Message boards and websites are filled with quality poker information, but sometimes the authors use “poker shorthand” to describe the game situations. If you’re not familiar with the terms, you can’t take full advantage of the knowledge being shared. Reading through the Poker Shorthand Primer will help you understand what people are actually saying when they say, “YMTC, playing Kxs in LP”..

Poker comes with it’s own language, slang included. While anyone who has seen an episode of the World Poker Tour knows that pocket Queens can be called the “lovely ladies” or the “hilton sisters”, there is more to poker lingo than hand nicknames.

A lot of websites and message boards offer poker strategy and advice, and knowing the basic terms and how to read poker shorthand can unlock this world of information. First, let’s look at the shorthand that poker players use to describe the cards during a hand.

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TonyGPoker.com, in case you have not already heard, has just undergone a make-over. Yup, you read it right. This already heavily trafficked poker room has recently teamed up with the much-celebrated iPoker Network and is committed more than ever to giving poker players what they truly want… the finest damn web-based poker action available to man (and woman, of course).

What is really appealing about this online site is that it still attracts loads of less experienced poker players. Thus, the competition is indeed soft, so if you have any poker-playing smarts at all, you’ll want to cash in now before the sharks catch on.

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With all of the great poker websites that are available these days, many poker enthusiasts have decided to try to play virtual poker. Playing poker online can be an exciting and often rewarding experience, and many players can improve their game and even win some money when they engage in this activity. Is it more difficult to play virtual poker than it is to play regular poker at a real table? After you get used to how the poker software works and how to navigate poker websites, you’ll find that virtual poker is just as easy as playing regular poker, and most of the time just as exciting.

When you play virtual poker, you are almost always playing against other real people, in real time. There are some websites where you can play poker against the computer, but these days the most popular way is to play with real people. You register at a poker website, and then you sign in and click on a “table” where you’d like to play. The graphics show a picture of a poker table, and you’ll see your name at one of the chairs after you have been seated. From there, you’ll be prompted when it is your turn to ante or bet, or, as in the case of Texas Hold’em, you’ll be able to go “all in” when the time is right.

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At any time you’re playing poker, you want to bring all you got to the poker table, especially when playing cash games. Cash games are a high speed adrenaline rush every single hand. Unlike a cautious tournament, you can win some major money in the blink of an eye.

The way to play No-Limit Hold’em cash games at a full table is to constantly have patience and do not play stupid. Playing cash games at a 9 seater is all about patience. You need to wait before throwing your money into the pot, especially when it’s REAL money. If you are a texas holdem play money player and have currently switched over to playing texas holdem poker online cash games, you will be in for a harsh surprise. People play nothing like play money games, in real money games. The only way to truly get a feel of texas holdem is to play for real money. When you play for real money it doesn’t always have to be for such high stakes, you can start off at the low stakes level (.05/.10 blinds) and still learn poker well. The best pre-flop hands possible are AA, KK, QQ, A-K and should not be played lightly. These are your money making hands which you will be making an absolute killing on.

Whether it is the world series of poker or the world poker tour or even just a .05/.10 cash game, you should play exactly the same every time and not slack off. Just because you feel the stakes aren’t as high as you would like them to be, you need to take everything seriously especially if you want to be a professional poker player. If you possess discipline and are a very patient player, you should have no problem making some great money online.

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A complex nature of poker generated in poker community a discussion on what dominates in this casino game: skills or success. Most of the people believe that poker is a casino game the outcome of which depends on skills of a casino player and only a small probability is given to a chance. This thesis is confirmed by facts. For instance, legendary poker players have won WSOP poker championship for many times independently on a number of participants. Thus, Johnny Moss has triply become a poker champion (in 1970, 1971 and 1974), a three-time poker champion is the greatest player of the 20th century Stew Ungar, he won WSOP in 1980, 1981 and 1997. Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chen have twice tried on Gold WSOP winner bracelets. In poker as in any other kind of sports there is an elite of poker players who win great tournaments every year or take prize places. Just sport compound of poker let make poker player rating, every year the first places are occupied there by the poker the casino and poker rooms community.

As to the opinion of the states on the nature of poker, here everything’s more complicated and sophisticated. As a rule, in many countries the authorities don’t make any difference between gambling games and poker. However such a fuddy-duddy approach has recently tried to break the poker community. Poker and casino games fans unite themselves in associations, public entities trying to prove to the officials that poker can not be put together with roulette or slot machines.

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Seven Card Stud Eight or Better

(Also known as: stud 8/b, stud hi/lo)

This is article number 6 out of 6 of the “HORSE Poker Introduction Series”.

Overview:

Seven Card Stud Eight or Better is the E in “h.o.r.s.e”, this game is really starting to gain popularity since becoming part of few mix games, the game itself is very challenging, a lot of players seem to have difficulty to master this game strategy, if you’ll master this game, we’ll have big advantage over other players on horse tournaments.

