Pokerstars 10th Anniversary

Everyone knew the final weekend of the PokerStars 10th Anniversary celebration was going to be big. It would be a party befitting the world's largest online poker site. It would be rich. It would be glamorous. It would be everything everyone expected it to be. But who could've predicted how big it would actually get?

By the time registration closed on the 10th Anniversary special Sunday Million, 62,116 players had signed up to play the biggest Sunday Million and biggest online poker tournament in history. The prize pool swelled to $12,423,200 and offered up some of the greatest stories in PokerStars' history.

For instance, the 14th place finisher in the event got into the 10th Anniversary Sunday Million for 375 Frequent Player Points and turned it into $48,000. Meanwhile, 20th place finisher Nest17 made it into the event for eight--EIGHT!--FPPs and earned more than $22,000.

Though they were amazing stories, none is as good as that of Kyle "First-Eagle" Weir who described himself as "unemployed" before tearing through the Sunday Million and winning it for more than $1 million.

Meanwhile, the $10,000 10th Anniversary High Roller was in action with 187 players and a prize pool worth nearly $1.9 million. When it was all said and done, Joey Lawrence had defeated an exceptionally tough field and captured the $402,000 first prize.

It was, as our Martin Harris wrote, an "exclamation point on the 10th Anniversary festivities." After a month of huge promotions, giveaways, and parties, after giving away 100 PCA seats, after setting world records, after once again shocking the poker world, PokerStars finally turned out the lights on its anniversary party. 

Congratulations to all the big winners during the past month of celebrations on PokerStars, and thanks to all who helped us celebrate. It's been an amazing experience.

Here's to another ten years!

by Brad Willis on December 19, 2011

Three Betting Light in NLH

Three betting light is a skill that will help any player effectively balance their range and steal pots. On the other hand, light three bets could also end up costing you a fortune. The key to success with light three bets is the ability to properly identify which situations will be profitable and which will not.
There are a number of players who make light three bets for the sake of making light three bets. Needless to say, this is not the optimal strategy. You need to know who you are trying to push out of the hand, what you are trying to represent, your image at the table, and how you will react to a call or shove.
These are the basic dynamics that need to be understood if you want to make your three bets profitable. Three betting light is a challenge because it requires that players have a fair amount of experience and a natural feel for the game. This is one of the tools that is not so much taught as it is learned. Once you are able to work light three bets into your NL Hold'em game, though, you will be that much more dynamic.
  
Who You Want to Fold
The players who you want to fold when making a light three bet will often determine whether or not the play is worth attempting. If the two loosest players in the world have made an open raise and call, the odds of you getting them both to fold with a light three bet are far from good. If two moderately tight players did the same exact thing, however, you would be in much better shape.
Don’t get confused, though, as two super tight players would also be indicative of a generally weak spot for a light three bet. You should be three betting light against players who are capable of opening with decent hands, but will also be playing something that is not good enough to call a three bet.
There is no exact science to determining what hands you are up against, so it comes down to being right more often than you are wrong, as is often the case with any play in NL Hold'em.

The Hand You're Reprensenting
You  need to know exactly what you are trying to tell your opponents when you make a light three bet. Do you want them to think you have an absolute monster, a random suited hand, or something completely different? The hand that you are representing will often determine just how much you should be raising.
For example, a monster hand might make a smaller, yet sizable, three bet in order to squeeze some value out of the other players. A suited hand, however, would be more apt to make a big bet so that it has a reasonable shot at forcing folds from stronger pre flop hands.
Now, since a light three bet implies that your hand neither has strong potential or is already made, you should be picking what you want your opponents to think you have. Make a moderate three bet and play it hard on the flop when representing a big pocket pair, or make a big bet and continue on the flop if you think your opponents are a bit scared. Carefully determine what story you are trying to tell and be sure to stick to it.

Your Table Image
If you want your light three bets to work with any bit of regularity, you need to be able to effectively convince your opponents to fold. The other players might perceive you as super tight and they will think that a light three bet is always going to be with a major hand. On the other hand, your opponents could feel that you are a bit too loose and might be making a play more often than not when you three bet.
The table image that you have is much more important than how you actually play. Consider how your opponents think you play and do your best to exploit that image. Don’t try to be something that you are not - instead try to be something that the other players think you are not.

