Poker Encyclopedia by Jane

The Hollywood Connection

jane@onecybertech.com (Jane-Raidbet-Poker) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:54:00 +0800

“My name is Bond, James Bond “. This very phrase brings back to my mind the memories of the Bond mania that swept the world in the 1960s and continues on till date. Interestingly the bond connection is very strong with Baccarat. Baccarat chemin-de-fer is the favored game of Ian Fleming's secret agent creation, James Bond.

The 1953 Bond Debut, Casino Royale has its entire plot revolving around a game between 007 and SMERSH operative Le Chiffre. In fact the original novel even had a primer to the game for the readers who were unfamiliar with the game. The game again introduces Bond in Dr No and is featured in Thunderball, For Your Eyes Only and GoldenEye. However the 2006 movie adaptation of Casino Royale has Baccarat replaced by Texas Hold’em mainly due to its great popularity in America at the time of filming.

The movie "Rounders" starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton spotlighted the Texas Hold’em version of poker. TV shows such as the reality show "The Casino," "Winning Hand and NBC's drama "Las Vegas" has helped to heighten the stardom of casinos and casino games.

What ever may be the film, Hollywood does have a strong connection with poker. So much so that multiple celebrities such as Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, David Schwimmer, Richard Schiff, Martin Sheen, Nicole Sullivan, Shannon Elizabeth, Ron Livingston, David Cross, Jennifer Tilly and Carrie Fisher are players themselves

The pull of online gaming

jane@onecybertech.com (Jane-Raidbet-Poker) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:38:00 +0800

What makes online poker better then its non virtual counterpart? First up is the freedom that one enjoys. One need not have to go thru the hassles of actually traveling to the tournament site in the first place plus spending the extra buck for lodging and boarding just to enjoy a round of no limit Texas Hold’em. The online experience allows you to just relax in you couch at home, sip some coke and get onto the internet and play at as many tables you want. Multi tabling is possible in the virtual world. Try doing this at a brick and mortar casino and chances are you will have a massive heart attack.

The next best thing is the customizable interfaces. How many times have you wished you could change the dealer in a game of Omaha. The good thing about online gaming software is the various customizable features that you can get. Simply click on the dealer during the game to change him/her to your liking.

You can also change your perspective of play, the avatars, etc to your liking. Only a whale would be able to dictate his requirements at an offline casino.

The one disadvantage that I can think of with online poker is that you do not get to see you opponent. Hence you will not be able to read you opponents and watch out for any tells. However the lack of information from physical tells can be compensated by keeping notes of your online opponent and your own poker moves. These can than be used to evaluate your own play as well as that of your opponents. Also the online software gives you an opportunity to see the hand history - a card by card review of the game play, by which you can understand what went wrong and compensate for this with better poker strategy the next time you play poker online

Is it possible to cheat at online poker?

jane@onecybertech.com (Jane-Raidbet-Poker) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:32:00 +0800

You must be really confused and must be thinking that I may have shot my self in the foot discussing this topic in a forum like this. There have been multiple well-documented instances of cheating at brick and mortar casinos such as shorting the pot, peeking at your fellow poker player’s cards, hand-mucking (where the cheat secretly switches his hands), use of cold decks and using marked cards.

The saving grace is that since big brother is always watching, most instances of cheating end up with the cheater getting beaten black and blue by casino security. When it comes to online gaming, since the player is only in virtual contact with the chips and cards most physical tricks used offline will not work.

This brings me to another very common form of cheating that is collusion. Collusion is where multiple players act with a common strategy – check out the Hollywood flick “21” and you will know what I mean. Chip dumping and signaling are a few forms of collusion. So can’t all these be replicated in an online poker room? A single person could in theory play at the same table using different logins from different computers and IP addresses. Even multiple players could be playing out of the same network or using the phone to collude.

However online collusion can be easily caught as online poker rooms keep records of every hand played and have algorithms in place to track any signs of collusion. This makes playing poker online a far safer and better proposition.

