If you plan on attending the WSOP and have a small bankroll, say $5,000, then there are two approaches to take. The first approach is to play satellites and hope to win entry into a big buy in event. The other is to be selective and pick small buy-in tournaments and choose these to buy in to directly. Lets look at the two different approaches and see what the benefits are, as well as the drawbacks.

Satellites

Satellites are essentially sit-n-goes. They have either single table satellites, or multi table satellites. Satellites pay out either tournament lamers, which can be converted to cash or used to buy in to the tournament, or with full entry tickets. The prize will depend on the buy in to the satellite.

There are a few benefits to the satellites. The first is that you can buy in to them for as little as $75 dollars. This is a great opportunity for people who have a very small bankroll. The downside to these satellites is that they have very little play. If you are not comfortable with sit-n-go’s, especially turbo structures, then you might not feel comfortable playing them.

Some players choose to sit and grind the single table satellites, so be forewarned that there are semi-professional sit-n-go grinders who focus on these games. This means that there might very well be stiff competition. Also, if you come to the WSOP with 5K and play several $500 satellites, you might go away empty handed.

The best reason to play the satellites is if you are only at the WSOP for the Main Event. On a $5K bankroll you can’t buy in to the Main Event, but you have a decent shot at winning a seat through satellites.

Small Buy-In Events

If you have a $5K bankroll there are plenty of events to play. The important thing to do is schedule your events. It makes no sense to plan for an event on June 10 if you are not planning on playing another until July 6. You have to factor in the hotel costs, food, and other assorted expenses.

If you want to play non No-Limit events, then you will want to plan for the early events. Here are some early events to look at:

Event# 4: Stud 8 or Better  $1,500   May 29th

Event# 5: Pot Limit Hold’Em  $1,500   May 30

Event#7: Seven Card Stud  $1,500   May 31

Event#8: Omaha 8 or Better $1,500   June 1

If you are looking to play No Limit, then this is a good schedule:

Event #56 No Limit Hold’Em $1,500  July 2

Event # 59 No Limit Hold’Em $1,000  Jul 3

Bracelet Bounty No Limit Event $560  July 6

The Bracelet Bounty is not a bracelet event. The benefit to this event is that there is a $500 bounty on all players who have a WSOP bracket. If you play this schedule you can also enter some satellites and see if you win a ticket for the Main Event.

Since most poker players want to play a WSOP event when they attend the series, this option is a good compromised. You have the chance to win a ticket to the Main Event, but even if you brick the satellites, you will still have the opportunity to play 2 bracelet events, and one big country tournament.

The big news swirling around the internet over the last couple of weeks has been the pending purchase of Full Tilt Poker by PokerStars. Should the deal finalize, PokerStars will have the resources of the biggest competitor and will become a near-monopoly of an online poker company. Many wonder what types of changes will occur due to this acquisition.

You won't see an army of Full Tilt Pros as in the past.

First, it can probably be assumed that Full Tilt will reopen, but this time under the PokerStars umbrella. As such, you can expect PokerStars to become the focal point for many of the sites major tournaments and Full Tilt to become a strong secondary site. Since players from Full Tilt will have their accounts refunded, expect a worldwide uptick in traffic that will be attributed to PokerStars, further lapping the rest of the online poker world.

In the short term, pros will find more sponsorship opportunities with Full Tilt Poker, but those will be short lived as the terms of these deals will not be as liberal as those were of Full Tilt. You will not see nearly the number of pros and the standards for both acquiring and keeping those deals will be stricter than the old Full Tilt. Also, pros that don’t have true global appear will have some problems getting and keeping their deals.

Finally, you will likely also see further consolidation of online poker sites as some of the smaller sites try to band together to stay competitive against what will be a nearly unbeatable foe in PokerStars. The only sites that really will be able to compete in the short term will be PartyPoker and bwin Poker, and other sites will be struggling to keep up. Some will be forced to consolidate with other companies in order to stay afloat.