Reacting to Calls or Shoves
If you three bet light with any measure of consistency, you will run into spots where the other players either call or re raise. In these situations it is important that you know what you are supposed to do. If you have a weak hand, but have little money left behind, it might make sense to call a shove anyway.
By contrast, a weak hand with a lot of money behind should denote an easy fold. The truly tricky hands will be when you make a light three bet and get called. You shouldn’t give up on the hand just because you were called. Instead, look for ways to win the pot post flop.
If the board is fit for a continuation bet and you feel that your opponent might be capable of folding, go ahead and try to push them out. You might even get lucky and flop a big hand, even if you had nothing pre flop. Planning ahead is crucial in almost any aspect of poker, and light three bets are no exception.

 by bestpokersites

Online Poker Tells

Poker tells have been called the body language of poker, but tells have never  been just about body language. Online players have no bodies to betray their thoughts, but actions do. Tells are simply the act of inadvertently betraying information. You don't need to be seen, or even have a body for that.

A tell can be any activity that that reveals useful information to your opponents. I first wrote about online poker tells around the turn of the century, the caveman days of online poker. One of the tells I mentioned then was The Stall. Back then, when players played at two tables at a time at most, The Stall was one of the most comically obvious, predictable and exploitable actions online. Inexperienced players would stall before betting the river when they had a powerful hand, as if they were unsure of what to do. Many years later now, The Stall is used just as often now by more experienced players as a reverse tell, to try and pretend to have strength. This makes The Stall now fairly unreliable, but it still is a tell nonetheless. It is just harder to decipher what it means.

Also, now that some players play as many as eight games at a time, slow play is more of a regular occurrence. The value in observing a Stall now occurs when a player breaks from their usual betting patterns. For instance, if a player has been playing crisply -- apparently with a good connection and only playing one game -- but then suddenly goes into a Stall, this will almost always mean something. On the other hand, if a player who has been playing slowly suddenly is making bets promptly as soon as it is his turn, this means something also. It will not have the same meaning in all cases, but simply being aware that an opponent has altered their normal behavior will almost always be helpful in that it should wave a caution flag in front of your eyes.

Analyzing betting patterns is an enormous part of playing winning online poker: speed of bet, call or raise, sizing of bets in pot limit or no limit. A large percentage of online players now are regulars. They play a lot, which means they get into rhythms or habits. Their standard rhythms are exploitable, but any deviations from the norm represent the key moments to focus on. You don't want to call someone's all-in bet when they deviate because they have the nuts, but you do want to call when they deviate because they have a busted draw in a key pot... and you don't want to be clueless about the very fact that they have deviated!

The Rant. Many online poker tells are the result of bad players telling you that they are about to play even worse than normal. How nice of them. The most obvious of these announcements is The Rant. Flawed players go on tilt in all sorts of poker games, and online is no exception. The thing about online is loudmouths and bullies  can't glare at, roll their eyes or do some other belittling physical action. But via the chatbox they CAN insult their opponents. They can't say "change the deck" but they can rant about software being rigged against their genius-level play.

Boiling it down to the basics, a player who goes on a rant about stupid opponents or rigged software might just as well paint themselves purple with ten inch letters: "I am on tilt". Besides obviously horrible opponents, ranters are THE players to target in any game, even more so than obvious multi-tablers. You want to play against people on tilt, but you also want to be sure you don't take them off tilt by playing a weak hand at them that helps them to calm down. Go ahead and goad abusive players in the chatbox. These are almost always players who think they are far better than they are, and play considerably worse when losing than when winning. They will often make the game. Treasure the ranters. To a large degree, winning poker is about defeating people who act stupidly. Ranters are at the top of the list.

Chat revoked. While not a subset of the rant, a small number of online players list "chat revoked" or something similar as their location due to the cardroom blocking their chat privileges for some prior immature or rude chat outburst. When you see one of these players who needs to tell you that their chat is revoked, you know you are dealing with an immature person. They are also more likely to tilt (though not necessarily, they could have had chat revoked for racist or misogynist talk). If most chat revoked players lose a pot in an ugly way, you KNOW they wish they could call their opponent an idiot or worse. The WANT to rant. They WANT to insult. They want to exacerbate the tilt impulses they are feeling. You can even push them further by saying something like "nice hand" to the winner. You should be able to see the steam coming out of the chat revoked player's icon.

