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I decided not to rebuy or add-on in a 5K starting stack pokertournament. I was sitting with 2675 chips. After the break, the blinds would be 100/200. I would be short stacked, but I felt that with everyone adding on, I should be able to find a good spot to double up against some poker online chip-splashers. I went about this in a strange way though. The first hand I was dealt was 4d-5d under-the-gun. Instead of folding, like I should, I decided to make a small raise up front. We were 8-handed and I felt people would be very suspicious of my bet. They might put me on a big pair or at least something strong. Being in such early position, I would probably also get the first opportunity to bet at a flop if someone behind me called the opening raise. Everyone folds to the big blind who calls. Flop is: 3d 6c 8d I flop the open ended straight draw, and the flush draw - my dream flop if I had a lot of chips. Still, I can’t wait to get my money in. The BB leads for 1,000. I shove, knowing he has to call and I’m hoping he doesn’t have big diamonds. He takes a long time and I verbally convince him that he has to call. He calls with 2’s. He has no diamonds. His 2’s eliminate 2 of my straight outs, but I get to factor in 6 more outs as overcards! I can’t believe I can with with a 4 or a 5 as well! I am 65% to win this hand. The board blanks on the turn and pairs on the river. I brick and am out of the tourney. So, I played cagily, but with a near guarantee of action. I got the online poker action I wanted, and almost got a courtesy double up-free of charge.

In online poker, players use deception as a way to get their opponents to make mistakes. The “check-raise” is a good example of deceptive play in online poker. It is often used as a slow play tactic - when a player has a big hand, even the absolute nuts, but purposefully does put out a big bet in order to keep other players engaged. The purpose is to fool opponents into putting more money into the pot.

To execute a check raise, a player holding a powerful hand simply checks instead of betting. It is usually best played from an earlier position. The check is mean to disguise the strength of the hand. This player wants another opponent to initiate a bet. If that happens, then the earlier checking player can then “come over the top” of the bettor and put out a raise. The player who bet first has been hijacked by a check-raise.

The check-raise tactic doesn’t always work though. Sometimes the players in later position will also just check to see a free card. This can be risky for the player who first checked with a powerful hand if that hand is not already the nuts. By letting other players draw to free cards, a powerful hand, like trips or two pair, could still get beat.

Though some players think the check-raise is unethical, it is a time-honored tactic at the poker table. At a friendly home game it might be considered too underhanded, but it’s definitely acceptable in online poker rooms.

Poker online players sometimes get big hands right from the start and assume they will win with the strong starter cards. Often they do, but no two cards always win every time — even pocket Aces lose sometimes. No matter what you are holding, you have to carefully study the other cards on the board to analyze whether your hand is best with each new card that materializes.

For example, you may have a good pocket pair, like Queens, and another Queen comes out on the flop, giving you a powerful set. However, two or three cards to a suit also appear on board, making it possible another player will hit a flush. When this happens, you must be especially observant of your opponent’s play because your set may already be beat by a flush.

Being able to quickly read the board is an important skill in poker. Sometimes the board will look harmless, such as 5-6-2-9-J, when in fact, a player could have 7-8 for pocket cards for a straight.

Never become complacent when you have a good hand like a high pair, two pair or trips. Pay constant attention to the board “texture” - which is how the cards are shaping up. Is there a possible flush or straight? If there are two paired cards on board, then a full house or quads are possible that will easily beat lesser hands. Keep this in mind when you play poker online.

The real differences between the winning players and the newbies is not how they play when they have bad poker cards: it’s how they play when they have good cards in their hand. Let’s talk about pocket kings for a moment. They are considered the second best possible starting hand in Texas Holdem poker, an can only be beaten by a pair of Aces in the showdown. If you have read up on Texas Holdem strategy, you are probably realizing at this point that this is a really big deal. This can lay on some very serious stress if you are looking at a pair of kings and don’t know what to do. Some people can’t handle the fact that pocket kings can make or break your casino game. Many people bet a little too aggressively. They get overconfident. This is the mark of the newbie, because the old poker hands can spot an inappropriate aggressive better from a mile away. The professional players are able to play the cards strongly, but without betting so obviously. It is all about not raising the suspicions of the players. Be subtle. Be smooth. Be like a pro and your pocket kings will work for you instead of against you.

