As far back as the end of May 2011, at least one Full Tilt Poker account containing $100 million was unfrozen by Irish authorities. This was so that the Casino Bet company could start to process US player withdrawals. Nothing happened! Their license was suspended by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) and a hearing was scheduled for either the 15th or 19th September, we are not really sure – we keep reading conflicting accounts. There also seems to be no way corroborating any information. Thee latest report was that FTP had again managed to get their hearing held in private. Now we read that online poker affiliate portal – The Hendon Mob has ended its “exclusive relationship” with Full Tilt Poker (FTP). This apparently took place only hours before the FTP hearing with the AGCC in London. The four poker players behind Hendon Mob are Ross Boatman, Barny Boatman, Ram Waswani and Joe Beevers. These players are also FTP British Pros, and have FINALLY resigned from their pro positions at this site. Why it has taken so long for them to do this – only the Hendon Mob knows? In a statement to the public, the Boatman’s, Wasmani and Beevers said – “This frees us for new opportunities, both as a website and as players and we look forward to an exciting future that we hope you will all be a part of.” They also mentioned that they are fully aware that many of the players which signed up with FTP and still have funds locked in these accounts, did so through Hendon Mob. They also mentioned the fact that they would act on behalf of these players in the attempt to retrieve funds due, or at least – the best possible outcome. Personally, we don’t hold out much hope of any FTP players receiving their money back. FTP have not been transparent about information, right from as far back as Black Friday (15th April). The fact that Hendon Mob is apparently ‘looking out for the interest of their players” is in massive contrast to the statement made when the Full Tilt Poker license was suspended by the AGCC. At that point in time, they could not see how they could possibly help any FTP players or take any action – it appears that this has all changed. It could be possible that Hendon Mob are also gearing up for a class action law suit, but we are only speculating on the matter – they will still have to stand at the end of very, very long line. We are not really sure how many class action law suits have been brought against FTP, but there is a few in the USA and at least one in Canada that we know of. André Wilsenach, CEO of the AGCC, expressed his “disappointment” the hearing was to be held in private, believing that “the public has a right to know”. The hearing has not been made public. The AGCC has also said that interested parties will be kept up-to-date via press releases during the course of the day. And here we are – still waiting…

New Jersey has done it, they have been the first US state to pull off a new bill for the regulation and licensing of online poker; possibly even other online gambling activities at a later date. Governor Chris Christie, has 45 days from the 10^th January 2011 to get this new poker bill signed into law. It is up to him to take a public stance on this issue which he has not done so far, however, if no action is taken, the bill is not returned for changes at legislature level, and if it is not vetoed (which it should not be, otherwise why was it voted in), it automatically will become law.

Protagonists of the new New Jersey online gambling bill would like Christie to take a public stand on the bill, but so far he has only consented to a “commitment to improve New Jersey revenue streams”. Loosely speaking we could interpret that he also includes the online poker bill in his priorities, and at the very least not to veto it. The NJ State Senate passed the bill on a vote of 29-5 in November, and on the 10^th January the vote for legislation was 63 – 11. One can therefore assume that during the Christmas and New Year break, some serious “Pro-Poker” lobbying has been taking place.

All being well, and if no alternative date is specified in the final version of the bill, it will be passed into law – on of all days, the 4^th July 2011?! What a 4^th of July that will be for the online poker fraternity! The 4^th July in the US is their annual Independence Day – will it become Independence Day for online poker operators and players too?

At this juncture the bill only includes poker, but it is certainly a step in the right direction and a foot in the door for other online gambling operators to lobby for their sector of the industry. If NJ gets it right and other US States see the bill working well; generating income, creating jobs and protecting the public and operators at the same time – time can only tell how fast the idea will catch alight.

It remains to be seen how a limited market in an Internet business sector will in fact be of much value. We have to bear in mind that internet business is generally so successful because it is business without borders. In the instance of the NJ online poker bill, the impact is going to be very different as it encourages players to take part, but they may only play against one-another within the confines of the state. Some operators fear that PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker will respond to this walled-in online poker, by pulling out of the state as they did recently in Washington. This is no great shakes to them per-se, they simply open up to more overseas markets. They are international brands and obviously don’t cow-tow to UIGEA or online poker with “borders”! At this stage legislation on the federal level has not been successful at all.

