This Years WSOP Main Event
The main event this year got underway with 6,844 entrants and an assortment of people from across the world. Some were there just for the experience, some of course were pros hoping for a better run than the previous year. Over several days the field began to diminish as players left the room and went to pack their bags for the flight home, but there were some familiar faces who would have to wait a bit longer than most for their flight.
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Phil Hellmuth had an excellent main event finishing up 45th place and was perhaps unlucky not to have got further. Mike Matusow finished 30th place which was a great result too, but the winner of this years main event remains undecided. Interestingly this year there is a new format in place where, once the final table has been decided the players go away and come back in early November to play out the final table. The reasons for this are said to be that it gives fans a chance to look forward to the final table and presumably build some anticipation as well as ‘bringing a new element’ to this years main event apparently.
Personally I cannot see how this will do anything extra for the event apart from perhaps giving the players a long period of time to recouperate before finishing the tournament.
When the final table is made up almost entirely of players that no poker fan has ever heard of, I cannot see that they will excitedly spend the next four months debating who will win. If Matusow and Hellmuth had been at the final table, then perhaps this would have been more likely, but it simply wasn’t to be.
Overall though, this years main event has been great, even watching the updates coming in online has been an enjoyable experience, and the series has been a very successful one for many top players and amateurs too.
What is String Betting at pockerstars.com and Why is it Illegal?
When a player takes off some of their stack and places it in the middle only to go back and reach for more chips to place in the middle as part of the same bet, this is a string bet at pockerstars.com.
In the situation of a player declaring the size of the raise before they bet in such a way, this would not be a problem because verbal bets are binding at pockerstars.
But string betting your chips without declaring the size of your bet first, is not allowed in online poker games. There is a simple reason for this too. Poker has always partly been about reading a persons reactions.
When you place a bet into the pot, it is important that you do not get the chance to read your opponents reaction to your first lot of chips going into the middle, before altering your decision to reach for more.
A bet has to be declared or signified by placing the correct amount in the middle in one movement or clear vocal announcement.
This means that everyone who makes a decision to bet a certain amount, has no chance to change their decision once they have put the chips into the pot. Any confusion in this type of situation could be very costly for a pocker player.
They might see their opponent placing 10,000 in chips into a pot at pockerstars.net and announce ‘call’ only to see the other player reaching back for his other 90,000 he wanted to put in with it, for instance.
For this reason it is integral to the game that bets are made in one continuous action, and that players are always clear about the size of the raise before they react to it.
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2-7 Triple Draw at 888 pacific pocker
2-7 is a rather curious game at 888 pacific pocker, perhaps the result of looking down at the worst possible cards for a lengthy period of time whilst playing a usual variant of poker.
The aim of course is to make the lowest possible group of five unpaired cards. Each player is dealt five cards at pacificpocker.com and has the option to swap as many as they like on three occassions in each hand, with betting rounds in between.
Generally I like to have four cards 8 or lower to play a hand at 888pocker, but it is not always possible to wait for hands such as this to come around. Often three good low cards will have to suffice as long as it is not being made too expensive for you to play.
As with five card draw, the amount of cards your opponent is swapping give a strong indication of how strong their pocker hand is, so be very mindful of players swapping one or standing pat on the first round of draws. If this does happen and you are faced with a raise, then it is really a case of considering what your chances are of making your hand, as well as what the bet is to call, and the amount of players yet to act.
Once these things are factored into your considerations of the size of the bet you face at online poker, it is really a case of using your best judgement to come to a decision. 2-7 can be infuriating as a game, but the only sure way you can gain a long term advantage over your opponents I feel, is to know your pot odds and outs, and make carefully considered decisons. If you do this without fail, then you should be able to have some success over the long haul, especially as many players you will find online aren’t too experienced.
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Partypoker.com
Party Poker has long been established as one of the best sites around, with good player bonuses and features, as such, it has excellent player traffic despite the loss of it’s U.S market. Players can find a game at most levels with relative ease.
The avatars and graphics are quite basic but there is choice to be had on which type of avatar suits you best. Everything else graphically works well and operates smoothly giving a good poker playing experience.
There are three types of poker to choose from on PartyPoker, Omaha, Stud and Holdem. Single table tournaments are always available and fill up quickly, as do multi tables. Prize packages are offered for land based tournaments with ongoing satellites to give a chance of winning your seat cheaply.
There is a first time bonus offer of 30% available which is accumulated as raked hands are participated in. This is slightly below average, but there are many other ongoing promotions to be taken advantage of in the attempt to bolster a bankroll.
PartyPoker also has an impressive points system for players, which can be exchanged for cash as well as tournament entries.
The site has always been well set out with tools in the lobby being easy to find and use, along with tournament listings. Overall I think PartyPoker is one of the stronger poker sites on offer and is certainly a site which I would happily play on, but it could perhaps do better with a few tweaks and improvements to continue it’s high standing.
Playing at partypocker
Before you start to play for real money at partypocker you can learn how to play the games for free and when you think you know how to play then you can start playing for real money.
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There are fees charged for playing the games on this site, to play in the tournament games the fees can be anything from 0% – 15% of the buy in amount.
The tournaments that are played at www.partypocker.com are sit & go table, Multi-table, Shootouts and Time-based, these tournaments are played 24/7 and are played on a first come first served basis.
The Sit & Go pocker games will start as soon as the rquired number of players join the game and the seats are given on a first come first served basis, Multi-table sit & go start as soon as the required number of players join the game and all players will be seated randomly, Multi-table games are played at set times and players will be randomly seated.
In Multi-table tournaments there are certain online poker games where late comers will be considered to join into a game that has already started as long as the first level of the game is not completed and one player is eliminated from the tournament.
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