The Gloat. While not universally true, players who like to gloat after winning a pot are normally significant, longterm, weak-tight losers. Someone who regularly wins doesn't need to draw attention to that fact. Someone who is seldom a significant winner and needs to draw attention to that fact will be insecure as well as weak-playing. Gloaters are much easier to bluff after they begin to gloat, because they hate to now seem like a loser. They don't mind folding on the flop, or on the turn when an overcard hits, because they can pretend they got sucked out on. What they hate to do is be beaten on the river by an opponent with a superior hand. Gloaters can go on mega-tilt if they start losing after gloating, but more often they tighten up and enjoy their moment. They don't get them very often.

The Whiner. Chatbox-whining players are different than the above. People who whine in public, to a group of strangers who couldn't care less, are very likely used to whining. In other words, a whiner is not likely to be on tilt when losing. A variation of The Whiner is The Challenger who whines "let's play head-up" any time someone beats him two hands in a row, or three of so ugly hands in an hour. Both these types are serious, long-term losers.

The Rocket Scientist. Any player who sees fit to lecture about how to play, and then is blatantly wrong, is a short term target. These players almost never last very long, are often first-timers and are seldom exploitable over time.

Online tells almost always give you information, but don't confuse "it means something" with "it means the same thing in every situation." Using the "in turn" betting buttons is a good example. Using the auto-check almost always means weakness, but the auto-bet and auto-raise buttons can have very different meanings depending on the street where the betting occurs. Auto-raise before the flop is surely always a sign of real strength (unless a player is a maniac or obviously tilting). Auto-raise on the flop will more often be a sign of false strength, where someone is trying to protect a marginal hand.

Some tells carry over from casino poker, like a player impatiently taking the blind out of position, or right before having to take the big blind the next hand. Other tells are pure creations of online poker, though perhaps not tells per se, like using a statistics program to see an opponent's flop percentage.

When playing online you can't see your opponents, but you can see what they DO. Just like in the rest of life, what people actually do is what matters. How they act reveals their confidence, skills, backbone, maturity and level-headedness. The betting actions and chat behavior of opponents offers a goldmine of information that you can use against them. It may not be easy to decipher online tells but that is the very fact that makes them all the more important.

by Steve Badger

How to Put Your Opponent on a Range

In his book The Theory of Poker, David Sklansky states that to play a hand correctly is to play it the exact same way you would if you knew your opponent's hole cards.

Of course, unless your opponent is especially clueless, this is never going to be possible in the real world.

You should, however, be constantly trying to put your opponent on a hand - or, more accurately, a range of hands.

Assign a Range

Often you'll be playing and will hear someone say "I put you on x, so I called" or "I put you on y, so I raised."

This is the wrong way to think about your opponent's holdings.

You'll rarely - if ever - be able to determine your opponent's hand down to the very two cards he holds.

Instead, what you should be trying to do is assign a range of hands.

But assigning your opponent a range is not as easy as it might sound.

At the beginning of the hand you have little information, and his hand range is fairly wide.

As the hand plays out, though, you pick up more information and can define his range more accurately.

Six-max game online. Effective stacks $200; blinds $1/$2.

Your opponent on the button plays your average TAG game; let's say 18% of hands played, 15% raising pre-flop.

You have J♥ J♣ and raise to $7 from under the gun.

Two players call and your villain on the button calls as well.

Because of the limpers his calling range is very large - much larger than normal.

Let's just take a couple minutes and fully think about it.

We can exclude AA, KK, QQ and A-K because those hands are almost always re-raised pre-flop.

They are especially unlikely since your average TAG will not want to play any of those multi-way.

So, if you were that TAG on the button, which hands would you call with?

Well, hands that play well multi-way.

When assigning a range it's never going to be completely accurate, but we can come up with approximations.

