"Welcome to the PokerRoom.com poker school. Here you can try out a few lessons that should help improve your poker game.
The intention is not to turn you into a pro, (to do that requires a lot of study and massive experience), but rather to give you the confidence to play low limit poker for real money and enjoy the excitement of it".
A Beginner's Guide to Texas Hold'em A Beginner's Guide to Texas Hold'em is not an introduction to the basic rules of Texas Hold'em. To find detailed information on how Texas Hold'em is played, please visit our rules page. Instead, this guide is focused on helping you understand the game better and give you some tips on how to become a better Texas Hold'em player. We hope you'll find it intriguing.
Texas Hold'em is the king of all poker games. And it requires a ton of skill. But still the most skilled player in the world can't beat a lucky strike. So anything can happen. But we thought we'd guide you through the most essential strategy assessments.
Start at the Bottom Even if you turn out to be the biggest poker talent the world has ever seen, you are best off starting at the bottom. Playing low stakes limit games or tournaments is a good way to get a lot of hands under your belt without taking too big a risk. Sure limit games can be tricky and lacks the element of bluffing, but as a newcomer bluffing is probably not the thing to try. Limit games are much more controlled and less risky to experiment a little with. And as in all things, experimentation is a good way to learn fast.
Don't trust your $1000000000 Play Money Stack! If you've won a ton of money playing with play money you probably got what it takes to become a good real money player too. But the games differ a lot. So don't jump into a high stakes real money game expecting to kick butt. But you are probably set to take on a low stakes game. Because sometimes they are even wilder than play money games!
Starting hand Value Your two pocket cards, or hole cards, are the only factors that separate your hand from the other players' hands. So learning how to play them is vital. An AA (ace-ace) combo simply has a much greater chance of winning than say a 7-3 combo. Play the good starting hands. Fold the bad.
Position Play Being seated in “late position” in a poker game is a huge advantage since you then get to see your opponents make their moves before you have to act yourself. To become a good player, one must understand, and learn to take advantage of this advantage. A good starting hand in an early position may actually be a worse hand to play than a bad hand in late position.
Fold No matter the betting round, if you have nothing and can't draw to anything, fold faster than Superman on laundry day. It's as simple as that.
Hand Nicknames
AA
Pocket Rockets, Bullets, American Airlines
KK
Cowboys, King Kong
QQ
Double date, Canadian Aces, Siegfried and Roy
JJ
Fish hooks
99
German virgin (no, we don’t know why)
88
Snowmen
77
Sunset strip
66
Route 66
55
Speed limit
44
Magnum, Sail boat
33
Crabs
22
Ducks
AK
Big slick
AQ
Big chick
AJ
Black Jack, Jack-ass
KQ
Royalty, Marriage
KJ
Kojak
J5
Jackson five
Q3
Gay waiter
95
Dolly Parton
A8
Dead man’s hand (A player named Wild Bill Hickok was shot in 1876 after winning with it!)
K9
Canine
J4
Flat tyre
93
The Sik. (A legendary PokerRoom.com hand made famous by the members of the Pokah! forum)
By following these simple guidelines you'll be better prepared for the thrill, rush and excitement of online poker!
Preseason or not, you still have to wonder how head coach Tony Dungy feels when his Super Bowl co-favorite Indianapolis Colts are 0-3 in the Preseason. Losing can sometimes become a habit, and Dungy will certainly be thinking of keeping his starters on a little longer in Denver when the Colts face the Broncos. The Broncos are a comfortable 2-0 in the preseason, claiming wins over Houston and San Francisco, and with the venerable Jerry Rice looking good at third receiver.
Online Casinos are an improvement over land based casinos in that there are no distractions for the player. No crowds, no pushy and overbearing gamblers who want to play 5 machines, and no free drinks to hamper your judgement. I would rather gamble at an online casino because I win more often and more consistantly.
