting after you. It is not uncommon to see someone going all in under those conditions. If that happens, then what do you do? Risk it all, or give up the hand? It’s not a great position to be in with middle pair. A risky but often effective play is to be the one to raise the bar. Reraise instead of calling and make it expensive IF you can afford too. Don’t loose your shirt over it. Even experienced players will fold good starting hands after seeing a raise followed by a reraise because it usually indicates someone has a high pair.

When you have options but are unsure what to do, always consider the table image and chip stacks of the opponents that will go after you. Are you facing tight players that will likely fold or call a raise/re-raise or are you facing a reckless aggressive player with a large chip stack? Sometimes, when you have no clue what to do, or when the price of playing poker is just too high for the risks, you can always play it safe and fold your hand. There will be more.

In late position, it’s easier to play because everyone else acted before you. The safe play is to close the bet when you’re in a position to do so. That means you are the last player to act and you call, making sure no one else can raise after you. You’ll get to see the flop and then play another betting round. Another option is to raise, but because you are in late position opponents might think you’re making a move and aggressive players could be tempted to put you all in. The safe play is to call. You will rarely fold in this position because the by the time your turn comes up, the pot is usually interesting. You should consider folding in cases when you see a raise and a reraise before you for reasons I indicated earlier.

Post-flop

After the flop, you either hit or missed. Depending on that result, your goal is to thin the competition, or to set a trap, or to minimize your losses. The first thing you want to consider is the flop. Are your JJ top pair? In other word, are the flop cards 10 or less? If so, you might consider trapping (and assume all the risks that go with this play). But only trap when you’re facing one or two opponents. Any thing more is too much of a risk and you need to bet a significant amount, perhaps half the pot, to encourage players to fold.

If you missed the flop and high cards than your middle pair come up, then you have to analyze the last betting round to get a sense of what your opponents may hold. For instance, let’s say there’s an A and a K on the flop, and you are facing three opponents. How did they play last time? Did all three initially called a minimum bet, then you raised, then they reluctantly called your raise? That could indicate that they don’t have a high card. Maybe they have a small pair, or suited connectors for instance. But if player one raised, then the other two immediately call and you called as well, that is a sign that someone probably has a high card. Consider the number of opponents and how they played the last betting round. When you figure they likely hit the flop, don’t spend more money on it. Check it, or fold it if you have to call a bet. When you have no clue where you stand, a feeler bet can provide information but you might also be throwing money away. It’s really a decision of “can you afford to gamble”, meaning do you have the chips to spare.

Let’s say you did hit the flop and made three of a kind, that’s a great position to be in, but consider the flop. Is there a straight or flush potential? If so, you’d better try to take down the pot right away with a large bet. If not, you can act weak and trap. Let someone else make a bet, and depending on how many players are left, call or reraise. Don’t be afraid to go all in at this point, but be careful about letting opponents catch cheap cards. Again, the table image of your opponent should guide your actions. Let aggressive players bet into you.

On subsequent betting rounds, the same concepts apply. If there’s still a 3 or 4 players involved in the hand by the third betting round because they all called a bet, then you know they either hit something or had the right pot odds to chase a card. Take the time to consider what potential hands these players may have, or may be looking to get, and put them under pressure with a large bet when you conclude you have them beat.

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Action 24/7

The number one reason why online poker is better live poker is because there’s always a game to be found. Sure, some times of day are busier than others- such as evenings and weekends. But it doesn’t matter what time of day, there’s people playing poker online 24/7. Possibly the most annoying aspect of live poker is waiting around for a game to start. Of course this is assuming they even have enough people wanting to play poker. While with online poker, you might not be able to always jump straight into the game of your choice, there’s never much waiting around.

Comfort of Home

Not only are there an abundance of poker games waiting for you, you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your own home. There are no travel costs, no worries about how you’re going to get home, or getting stuck in traffic. There’s no need to bother getting dressed up either. Heck, you can even play poker naked if you like. Doing this at a live poker game would get you locked up. Let’s not forget, you also save money on food and drink, as the fridge is never far away when you’re playing online poker.