Ultimately, you will see a much smaller online poker footprint, but also a more efficient one. Players will likely find an improved online poker experience as well as improved customer support as sites look to gain and retain more players in order to battle PokerStars grip on the online poker population.

One of the sectors that actually have benefited from Black Friday in the United States is the live casino sector. Online players have been forced by and large to shift their game to the live venue in order to continue to make a living The downside to this is that there are fewer opportunities for players to hone their craft in non-Hold’em games. Today, we will look at some of the best places to hone your mixed game skills.

Want to play Stud? Try the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City

For those looking for regular venues to play Seven Card Stud, about the only two places that you will find the game consistently spread is in Los Angeles and in Atlantic City. In AC, your choices will pretty much be the Trump Taj Mahal and the Borgata. For lower to mid stakes, stick with the Taj.

In Los Angeles, you will find low limit stud games starting as low as $1-$2 Stud at the Bicycle Casino, Hawaiin Gardens, and others. Higher limits are going to be found more frequently at the Commerce and other casinos are willing to do so if there is interest. Hawaiin Gardens does have one of the only lower limit Stud Hi-Lo games you will find on the west coast as well.

Omaha Hi – Lo – Mississippi

While you can find some Omaha Hi-Lo in most casino towns, it seems that Biloxi and Tunica MS are the two best spots for Omaha Hi-Lo in the country. Omaha Hi-Lo events are a staple of many of the poker events in those areas and regular cash games do tend to go off to middle limits.

Lowball Games – Vegas

While Los Angeles will have some higher limit games at the Commerce from time to time, you are going to probably find your lowball games like Triple Draw, Badugi, etc in Vegas. The Aria tends to spread these games much more often than the other casinos at present, but the Bellagio will spread it with enough demand. Granted, some mixed games at lower limits will go regularly with lowball games during the summer months and when there are big events in town.

By and large, the online arena is still going to be the best way to learn and master mixed games. However, depending on where you are willing to go to play, you can still find them in the live arena. Just don’t expect them to go off every day. Good luck at the tables.

Data mining has been a big topic of conversation lately thanks in part to the battle between PokerStars and Poker Table Rankings. While their dispute was over mass data mining of players, some still feel that any data mining done, even on a personal level is not in the spirit of the game.

Is poker tracking software a useful tool or an unfair advantage?

Many feel that the use of any poker tracking software is against the basic principles of playing poker and gives players a totally unfair advantage. The programs go far beyond just keeping a basic record of what the player had and how the action went down.

These programs analyze a player’s play, other’s play, and tracks patterns of play in order to offer suggestions on how to improve. It also keeps stats on every opponent at the table and does so over a long period.

Hand tracking software like Poker Tracker does much more than a normal human could and is considered against the spirit of the game. It actually is against the Terms of Service of most online sites, technically making it cheating.

Counterargument – Tracking Software Just Another Tool and Is Necessary

Many players that use poker tracking software view the programs as just another tool to use in playing online poker. It is not different in taking notes or having buddies sweat you to pick up information on other players.

Also, many feel that the players that do not use this software have no serious chance to make it long term in the online arena. There is just so much information out there available and those that chose to do so are the equivalent of live players that refuse to take notes or study away from the table.

There does not seem to be any serious movement to stop the use of poker tracking software for personal use and chances are there will not be any taken in the near future. Online sites know that many players would simply quit playing at their sites should they not be permitted to use their personal software. While massive bulk data mining may be battled, personal data mining is something that will not go away anytime soon.

Many people believe that a person with ADHD or ADD will have a difficult time playing poker since it requires players to have an immense amount of concentration and sit for long periods of time. While this is a logical argument, the truth is that many adults with ADHD and ADD are able to play the game at a high level of success. There are several ways that they do this.

Poker is for everyone, even those with ADHD.

The first, and most obvious in some instances, is with the assistance of medications. Players will use their meds to help them level their mood much like they did in grade school and this helps with focus. However, there are just as many that have these conditions that do not use medications that still find ways to stay focused.