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English Harbour Poker offers a wide variety of tournaments that will appeal to all kinds of players. Our heads up tournaments are ideal for those who are just looking for a quick game, while our larger multi-stage tournaments can span weeks. From rookies to veterans, whatever your style of play or type tournaments desired, English Harbour Poker has them in spades!
All tournaments require a buy-in to join. Prizes vary based on the tournament structure while the pot is split among the winner(s). Tournaments may include a special bonus going to the winner such as pieces of treasure or rewards.
Tournaments are currently available 24 hours a day .
How to Play in a Tournament
1- Open the English Harbour Poker client and login. Once logged in, find the tournaments tab along the top of the of the menu tabs.
2- After selecting the Tournaments tab, you will be able to select the state of the tournament you wish to view. Select the Registering tab to view the tournaments that are ready for you to join.
3- You will now be viewing all tournaments that are available to register for at this time. To join a game, simply double click on any game to get to the Registering Lobby.
4- Once you are inside the Tournament Lobby, you will see a button in the lower left hand corner that says "Register for Tournament". Click this button if you wish to join the tournament. This button will appear as a login button if you have not already logged in. You must be logged in to register.
After clicking the Register for Tournament button, you will be prompted with a window asking you to provide a form of payment in order to enter the tournament. In most cases, this payment method will be is cash, but in certain cases you will also find you can enter using POP, Treasure, Promobucks, and even Play Money!
Select your payment method, and click ok.
After clicking ok, your name will be added to the list of registered players, and you need simply wait for the tournament to start. You can unregisater at any point before the tournament begins by clicking the unregister button at the bottom left of the tournament lobby. If you choose to do so your tournament fee will be automatically refunded.
English Harbour Poker: You love Hold'em? You've come to the right place for valuable, and free, lessons on when to bet , raise, hold'em, fold'em, and even go all in! English Harbour Poker test players' skills from around the world using play money or COLD HARD CASH! English Harbour Poker has everything players could want in a great multi-player card room - ring games, tournaments and... FREE ROLLS! Players can either stick with what they know or experience something different by playing Pan, Chinese Poker or Big 2 Poker – only available at English Harbour Poker
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Promotions
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The WPT Satellite of Champions is a six-stage tournament. With a guaranteed prize pool of $56,000 you may buy into Stage 1 for next to nothing and you could win a seat at the World Poker Tour in Las Vegas! A seat is worth $28,000 ($25,000 seat plus $500 fee plus $2,500 airfare and accommodation credit.)
- Refer A Friend Program Bring your friends to the party. For each friend you refer we will give you $25.
Note: Your friends will need to make a deposit. At the end of each month the player that refers the most new players wins $250 cash. The friends you refer will also get an extra 5% bonus (making it 30% if by NETeller and 20% if any other method) on their first deposit. Every body wins.
Referring a friend is easy. Just use the "Refer a friend" link from the lobby's Options button located at the top of the lobby window. You can always ask customer support for help in referring a friend.
- Happy Hour 9 PM EST (your time) is happy hour. If you want to play $2 Chinese Poker, Big 2 or Guts Poker, 9 PM is your time. Players interested in playing these games can all get together and play during our Happy Hour!
- Player Option Points
At English Harbour Poker you are important. Which is why we have generous rewards program that pays you POP Points every time you play for real money.
POP Points are earned through real money play. All games with the exception of tournaments will earn you POP points. You can check your current POP Point total from the right side of the lobby once logged in. Details on your POP Point earnings can be found by going to the Reports page from within the game and by clicking on "POP Transaction Report".
Your POP point earnings are not displayed during your first 24 hours of play. After your first 24 hours, they are awarded and displayed immediately upon leaving the table.
Methods of Payment: Accepted payment methods include Visa and MasterCard, PrePaidATM, NETeller, FirePay, and Citadel.
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A lot of talent and poker skills are needed to become a professional poker player, but anyone can improve their game considerably by knowing certain basic aspects and strategies. With these strategies you will become closer to the professional rather than the amateur poker player.
