Poker Concorde

At last years WSOP, we saw a resurgence of the professional players, as several bracelets were won by well known pros. The previous year had seen most of the bracelets won by unknown players. Whilst I have nothing against unknown players making a name for themselves, it is always nice to see those that dedicate much of their life to the game, being rewarded with bracelets.

To play poker online click the link!

This year so far, the professionals have again been picking up a few bracelets, and the biggest success story so far is that of Phil Ivey. At the time of writing this, he has picked up 2 poker bracelets this year, taking his career total to 7. The first of these bracelets came in Event 8, the $2,500 No Limit, Deuce to Seven Draw. He picked up just over $96,000 for his win, in an event that had a relatively small field due to the fact that the game is rather obscure.

This takes nothing away from the achievement however, when you consider that many World Series bracelet hunting pros look to enter this type of tournament due to it’s smaller field. The second of Phil Iveys bracelets this year, was claimed in Event 25, the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud hi/lo. Again, the starting field of 376 players was relatively small, but there were plenty of pros to be found at the tables.

Phil Iveys second bracelet win also netted him over $220,000, and probably much more in side bets with fellow professional players. Other familiar players to have picked up a bracelet this year include Daniel Alaei, Jeff Lisandro, Roland de Wolfe, and J.C Tran. There are events yet to be played too, so let us hope to see more great plays, and players, at the final tables of this years WSOP.

Many online poker schools will give you the basics of how to play Holdem and Omaha, but not all will teach you how to play Five Card Draw.

To play poker online click here!

Some online poker rooms will offer Five Card Draw, with single draw being by far the most commonly played. For those who have never played this game, here are a few basic rules and tips. At the start of the game, blinds are placed, and each player is dealt 5 cards. The action moves around the table clockwise as normal, and each player has a chance to put in a preflop raise, with Limit or Pot Limit being the most common formats.

After this round of betting is complete, each poker player has the chance to draw as many cards as they please, once. Bear in mind that you are trying to make all the usual poker hands from the 5 cards you are holding, with the usual hand rankings being the same.

After this, there is one final round of betting before the hands are turned over, and the pot is won.
The draw itself can give you a lot more information than you think, and with fairly low stakes play, you will find these scenarios are common.

If a poker player looks keen to raise or reraise preflop and then draws one card, they are extremely likely to have had two pair pre-draw. The chance will be very high that they still have two pair afterwards too. If a player seems content to flat call or limp in and then draws one, they may very well have a strong draw such as four cards to a Flush or Straight.

Raises followed by draws of two cards usually signify either a set, or a strong pair with a retained high card. Players who draw three cards will almost certainly always have a single pair of some sort. Bear these points in mind, and look for poker schools onsite to give you more detailed information, and you should be beating the Five Card Draw games in no time.

Tom Dwan was born in New Jersey, July 1986, and in the past year or two, has become very well known on the poker circuit. His exploits in the game began with online play, as he quickly moved through to the biggest tables and started to make his living there.

To play poker online click the link!

His erratic plays have certainly provided excitement and talking points on shows such as High Stakes Poker. It is sometimes difficult to tell whether he is very clever and talented, or reckless and insane with his plays. Either way, Tom Dwan is certainly the name everyone has been talking about recently, partly due to his online challenge involving a million dollar side bet.

This challenge has been taking place on Full Tilt, and covers 50,000 multi tabled hands in either Holdem or Omaha. Patrick Antonius is currently undertaking the challenge, and it has certainly made for interesting viewing. Opinion seems to be very divided over Tom Dwan I feel, as there will always be those who think that playing premium hands in the correct way constitutes playing poker well.

Of course they are right to an extent, but these same people cannot see any skill in Tom Dwan getting involved with weaker hands and ending up winning the pot. The point here though, is that Dwan often seems to get involved with a weaker hand, but still outplays his opponents on the Flop and Turn quite often, which is a very difficult skill in itself.
In my opinion, if you enjoy getting involved on the flop, mixing up your play and starting hands, you will always be a dangerous opponent. Tom Dwan seems to mix this, with a fearless nature when it comes to money, and that can be a very difficult combination to play against.

There are a number of different poker game varieties that can be played when it comes to poker, and online play has led to different tournament formats emerging too. The most commonly offered games online are Texas Holdem, Omaha, and Seven Card Stud, in that order. Often you will find hi/lo variations of Stud and Omaha offered, and some sites will offer other lesser played games such as Five Card Draw or Razz.

To play online poker click here now!

Having this choice of game is nice to see from a players perspective, but it is not solely the option of game variety that is available to us. We also have the option of playing a cash game, a single table tournament (STT) or even a multi table tournament (MTT). Within these choices you will sometimes find further options such as bounty tournaments, satellites and other special types of MTT.

In many ways you could say that we are spoilt for choice when we play online, and that is undoubtedly one of the aspects of online play that makes it so popular.

Whilst you might find tables fill more slowly in the lesser known games, I certainly feel it is worth the time to play them as they all involve different challenges. Putting your poker skill to the test with a new challenge in this way is enjoyable, as well as helpful to your poker development I feel.

Apart from anything else, it can also bring renewed enthusiasm to your game if you become tired of non stop Holdem.

To play poker click the link.