Are there more chances to win if I play tight or a loose game?

You will undeniably hear two sides of this argument from your fellow poker players or perhaps the so-called poker professionals. Let’s look first at the tight Texas holdem’ players. Everybody including yourself will find it difficult winning, if the entire table is playing a tight poker game. What may take place if you have a table full of tight Texas holdem’players is the poker players will wind up exchanging the smaller pots back and forth to each other. All the while the poker lounge is raking in loads of your hard-earned cash, and that of your competitors. So now you could say, is it better to play loose? Well, in this situation the better players are going to lose a smaller number of hands, but at the end of it all nobody is going to triumph.

How can I better my Texas holdem’ playing in the long run?

The answer to this question is as simple as a piece of paper and a pen. A good strategy to learn a lot about your playing style and strategy, is to keep track of your poker playing. You could write down this information during the Texas holdem’ game, and then pass it to a database on your home computer. This can also help you learn about your competitor’s playing style, and what is the best tactic to defeat them.

Is it a good idea to use the same tactics for every poker game?

If you think that being predictable is a winning strategy for playing poker, then you should think about varying your Texas holdem’ strategy. The Texas holdem’ pros have the same opinion that varying your poker playing style is the best way to confuse and baffle your Texas holdem’ competitors. You should try a number of strategies, find the ones that work for you and modify them for every poker tournament.

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According to the 2006 WSOP champ, Jamie Gold, he would like to be celebrated as the all time best bluffer in the game of Texas Holdem’. But if his last poker tournament is any indication, his wish may not come true ever.

The setting is the 2007 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic held at the Vegas Bellagio in 2007. Featuring $50 - $100 blinds and a $15,000 buy-in, Darrell Dicken is hanging on in the tournament for dear life. The seat 4 player has just raised his wager to $300, a minor increase with only one player biting the line. “I put him as being weak,” Jamie said, “I was thinking about raising, but instead I just called with a 10-3 of hearts to see what would happen.”

Jamie was thinking that Brad Booth would make some kind of move, which he did. He re-raised to $1600 from the big blind. Gold was thinking that Booth had a decent hand, but he was in an excellent position to make a move taking into account the quantity of dead money in the pot. Dicken folded, and the unknown in Seat 4 called Booth’s raise.

Now there was more than $4000 in the pot, so Jamie wagered another $4000. His thought was, only if someone else had aces or kings there would be no way they would make that call. Jamie’s plan was to make a huge move on the flop, as long as no ace came up. The second part of his plan was to get Booth to fold, which he did. Booth folded with pocket queens.

On the flop there was an ace of ace-6-5, two clubs. The player in seat 4 checked and Jamie bet $2000. Jamie’s initial thought was to make him think that he had clubs. Seat 4 laid down a $10,000 chip, but didn’t say anything thus turning his raise into a call. Jamie’s thought was that seat 4 most likely had an ace, but you have to shield it in case he hits his set on the upcoming card.

A 2 of hearts showed up on the turn, and Jamie decided to fold to what he was thinking was a top pair kicker. Seat 4 showed a king-jack off suit. Seat 4 fooled Gold by bluffing with a higher hand, he forced an excellent poker play and continued with the bluff straight to the end.

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Texas Holdem’ used to be available only in Las Vegas casinos or from video poker, but now it is more widespread than ever in Las Vegas thanks to the the internet.

The famous Venetian Resort, is now betting on this new trend with its new audience-participation show called “The Real Deal!” in its showroom located in the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino, beginning in October.

Their new show will mix comedy and game show elements to entertain its live audience. The audience will also be able to participate in the popular game of Texas Holdem’ alongside the some famous poker stars. The show has many prizes for the audience including a chance to win 1$ million.

In “The Real Deal!” the audience will play with players like Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu. Around 10 of the World’s most famous poker players have already signed up for the game show about poker. The audience will be able to play along with the 90 minute game thanks to handheld, wireless, touch screen devices located on each seat.

“People who take a vacation in Las Vegas casinos want to play different types of poker games,” Negreanu says, “but obviously they can’t play in a top poker tournament with the players such as Doyle or Phil Hellmuth. But, in this show, they actually can.” At the beginning of each show, six audience members will be chosen to sit at the poker table on stage with two pro poker players. Each audience member is then involved in the action by being dealt a unique hand on their devices. Everyone in the showroom is then involved in the action with big-screen monitors located on stage.

The show’s producers say that you don’t have to be a professional poker player to join in the game. There are other ways to increase your point total, that doesn’t involve poker necessarily. Betting on the suit of the next poker card or trying to guess which state a particular audience member is from, are just some of the ways to come out a champion in poker in this game.

Creators of the show are also betting on the great personalities of the professional poker players to create some exciting moments. Poker players such as Scotty Nguyen, the flamboyant five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, definitely knows how to work the crowd and is a sure bet for some great TV moments in this new idea for poker .

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Shortly after the beginning of last week’s charity celebrity poker event to help the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Ben Affleck goes all-in with a flop of Ace-Nine-King and two diamonds. He winces when two of his rivals call the bet. He yells “Re-buy”, but the turn is a seven of hearts. Affleck is upset when a jack of diamonds is dealt on the river. He took the hand seriously even though there was no actual cash at stake. This is just the kind of thing that Affleck and several other online poker enthusiasts are petitioning for.

Over $100,000 was raised for the paralyzed victims, but this was not the only purpose of the celebrity poker event held in Coors Field. Members of the Poker Players Alliance are working very hard to legalize internet poker in the United States. As part of their agenda, they are pushing to repeal the 2006 legislation Congress passed which forbids U.S. Banks and credit card companies from processing transactions related to online gambling websites.

John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, is optimistic about the direction that the new congress will lead this decision. Pappas says that the alliance is pushing for a licensed industry, just for online poker, and not for all online gaming. Pappas is interested in having a safe, regulated industry that all Americans can enjoy. The group is fighting for the rights of people and the privacy they deserve in their own home.

“There are misconceptions about poker and about online poker,” poker pro Andy Bloch said in between hands during the charity poker event. “Some people think that online gaming is gambling like a slot machine, and it’s not.”

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