Once you have chosen your game and table, you must select a seat where you will get the most value for your money. Poker players place their bets in a clockwise direction. It is worthwhile to identify the big Bankroll players and to sit at the position to their left. By doing so all the betting and raising will be done by the time the action reaches you.
The importance of position can not be stressed enough. Even the same cards dealt in the same order may produce vastly different results depending on where you're sitting. Playable Hands and winning combinations in late positions will often be unplayable in earlier positions.
If you are first, second or third to play after the dealer button you are in what's called the "early" position (also known as "up front"). If you are the dealer button (also known as "playing the button") or one or two seats to the right of the dealer button you are in what's called the "late" position. All players in-between (and normally facing the dealer across the table) are in the "middle" position.
If you are in the "early" position, the types of hands you must try to play are restricted to high cards or good hands, since you have no way of knowing what the other players in the group are holding.
If you are playing the "middle" position, you'll have players waiting behind you and others that have already played. The chance of a raise is slightly less in this position and there are already several players in the pot so you will get better odds playing weaker hands.
The advantage of being in the "late" position is that you get a chance to see almost every play so far, and will be able to read how other players feel about their hands by the way they have checked, bet, raised or re-raised.
It is a great advantage to be in the "playing the button" position, since you are last to act in each betting round of that hand. Like the "late" positions, you can play a much weaker hand than normal and can use bluffing more often to your advantage, particularly as the game advances.
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Can Moss Bring the Hey! Back to the Bay? These are changed times for two proud and storied Bay Area teams. New Niner head coach Mike Nolan was wondering aloud why, in this era of parity, the 49ers couldn't have a breakout season as their fellow Californians the Chargers enjoyed last year - this game could help him answer that question, one way or the other. The big event, of course, is the sight of Randy Moss in silver and black - can the mercurial Moss make a difference to the Oakland Raiders?
Absolute Poker Review In it's first year Absolute Poker quickly became the "rising star" of online poker with over 12,000+ players online at peak hours. With great customer support, fast cashouts, and the best promotional offerings, Team Absolute upholds their mission to be the best and most trusted.
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Absolute Poker offers players the chance to attend major poker events world wide. Running daily are qualifiers for the monthly Satellite events where you can win your way to the 2005 World Series of Poker and or the WPT - World Poker Tour.
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3 randomly chosen lucky players who happen to be wagering online at Sandpiper Casino between 6 PM and 12 midnight on the 2nd Tuesday of August will win a DVD copy of the ultra-fun animated family film “The Incredibles”.
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I have found a new and exciting sports betting site for football. It is called GridIron Gold
Company Motto: "The Sports Service You Can Bet On"
About Us: Formerly Eastern Sports Service, Gridiron Gold was formed in July of 1981. Our first five seasons were spectacular campaigns. In five years, Eastern Sports Service (now Gridiron Gold) exploded onto the national scene and in 22 years has grown into one of the country's most respected sports services. Eastern Sports Service originated in upstate N.Y. and proved to the nation that you do not have to be located in Las Vegas to become successful. Since then we've opened branch offices in Pittsburgh, PA., Saratoga, N.Y., Dallas, TX., Long Beach, CA. and Honolulu, HI. We also changed our name to match our website "GridironGold.com", but our solid service still remains the same.
Football Handicapping Awards From Sports Magazines
Rated Nations No. 1 Football Handicapper - H&H Sporting Times
Rated Nations No. 1 Football Handicapper - Experts Magazine
Rated Nations No. 1 Football Handicapper - Million$ Magazine
Rated Nations No. 1 Football Handicapper - Sports Features Syndicate
Awards Achieved Against 100+ Sports Service Handicappers
Sports Service Football Handicapper Report Honor Roll
"The best football handicapper I have ever had the privilege to monitor. A long time documented handicapping super star". Director - American Association of Documented Sports Services Martin Mendelsohn.
