When you put a search term into Google about Poker you will be looking for an answer to a question either on poker strategy, a poker room review or something else. The Internet is a fabulous resource of information but at all times you need to question the motives of the site you are reading. Why are they offering this information so freely? What do they want from their reader? Often there are hidden agendas to a website offering an answer to a question and as the competition is so fierce in securing new poker players sometimes websites misjudge the importance of giving objective and true information.

In most cases money is involved somewhere which is just how the world works online. The site may be an affiliate and their reason for existing is getting you to sign up with their affiliate links. Sometimes they twist what they are saying to make their offer seem logical or more relevant to you. Be careful if this occurs.

On this website we offer good advice and good poker articles that are not twisted to misinform you or trick you into something. Integrity is very important to me and to any good poker room.

Unfortunately some websites will make a list, for example, of the “five softest poker rooms for making a killing playing online poker”. You get a list of five websites with a review that are not necessarily the softest sites but certainly ones that the site where you are reading makes money from referring you to. The reviews cannot, therefore, be honest and objective.

Always critically analyse the articles you are reading. If you have ever been a student at college or University this should be second nature to you. The apparent five soft poker rooms may not be soft at all and it is your own ability that decides whether you profit or not from any room regardless whether that room is considered easy or not.

It is difficult to get a straight answer online on what is the best poker software and what are the best offers. I would recommend that you try them out and check what works for you. Everyone is different but I believe that a site like bwin poker gets most things right and you will hopefully find that you agree with me. Try it out for yourself and see if it works. I think it will.

When I first began playing online poker I told my family that I learned to play by writing about the game and reading poker articles. They told me that the poker articles online were designed to con me into thinking that the game can be beaten. The reason we love poker is we know that it is a skill game that is beatable if we respect the learning required and put in the hard work. But you do need to be aware of who is writing for you and what they want from the readership. You can always rest assured that whatever I believe in my articles are designed to help everyone. I just happen to believe that you can enjoy a wonderful poker playing experience at bwin poker.

This is why I am a fan of traditional blogging because the love of giving the information is the primary motive in the work read in a blog. The bwin poker blog, for example, gives you informative stories about their latest package winners and offers on the site. I enjoy reading the posts and hearing success stories and it reminds me that I just might get that big win one day! If you decide you want to join in then there are instructions on how to do so but this is not forced to the reader, which makes for a pleasant experience of the blog and the poker room.

By Malcolm Clarke

True to my word I have increased my online poker playing time over the past month and this has taught me the ins and outs of poker grinding. After a long period of playing, for me anyway, I decided that it was time to put down the mouse and visit a real casino to get a taste of the live poker experience. I gave my online poker game a break and planned a road trip with a friend of mine. This was partly due to me wanting a change of scenery and partly due to my belief I had improved so much those casino poker fish would not stand a chance against me!

Online poker is great because whilst you are playing you earn player bonuses but nothing beats the mental stimulation that comes with playing live poker. It heightens your senses as you watch for physical tells and feel the poker chips in your hand. As real as online poker is (especially in a bad run) winning a large poker pot and then having the reward of stacking your chips is something every player should experience at least once.

The journey towards our hotel was filled with bad beat stories, stories about how we got our chips in with the stone cold nuts after talking our professional opponent into stacking off with ace high were flying around the car as we got more excited. Most of these stories were probably untrue or very liberal versions of the truth but we could not wait to get to the casino and register for the poker tournament. It was not massive stakes, but I am a big believer in that if you need to play $1000 buy-ins to feel motivated to play poker, then you probably are not that motivated by poker in the first place.

After dumping our bags at the hotel we quickly made our way into the casino and registered for the tournament. We were early as usual. After taking our seats at the table the first hands were dealt and I looked down at pocket Aces. Exuding a genuine tell of terror I convinced myself that I was going to bust on the first hand. I made a bet from middle position raising the pot to three times the big blind as the first player into the pot. I get two callers. The blinds were 10/20 and the pot is now 210. (10+20+60+60+60) It is checked to me and I decide to fire at the pot. I bet 180 chips and both players folded after a bit of thought. Thank goodness for that, I prefer to fold the first hand but you must play pocket rockets and I would have fired again on the turn if either of the players had called as the flop was not scary to my aces.