Some players accomplish this with the aid of music or something else to help keep them occupied at the table. Many with ADD or ADHD are multi-taskers and can do so efficiently. This is how they keep themselves interested and focused while at the table. Poker can be a very boring game and while you are supposed to be able to pick up information during every hand, the truth is that after a while you will have enough of a handle on everyone’s play that you don’t have to really focus that much.

You will also notice that some players tend to be wanderers during games. Some people will mistake these wanderings as the player trying to milk some extra comp money or their trying to tie up the game. The main way to tell the difference is how they play when they get back. Do they sit in for a few hands or for a while and hardly play before leaving? Do they come back, wait for the blind, and then play super tight? Or do they come back, post, and then play solid poker. The last one mentioned is likely someone that has to wander a bit to be able to refocus. Some people cannot sit still for very long, even if they love the game. They have to go do something else for a while and come back. Watch how they play when they get back and this will help you determine their intentions with their wanderings.

People with ADD or ADHD are able to do most things that people without those conditions can. The difference is that they may have to adjust how they participate in order to be able to take part. There is always more than one way to do something, and they just have to take a different path. Poker really is a game for everyone. If you have ADD or ADHD, don’t let it stop you from playing. Instead, work on a way to keep yourself focused at the game. Good luck at the tables.

Last week, we reviewed some basic strategy for Eastern Rules Chinese Poker.  This week, we will cover some basic strategy for Western Rules Chinese Poker.

The opponent in this hand won the majority of hands and got an extra point.

Object of Western Rules

The object of Western Rules Chinese Poker is similar to Eastern Rules but with a couple of exceptions.  Your goal is to indeed try and win as many points as possible from your opponents, but in Western Rules the player that takes the most sections overall receives an extra point.

For example, in a three handed game you scoop the top section and win one point on both the middle and bottom sections.  This gives you four points for the sections won.  Since you have won the majority of the points, you will be awarded one extra point to give you five points for the hand.

Also, in Western Rules there are no bonus points hands other than clean sweep hands.  If you play a Royal Flush on the bottom, you will only be awarded the points for beating your opponents hands on that section.

Basic Strategy

Since your object is to win the most number of ping, you need to evaluate your hands and determine what plays give you the best shot at doing so.  Since you cannot gain bonus points for big hands like four of a kind, this may force you to play hands differently than you might in Eastern rules.

First, check your hand for any clean sweep hands.  Just like in Eastern Rules, clean sweep hands win you the hand automatically provided someone does not have a clean sweep hand.

Once you evaluate for clean sweep hands, you will need to build your three hands.  When you can play monster hands at the bottom without leaving your other two sections barren, that is obviously the best move.  Aces full or better at the bottom will almost always scoop the bottom.  Full houses at the bottom give you the best chance to scoop the bottom.

Middle hands can sometimes mean the difference between taking the majority of books or a losing hand.  Three of a kind or better is going to give you the best chance of scooping in the middle.  However, two pair hands will often win you at least one point and sometimes more with higher pairs.  If you must play a pair, it should be a high pair.  If you have a choice between splitting two small pair to play one at top or keeping it for your middle, opt for the later unless your opponents are regularly not playing pairs at the top.

The top hand will obviously be scooped by three of a kind, but since three of a kind does not pay a bonus, there is little reason to strive to play it at top.  Pairs at top are going to work for your advantage and when those are not possible, play ace high hands.

Like in Easter Rules, be willing to split up a big hand at the bottom if it will help you win more points in the middle or high.  If you have the choice between aces full with just a couple of pair left or split the aces full to make a flush, straight, and pair, you should opt for the later.  Of course, if your aces full at the bottom leaves you with a couple of pairs like jacks and tens, you could play the jacks in the middle and the tens at top as you may scoop two sections there.

When evaluating hands, determine which combination of plays will give you the best chance to win the majority of points.  In some cases, this is not going to be possible.  When you are dealt a junk hand, your object is to setup your hand to prevent you from losing as few points as possible.

