Poker Down Under and Every Where Else: 2010

The Year That Was 2010

I am not sure how everyone's poker year was but I had a blast! Life itself as usual mimicked my poker game with its ups and downs, a lot a of downs actually in both but a lot of ups and many surprises too! I had a blast in January at the Aussie Millions Poker Championship covering the tournament for Australian Poker Weekly, Woman Poker Player Magazine and for my own eyes also. It was a treat to see Marsha Waggoner inducted into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame and to see Annette Obrestad win her event and a gold ring. It was also a blast railing Sorel Mizzi on the final table, I must not be very patriotic was my determination on that! 2 Aussies at the final table and I was sitting with crew huggy! January also saw me have a fabulous birthday, meet with friends in real life such as Erik Aude' & Barry Woods.

February I set sail to Sydney with my son to meet up with Barry and Allyn Shulman where I toured the cruise boat they were holidaying on, have some dinner at the RockPool and share some special moments with my son in the pouring rain at various Sydney attractions. Meeting up with Barry and Allyn was one of the years most memorable times! They are such fabulous people and I class them as great friends!

WTF Poker was soon born and i found myself teaming up firstly with Hannah Elizabeth who definitely brings the broad back into broadcasting, she is one hell of a lady! Global time was an issue with that little project so we parted ways and I again teamed up with another co-host David Saab. Again, a traveling pro and time constraints causing issues saw WTF poker go on hold till i can get my own head around it!

Womens Poker News at this stage was also starting to rock along, health saw me slow down on that one, lets face it - there are only so many things a woman can do! Between Dr battles, livers shutting down, endometriosis and 4 kids, I had so much to do! Priorities saw WPN (Womens Poker News) go on hold - rest assured it WILL be back though just like WTF Poker!

I however continued a little writing as the year went along for a lot of different poker media outlets including: Woman Poker Player Magazine, Australian Poker Weekly (who has now had it's 100th edition!), Canadian Poker Tour Magazine, IPPAGlobal, Poker Pro Maga zine Online, Poker Pro Magazine Canada, Poker Pro Magazine Europe, Poker Pro Magazine USA and of course this blog (to name a few). I wonder at times why i am not writing for more Australian Magazines, I guess its my lack of patriotism as I have determined my work is of high quality!

The fabulous Pokeriety also started up on facebook and I am hoping that ALL of you have become part of Team Down Under Danielle - If you have not as yet join up! Pokeriety is the game of fun and its totally free for you all to play. I am hoping the coming year will see our team onslaught the rest of the world. Again, it seems I am not patriotic, I could just have team Australia or Team Down Under, I have far too many friends abroad! Team Down Under Danielle is an indicator that I simply come from Down Under and have a Team Down Under me too, it also matches the blog you read.

I played very little online poker at the start of the year as I was so busy battling health issues, kids and what not but that did not stop FeltStars approaching me about a nice sponsorship deal which thrilled me to pieces! Needless to say, I took the deal, signed the paper and started having interviews rather then getting other peoples stories. Quite a change in lifestyle there! I am proudly a Team FeltStars Pro, the only female and currently 1 of 2 Aussies. FeltStars is growing rapidly and I love being part of our fabulous hard working team!

I had quite nice few wins and placings from here on in soaring my cash rate a little higher with further study on my game and what i was doing wrong. I also headed to represent FeltStars at the only 2 tourneys I have been physically able to this year: Melbourne Champs teams event and ladies event. The teams event I went out against a gutshot straight flush and the ladies event not only did i play like crap but my opponents were terrible as i copped beat after beat that was just unbelievable. I certainly made up for the beats that night with bourbons!

The end of the year has seen me join forces with Per Hagen and Joe Wass at Poker Publicist where we create BUZZ about YOU just alike I created buzz about myself to get everything i have gotten to date in this crazy world of poker. Want to get endorsements or a sponsorship deal? I am the person to see! Let's Buzz YOU!

The most amazing thing this year for me poker wise was co-writing the song I'm ALL IN with Jimmie Lee Jersey outlaw which is only a few weeks away from releasing. Certainly I am one to step outside the square and this little project placed a cherry on top of the years poker ice cream! If i am not touring next year to spend 12 hours at a time in tourneys which I might still not be physically fit for, I will be hanging out the top of Jimmies Limo with Tyrone, Jimmie and 4 kids by my side drinking JD's lol.

I cant complain about my health anymore, i have just been cleared by the doctor liver wise, "live as normal, don't get legless and do not take nurophen" were the most wonderful words I heard this year, other then I LOVE YOU from my kids, Tyrone and my family and friends. I have much support this year and have given more in return, I would really like to thank and make mention to a new few special friends and friends of old in no particular order. If I missed you off my list it is simply as I am emotional thinking of everyone!

