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What to Chose when Playing Online Poker Games
2011-02-08
Poker is one of the most popular games at casinos. And the launch of online casinos was obviously accompanied by a significant increase in the number of poker players, around the globe.
The heightened popularity of online poker games can be attributed to the number of options that it offers, to suit any and every kind of poker player. Whether an amateur wants to play a free “ring” game or a professional wants place a high stake at a tournament; whether one wants to play with a single opponent or with a few players from around the world. Online poker has it all. Moreover, the convenient availability of Internet facility allows you to play online poker games from the location of your choice; as well as at the time of your choice.
Apart from the above-mentioned factors, online poker also owes its popularity to the wide range of variations of the games, and sub variations thereon, that it offers. People who play online poker games will unanimously choose Texas Hold’em Poker as their favorite variant of the game. It involves dealing of 2 hidden “hole” cards and 5 cards that are on display. Based on the betting rules, this game further offers 3 sub-variations. The Limit Texas Hold’em is the variant in which the betting limit of each round is fixed. Then, there is a No-Limit Texas Hold’em, which has absolutely no restriction on the upper or lower limit of the bets placed. Finally there is a Pot Limit variant in which the amount that a player can bet can fall anywhere between the minimum bet size and the size of the pot. Overall this is an action packed game and involves a lot of strategy and skill.
Another action packed online poker game is Omaha. It is a game quite similar to the Hold’em except for one major difference i.e. the hole cards that a player is dealt with are four in number, unlike in Hold’em, where they are two in number. One of two sub-variants of Omaha is the Omaha Hi. In this particular variant, the high hand (comprising 2 hole cards and 3 board cards) wins the pot. However, in Omaha Hi-Lo (also known as Omaha 8), the pot is split between the highest hand holder and lowest hand holder; only if the low hand qualifies. In case, the low hand doesn’t qualify, the holder of highest hand takes the pot.
The third most common form of poker is the Seven Card Stud Poker. This game is most preferred by the poker traditionalists. It is a game that involves memory, strategy as well as skill. In this, every player is dealt with 3 cards (1 hole and 1 up card). After 3 more betting rounds, involving dealing of 1 card each time, a final down card and a betting round follow. In its sub-variant, the Seven Card Stud Hi, the player with the best (5) hand wins the pot, straight up.
Another of its variant is the Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo. It is exactly the same as the Seven Card Stud Hi, leave for one point of difference. Similar to the Omaha Hi-Lo, the pot is split between 2 players i.e. the one with the highest hand and the other with the lowest hand; on the condition that it qualifies. As in the case of Omaha, if the lowest hand doesn’t happen to qualify, the player with the highest hand wins the pot.
Razz is one other, part variant of the Seven Card Stud. It is actually a reverse of the game. Unlike in the Seven Card Stud, where the highest hand wins, the winner of Razz is the player with the lowest hand.
If you like to play online poker games, you might also want to try its other forms including Pineapple, Video poker, Triple Draw or perhaps Five Card Draw.
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RECORD ONLINE POKER WIN FOR U.S. PLAYER
2010-09-29
Pokerstars' WCOOP ends on a high note
The main event close of the 2010 Pokerstars World Championship of Online Poker provided a record-setting climax this week, with the world's largest online poker company claiming that the winner's $2,278,097-and change prize is the biggest in internet poker tournament history.
Montana poker pro Tyson 'potterpoker' Marks left the virtual table richer by that amount Tuesday after besting an original field of 2 443 who had each invested $5 200 to buy into the big competition, generating a total prize pool of $12,215,000 which allowed 306 entrants to cash.
The two day event saw the field down to 271 by Tuesday, which ultimately ended with a final table that comprised Marks holding a significant chip lead and eight other fiercely competitive online poker contestants.
The Montana pro turned his lead to good advantage, crushing the opposition and by three handed play holding an unassailable 36 million chip lead over closest rivals joeysweetp and Russian_Nuts.
The heads up was set when Russian_Nuts was eliminated by joeysweetp, who went on to face the mission impossible of taking on Marks and his gigantic chip stack. The result was fast in coming and a foregone conclusion as Marks powered to victory and the main prize, leaving his opponent with a second placing check for $1,404,725.
The record winner's prize boosts Marks' internet and live tournament poker career earnings to around $3.6 million.
BRIT PLAYER NARROWLY MISSES ANOTHER WSOP BRACELET (Update)
2010-06-16
And still no gold for Dwan
Day 19 saw another action-packed session at the 41st World Series of Poker as new bracelets were won and fresh events kicked off, with UK player James Dempsey narrowly missing his second bracelet and serial side better Tom Dwan still hunting for his first.