For example, you are dealt six clubs with a pair of tens and KQ623 rainbow.  One of those clubs is an ace.  While an ace high flush at the bottom may be of benefit, consider playing a weaker flush at the bottom, the pair of tens at the middle and AKQ at top.  The AKQ at top will give you more chances for points than the ace-high flush at bottom.  If you are lucky, someone may have hit bad at the bottom with an play straight or worse.

As with all poker, evaluating hands and choosing the best plays takes practice.  Watch your other opponents hands at showdown as you are learning to spot areas in your own game where you can improve and also evaluate any mistakes you see them play.  With practice, you hand evaluation skills will improve.

Western Rules Chinese Poker is a great game to learn Chinese Poker on as you do not have to worry about bonus point hands like in Eastern Rules.  As such, the swings are less.  Once you get the skill of evaluating hands down, you can move on to watching opponent tendencies and adjusting your play to take advantage.

Chinese Poker is a fun game that is part puzzle and part poker.  With a little practice, you will find the game to be a fun variant to play and may even be able to consistently turn a profit at the game.  Good luck at the tables.

One of the worst mistakes that a player can make in playing Omaha Hi-Lo is playing middling cards consistently.  Middling cards are the six, seven, eight, and nine.  When playing hands consistently with combinations of those cards, especially hands with more than two of those cards, you are asking for problems.  Here are some reasons why.

Playing trap cards regularly in Omaha Hi-Lo is the poker equivalent of this.

First, when you play a hand such as 6-7-8-9 or similar, you are giving yourself next to zero chance of making a low hand.  Even if you do make a low, the best low that you are going to make is a 7-6 low.  That may work infrequently as an “emergency low”, but it will usually cost you money.  You can almost never scoop with this pot.

Next, if you have either a straight or a flush with these cards, it is almost always going to be the sucker end of a straight or when you make a flush you will usually be beat by a better flush.  The only real nut straight you can make is with the board coming 5-6-7 or 4-5-6, and in those cases you will not scoop.  The only true nut hand you could make is nines full or quads.  If you play those hands frequently hoping to catch those hands, you should probably just give your money away to start with.

Middling cards are also referred to as trap cards by experienced Omaha Hi-Lo players.  Omaha High players will like a hand such as 6-7-8-9 due to the multiple straight possibilities it offers.  However, they don’t have to contend with a low hand.  Since Omaha Hi-Lo is all about scooping pots, these types of hands are inferior.

About the only time you want to play middling cards are when they are coordinated with a couple of low cards.  Hands like A-2-6-7 or A-2-8-9 are much better to play, especially if the middling card is suited with the ace.  In fact, middling hands are not even recommended to play in the small blind or in the big blind to a min-raise.  Some players will tell you to play there, but chances are that you are still going to be behind and still need a perfect flop to likely just chop the pot.

Avoiding hands that contain multiple middling cards will help keep you from bleeding chips and putting yourself in tough situations where you are holding a weak low and inferior straights and flushes.  Avoiding these situations will save you bets in the long run which will mean bigger profits over time.  Good luck at the tables.

The last two weeks we have gone over some basic Chinese Poker rule for those of you new to the game. This week, we will delve a bit into basic strategy of the game. We will first start with some basic strategy for Eastern rules Chinese Poker. Next week, we will follow up with some strategy specific for Western rules.

An example of three of a kind as the top hand.

Objective of the Game

In Eastern rules Chinese Poker, you are looking to collect the most points you can either by winning the most sections or via bonus hands. In many hands, the player who wins the most sections will be the player walking away with the most money. However, if you are able to make hands worth bonus points, those hands can help increase your overall win.

Evaluating Hands

Once you are dealt your thirteen cards, you will need to evaluate your hand for the best possible combinations. You first want to check your hands for any clean sweep groups such as three flushes, three straights, six pair, etc. When you hit a clean sweep hand, you automatically win the hand barring someone getting lucky and pulling a better special hand, which is extremely rare.

