Pot odds is one of the most neglected aspects of Texas Holdem poker, especially by the beginner and intermediate player. Some poker beginners have heard the term and a few even have a basic concept of what pot odds are, but very few of these players know how to put them to good use in a poker game.

However knowing how to calculate and use pot odds is one of the crucial weapons that serious poker players have in their armory, one that most definitely separates them from the amateur.

Poker pot odds are often associated with complex mathematical calculations and the less serious player can feel overwhelmed at the prospect of tackling such a subject, but don?t fret, do you really think that to be a serious poker player you need to be a genius at mathematics? Do you think all the poker pros are?

Well of course the answer is that they are most definitely not all geniuses, but what they do have is a method of calculating the odds quickly and easily to see if they are in their favor in any given situation. So let?s look at a simple, basic way of calculating the odds, remember it needs to be quick and easy so that it can be worked out quickly and accurately in the heat and pressure of a poker game.

Poker pot odds can be broken down to this simple one liner:

?If the odds of you getting the card you need to make your hand are less than the pot odds, you should bet.?

There are two sides to this equation which I will try and explain, ?odds of you getting the card you need? and ?pot odds.? Firstly ?odds of you getting the card you need?, this one is fairly easy to understand. It?s best explained using the example of a flush or straight draw, so we?ll use a straight draw to illustrate it.

You?re in a Texas Holdem game and your pocket cards are Q T, the flop is J 4 9. In order to make a straight you need to get either a King or 8 on the turn or river so you have eight possible cards that can make your hand, four Kings and four 8s. These are known as your ?out? cards.

You?ve seen five cards out of the deck, your own two pocket cards and the three flop cards. That means there?s 47 cards you haven?t seen. So the odds of you getting the card you need are:

Cards that won?t help you : Cards that will help you

Out of the 47 remaining cards, eight of them will help you and 35 won?t, so the ?odds of you getting the card you need? are 35:8 or 4.375:1. Now for the pot odds.

The basic formula is:

The size of the pot : Amount you need to put into the pot.

So if the pot is sitting at $100 and you need to bet $20 to call, your pot odds are 100:20 or 5:1.

In this case the pot odds (5:1) are bigger than the odds of you getting the card you need (4.375:1) so you should call the bet. This is known as getting "value" for your bet. If you are doing these sums quickly you can think of 35:8 as being about four and a half to one, it?s good enough for a quick calculation.

This is a simplification of pot odds and there are other considerations like ? will the players after you in the round of betting add to the pot? This would make your bet an even better proposition as it would increase the pot odds but it is of course an unknown factor.

Understand pot odds and you will take your game forward to the next stage and prepare yourself for the poker big league.

Read more at Texas Holdem Poker and Poker beginners issues.

2008 saw 22 year old Peter Eastgate take the World Series of Poker championship, collecting just over $9million. It is almost inevitable now that we will see new younger players wanting a piece of the action at the poker table. the following is a few pointers on how to win, or at least get to the final few players left at the table in sit n go tournaments.

What are Sit n Go Tournaments?

Sit N Go Tournaments, or "SNG", is a kind of poker tournament. Most of SNG tournaments are single table and can be found at 99% of online poker rooms. Unlike Freerolls which start at a specific time in the day they begin as soon as enough people are registered to the tournament. There are usually around 10 people at the table in a Sit n Go tournament.

Holdem Competitions are usually cheap, quick and available 24hours a day depending on the number of active players at a poker room.

Poker Tournaments are a great way for players to gain experience in bigger multi-table tournaments by simulating the final table. Your game plan for the final table should differ greatly from your normal poker play as there are less players. Most professionals say you should play more aggressively they fewer players there are at the table.

A slow start and fast finish is usually preferred by experienced players. This gives you more security in still being at the table with the final 4 or 5 players. Your aim in most Sit n Go's is to finish in the final 3 places which is normally where the cash prizes are. Most online poker rooms guarantee at least 20% for 3rd place, 30% for 2nd place and 50% of the total prize money for finishing 1st.

Play cautious until you reach 3rd place and then get aggressive. Try to steal as many blinds as possible as at this point they will be high and can give your stack a much needed boost.

If you find yourself short stacked, wait for a good hand and go all in if against one or two players. Don't call a big raise with J 7 off just because you don't have many chips left. Your cards will come.

If your stack is above average then bully other players who have smaller stacks. Remember their small stack of chips is worth more to them than your big stack. They will be waiting for a big hand so this is a good time to steal their blinds away from them.

The more you play the more you will learn at Sit n Go's. Surprisingly if you follow these simple rules you will find yourself finishing around the top three more often than not and making a good profit. Sit n Go tournaments are without a doubt my most biggest way of making a profit playing poker. I can't say that I make more money off them than no limit ring games but for how much it costs me in buy ins and how much I win, the percentage is defiantly highest.