Tyrone Hunter, My Kids, My brothers, sisters and parents, Maryann Morrison, Alfred Markarian, Michael Pickard, Team FeltStars, Aniket Warty, Matthew Moate and MITH, Jimmie Lee, Emma Grace, Den and Jen, Gary Benson, Marsha Waggoner, Ontilt Radio, Holdem Radio, barry and Allyn Shulman, Shane McDowell and Ontilt Clothing, APT, David Saab, Hannah Elisabeth, Queen Bee, Erik Aude', Constance Hammock, Barry Woods, Glen Franco, Amy and Jen from Womens Poker Hour, Joe and per Poker Publicist, Johnny QUADS! , PMS poker wear, ........ wow out of breath! ....... TJ from raise n fold, Chloe Rhys-Jones, rich, helle, odie (always in my mind) Ange my twin!!!!!!!! Look; there are FAR TOO MANY of you! Please add your name for me, we will be here ALL DAY otherwise lol. Add in comments and I will personally thank you! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!! Happy New year 2011 everyone!

Lets hope we can legalize online poker worldwide! Here is a little drunken clip of me singing You're the Voice to top off my crazy year! Remember YOU ARE the VOICE, we all ARE! xoxo HAPPY NEW YEAR VOICES - THIS IS THE CLIP LOL!

Woman Poker Player Magazine Tops News For Unique Visitors

I have been so excited this year, dubbed the year of the women of poker! It seems though I have only just realized in the past week the actual accomplishments and growth to the fullest extent when comparing poker news sites with Woman Poker Player Magazine soaring to the top of the charts!

As we come close the the end of 2010 and into 2011 the realization and truth is now here. Woman Poker Player Magazine has more unique and wonderful visitors then any of the popular news sites online!

With women reaching great heights in poker and focus by many people in poker on building the women poker community this was always expected I guess! Men always go where women are for obvious reasons and whether they want to admit it or not focus a lot of their attention on stories and articles as well as news. This is another thing that has gone in the favor of womanpokerplayer.com the men also love it! There is an abundance of strategy articles, poker news, poker stories, and most importantly "interesting content" that goes beyond the scope of "just poker news".

Just this morning I checked the traffic again. It has remained the same - the growth of womanpokerplayer.com magazine traffic is beyond comprehension. This graph clearly shows the growth so you can see!

Clicking on the graph will take you directly to the site comparison on the internet! Woman Poker player Magazine is shown in blue and as you can see it sure is growing!

A big congratulations to the women in poker, to the staff at Woman Poker Player Magazine and most importantly to Maryann Morrison who is the push behind womanpokerplayer.com and is always there for the women of poker regardless of what team, age, level of play or site they come from.

Women in poker and Woman Poker Player Magazine can stand very tall and proud! If you are not already part of this fabulous, friendly, informative community - be sure to go there and have a look and join up! There will be hundreds of people joining you each hour!

Poker Songs Im ALL IN To Be Released January

I decided at the beginning of the year that there simply was not enough good poker songs for us to listen to. Certainly there wasn't any that I could play that really suited the feelings of actually playing poker. This resulted in my co-writing a song with Jimmie Lee Jersey Outlaw called I'm ALL IN; to be released in January 2011.

The poker songs that we have the option to listen to are well known and over played. How many times have most people played "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers and now "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga? It was this thought that made me do what I always do - create and write!

Over the years poker has changed. Back in the days of the dead man's hand quite possibly "On a warm summers evening, on a train bound to no-where" may have been suitable as would the words "You gotta know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em". Mostly we all look for big tournament wins now. The song I'm ALL IN is more based on these.

The song doesn't carry on about keeping a poker face, losing your shirt or knowing poker strategy. It is based on the feelings we have when playing a poker tournament and working our way to the big one, the big win, hitting that river card when we are all in and every feeling that we get from the second we make the all in call until that river card does hit for us!

The song isn't Lady Gaga style either. I am a rocker of old and Jimmie Lee is a rocker too, he usually has a bit of a country twists (country rock) and I think the song takes him just to the borderline of rock only. The song is very much "Jet" sounding.

I often wonder what possesses me to do such things and there is a good explanation for this little project! I almost went deaf as a child through rock music! My dad is a singer, song writer, guitarist. He played as back up band lead singer before AC/DC many times in Sydney when I was little and was well known around the Sydney Beach areas and most other parts of Australia. The death of Bon Scott had huge impact on our family and he lightened up on playing rock as AC/DC got their new singer which was obviously not him - he turned them down for the record because of me!