Even that pot was much more fun live than online where it would be pretty standard. My friend managed to finish a credible 15th place out of 57 runners and I finished 7th. I went out re-raising all-in with 88 and losing a race against AJ (which was a 50/50 call in my opinion). I managed to cash in the event which was great. There were a bunch of good players involved in the live tournament and both of us met some cool people. That is something online poker can never emulate, the social side of poker, but online poker offers so many benefits I cannot do anything but wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in finding a fun hobby and wanting to learn a useful skill.

We returned to our hotel after enjoying four hours of fun tournament poker and the next morning ate our cooked breakfast after a huge lie in. Life tasted good. It is fun to sample the poker lifestyle for one day but it would be stressful to live this way all of the time. That said, if I ever manage to win $1 million from a poker tournament I may be tempted to give it a try, look out for me winning a bracelet very soon…

By Malcolm Clarke

Bluffing is an integral part of online poker and especially in high-stakes poker games. The levels of aggression in these games means that bluffing and being bluffed are common themes! Short handed and heads up play demand aggression but then again, you must do your fair share of bluffing in full ring games as well and even in situations where you feel bluffing should be at a premium.

Limit hold’em has a very big presence in online poker and there are many people who think that full-ring limit play is devoid of bluffing opportunities. There are ample bluffing chances that crop up in limit play and you must be alert to them otherwise you will be in serious danger of missing out on vital profit opportunities that will form the bread and butter of your earn rate.

Let us look at an example to show exactly what I mean. The game is $10-$20 full-ring limit hold’em and you are playing online poker. Here you have the Jc-5c in the big blind and three players limp in so you see a free flop. The flop comes 10h-6c-3c and you decide to bet into three opponents with your flush draw and overcard.

Your bet gets called by one of the limpers but raised by the button, both you and the limper call. The turn card is the 7s giving you an inside straight draw to go with your other outs as well. You check and to your surprise so do both of your opponents. The river card pairs the seven and now the betting is on you.

Here, many players would neglect to bet here in the big blinds situation. They would fear having two opponents with no hand and a player who raised on the flop. These are all valid arguments but your bet represented something on the flop and that was top pair. Your opponents checking this back on the turn indicates players who may be drawing.

The limper who called your flop bet and then called the turn raise could have merely been getting pot odds. Online poker is jam packed with situations like these and you need to be aware. The play of the flop raiser smacks of someone who was raising to get a free card and when they checked the turn then this seemed to be indicative of that.

You cannot win by checking as a jack high will not take this pot but you are getting very good pot odds to launch a bluff. Many novice players forget about the pot odds when looking to launch bluffs in limit play. They also neglect to take into account the play of the hand up until that stage as well.

Here it was a combination of the pot odds and the situation that indicated that a bet was in order and is all part of online poker strategy. If the flop raiser had followed through and bet the turn then you would have been forced to call and your initiative would have been lost in the hand. You couldn’t really then bet the river into this player and would have been merely making a pot odds call on the turn.

Online poker in all of its various forms is rich with variety and bluffing is what makes the game as exciting as what it is. But try to bluff intelligently and not blindly.

This article was written by Carl “The Dean” Sampson

I sat down yesterday evening eager to watch some poker. I did not want to play, simply because I had sat on my computer for much of the day writing about it and playing the odd Sit and Go when the urge took me. I finished the day about even (which in poker player terms means I was down a little) but nothing that suggested I played particularly badly or tilted in any way. I felt that watching some moves from the professionals would help me learn in a non-computer environment.

We are truly blessed in the UK that we have the Sky poker channel and Information TV which are pretty much based on poker shows. There are also other intermittent appearances by shows such as the World Series of Poker Europe, WPT and other major tours. My personal favourite is the World Poker Tour, because they get down to the final six then the show is all about the television coverage and you get a great production. Other networks are a little reluctant with TV coverage with the cameras almost in the way it seems but the WPT you get a show, because that is what it is all about.

I have one major gripe with the poker coverage. There are too many repeats! Whilst I enjoyed the coverage of the Aussie Millions of 2006 where Gus Hansen beat the likes of Andy Black, Jimmy Fricke and Paul Wasicka but if I have to watch it again I shall soon be calling each and every play before it happens. I hear you ask, if you do not want to watch it why not just switch it off and play online poker instead? My answer to that is there was nothing else on and watching poker, even if it is the Aussie Millions repeat, is better than watching a cookery show or documentary! WSOPE 2008 is also doing the rounds over and over at the moment too.