At this stage of the hand we can figure his range as being:

• A-J
• Axs
• K-Qs
• K-Qo
• K-Js
• Q-Js to 5-6s
• J-9s to 9-7s
• TT-22

Granted, some of those are more likely than others, but that's the general range we can assign to his pre-flop call.

As you can see, it's huge. So far all you have to go on is his pre-flop call after two limpers.

You'll have to wait until the flop to further define his range.

 

On the Flop

The flop comes 6♠ 7♠ 2♥. You bet $25 and the first two limpers fold; the button smooth-calls.

Your opponent called your raise after limping on the button and has now called your flop. You can take a huge number of hands out of his range.

First, you can eliminate the overcards. Our TAG opponent would fold the flop after missing.

Chances are if he had 8-8 or 7-7 or some other overpair to the board, he would have raised the flop, so you can also discount those.

What we're left with is draws, sets, two-pair hands and weak one-pair hands.

After the flop his range looks like this:

• K-Qs to 8-9s in spades (although overcards, flush draws and open-ended straight flush draws are discounted, because most TAGs will raise the flop with those)
• 6-7s
• 8-9
• 7-8
• 7-9
• 7-7
• 6-6
• 5-5
• 2-2

All of these hands would at least call the flop. Some of them of course would raise, but when assigning ranges it's sometimes helpful to use all hands that will continue to this flop bet.

As you can see, you've eliminated the bulk of his range.

You're now left with a fairly good idea of what your opponent holds.

 

The Turn

The turn brings the T♠. You bet $50 and your opponent raises all-in. Do you call?

Let's look at his range, which you can define further.

Which hands call before the flop, smooth-call the flop, and now raise the turn?

His range looks like this. (Again, some of these are discounted because he would have raised the flop and not waited till the turn when a flush card came to make a move.)

• K-Qs to 7-8s (suited in spades)
• 8-9
• 6-7
• 7-7
• 6-6
• 2-2

His range obviously has you crushed. Very rarely would he take this line with a hand worse than this range.

The Fog Clears With Information

What starts out as a hazy vision in the fog eventually becomes clearer the more information you get until you can make an educated guess as to his likely holdings.

Remember the idea is to not put him on one exact hand. The idea is to eliminate what he doesn't have and come up with a range of hands he likely holds.

Range is the greatest tool you can use to improve your poker game.

If you can accurately deduce your opponent's range, you're going to be making fewer mistakes.

And as we know, fewer mistakes equals more bucks.

By Daniel Skolovy

Video WSOP 2011 "Main Event" Finale Hightlights

Results Table finale World Series of Poker 2011

1 Pius Heinz 8,715,638$
2 Martin Staszko 5,433,086$
3 Ben Lamb 4,021,138$
4 Matt Giannetti 3,012,700$
5 Phil Collins 2,269,599$
6 Eoghan O'Dea 1,720,831$
7 Bob Bounahra 1,314,097$
8 Anton Makiievskyi 1,010,015$
9 Sam Holden 782,115$

3 left...!

Here the link to follow live, the end of the final table of WSOP 2011 Main Event !

http://www.wsop.com/2011/live-video/

Pius Heinz – 107,800,000

Ben Lamb – 55,400,000

Martin Staszko – 42,700,000

Matt Giannetti
Phil Collins
Eoghan O’Dea
Bob Bounahra
Anton Makiievskyi
Sam Holden

Need a new home to grind with my entire 'roll

Country Selection: How Poker Refugees Helps US Players Find New Homes

Pokerfuse sat down with Kristin Wilson of Poker Refugees to discuss the services offered and the challenges poker players face when relocating.

One of the major consequences of Black Friday was the anger that brewed among the members of the online poker community. Some felt betrayed by their own country; others simply frustrated at no longer being employed.
Many might choose a different career path, but poker players are not known for following conventional wisdom. As a result, we have experienced an exodus of American citizens – including some of the most respected names in the poker world – willing to pack their bags and move to other countries where one can play poker online unrestricted.

Anticipating your opponent’s move on subsequent streets is an essential skill in poker. Anticipating the migration of US poker players after Black Friday is proving to be a wise business decision for Poker Refugees, a joint venture between PocketFives.com and Real Estate specialist Kristin Wilson.