So, you have probably played poker online and you think that is rigged as me. A lot of subjects are about that on internet and I am not alone about thinking online poker is rigged. I know that some people don’t think it but honestly, I will argue my point of view and tell me if I am wrong.

At the start everything is wonderful

At the beginning of the game, when you are a new player everything is easy. You win all the times and you beat also some very good players. So you are very confident in your game. Your gains are more and more important and you become a little bit addicted at it. Every night when you come back home, you need to play it because you want to get more money. I started by playing with virtual money. I am not rich enough to play online with real money. And after a while, I could observe that my luck was disappearing a little bit more every day. And at the end because you lose more that you won,  it pissed you off so much that I used to play until getting any more money and surprise at the end of the game, they proposed me to buy some more virtual money only for £2. Bloody hell! If it is not a scam that.

Programming and poker

My partner is programmer and he used to teach me a lot of thing about programming. He told me that with an informatics programs you can everything. It is a little bit like Excel. If you want that Excel select the values under 10 and colour them in red it is possible so programming a website it is the same thing. The programmer can decide everything like that. Ask a programmer to program software able to limit the winner a day. He can do it. Also he can limit the maximum winning for a player and it will apply for all o the player. For example, after 20 win a day, the player has to lose the rest of day. It is possible to program it and when you lose too much you just want to stop so you have no idea about it.

The fastest tournaments ever

I have played a poker tournament in New Zealand. It was about 400 players. I have finished 14^th of it and it took me about 10 hours to play it. I have played also a free tournament as well on Internet and we were about 2000 people and I have finished in the 30 first players. It took me 1 or 2 hours not more. So 5 times more players and 5 times less hours, it is unbelievable. I agree that it is quite difficult to believe that even if a computer in dealing for you, it make a such big difference. I am pretty sure that the website manages the time to get more people on the other tournament. Every round someone has something amazing. Sometimes is you sometimes is your neighbour. Forcing people raising is probably in the program and give 2 or 3 different good games at the same round eliminate more players in once. Everyone called because they have a good game such a straight and the other one as a flush and the last one a  full house??? Believe whatever you want now but I am still thinking that something is weird in online poker.

If you think that it is wild and free-spirited to be a poker player, think again, this is one game where decision making is pivotal to winning, and boy do you have to make a lot of decisions. Poker games can be tight and passive, loose and aggressive feature solid opponent or fruit cakes. They all have different circumstances which call for the need to make different decisions. Rarely will any poker player find the circumstances of a game to be completely by-the-book.

This is all part of the many integral processes of playing poker – judgment calls have to be made and this calls for strong decision making skills. Every single poker game provides the player with an opportunity for exercising thought and taking decisions which are called upon to influence the outcome of the game to be on his or her side.

Every iota of knowledge and ability must be drawn from the ability to make decisions and the poker player also has to create opportunities for decision making. It is impossible to play perfect poker, and no player should wait for opportunities to fall into their lap, they have to make them and take them. If a player is good at seizing opportunities and making decisions they will have an edge over players who don’t have these skills.

In playing poker, the “what” is what you see happening, the “how” and “why” remain secret to some degree. A poker player who focuses on the “what” in other words, what they can see and forgets about the “how” and “why” because they are partly hidden, will never make a good player. Delving deep into decision making sees great poker players doing just this. They study, they analyze and they draw conclusions and make decisions; in particular if a game is a mass of contradictions; which poker most often is.

A poker player who makes the correct decisions because they are correct is going to win time and again in comparison to players who do something right by accident. Knowing why and how a decision is made is a very important skill. Yes, some players do stumble upon doing something right every now and then, but if they only see what they did and not how and why, it is highly unlikely they will learn a lesson.

It is for this reason that you see some poker players trying to get close to pros they have played and lost against to ask them questions about the game. They want to know the how and the why the pro did what they did to win. Not only the what, which is the action itself and they could see – what decisions did the pro make to get to the “what”?

This is not an easy matter – learning how and why a specific decision was made and how and why it worked. Chances are the next time they play the circumstances will differ greatly, but the more of these decision making skills the poker player has, for as many different circumstances as possible, the sooner that bottomless pit of decision making possibilities begins to fill up. This is what makes poker playing a lifetime learning process!