Online Poker is Cheaper

Online poker doesn’t just save you money on travel, food and drink. The poker itself is also much cheaper, which is particularly beneficial if you’re just starting out learning how to play poker, and don’t want to spend too much. If you go to a casino or card room you might find many cash games below $1/$2. The rake at live poker venues is also much higher than at online poker sites. Plus if you win a hand playing poker online there’s no obligation to tip the dealer – you can’t anyway!

Play More Poker Hands

The most noticeable difference between online poker and live poker is the hands per hour ratio. When you play poker online there’s no waiting around for the dealer to shuffle the cards, potential miss-deals, working out the pot, and the players are generally much quicker to act – to name just a few things. You get to see so many more hands per hour playing online poker, which means more opportunities, more decisions, and less boredom.

Multi-Tabling

Many online poker players like to play on multiple tables at the same time. Just playing one table at a time means you get to see more hands per hour than in live poker, but if you’re playing on multiple tables then obviously this becomes an even bigger factor. Playing multiple tables also reduces the variance, and you can play at much lower limits – thereby spreading the risk. If you are playing poker in a live venue, let’s say a $1/$2 NL game, you’d probably want to sit down with about $200 – which is at risk on any given hand. You could spread this same $200 across multiple tables, at lower stakes, when you play online.

Tracking Your Game

It’s always nice to know if you’re winning, losing, or breaking even at poker. Sure, you can keep notes on how much you’re spending when you play live poker. I used to keep a spreadsheet to track my income and expenses from live poker games. But sometimes it’s easy to forget how much was spent, particularly with re-buy events. Of course, this is just basic tracking. When you play poker online you can get instant hand histories, and access to a huge wealth of data. It goes far beyond just saying if you’re a profitable player or not. You can find leaks in your game and plug the holes. By analysing your play you can improve your skills as a poker player.

Bonuses and Promotions

Online poker is a fiercely competitive industry, and with so many poker sites looking to attract customers, there are a multitude of bonuses and promotions on offer. Casinos like to offer promotions to their patrons, but when it comes to poker they care much less. Poker rooms don’t make much money for casinos, so they don’t really bother trying too hard. However online poker sites are only too eager to offer bonuses and promotions, be it 100% signup bonuses for new poker players, or re-load bonuses for existing players. They really want you to play poker at their site, which is something you can and should take advantage of.

Conclusion

I think the advantages of online poker that have been outlined so far, are fairly comprehensive. Of course playing poker in a live environment has its advantages too – such as the social interaction, and being able to see players’ reactions. The purpose of this article is not to knock live poker, but to give valid reasons for why online poker is superior in so many ways. It’s fair to say this has been achieved. Good luck at the tables!

The World Series is underway, and already the players who are left are guaranteed at least $36,626, while the top prize of $8.55 million will be awarded at the final table in November.

“We’re playing for one of the biggest prizes in history and they’re getting … five hundred million blinds in there with second pair,” Hachem said. “To me, the reason I’m upset is because it’s disrespectful. We’re playing in the world series, we’re not just having fun at a local home game. These guys are pushing chips around like it’s nothing.”

Do these sentiments echo the feelings of most players or is this an outdated attitude in a game that is changing at a faster pace every day?  With online poker, players who are ultra aggressive are paid off, and if not they are able to load another table within seconds.  To these players its strictly about math and maximising their ability to make money.  It seems that older players are trying to hold on to the way it use to be, and are having difficulty adjusting their games to match the new age player.

To Hatchem’s credit he is one of only two former main event champions left in the tournament, along with last year’s winner Peter Eastgate, and so must at least be willing to adjust enough to stay competitive…

“Look, their style may be the way they play on the Internet and that’s what they’ve got to do because they can open up another tournament every 10 seconds,” Hachem said. “It’s fine, right, but you’re playing here, you got so much time, you got so much going for you and these guys just want to go to war every hand” he said.