Good luck and stay focused and sensible, don't tilt.

More poker tips, blog, forum, bonuses, links and more at http://www.HoldemTips.co.uk - You? online poker resource.

Online Poker News and Rakebacks

November 11, 2008

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Poker Sites Block Balance of US States

Online poker rooms Poker Host and Eurolinx had already established that residents of certain states from the USA would not be allowed to play on their sites in keeping with local laws on poker’s legality, and now have made the announcement that all of the US is banned from play on their sites. It is believed that this action as taken in response to the actions of the Governor of one of those states, Kentucky, who sought to gain ownership of poker room domain names in an effort to shut them down.

Overlay Poker Tournaments: Gaining buy-in Advantage in a Guaranteed Tournament - CelebPoker.com

Poker players don’t get this opportunity often, but sometimes a poker player can make a financial advantage just by registrating for a Multi Table Poker Tournament

How is this possible? The answer is within the overlays given by guaranteed prizepools offered for some guaranteed poker tournaments

An example: On Sunday the 02/11/2008 the 250.000 Guaranteed Tournament at CelebPoker had a 320 Buy-In. 613 players registered for this tournament. Now the calculation fun begins!

First a player has to divide the offered Prizemoney with the number of players who registered. In this example: 250,000 / 613 players = 407.

This means that a players ticket is worth than 407. As your ticket costs 320, you are automatically gaining the equivilent of an extra 87 to pay for your entry (407-320 = 87). Ok, players don’t get the cash in the bank, but poker players do get it as an advantage for the buy-in as a player have less players to compete for the prizepool with.

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More students betting future at online casinos

Addiction comes in many forms, and while alcohol and drugs get most of the attention, university and college students are not immune to one of the fastest growing and expensive vices– gambling.

According to the Responsible Gambling Council’s Poker Poll and 2005 Prevalence Study, 6.9 per cent of young adults in Ontario have a moderate to severe gambling problem.

Online poker playing by young adults has grown by nearly 300 per cent, and 16 per cent of Ontarians between the ages of 18 and 34 believe that online poker is a good way to earn extra money.

Amanda Stokes, project co-ordinator for Know the Score, the Responsible Gambling Council’s travelling gambling awareness exhibit, said her organization’s goal is to educate students about the risks of gambling.

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Poker News November 15th, 2008

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Winner of 623.000 Euro at Grand Final of Master Classics of Poker

Jan Sorensen Wins Grand Final at Master Classics of Poker

Jan Sorensen won the grand final of the main event at the Master Classics of Poker in Holland Casino Amsterdam. He won 623.000 euro. In the exciting final Gustav Ekerot came in second. The Master Classics of Poker is one of the biggest and best-known international poker tournaments in Europe.

This year poker players from a.o. America, Canada, Russia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Slovakia, England, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, etc. attended the Master Classics of Poker.
About Master Classics of Poker
The main tournament in the Holland Casino Master Classics of Poker is the Lido Poker Tournament. This tournament takes place from Tuesday 11th to Friday 14th November inclusive and has a buy-in of 6,000 Euros plus 200 Euros entry fee. The Master Classics of Poker comprises seven different tournaments where the types of poker played are Texas Hold’em and Omaha. The buy-in plus entry fee for each tournament varies between 330 and 6,200 Euros. The level of the prize pot for these tournaments is, of course, dependent on the number of participants. Each day the tournaments start at 2 pm except for the Lido Tournament that starts at 3 pm. More information on the MCOP and the full tournament schedule is available at www.masterclassicsofpoker.com.

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‘Poker Wizards’ Reap More than $4,000,000 in Tournament Earnings in 08

‘Poker Wizards’ book contributors: Chris Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, T.J. Cloutier, Kathy Liebert, Marcel Luske, Dan Harrington and Mike Sexton unable able to defeat the overwhelming odds in 2008 to make the recently televised WSOP final table, but as a group, they have been paid in excess of $4,000,000 for tournament winnings in 2008 even without cracking the Main Event.

In one of the years best new books, ‘Poker Wizards’, the best known names in poker explain how they make large sums of money year after year. An exclusive compilation of strategies, insights and winning tactics from some of the worlds best poker players combined in one book. Well known No-limit Hold’em champions Daniel Negreanu, Chris Ferguson, Dan Harrington, T.J Cloutier, Marcel Luske, Mel Judah, Mike Sexton and Kathy Liebert, reveal the tactics and attitudes that have enabled them to make millions of dollars playing poker. The book also contains a bonus chapter on body language by world renowned body language expert Marc Salem.

Poke Wizards author available for media interviews.