Next, you want to look for bonus hand possibilities. In Eastern rules Chinese Poker, four of a kind and both a straight and royal flush pay a bonus on the bottom section. If you have any of these hands, play them to the exclusion of any other hands as you will get bonus points from each player. For example, you get four bonus points for four of a kind from each player. That is 12 points in a three handed game.

After you evaluate your hand for bonus point hands, you proceed to work on making your three hands. Remember that your bottom hand must be higher than the middle, and the middle must be higher than the top three card hand. When evaluating hands, you want to give yourself the best position to win the most number of points from players. In a three handed game and barring bonus point hands, you must win five points in order to win money. This is the equivalent to winning one section and winning points from two other players. Again, this is assuming that someone does not hit a bonus hand. The rest of the strategy in this section will be based on assuming someone does not hit a bonus hand.

Playing the Bottom Hand

Full houses on the bottom are going to give you a solid chance to scoop a hand, and the higher the full house the better. Aces full at the bottom is going to scoop that section, so when you are able to play that hand without making your other hands weak, that is obviously going to be your best option. When you cannot get a full house there, a flush is going to be your next best choice. When you are forced to play a flush there, play the highest flush that you can that won’t hurt other hands.

Playing the Middle Hand

The middle sections are a bit tricky at times and how you play them will depend on your opponent. If you can get three of a kind or higher in the middle hand, you have a great shot at scooping the middle. If you are lucky enough to get a full house or better in the middle, those actually award bonus points, so definitely play those hands in the middle. Make sure that the bottom hand is high or you will foul the hand.

When three of a kind or better is not possible, playing two pair on the middle will help you win points in many hands. The higher the two pair, the better. However, in some cases, just having two pair in the middle will work. Some players will split two pair in the middle to make a pair up top. If you do this, you want to have a fairly high pair in the middle. If this is not the case, then you need to decide whether you think a small pair at the top or two pair in the middle will win you more points.

Playing the Top Hand

The top hand, aka the front hand, can be a tricky one to play depending on how strong your deal is. The only bonus paid for the top hand is for three of a kind. If you can somehow wrangle three of a kind for the top without fouling, then by all means do so. However, most of the time this will not even present itself as an option.

You want to strive to make a solid pair at the top of your hand. Sometimes any pair will be good enough to scoop the top section, but depending on how the hands are running and the skill of your players, you may have to stick with just playing higher pairs at top when possible.

When playing a pair at top is not possible, you want to play the highest non-pair hand you can. The highest “nut no pair” hand is A-K-Q. Three cards with ace high are obviously best and the higher the top three cards are, the better. In most cases, if you hand is not at least king-high, you probably have little chance of winning points at the top.

Splitting up Big Hands to Make Multiple Hands

There are times in the game where you are going to be forced to split up big hands for the sake of giving yourself three reasonably playable hands. For example, you sort your hand by suit and notice you have a King high flush and also see you have a King high straight and a pair of eights. You also see you could play kings full of eights at the bottom, but that would leave you with a pair of sixes for the middle and queen high at the top.

In this case, you want to play the flush, straight, and pair as they give you three solid hands and the best chance to win money. A big hand at the bottom is great, but it means nothing if both your middle and top hand gets scooped. The one exception to this would be if you were dealt a bonus hand for the bottom. In that case, it doesn’t matter what your other hands will be as you will make money regardless.

The above will give you a solid start when starting out with Eastern rules Chinese Poker. Due to the bonus hand factor, Eastern rules is a bit swingier than Western rules. Next week, we will give you some basic strategy on Western rules so that you are properly prepared to begin playing Chinese Poker.

Last week, we went over some basic rules on how to play Chinese Poker. While these rules will get you started, you will find some games that have a few added elements. We will go over those special elements in this article.

This player put the 10's before jacks and it cost him $20.