By the completion of Day 3 play around 9pm Vegas time Tuesday in event 24, a $1,000 No-limit Hold'em competition, a final table had been formed from the nine survivors of an original field of 3,289, with JD McNamara holding the lead on 2,393,000 ahead of Kiet Tran Tuan (2,311,000) and Blake Kelso (1,166,000).
Other members of the final table, which will play to a conclusion on Day 4, were John Tolbert, David Cai, Denis Murphy, Greg Pohler, Michael Gross and Jeffrey Tebben.
The event saw 512 players start Day 2 (see previous InfoPowa report) but only 30 of them lasted through to the start of Day 3. Casualties along the way included a multi-tournamenting Tom Dwan and UK female ace Liv Boeree.
Poker pro Sammy Farha was jubilant as he achieved his third WSOP bracelet after a 16 hour final table jam-packed with top players in event 25 – the $10 000 buy-in Omaha/8 contest. Four hours of the final table were taken up in the tough heads up struggle with never-say-die Brit player James Dempsey, whose pursuit of a second bracelet ended in a runner-up prize of $301,790.
Farha put on a masterful display of discipline and talent in besting the skilled and determined Dempsey before the contest ended in his $488,237 victory at 7am in the morning.
In event 26 – the $2.500 buy-in NLHE/Six Handed competition, Day 1 saw a total of 1 245 players start out, with only 156 of them making it into Day 2. Among the survivors were Daniel Negreanu, Jeff Shulman, Annette Obrestad, Jerry Yang and Amnon Filippi.
Less fortunate and crashing out on Day 1 were names like Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson and Phil Hellmuth.
With only thirty positions to last before the money bubble, Day 2 got off to a brisk start Tuesday afternoon with William Haydon as chip leader with 179,300 chips, followed by Luigi Caramatti (171,400), Timothy Begley (167,700) and Erik Cajelais (163,000).
By midnight Tuesday names like Annette Obrestad, Marco Traniello, former WSOP champ Jerry Yang and Steve Billirakis had all been eliminated, and the field was down to just 18 players, led by Taurean Davis on 810,000, chased by William Haydon (760,000) and Martins Adeniya (760,000).
644 contestants faced off in event 27, a $1 500 buy-in Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better competition which attracted well known players like Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, Joe Haschem, Mike Sexton and recent stud bracelet winner Men the Master Nguyen.
The money bubble was set at position 64, and with plenty of side bets between the pros there was a definite buzz as the cards hit the air. By the end of Day 1, Odette Tremblay led the field and the money had still not been reached, with 196 players bagging up for another day of action Tuesday. Howard Lederer was not among them, having busted out in Day 1, but Tom Dwan was still in the hunt as Day 2 started.
Other top pros still alive included Jeff Lisandro, John Juanda, and Marcel Luske.
By 10.30pm Tuesday night Vegas time there were still 51 players fighting it out at level 15, with Kevin MacPhee holding the chip lead. Odette Tremblay was further down the field, as was Phil Ivey and Annie Duke. Notable departures were John Juanda and 2002 WSOP main event winner Robert Varkonyi.
Midday Tuesday saw the start of event 28, a $2,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha competition. This year’s entry field was some 160 players larger than last year at 596 and included Erik Seidel, Lee Watkinson, Michael Binger, Joe Sebok, Robert Williamson III, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, T.J. Cloutier, Kirill Gerasimov, Mike Sexton, Scotty Nguyen, Jonathan Little, Andy Black, Scott Seiver and Tom Schneider.
By 11pm Vegas time Tuesday level 10 had been reached and 124 survivors were still battling it out, with Eric Rabl holding a slim lead over Brit star Richard Ashby and Norman Collingsworth somewhat further back.
Departures in Day 1 included Chip Jett, Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, Nam Le, Eric Baldwin, Mike Beasley, Vivek Rajkumar, Sigi Stockinger and Jason DeWitt.
Event 29 is another world championship contest and started at 5pm Vegas time Tuesday. The event is a $10 000 buy-in Limit Hold'Em competition and attracted a starter field of 171 - lower than last year’s field.
Seen taking their seats were Erick Lindgren, Barry Shulman, Nikolay Evdakov, Doyle Brunson, Mike Mizrachi, Shaun Deeb, Eli Elezra, Vitaly Lunkin, Phil Hellmuth, Vanessa Rousso, Isaac Haxton, John Monnette, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Alex Kravchenko, Carlos Mortensen and Greg Mueller.
By 11pm Tuesday, Day 1 play had reached level 6 with 166 players still very much in the running, led by Shaun Deeb on 79,000, pursued by Michael Mizrachi (60,000), Jameson Painter (58,100) and the legendary Doyle Brunson (54,500).
Departures included Liz Liu, Nikolay Evdakov, Noah Boeken, Howard Lederer and Soheil Shamseddin.