WSOP Poker Hall of Fame

jane@onecybertech.com (Jane-Raidbet-Poker) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:40:00 +0800

Every sport has its hall of fame. The poker hall of fame honors individuals of noteworthy achievement in the field of poker. It has many of the best known poker players in the world. However not much is known about some of the earlier members who were road gamblers with great reputations. As of 2009 there are 37 people on the roll of the hall of fame. Fifteen of these poker champions continue to live their poker dream.

The requirements for being considered into the Hall of fame as specified by the WSOP are

A gambler must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
Played for high stakes
Played consistently well, gained the respect of peers and stood the test of time.
Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results

As this is the web 2.0 age, WSOP has slightly changed the process of selection to the hall of fame. This year players were able to submit nominations for induction via an online process between May 29 to July 2. This was followed by an offline vetting by the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council who then come up with the final list. The final list of poker players will be then put thru a voting process. Election is done by a 30 person panel consisting of media and living hall of fame members.
So what’s so special about the WSOP Poker hall of fame? The answer is that unlike other halls of fame which have players associated with them; the poker hall of fame has taken the next giant leap forward. One of the inductees in 2008 was the inventor of the hole card camera Henry Orenstein. In 2007 Barbara Enright – the only women poker player to reach the final table of a WSOP main event (1995) was inducted making her the only women inducted into the hall of fame

World Series of Poker

jane@onecybertech.com (Jane-Raidbet-Poker) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:07:00 +0800

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is an annual poker tournament held in Las Vegas. In its first year which was 1970, the WSOP was an invitational where Benny Binion invited six of the best known poker players to The Horseshoe Casino. As the years have passed, the event has grown in terms of its prizes, events and participation as well. In its present format, the WSOP consists of 55 events which traditionally take place over one or more consecutive days during the series in June and July.

The winner of each event wins a World Series of Poker bracelet and a monetary prize based on the number of entrants and buy-in amounts. The WSOP bracelet is the most coveted trophy a player could win and one from the main event is revered above all others. The series features all the variants of poker, but the one that is most played is Texas Hold’em.

The main event of the series is the $10,000 no-limit hold’em where the victor receives a multi-million dollar prize and the series ends. The winner of the World Series of Poker is considered to be the World Champion of Poker. Peter Eastgate is the youngest person to win the main event.

Irish Poker Open

jane@onecybertech.com (Jane-Raidbet-Poker) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:00:00 +0800

Just the other day I was answering a poker quiz on facebook and had been able to tackle almost all the questions save one which kept troubling me. What is the second longest poker tournament in the world? Frankly speaking I could only think on the lines of a world series of poker or a world poker tour. I opted for a hint and this is what popped out: It is also Europe’s oldest no limit Texas Hold’em poker tournament. I was now left dumbstruck. EPT??? In fact I must have pulled a couple of strands of hair out in the process.

Well the final answer was Irish poker open. Founded by Terry Rogers in 1980 , the tournament is like an Easter pilgrimage for poker players the world over . The open actually started off as a charity fundraising event under the auspices of the Eccentric Club and kept moving to larger venues as the number of participants increased. The 2009 event had 700 players competing for a total prize pool of €2,240,000 with a €3,500 buy-in. Christer Johansson took home the first prize. What is so special about Christer is that he is a specialist online poker player. Past events also have seen online poker players taking top spots at the Irish Poker Open.

British Colombia Poker Championship

jane@onecybertech.com (Jane-Raidbet-Poker) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:38:00 +0800

It seems I have been focusing on a lot of poker tournaments lately. Perhaps it is the realization setting in that getting into the top events is a very difficult task indeed. So have been trying to find all those tournaments which may perhaps have a lateral entry for a not so professional player like me.

