What exactly are poker accessories? There was a time when people felt all they needed were a couple of decks of cards and maybe some plastic poker chips to play poker. That’s still true, but poker has become a more sophisticated pastime and a real industry, and there are many accessories available now that can enhance your enjoyment of the poker experience and give your game a real live poker feel.

Poker Accessories: Card Shufflers

Finding that shuffling is slowing down your game? Even when two decks in play, shuffling can bog things down. Many of your guests won’t be skilled shufflers and when they try to mix the cards, it can create a lot of unwanted down time. An automatic card shuffler can shuffle the cards for you to keep the action going.

Poker Accessories: Buttons

Nothing gives a poker game a professional feel like poker buttons. There’s the dealer button of course, a standard for every hold’em game, but there’s also a button for kill games, missed blinds and for players sitting out. Everything you see at your local casino can be had in your home.

Poker Accessories: Cut Cards

You don’t want anyone seeing the bottom card in the deck, as it can give away information to a player who shouldn’t have it. Casinos prevent this problem by using cut cards, a plastic card that the dealer cuts onto to hide the bottom card. Now, you can too. You can get cut cards in a variety of colors, so you have one for each of your decks with a few spares just in case.

Poker Accessories: Card Protectors

You only have to have your pocket aces swept away by the dealer once to appreciate the importance of a card protector. Sure you can use one of your chips as a card protector, but what if you want to go all-in? You can order custom card protectors that personalize your poker game as well as being practical. No one will mistake your customized card protector for an extra chip and no one will accidentally muck your winning hand when you have one of these stylish pieces protecting it.

“Elements of Poker” by Tommy Angelo is not like any poker book you have ever seen, because Tommy Angelo is not like any poker author you have ever seen. Tommy does things his own way, from his “Tommyisms,” his own self-created brand of poker terminology, to his humor and general approach to the game.

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Well my evening of playing Royal Holdem poker turned out to be quite fun.  You only play with cards, 10 and higher, all the other cards you take out of the deck.  There were four of us, so we had just enough cards to play with.

Its so weird because you get dealt a king, queen starting hand and think wow ok this isnt too bad, until you realize actually its not that good at all considering what everyone else could have!  The first player was out of the home tournament in five minutes!!  Its like turbo-charged poker!!  I managed to last another five minutes and then was busted by a flush.

Great fun was had by all and many laughs… its a great way to lighten things up and get the party atmosphere going! Or, if you just want to speed up your Holdem game and get a result quickly.

I have been invited to play a home game of Royal Holdem poker.  Ever heard of it, or played it?  Only tens and upwards count.

To be honest I am a little nervous and am not too sure what to expect.  But then again its just a home game with friends, so its just for fun.  Will let you know how it goes.

I remember one thing that really used to get to me when I first started playing poker and that was when you are waiting to see if the turn and river cards will bring you some luck.

This is very nerve racking when you have a lot of chips committed to the pot.  For instance, say you are playing no-limit holdem poker and someone goes all-in.   You know by the way the betting has gone that all you need is one of two cards on the turn or river, to either pair with your card or maybe even to complete a straight or flush.  The odds of getting one of the cards are pretty good and heh you have two chances at getting the cards.  But what really got to me was that it was all out of my control and there was nothing I could do about it.  I just had to wait and see what the deck would bring me.

Now that I am a more experienced poker player, I have mellowed a bit and have learnt to also appreciate the fact that sometimes it can go your way and that in life not everything is within your control.  Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and ride the waves if they come along… and thats the beauty of poker, part of the game is about chance, which makes it fun and unpredictable.

It’s just so funny how some hands play out.

One moment I am sitting there with queen, ten in my hand.  I get both of them paired with the community cards, so am sitting happy with two pair.. but the betting is aggressive so I pull out.  Its not the greatest hand after all, but heh its not bad either!

A few hands later, guess what??  I get my old queen, ten combo again.. this time everyone is a bit reticent to bet, there is one small raise and lot of checking, I get another queen on the river and decide to raise 1.5 times the pot, with just the pair… end up taking the hand, everyone else got cold feet because of my raise.  Considering there wasn’t much in the pot and the way they had been playing earlier, I didn’t think it was such a big raise… but anyhow.