Author Warwick Dunnett
Cardoza Publishing
Distributed by Simon & Schuster and available at:
www.pokerwizards.net

Century Casinos Announces Polish Open 2008 Poker Tournament

Century Casinos, Inc. announced today that its subsidiary Casinos Poland Ltd. will present the grand Polish Open 2008, a four-day Texas Hold’em No Limit tournament, hosted as part of the fifth EPT European Poker Tour Season at its casino in the Hyatt Hotel in Warsaw from November 15 to November 19, 2008.

The tournament will be capped at 400 players who will play for a total prize pool of up to PLN 8,000,000 or approx. $2,700,000. The buy-in for the tournament amounts to PLN 21,000 or approx. $7,000. According to the official website of the EPT a lot of stars are heading to Warsaw for the next stop on the Pokerstars.com European Poker Tour. Among the top players set to compete at the four-day event are Team PokerStars Pros Gavin Griffin, the EPT Grand Final winner in Season 4, EPT Player of the Year Luca Pagano, PCA Champion Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, William Thorson, Season 3 Warsaw finalist Katja Thater, EPT London finalist Marcin Horecki, Dario Minieri, Alex Kravchenko and Isabelle Mercier.

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Poker News November 11th, 2008

November 11, 2008

World Series of Poker has youngest champ ever

A 22-year-old Danish poker professional won the World Series of Poker early Tuesday, turning a wheel straight on the last hand to become the youngest champion in the history of the no-limit Texas Hold ‘em main event.

Peter Eastgate hit an ace-to-five straight on the turn and instantly called an all-in bet from Ivan Demidov on the river to win the title and $9,152,416. Demidov held two pair, twos and fours.

The previous youngest champion was 11-time gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, who was 24 when he won the tournament in 1989.

“It feels good to beat Phil’s record,” Eastgate said after taking pictures with stacks of $100 bills and his new gold bracelet. “I was not focused on the record that I could break, I was just focused on the game.”

Eastgate said he got a call from Hellmuth wishing him luck before the more than three-hour session.

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Perth player misses making poker final

The final of the World Series of Poker, with its $9.15-million U.S. first prize, will be televised tonight with Scott Montgomery no more than a spectator.

The 27-year-old professional player from Perth reached what organizers labeled the “November Nine” in Las Vegas, but he bowed out Sunday night and missed last night’s final, which was taped for broadcast tonight (TSN, 10 p.m.).

“I certainly wanted to finish better than fifth,” Montgomery told reporters later.

This year has been referred to as his “breakout year” as a poker player, with more than $1.3 million in tournament earnings heading into the World Series, and he more than doubled that with his $3.1-million prize for placing fifth.

Montgomery started playing poker about four years ago, while teaching English in Japan, using his down time to play and study the game.

His great 2008 run began in February at the World Poker Tour’s Los Angeles Poker Classic $990,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em championship. He made it to the final table, which included eventual winner Phil Ivey, and won $296,000 for finishing fifth.

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You gotta know when to Texas hold’em at UMSL

Are you good at card games?

If you are (or even if you are not), the University of Missouri-St. Louis holds annual poker games and this year was the “Texas Hold ‘em Tournament!”

The tournament is usually played with a 52-card deck, and needs at least two players with no more than 11 players.

The Texas Hold ‘em Tournament was held on South Campus in the Provincial Hall from 7 -11 p.m. on Thursday night and officially started at 7:15 p.m.

The event drew in 46 players.

Charlotte Caeys, graduate student, business administration, came here from France and said she learned to play poker here, and has loved it from the first time she played. “I found out [how to play poker] on the Internet,” Caeys said.

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rakeback

Poker Links continues to celebrate its new look and features by giving money away to its members through two exclusive freerolls and six new Rake Races for October.

“We value each and every one of our members, and what better way to say “thank you for choosing us as your affiliate site” than to give them more chances to win money? RakeBreak members get the most for their money: on top of the best rakeback deals in the industry, our members can also join in the Rake Races to make some extra cash and have a shot at our exclusive freeroll tournaments.”

This month’s exclusive $20,000 freeroll will take place on Sunday October 12 at Full Tilt Poker. All RakeBreak members who have accumulated 500 FTPs are allowed to join the freeroll 100% free of charge - all they have to do is look up the tournament at Full Tilt’s lobby and click on “Register.”

Players who miss this freeroll can still have a shot at free money on November 15, when RakeBreak.com will be hosting a $5,000 freeroll at Cake Poker.

RakeBreak has a busy Rake Race schedule for October, with six sites awarding over $80,000 to the top raking players. Here is an overview of RakeBreak.com’s October rake races:

casino poker

- Absolute Poker will be giving out $20,000 to the top 50 rakers in October.
- Betfair Poker will award $500 to its top raking player, as well as cash prizes for the remaining top 10.
- Cake Poker is also rewarding 50 players with a share of $15,000 - the highest raker will take home $1800.
- The 10 highest rakers at Fortune Poker will earn a share of €2,000 this month.
- Full Tilt is going all out with $20,000 in cash for the 50 leaders of this month’s Rake Race.
- Finally, UltimateBet is also giving $2,000 to October’s highest raker, and splitting $18,000 among the remaining top 50.