Last week I wrote on the stopped eCheck option for the two largest poker rooms in the world, Full Tilt and Pokerstars. There was much speculation around the reason that many players were bouncing checks when then went to cash them. Well, the verdict is in. The money was seized by the US government. Or rather the accounts it was in were frozen. Though the exact reason is still unclear, it has drastically changed the landscape of online poker and other jeux de casinos in the US. Despite the UIGEA many US players have found ways to continue to play online recreationally and professionally. The worst part of the seizure is that it hurts the recreational poker players the most. The ones who play for a little while, win a little, and cash out. Those are the players that are going to be turned off to the online scene if they get a check and it bounces. However, not every room has been affected. Many of the Cake poker network sites, as well as Everest Poker have not had a problem with the money seized since they operate outside the jurisdiction of US players. Meanwhile, the PPA and IMEGA gaming have stepped in and strongly voiced opinion against such actions by the US government, and the Senate is slated to hear Barney Frank’s bill on the legalization and regulation of online gaming very soon, so hopefully for all you recreational players who frequent different sites will be able to soon play without fear of another “crackdown.” And many of the sites that don’t allow US players currently will be able to cater to the US audience as well. Again, if any more developments occur regarding this matter, we’ll keep you posted on the latest.

It would be such a positive thing if we could all wear hats in any situation no matter what, but we can’t. When you go out to a nice place to eat you have to take your hat off, and I am not sure why. Did someone a long time ago make a rule that there are no hats aloud at the dinner table? Some of us feel so comfortable with a hat on and it makes us feel safe and secure. At the dinner table it is not about the person, but rather the group, and respect is supposed to happen. You can end up feeling so rude to wear a hat even though you want to so badly, but you don’t out of respect.

Hats make perfect sense in certain situations. In a baseball game a hat is worn at all times. If you are burning extra calories and taking Acceletrim you can wear a hat and help keep the heat on your body so that you burn more calories. Hats look good during these times and it sure would be nice if they could be worn all of the time to any occasion, but that is not how it is. It is respectful to follow what others think we should be wearing and doing in certain public situations, so for now, the hat will come off at the dinner table even though it would be so much better with a hat on.

After the meteoric rise of Chris MOneymaker from obscurity to poker stardom, most people dream of being the underdog WSOP casino event winner. If you live a fair distance from Las Vegas, however, you may have found it a little difficult to live out this permutation of the American dream without playing poker online. Luckily, those crafty organizors at the WSOP have just the solution for you.

In 2007, the World Series of Poker franchise launched a European branch of the popular tournament. It is the first World Series to be held outside the glittering lights of Las Vegas, but Europe did not disappoint. The main even was held in London, arguably the gambling capital of Europe. Just as Las Vegas has the rags to riches story of Chris MOneymaker, so did the WSOPE spawn its own poker folklore. The winner of the main event was a 19 year old player, who like MOneymaker, had perfected their skills online.

While the World Series of Poker Europe will never have the same allure as the tournament in sin city, it is a great chance to give European players the ability to compete on a world stage. After all, the next step for any winner of the WSOPE would be to hop across the Atlantic and try his hand against some seasoned pros in Las Vegas.

I often deride governments around the world that don’t allow online poker to be legalized, or that demonize against gambling in general. Similarly, I must also praise governments that have the good sense to allow law abiding poker players to play online and in card rooms. I was reading an interesting article online about the forthcoming Australia New Zealand Poker Tour. The person writing the article was talking about the upcoming event, what games they were going to play, and in general the Australia/New Zealand poker scene.

I in fact learned that New Zealand (not a particularly large country) has casinos in five cities across the country. So no matter where you live in New Zealand, you likely don’t have to travel all that far to play poker (unline, for example, in the United states, where one could conceivably be several hundreds of miles away froma gambling site). Even better, I learned that online poker is perfectly legal in New Zealand, and many of its citizens enjoy it.

Now, isn’t this refreshing? A country that realzies that online poker is a game of skill that is enjoyed by law abiding citizens for a little bit of luxury. And the country probably reaps the benefit from taxes by any online site that is based in New Zealand.

I always knew the country that gave us “the Lord of the Rings” movies would be a smart, sensible place to live.