I recall some of the better shows that due to dwindling popularity or a lack of funding for more shows to be recorded fell by the wayside. The Poker Godfather was a classic in my opinion. The “expert” usually Paul “Action Jack” Jackson or someone like him visited the home of an amateur player and guided them through a tournament offering tips and advice. The show was fundamentally flawed in that every poker player thinks they know best so the amateur players featured on the show were more eager to show they were already brilliant (they were not brilliant) rather than listen to the advice of someone who had made, in most cases, hundreds of thousands if not millions from poker. I would love that show to still be running.

Another of the lost Poker TV shows was the Poker Den which had professional poker players playing a cash game but the twist was that they played with real cash rather than chips with the winner walking away £50,000 richer. There was something alluring about watching the professionals bet with cold hard cash. Professional snooker player Steve Davis also featured in this event. This is another show I would love to see on television.

It seems a shame that these themed shows seem lost now that the Poker Channel no longer transmits and the tournament shows seem to be renewed once a year then repeated over and over. There is such a good opportunity for poker in the mainstream that capitalising on cult classics such as Late Night Poker seems the right thing to do. I just hope it is sooner rather than later because I desperately would like to see quality poker grace our TV screens once again. I must go now; a showing of the Aussie Millions from 2006 is starting in ten minutes….

By Malcolm Clarke

Below are my top three poker blogs by professional players that you can read regularly online. Professional players are not known for sharing their views on poker for free in public and the ones that do are usually selling something rather than blogging to inform. The three blogs I have selected below are good examples of honest and informative writing with a track record of updating the blog over a period of time. The ratings are just my opinion but in reading these blogs they can be relied upon to post about what is happening in their lives so us nosy railbirds can be kept up to date. Anyone who loves poker blogs will enjoy the blogs below.

3rd Place: Shannon Shorr (www.shannonshorr.com)

Shannon is a professional tournament poker player who took a break from University to play the pro circuit. He posts very honestly about the life of a poker player and the results of his circle of friends as well as himself. He is an entertaining writer and his posts are consistent but not very long. He can go through periods of not writing about poker but that is because his life is varied and does not revolve around the game. He writes about where he eats, and visits and what he thinks of the places. He goes into good detail on hands that he plays. He does not sell anything through his site but there are links to media things for potential sponsors. If you read this blog Shorr is simply blogging because he wants to with no ulterior motive. This blog is definitely worth a look, it gets third place because I would prefer the posts a little longer and slightly more regular. His site looks great after a much overdue makeover. Shannon has been blogging regularly since May 2006.

2nd Place: Lou Krieger (http://loukrieger.blogspot.com/)

Lou Krieger is the co-author of “Poker for Dummies” and also co-hosts a regular weekly show on roundersradio.com. With 11 best selling poker books behind him and over 400 poker articles written magazines, Krieger’s blog will be a great addition to your links list for those who like a meaty read about poker. Lou writes about everything to do with poker including news and media coverage. He writes well constructed pieces that are well researched and informative about issues such as the legality of online poker to poker theory and strategy. He has been blogging regularly since April 2005. He also posts personal pieces including trip reports and life discussions together with photos. This blog offers total access to Lou’s poker world and is updated on average around three times per week. Lou’s postings are more journalistic in nature rather than controversial. He is arguably the best writer on the poker blog scene.

1st Place: Daniel Negreanu (http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-journal.php)

There is really nothing between the top two blogs in this list, but Daniel wins out simply because of the excellent long postings he makes and the fact he is the most well known professional who blogs so candidly about life and poker. Daniels postings are often controversial and generate major debate in the poker community. A lot of the quotes attributed to Daniel come from this blog so it is a great place to read up to date news about him and his feelings on poker. He holds nothing back and if he has something to say you can guarantee his blog is where he says it! His mother is very sick at the moment, so postings are not as frequent as they once were but he also does video blogs when he does not have the time or inclination to write. He does, however, go through phases of very regular posting so it is likely to pick up once again. You can read all about his tournaments, winnings, online gaming and golf bets here. He even comments on big game poker when he takes part. This blog, and the other two in this article, are a must for any regular poker blog reader.

By Malcolm Clarke