Refugees aims to provide a complete relocation service, specifically tailored to the unique needs of the poker player. Though most special requests can be accommodated, the service is primarily offered in three countries: Canada, Costa Rica and Panama. These countries are considered to be the most popular destinations for American Poker players “for security and lifestyle reasons,” says Wilson.

“They’re American-friendly countries, that you can play poker in legally,” she tells us. “But, we have also been able to help people going to Japan and if people want to go to Chile, Argentina, or Thailand – I can help.”

The service costs $1k per person and includes a pre-relocation consultation, advice on travel arrangements and real estate services.

Wilson firmly asserts that the service is rather unique and there is no other relocation service that caters specifically to poker players. The needs of poker players are very different from than those of corporate employees and other individuals looking to relocate. Assistance is also provided in obtaining approval from poker sites to re-activate their accounts; Wilson has found that the main interest of these players is to be up and running on a legitimate poker site as soon as possible.

“The most important thing that we have been able to do is reduce the amount of time that it takes people to get set up.” Anticipating their clients’ needs, Wilson and her team aim to get clients settled in to their new home within a day or two of their arrival in the country – and back online playing poker as soon as possible.

With PokerStars being the predominant poker site of choice among those looking to relocate, Wilson has become an expert at compiling the documents needed for players to obtain relocation approval from PokerStars. “Literally they can have all their documents into PokerStars within 24-48 hours of getting here. I am able to anticipate everything that the clients need and I do a lot of the work before they even get here.”

The relocation approval process for PokerStars is not to be taken lightly. “I know what is acceptable, what is not, and how to submit all the documents to prevent things from getting rejected,” Wilson says. Documents have been sent back because they were the wrong file type, incomplete or did not meet size requirements. “Every time you send stuff and it is rejected, it takes another day to get approved.”

Opening a bank account is one of the biggest hurdles that poker players face when relocating. Panama and Costa Rica experience a considerable amount of money laundering and drug trafficking; poker players with their frequent and sizable transactions tend to attract a lot of scrutiny. Detailed documentation is required to prove the source of funds is legitimate. Since the Poker Refugees team is well aware of these requirements, Wilson says they can handle these issues far better than any other relocation service.

Additional documentation required by PokerStars – like utility bills in your name – may be an afterthought to some, but obtaining one in the player’s name can be a challenge. In some countries, utility bills are only addressed to the property owners. Working with PokerStars, Wilson is able to assist players in obtaining suitable substitution documentation to satisfy PokerStars.

Poker Refugees also has a network of professional partners including immigration attorneys and tax professionals that are familiar with the unique issues poker players encounter. These services can prove invaluable to poker players that need to adhere to the laws of a new country.

While the expected value of this service will vary, for most professional poker players looking to leave the US to continue pursuing their profession, the convenience provided by the service far outweighs the cost. Even if it only saves you one week of downtime, a $50k/year grinder will be about break even financially. Add in the peace of mind for knowing everything is taken care of and the +EV decision becomes clear.

by Gabriel Ober 

 

Definition of Temporary Autonomous Zone

The book (TAZ, written by Hakim Bey in 1991), describes the socio-political tactic of creating temporary spaces that elude formal structures of control. The essay uses various examples from history and philosophy, all of which suggest that the best way to create a non-hierarchical system of social relationships is to concentrate on the present and on releasing one's own mind from the controlling mechanisms that have been imposed on it.

In the formation of a TAZ, Bey argues, information becomes a key tool that sneaks into the cracks of formal procedures. A new territory of the moment is created that is on the boundary line of established regions. Any attempt at permanence that goes beyond the moment deteriorates to a structured system that inevitably stifles individual creativity. It is this chance at creativity that is real empowerment.

TppT's running good

This blog can be use as a plateform to create links between online poker players. 

Taken plenty of time to play across the world it would be interesting to create a community around the players and have the opportunity to discuss or exchange experiences.

Create pokerhouses and workings groups in differents parts of the world!

At first, my plan is to create a grindhouse in the Caribbean and South America (2012) and after move to Eastern Europe and Asia! Everyone is welcome!

TppT's running good!