Clean Sweep Hands

In Chinese Poker, there are seven groups of hands that when a play receives these hands, they automatically win the hand and receive a set number of points from each player. The clean sweep hands are below from highest to lowest and includes their typical payouts.

• 13 Colors – This hand is every card of one suit, such as spades. Pays 13 points.

• Dragon – One card of every rank from ace through king. Pays 13 points.

• 12 Colors – 12 cards of a single suit plus a kicker. Pays 8 points

• 3 of a Kind and Five Pairs. Pays 4 points

• 3 Straights – Straights for all three sections. Pays 4 points.

• 3 Flushes – Flushes on all three sections. Pays 3 points

• 6 Pairs – Pays 3 points.

You must declare a clean sweep group in order to count and also, if playing online you must submit the hand as a natural hand or it will play as a normal hand. Also, for 3 of a Kind with 5 pairs and 6 pair hands, four of a kind can count as two pair.

Additional Considerations

A player at any point during a hand may “surrender” their hand. When they do this, their hand will not be compared to other hands and the player will be forced to pay each player 3 points.

Also, if a player mistakenly places their three hands in the wrong order, they are considered to have fouled and must pay a penalty to the other players. They pay three points plus any bonus points in most hands and must pay the full amount of any clean sweep hands. In addition, a player who declares a clean sweep hand and does not have that hand will have to pay the foul penalties.

These added considerations with the rules presented on Chinese Poker last week should give you a good basic understanding on how the game operates. Next week, we will begin to cover basic strategy on Chinese Poker, starting with Eastern rules.

Today we will take a break from custom variant of poker and discuss one that is highly popular among pros, high stakes players, and those just wanting something different. Chinese Poker, also known as 13 card poker, is a game that is as much puzzle as it is poker. Let’s briefly review the basic rules of Chinese Poker.

Basic Chinese Poker Hand

Each player in a Chinese Poker game receives 13 cards. A maximum of four players can play, and doing so will use the entire deck. Scoring is done on the basis of points, but we will review that later in the article. The objective of Chinese Poker is to make three poker hands. Two of the hands are five card hands and one of the hands will be a three card hand.

The first five card hand, also known as the bottom, must be the highest hand. The second five card hand, or the middle, must be higher than the top hand, but lower than the bottom hand. The top hand, or the three card hand, is the lowest hand of the three. If you make a mistake and put a hand in the middle that is higher than the bottom, or a hand at the top that is higher than one of the other two hands, you have an invalid hand and automatically lose to all players.

Once players show their hands, points are awarded based on each segment. A point is worth a certain amount of money. In this example, let’s say that each point is worth $5. Each player compares their bottom segment. In a three handed game, if Player A has the best bottom hand, then he gets a point from each person, winning $10.

If Player B can beat player C but not player A, then he wins a point and gives a point, thus breaking even. If Player C’s hand cannot beat either player, he loses 2 points or $10. The middle and the top segments are compared in the same way, with points awarded accordingly.

There are a couple of rule styles that you will see online. They are known as Western and Eastern rules. Essentially, the only difference in these rules relates to the bonuses paid on hands. In Western rules, a player taking the majority of the points in a hand receives 1 additional point.

Eastern rules are a bit different. In eastern rules, bonus points are awarded based on holding certain hands in certain groups. For example, if you hold a Royal Flush for you bottom group, you will receive 7 bonus points.

A straight flush pays 5 points, and four of a kind gets four points. In the middle section, a royal pays 14, a straight flush 10, four of a kind 8, and a full house two points. If someone can pull off three of a kind on the top, they will get three extra points. Note that when bonus hands are involved, you will only be paid the bonus points for that section.

In a three handed game, if you hit four of a kind on the bottom, you will get just the four bonus points. Also, you must win that section to get the bonus points. If you have four of a kind at the bottom and someone happens to pull off a straight flush, you will not receive bonus points.
Now that you know the basic rules behind the game, it is time to go into some base strategy. Come back next week and we will review some basic strategy for Chinese Poker.