"Printed" Testimonials From Publications About Grid Iron Gold - Formerly Eastern Sports Service:
"A Genuinely Superlative Record of Consistency & Excellence". - American Association of Documented Sports Services "One of the Most Outstanding & Successful Football Handicappers Start to Finish". - American Association of Documented Sports Services
"A Documented Football Handicapping Superstar" - Martin Mendelsohn, Director - American Association of Documented Sports Services
"Quality and Integrity, One of the few "True Professional Football Handicappers" still remaining in our industry". - Experts Magazine
"The Highest Capital Ever Achieved in an AADSS Football Handicapping Contest, $10,000 Bankroll Turned into $123,000 - An Award Winning Sports Service". - Sporting Times Magazine
"Mister Consistency, Eastern Sports Grid Iron Gold Football Handicapper Was 18 for 22 82% for October". - - Experts Magazine
"65% Football Handicapping Winning Pct. And For the First Time Ever, a Football Handicapping Service Went the Entire Season Picking 4 Games In our National Newspaper Professional Handicapping Contest Without a Single Losing Week"! - Ron Sataloff, President, Sports Features Syndicate Inc.
"Eastern Sports is an Investment Rather Than a Gamble". - Gambling Times Magazine
What Do Employees Say?
Back in 1981, The American Association of Documented Sports Services released a list of up-and-coming sports handicappers. On the list was D. "Bags" Stag's from Eastern Sports Service....now Gridiron Gold.
THE AADSS CONFIRMED WHAT I ALREADY KNEW. HE'S ONE OF THE BEST HANDICAPPERS IN THE NATION
1981 was also the time when Gridiron Gold won the College Football and College Football Handicapping Contest and finished second in Pro Football. All contestants were professional handicappers and sports service owners. The biggest names in the industry (Jim Feist, Mike Lee, Marc Lawrence, HR Jones, Tony Salinas, Dave Cokin, Joe Gavazzi, Donn Wagner and many other well known services), battled for supremacy and Dennis came out on top and has been on top ever since. We remember the first weekend like it was yesterday. He came into the office, took a look at the college and pro football line, crossed off the games he didn't like, circled the teams he was going to release and took off for vacation. We were left scratching our heads as we entered the handicappers into the contests, got down early and watched as he went 4-0 Saturday, 2-1 Sunday and 1-0 Monday for a 7-1 start - and the rest is history.
"Eastern Sports are true professionals who will give you an honest run with your money. They excel in College & Pro Football and College and Pro Hoops". Sports Service Report
FROM HIS ITALIAN DEMEANOR TO HIS UNIQUE BASKETBALL HANDICAPPING DISCIPLINE, HE DEFINITELY STANDS OUT
With Dennis, work is intertwined with life, it's almost like breathing. He'll often call us just to touch base on a Saturday or Sunday, mostly on his perspective on a game just written up in the Grid Iron Gold newsletter. He demands a blow by blow evaluation of a specific teams performance. Dennis is pretty unusual because he does much of this nitty gritty research himself. We've seen his sheets marked up with math computations, questions, and all sorts of comments. When I see them on his desk, they look like a rabbit has chewed them.
First, we evaluate a team to determine what we call "private power rating". It's Dennis' own highly disciplined approach, developed over the past 25 years, to determine what a team would be worth if it played today. Once that has been determined, the teams PPR "private power rating" is charted to see if it is overrated or underrated. We can't guarantee or make promises for his handicapping. But Private Gold selections result in clients wagering a lot of money for a lot of people - individuals, groups, consortiums and other sports services. Why? Look at his record ATS. Like we said, we can't guarantee anything but Dennis does. His Iron Clad Guarantee says "if you're ever dissatisfied with his service, He'll return all unused fees. Period.! No questions asked". Like we said, this particular program (Private Gold) is for "serious" players. Nevertheless, we have a program to meet anyone's criteria.
