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.

Number One Poker Movie: Rounders

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Rounders, the first major motion picture to be centered around the game of hold’em, is considered by many to be the best poker movie of all time. It is known for its accurate depiction of the game, its players, and the atmosphere surrounding it. Released five years before Chris Moneymaker’s historic win at the World Series of Poker, it is credited for being a key contributor to the 21st century poker boom.

Number Two Poker Movie: The Cincinnati Kid

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Number Three Poker Movie: A Big Hand for the Little Lady

A movie in which little poker is actually played, this one is more about a strange set of occurrences surrounding a poker game. When a traveling farmer gets over his head in the highest stakes poker game in town, he seems confident as he holds what he hopes is the winning hand in a massive pot. In the excitement surrounding his inability to call the final bet, he collapses, forcing his wife to take over the hand. The movie revolves around her efforts to raise enough money to continue the game and win the pot.

Number Four Poker Movie: Maverick

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Number Five Poker Movie: California Split

In a movie that is more about the ups and downs of the gambling lifestyle than it is about poker, there are still some notable poker scenes, including the chaos of an early California card room and a cameo by Amarillo Slim.

A B C Poker

“Elements of Poker” is all about eliminating what Tommy likes to call the “C” game. The A game is the game we are playing when we are at our peak. We totally focus on the game and everything is going right. The C game is the opposite of this. If we can get the C game out of our repertoire, we can enjoy instantly improved results.

The Supposed Elements of Poker

If any other poker book hasn’t helped you, the “Elements of Poker” may be your salvation. Most books talk about understanding pot odds, the importance of aggression and knowing the quality starting hands. These books talk as if understanding these concepts is all it takes to be a world champion poker player.

The reality is that if this were true, everyone (or no one) would be a champion. Pot odds are not that difficult to understand and many people who understand them are not getting the results they want.

The Real Elements of Poker

Tommy Angelo talks about the elements of poker that really cause a poker player who knows how to play well to watch his bankroll disappear. There are four separate chapters on tilt, information about bankroll management, knowing when to quit and knowing when to give respect to your opponents. This book covers all the less “tangible” aspects of successful poker play.

If you haven’t been happy with your poker results because you always seem to call, raise or bluff at the wrong time, you might want to consult another book before this one. However, if you know all the basics and are still struggling to keep your bankroll together, Tommy Angelo’s “Elements of Poker” may be just what you need to turn things around.

But playing online poker calls for additional traits and skills, such as learning to “feel” your opponents, measuring the right bet for the right hand, patience, and luck among them.

The web offers endless resources for learning poker. Guides, blogs and forums will do the work, as do videos of actual games or those offering tips, such as the following:

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However, knowing WHERE to play is as important as knowing HOW to play poker, and no less rewarding. How do you, the player, choose the right poker room for you?

Ask around on forums, read as many reviews, and check licensing of each such “candidate”. You are best advised also to stop by for the highest online poker bonuses, a service sorting the endless selection of online poker rooms by the highest bonuses. On this table, the top bonuses are listed along with a short description, and links to reviews of the poker rooms and the poker rooms themselves.

Because learning where to play means a lot.  Sometimes it could mean an extra grand – that’s how much.

Every time you decide to bet, ask yourself immediately, “How much?”  That way you wont just bet, you will use the size of the bet to your advantage.  Bet-sizing gives you the leverage to out play your opponents.  And, the best way to learn is by playing a lot of poker hands, grinding it out.  You’ve got to get that feel for what your opponents can take, what will push them off, how you can get that pay-off.

Think before you act!

She is the only woman in the world with two WSOP bracelets in the open events, now thats not bad.  Known to favor cash games, but has played in all the big tournaments.  She co-authored the book Super System 2 and is a Full Tilt Poker Pro.  Check out her own website if you want to know more, and Wikipedia has a good page on her.

Do you like Jennifer Harman?

Here is some more from inside the mind of Jennifer… take care though, it makes you want to cry…

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For an amateur, I think Don Topel played brilliantly and he was just unlucky that Gavin Smith got the better cards.  Perhaps the one criticism  that I have of Don’s poker game is that he was a little impatient and played a few hands that he shouldn’t have.  He leaked a bit.

Easy to say afterwards.  Also in Heads up play you have to take it to your opponents, which he did, he played nice and aggressive.  Until he got dealt some ordinary hands.

Don is a likable fellow, someone everyone can identify with, even eating pizza whilst playing for a 1 million bucks and in front of millions of viewers!  Now that takes some doing.

What do you think Don did wrong?

Steve Schirripa hosts an entertaining poker show, featuring heads up play against a poker pro.  Contestants have to win a free qualifying tournament on Full Tilt poker to be eligible for the show.  At the start they get to choose one of the four doors, behind which is a poker pro and thats who they will take on in heads up Texas Holdem poker.

$40,000 for the first round, they can risk it all for the $200,000 on the second round against another poker pro and then go all in for the big prize of $1 million in the final round.

I like the fact that you can see ordinary people playing against the best.  A sort of a David vs Goliath… of course the crowd always supports the under dawg.

Even though play is fairly quick, I miss the banter that goes with a full table of pros playing against each other.

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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.

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.