Virtually every new trend brings with it a slew of lingo which is pertinent to that trend and that trend only. There is bingo lingo, used obviously by online bingo players, and there is also poker lingo. If you are confused by words such as “flop”, “blind”, “button” “donkey” or title, perhaps we can help you out with this brief article. 

Poker lingo consists of word or phrases which may be completely unidentifiable by outsiders and a “limping fish with a gut shot” may seem like some gung-ho hunter gatherer term, but not to an insider. However, a new online poker player would be excused for not knowing the hell what this means.  

Daily, poker players are coming up with more of this terminology and it catches on like wildfire, so if could be worth your wile to find out what hitting the nuts on a rainbow flop means, or you may get caught with your pants down. This is how the online poker world works and if you want to make this world work for you, you have to know what’s going on. 

Some terminology from the lexicon of poker phrases will help you to speak the language of poker more fluently, for example “The Flop”. Simple, the first 3 community card in a game of Omaha, Texas Hold’em or any other variation of poker where community cards are used. The flop’s origin is believe to have been derived from the way the dealer places the cards, but who actually know, its origin is shrouded in mystery. 

What about “Nuts?” This is something I would say if I didn’t get a starting hand, as in “awww…nuts!” But this is not so, nuts is the best hand at that particular moment. I may not be the nuts on the flop however. This word has a history, in the wild west where poker was played best a player may wager their homestead or their wagon on a game. If the wagon was wagers the nuts would be taken from the wheels to prevent the player from taking off with the wager if he lost.   

The “Donkey” is a poker insult, probably the worst you will get and it is commonly used to describe a sub-optimal player. However, as with all insults is can be used in other derogatory ways. “Fish” comes from the same barrel of fish and is also an insult, though not as bad as a donkey. A fish is what a seasoned player calls a newcomer, because taking advantage of them is as simple as catching fish in a barrel.  

“Blinds” is easy, these are the forced bets made by players prior to cards being dealt. There is a big blind and a small blind and these increase at set levels during tournament play. This is done to encourage players to make wagers, they are also relative to set limits. 
The “Button” is the indicator for the nominal dealer, and it moves one place clockwise on every hand.  Never limp into a pot or tilt, but learn as much as you can about poker lingo, especially if you are a fish, you don’t want the pros to think you’re a donkey!

There are a lot of variations of poker; the stud varieties, the hold ‘ems, Badugi, Pai Gow and many others, and pretty much all of these variations are found online. Many of these games are all played during tournaments, for example in a HORSE tournament where the “R” stands for Razz.

If you think you can’t play Razz because you have never played it before and it comes up in a tournament. Don’t worry; you can play it – if you can play 7 Card Stud. Since around 2004, Razz has become more popularly played online and if you find yourself playing online poker at tournament level, you may find yourself unknowingly faced with a game of Razz.

In Razz, the lowest hand wins the game, and this is what makes playing so much fun, you have to change your mindset to be a low hand player. Playing Razz will exercise your poker brain, and believe me, with all the things you need to remember when playing poker – your brain could use all the workouts it can get.

The same set of skills apply to playing Razz as any other poker game, you need to bluff if you have to and timing is everything. You also have to be patient, and bluffs in Razz can be more difficult than in games where a high hand wins. In Razz your opponents get to see most of your cards – in a case like this, you can see why bluffing may be difficult, and the fact that more skill is required.

The worst possible hand in a normal game is the best hand in this game, and it is A-2-3-4-5. Playing online means a bluff has to be set up right at the beginning of the game. Visual clues as to what your opponent has in their hand will not be available, and online tells are only apparent, after a few rounds of play, when you start to see betting patterns and other tells.

Aces are always played low, seven cards are dealt to each player, straights and flushes don’t count against you and pairs are bad. Starting hands should be three small cards and no-one should play with anything larger than an 8 in their hand – except when a 9 shows on the deal and everyone has facing-up cards which are higher, or if you happen to be in a steal position, with a baby (small card) facing up and the other remaining or 2 players is/are showing a big card.

It is vitally important to track cards when playing Razz as this allows you to know if your hand is still live. Dead cards are cards that you know are in someone else’s hand because you have seen them, so there is no chance of you getting them out of the pack.

Although learning to track the cards is vitally important to winning in Razz, it is also a poker skill which will help you with every other variation of the game you play. There is a lot more to playing poker than just wheeler dealing – this is why you have to be a thinker to play.