IF THE GOING GETS TOUGH AND THE NUMBERS ARE TIGHT, HE'S THE ROCK YOU WANT TO STAND ON
For 25 years, he has delivered value to clients. And if you think being named the up and coming handicapper in 1981 was big, the AADSS quoted Dennis performance as follows:
"Eastern Sports (now Grid Iron Gold) is in the enviable position of breaking his own all-time AADSS Single Contest Earnings Record every time he wins a game. Eastern is going for $100,000 in capital. We don't know what more we can say about Eastern, he surely is one of the most successful AADSS performers through many seasons. A splendid performer, past, present and I sure wouldn't want to bet against the future". Sports Service News-Volume 6 Issue 10 - Now that's a pretty remarkable accomplishment!
"The first member of the AADSS to break the $100,000 mark is Eastern Sports Service. Though breaking $100,000 is a remarkable accomplishment, we think that his long term achievements are even more noteworthy. They won last years College Football Championship, came in second in this years College Football and now this College Football record breaking performance is awesome. A genuinely superlative record of consistency and excellence. Sports Service News-Volume 6 Issue 14
PHONES RINGING - CALLER ID SHOWS DENNIS' NUMBER
He just lost a game and wants the stats immediately. "Don't leave until you email me the final stats and a full game recap. I want a recap on the game", he said. I hate it when he loses, I have to dig up all the stats so he can find out what went wrong. I have to go now, he's calling again. His tenacity for finding information to gain an edge is as strong as his tenacity to win every game. The only thing I can tell you is that you're not going to find a better handicapper for the money in the world. Yeah, he drives us crazy, but having access to his selections is a helluva company benefit. Get on board as soon as possible, the longer you wait or play around with other services, the more you'll lose. You know what they say, hang around with winners, they'll make you a winner.
Testimonials From Our Customers:
We're delighted at the wonderful comments we've received regarding our football handicapping prowess. Customers who contacted us with these reviews were gracious enough to allow us to post their testimonials so that you can see why it benefits you to join our service.
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In a long overdue nod to sanity, the NHL moved its starting time for the opening of the free agent market from midnight to noon.
The question is whether the usual insanity will reign come the opening of the bidding at midday today or whether the new $39 million salary cap and $7.8-million individual salary maximum will spark a league-wide waiting game.
Most general managers admit they have no idea how many of the more than 200 free agents will be signed in short order.
But the consensus among those team builders and rebuilders is that they plan to be patient rather than pounce, hoping the glut of available players will depress the market and create bargains.
"It depends on how the market goes," Rangers GM Glen Sather said. "You can speculate - we've been speculating for a year. But (today) speculation will turn into reality. And I don't know whether stuff is going to happen in the first 24 hours of free agency or whether it's going to be spread out."
Islanders GM Mike Milbury suspects there will be a bit of both.
"I think most people are uncertain as to what's going to happen come (today) - I know I am," Milbury said. "And I think we're just going to prepare and wait and see how it unfolds."
Among the more attractive names available to the highest bidder are forwards Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund, boyhood friends interested in playing together for the first time in the NHL.
Throw Mike Modano, Alexei Kovalev, Pavol Demitra, Teemu Selanne and Ziggy Palffy into the mix and there's loads of firepower to choose from going into a season in which the league is determined to encourage offense via a package of rules changes.
Devils defenseman Scott Niedermayer figures to be the most coveted of all the unrestricted free agents and perhaps the only one who could command the $7.8 million individual cap. But there are plenty of other top-tier defensemen, such as Brian Leetch, Adam Foote and Adrian Aucoin of the Islanders and Brian Rafalski of the Devils.
Nikolai Khabibulin, who backstopped Tampa Bay to the 2004 Stanley Cup, is the class of the goaltending crop.
"I've said from Day 1 that I think the way to win the Stanley Cup is to grow your own," Sather said. "But that doesn't mean you can't surround those guys with good, quality players."