“If you are not part of a rakeback program yet, you should really pay us a visit. Besides our excellent rakeback percentages, this month we are giving over $105,000 in prizes at absolutely no cost to our members - not many other affiliates can say that.”

Poker News November 7th 2008

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Daniel Negreanu: Don’t sweat the small stuff at the poker table

I like to peruse the Full Contact Poker online forums to read and comment on posts about interesting poker hands and whether they were played properly. I find that many of the contributors consistently suffer from the same problem: They are far too preoccupied with statistically insignificant aspects of a poker hand.

My point is that the minor details of many poker hands are often unimportant and simply not worthy of in-depth analysis. Worrying about these insignificant details won’t have much effect on your bankroll at the end of the year.

The best way to improve your poker game is to focus on the important aspects of the game, like eliminating big mistakes. Instead, I see too many players fretting about whether they are a 56.2 percent favorite or a 51.8 percent favorite.

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North Versailles Diner Raided For Video Poker

Video poker machines were removed from a North Versailles restaurant Thursday night.

Police officers confiscated the machines from the Great Valley diner in the Great Valley Shopping Center on Lincoln Highway.State and Allegheny County police handled the raid.No arrests were made.

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Poker pros to duke it out

These are serious poker professionals duking it out at one of the biggest events of the year.

It’s going to be intense. The final nine players of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table will meet across the poker table Sunday at the Rio.

The nine will battle for a share of $32.6 million in prize money, bragging rights and the much coveted WSOP gold bracelet.

The event takes place at 10 a.m. inside the Penn & Teller Theater.

The final two players go head-to-head the following day.

Go to www.harrahs.com for more information.

Tao turns 3-years-old

Amy Smart bopped into Tao over at The Venetian this weekend with 10 friends. The group settled next to the restaurant’s 20-foot Buddha and dined on TAO Asian Bistro signature dishes Hong Kong XO Shrimp, Imperial Vegetable Egg Rolls and assorted sushi.

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Whenever you decide to try a new poker room, bonus offer or rakeback plan , it is important that you do your homework. As you probably know, a lot of people in the world play texas hold em online. If you want to read a detailed review of a poker site, bonus plan or rakeback deal, you can find the info you need online. Here are some things to keep in mind when you compare bonuses and rakeback offers.

Comparing Bonus Offers

When you shop around for texas holdem bonus, there are plenty of things to consider. While shopping for the highest initial deposit bonus does have its perks, your goal should always be to read the terms and conditions of the offer. The terms will spell out all the restrictions, obligations and strings that your offer has attached.

In all likelihood, your bonus money will not be available right away. You ll have to fulfill certain play-through requirements in order to claim the full amount. You may have to play in a certain amount of raked hands or wager your total bonus amount multiple times over before your bonus cash is unlocked. There might be restrictions on the games you can play, or a limited window of time for you to complete your bonus requirements. As long as you read the terms and conditions of your bonus offer, you ll know exactly what you need to do to earn your full bonus amount. Reading the fine print is a critical part of the shopping process.

Comparing Rakeback Deals

titan rakeback Rakeback deals are available through third-party affiliate sites. These offers are advertised as a percentage. The average rakeback percentage is around 30 percent. Just like with bonuses, a detailed reading of the terms is the best way to compare different offers.

Visit a few different affiliate sites, and ask yourself some basic questions as you read the terms of every offer. How does the poker room calculate your net rakerebate? If the dealt rakeback method is used, you will receive credit for rake in every hand that you are dealt in. If the contributed rakeback method is used, you will have to contribute to the pot in order to receive rake credit.

If you ve accepted a lucrative bonus offer and shopped around for a great rakeback deal, you need to make sure that you know how each offer will affect the other. Will bonuses be subtracted from your monthly gross revenue (MGR)? Most poker rooms will deduct your bonus earnings from your net rake. This can drastically lower the amount of rakeback that you earn. Another thing to keep in mind is that most poker sites will include your tournament fees in your MGR, but others will not. Again, you need to read the terms to find out what you should expect.

If you want to take full advantage of bonuses and rakeback, don t choose one over the other. Find a way to make bonuses and rakeback work together. There are poker rooms out there that will not deduct your bonuses from your MGR. Signing up for a rakeback plan is smart. Signing for a rakeback plan that gives you credit for tourney fees and leaves your bonus money out of your rakeback calculations is the best way to go.

Brad Booth

Bradley (Brad) Booth (born September 20th, 1976 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian professional poker player known for his appearances on the GSN series High Stakes Poker. H