From Africa in my last post to just over the border into Canada I will discuss the second richest Canadian poker tournament – the World Poker Tour North American Poker Championship is the largest by the way. The British Colombia Poker Championship series is Canada’s version of the WSOP. It is held annually at the River Rock Casino in British Columbia, Canada. The main event accommodated a maximum of 1000 players who play for an estimated prize pool of over $3.6 million of pure Texas Hold’em action.

All African Poker Tournament

jane@onecybertech.com (Jane-Raidbet-Poker) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:08:00 +0800

If one takes a close look at the geographical distribution of Poker playing population I am sure one would not venture much south of the equator into Africa. After all that Zulu country man – Only tigers , elephants and tribal’s running about .

And when I came across the All African Poker Tournament dubbed the "Richest Poker Tournament in Africa" in an RSS feed today I was really surprised. Who would have thought that Africa has also joined the poker rush …I immediately goggled it: Typed in AAPT poker tournament and got the shock of my life. Google was actually asking me “Did you mean: APPT poker tournament “- (Asian Pacific Poker Tour). There you have it Google too had ignored the AAPT.

What ever Google may say, the AAPT is big in Africa with over 120 players taking part in tournaments which are held every quarter. The AAPT gets extensive TV coverage on African television just like the WSOP – Incidentally AAPT winners get an entry into the WSOP along with the R1 Million (around $0.12 million) prize. It is held in the ‘wild wild west’ at the Piggs Peak Hotel and Casino which is located in the mountain kingdom of Swaziland – a perfect setting given the AAPT’s African lineage.

The May 2009 edition saw the final table of 10 being shared by Keiran Reilly, Ryan Brauer, Edgar Antezana, Nersan Naidoo, Warren Zackey, Nick Sissou, Fabio Cornelli, Neville Robbeson and David Spangenberg with Nicolas Zakhem winning the final event.

Links for 2009-06-23 [Digg]

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0800

The Australian Poker League (APL)
Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech: for the people, by the people... , may well describe the ethos of the Australian poker league . The APL is a country wide event played across 6 states and over 100 regions who organize Texas Hold’em poker tournaments.

2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship

jane@onecybertech.com (Jane-Raidbet-Poker) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:45:00 +0800

Soon after Huck Seed’s win at the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, one would have expected a slight lull before the commencement of preparation for next year’s event. However it seems that NBC has taken upon itself to help cultivate the fertile field of poker newbies who get their first indoctrination of poker watching the NHPC series on TV.

2010 will also see a total redefinition of criteria for selection of poker players who get invited to the event. In the previous four editions, players were individually chosen and invited. In the 2010 edition poker players who fulfill any one of a set of criteria will secure a place to compete at the event. The online criteria as posted on NBC’s site include:

• Previous five National Heads-Up Poker Champions
• Previous two National Heads-Up runners-up
• Defending National Heads-Up semifinalists
• Any player who cashes in the past four consecutive years of the NHUPC
• Previous three World Series of Poker main event champions
• Defending World Series of Poker main event runner-up
• Multiple Bracelet winners in the same year
• Defending World Series of Poker Player of the Year
• Defending World Series of Poker Heads-Up Champion
• Defending World Series of Poker Europe main event champion (must be 21 or older)
• Reigning World Poker Tour Player of the Year
• Reigning Monte Carlo European Poker Tour Grand Final Champion (must be 21 or older)
• Reigning Card Player magazine Player of the Year
• Reigning Bluff magazine Player of the Year
• Reigning ALL IN magazine Player of the Year
• Online and NBC qualifiers (1-3) (must be 21 or older)
• Host venue qualifiers (2)

What makes this list very interesting for me is the second last line. Yes there is a way for a good enough poker player to gain entry into the 2010 National Heads-up Poker Championships via the online entry. Poker players will compete online till February 15, 2010 when a winner will be decided based on the points accumulated to play at the final online poker table. The winner of course gets a fully paid vacation to Vegas and a direct entry into the National Heads-Up Poker Championship and to rub shoulders with poker greats and celebrities