Today you can find more and more poker room that support this game, so try to practice as much as you can.

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With the creation of the World Poker Tour (WPT) in 2002 and the climactic World Series of Poker (WSOP) victory by amateur player Chris Moneymaker in 2003 a poker explosion created a new generation of poker players that filled card rooms both inside the casinos and on the every expanding online locations. This progeny had Moneymaker as the father, WPT as the mother and Doyle Brunson as a grandfather who never saw it coming. Unfortunately, in the wake of this boom the United States government decided it did not like having so much income avoiding taxes.

In 2003, the year Moneymaker won the WSOP there were 839 entrants. This number ballooned the following year with an unprecedented growth of over 300% to have 2,576 entrants. The following year the number of players more than doubled to 5,619 players. In 2006 growth slowed but continued with 8,773 players. It was predicted that 12,000 players would pay or play their way for the $10,000 entry fee to the tournament but then the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, a title within the SAFE Port Act, was pushed through the House of Representatives, largely Jim Leach. Bill Frist and Jon Kyl expedited the bill through the Senate. The UIGEA portion of the bill was pushed through quietly and signed into law on September of 2006.

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Phil Ivey is arguably the greatest living poker player in the world right now. He has five World Series of Poker bracelets, reached a record eight World Poker Tour final tables and won two out of three of Full Tilt Poker’s Million Dollar Cash game against the best in the world. He won over $16 million dollars from Texas billionaire Andy Beal. As of this writing his has made more money playing online than any other player this year. Like Phil Ivey, Tiger Woods is the best at what he does and you could become a very great golfer yourself if you simply copied him. But with Phil Ivey, if you want to be the best you’re better off finding your own way.

Why? Phil Ivey is a maniac. As a matter of fact, of all the maniacs in poker he is the most maniacal. A maniac in poker is a very loose, very aggressive player both pre and post-flop. He plays a lot of hands and bluffs often. He is simultaneously the best and worst player to have at a table with you. When he has a big hand, he wins big time since nobody can get a good read on him. That’s what you see on TV, when Phil Ivey rakes in a $400k pot. That’s what everyone wants, but what you don’t see is the bad side of a maniac. Since a maniac is so loose many of the pots he enters, he is behind. Sometimes he catches, sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes his bluffs work, sometimes they don’t. Smart players can take advantage of loose starting requirements and simply wait until they get a big hand. The craziness of your play makes you predictable and in the end costs you money. You may start off the night up big, but it’s very likely you could go home broke unless you change things up. You should always be paying attention to your table image, if people think you are a bluffer they won’t respect you. Make them pay by waiting for a big hand.

“At the end of the day you have to trust your instincts and play your own game – not someone else’s.” -Phil Ivey

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Chris Moneymaker began playing bridge with his grandmother in his childhood but soon he started playing blackjack with his father to cut the long story short, he was interested in the game of cards since his childhood. The real name of this famous poker player contrary to popular belief is really Christopher Bryan Moneymaker, he used to be an accountant by profession but all that changed when he won the WSOP main event in 2003 and turned out to be a superstar.

He began as an amateur player but after he won that famed tournament he shot into stardom overnight. Chris Moneymaker is one of the most famous poker professionals in the country today and he has toured the entire world winning many events across the globe.

Chris Moneymaker truly is a living legend. How else do you describe a poker player who went back home richer by two and a half million dollars on his first live tournament. After winning his first tournament, Chris quit his job and became a fulltime poker player.

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What would you do? If you grabbed an engineering degree from a respected college like MIT and a degree in law from Harvard University, the most probable answer to this question is to get a high profile job as a top boss in some multinational company. But, if you are Andy Bloch, you would certainly become a Professional Poker Player.

Andy Bloch is amongst the most notable players in the poker industry, he has survived in this game of poker for over quite sometime now. The achievement of this poker player includes several tournaments, where he reached the final tables and a victory at the last years WSOP Circuit event. This amazing persona is an enigma in the world of poker, here is an insight into the life of this amazing man. Andy Bloch grew up playing cards with friends and family, it can be easily said that he was inclined to win poker from a very early age. When he was completing his education at MIT he used to play poker with his friends, but it was not until 1992 that he seriously considered taking up poker as a profession.

1992 was the year when he graduated from MIT with two electrical engineering degrees, in the beginning he used to play regularly at the newly opened Foxwood Casino. At first he used to play the $35 weekly tournaments at the FoxWoods, he even restricted his habit of playing poker to a once a month affair. In the year 1993 he was introduced to the MIT Blackjack team which developed some programs and a strategy that gave the player a substantial edge of about six percent over the casino. The MIT Blackjack team trained some students of this engineering college who started beating the casino frequently.

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