Thats the fun of poker its just so unpredicatable how things will turn out.  It depends on all the characters that are playing and sometimes the game just has its own ebb and flow, between aggressive and quiet play.  Funny old game, you just have to love it

Online Poker is meant to be a thorough entertainer and it is!  People love poker, it may be the original games of poker where you sit at a table or maybe online poker games, where you can choose to sit at as many tables as you would like virtually.  When people are used to land based texas holdem poker games, why are the masses still running towards the online poker games?  Why are people choosing online poker as their favorite?  There are several reasons attached to this and you will see as we discuss this that people are on this boat not because of one reason, but because of various reasons.

Here are a few reasons why people choose online poker and you should consider it too:

1. You don’t have to limit yourself to some place to play poker.  All you need is a computer and internet to be able to play poker anywhere.  Just register and begin, its as simple as that.

2. You can choose how many tables you want to play at.  You can open several tabs and play for how ever much you can handle.

3. Winning money is more probable because there are so many hands you are playing.

4. You can choose the table you want to be sitting at and playing.  You have the right to choose any of the tables that you want to sit at and play.

5. You will have access to tools which will help you analyze various aspects of losing and will help you win.

6. If you think that you want to play without your name being published and want your name to be withheld.  This is definitely possible.  You don’t have to worry about anyone getting to know your identity.

7. You can be the lucky one to be able to participate in as many tournaments that take place. You won’t have to worry about being in a queue etc., you just need to register yourself and then you can play.

Choosing online poker is nothing but a matter of personal choice.  People would be able to notice that their earnings have gone up, ever since they started playing online poker games.  Fraud is not an option for anyone who plays at a reputable poker site.  If fraudsters are brought to the attention of the authorities, they are usually dealt with in a proper manner.

Everyone has their favorite hands and then also their less favorites.  For me one of my less favorites is king, queen off suit.

It was all because of one bad experience in my early playing days, which cost me a lot of chips, which I couldn’t really afford at the time.  You know how it goes.  I got sucked in and then sucked out… Started with king, queen off suit – nine, ten on the flop and I was hoping to get some luck on the turn and river, didn’t get much help, so I tried to bluff my way out of trouble… my opponent kept re-raising and eventually called… ouch!  You must know the story.

So now you can understand why I get a nervous feeling every time I get dealt king, queen off suit.  Ok maybe its not that bad that I break out into a sweat, but lets just say that I don’t leap out of my chair with joy and go “WHOOOPEE!!”

King, queen off suit just doesn’t do it for me.  I’ll have a look at the flop most times, to see if I can partner my royals or get a straight going.  But a lot of the times, I’ll just chuck it and fold.  Get out whilst I can, dont want to go there again!

What are the 10 keys to poker success?

You may agree or disagree with this list, but here goes:

1. Be Aware of your Strengths and Weaknesses

2. Act Responsibly

3. Think

4. Have a Plan

5. Set Deadlines

6. Be Realistic

7. Expect Difficulties

8. Build on Small Accomplishments

9. Persist

10. Have Fun

For those of you that play online poker, you may have a different list of 10 keys to poker success than if you played live or tournament poker.  I know for me, one of the most important keys to a successful poker player is to be patient and to wait for the good cards, its not on this list, but I suppose it goes with no.9 Persist.

Another one might be, “Be bold”, aggressive at times.

So what do you go for, when choosing an event to enter at the 2009 WSOP?  Big prize money, even if you don’t finish as the winner vs Fame of winning a bracelet.

It probably depends on who you are and how big your bankroll is.  Everyone wants to win a bracelet at the WSOP, but if you already have a few chips in your back pocket and your mortgage is paid off, then you would probably go for the fame and not the fortune.

Some may say, well I’ll go for the fame, because the fortune will follow… hmmm but I would disagree on this point.  Just because you are famous it doesn’t guarantee that you will make lots of money.  So, I would probably go for the money first… fame is not that important to me…

Then I would go for an event with the type of poker that I am best at, so that I would be confident of my ability and of winning.

But heh… thats me, different strokes for different folks.

What would you go for?