The rock however lives on in my family and will live forever now through Jimmie Lee, Jersey Outlaw and Poker. I would like to extend my blog post to thank Jimmie for taking my words into account and allowing me to be part of the song I'm ALL IN which I am hoping will be a huge hit. I will blog when it is released and you have the opportunity to order your copy. For the meantime you can see Jimmie's country rock albums which are already available and listen to a few of his hits at www.jimmieleeongs.com , for those wanting to see Jimmie live, I heard a whisper he is playing before legend George Thorogood very soon - stay TUNED! (Literally)

Poker Defamation Through Lies of Intimacy Against Me

I do not like negativity of any kind directed toward the poker community or my poker associates. This blog post isn't about poker its about my reputation and individuals that do whatever they can to get themselves ahead. I am not naming names in this post but some people may realize who I refer to. Proof in this post I will not defer-mate anyone's character no matter how nasty they are to me. Anyone that knows me is aware I shoot straight and tell it how it is, if I would say something to someone else about you, its likely something I have already said to you, yourself! I hold back on being nasty so this does not happen often unless its the truth!

If I personally do something wrong by accident, I apologize! I have had personal grievances with a few close friends in the community and we have sorted things out as I am a decent and kind human being. That is why I write this post, being as I am - helpful and willing to help any poker player big or small with any poker related issue they have that isn't beyond my scope is my thing. When I help people out, talk to them, advise them, push them in the right direction or be there to hold them up when they are down I don't expect a back stabbing in return. I expect nothing.

I have offered my time and services on various poker community ventures and to various poker players who are losing themselves and their lively hood--> out of the kindness of my heart. A post was made on a forum once pushing to the fact that I "get some financial gain" through players getting sponsorships that are associated with me or even jobs in the industry. This is far from the truth, I sit here at the moment and appear to be helping everyone else except myself resulting in no money and no Christmas presents under my tree. Why? I have full opportunity and backing to but have not played much poker to actually earn money! Between illness and helping others I have been useless on a poker table when I have played lol.

The point: I help someone because I think they are a nice guy only to hear that they have said terrible things about me. For example, if some loser were to say they were intimate with me, it would only be in their pathetic dreams since I am in a relationship for one, and only felt pity for them when this same person did actually make a woeful pass at me. I would never deny alike any woman I use my womanly abilities to flirt and extract information from poker players but that's as far as I would ever go.

People who spread gossip to "try" to make themselves look better by stating obvious lies really have little self esteem or respect in the industry if they feel they have to stoop so low. Making up gossip you have banged me isn't going to get you anywhere guys - your chips stack isn't going to get bigger, nor is your bankroll. Simple fact of the matter is most people in the industry know I rarely leave home to be able to even bang my chips on a live poker table let alone you lol - I spend every night, at home, with my kids and boy friend. When at the casino I am always with family or close female friends.

I have learned a hard lesson again!

That is all!

Poker Gifts Christmas Catalog for Every Player

It is that time of year when we are all buying Christmas gifts and when it comes to poker players we can be a hard bunch to buy for! If you have already brought your poker playing partner, dad, friend or companion a large gift, keep in mind there are many poker products which will never grow old, be treasured and very handy for poker players of all limits that you can fill stockings with as a last minute Christmas gift idea!

Firstly if your gift recipient plays mostly online poker they really should have a poker mouse! They are pretty much unbreakable - I have squeezed as hard as I can as I am having a poker fit! Most players haven’t brought this little beauty as yet - to know if your gift recipient has one look for a gun like object near their poker war station. It has a rolling ball on the top and a trigger, it cant be missed! It can be purchased and shipped in time for xmas at http://poker-mouse.com/ as you can see I alike a few others have mine!

There are countless amounts of books on the market. Poker Mathematics is always a favourite subject, people can go back and refer to it at any time. There are also some books that I have latched onto this year including Barry Shulmans 52 Tips For Texas Hold'em Poker, Larry Chiapelli's Chiapellis Live Poker Strategies, Tony Korfmans (this is as hilarious as hell) Texas Hold'em Poker, Gambling Balance by Linda Fitzgerald for those needing a good life balance and Joe Hachems pass the Sugar! Basically if you search the names of any of these you will find them!

There is always a subscription to a magazine which will make poker players happy. I love reading Poker News Magazine, Australian Poker Weekly and Poker Pro Mag! These will keep them happy for the rest of the year without a doubt!

Poker clothing is something poker players can never get enough of! This year I have added to my clothing pile from the following places: MITH Poker, PMS Poker Wear, Mean Green Poker, PokerGear.com.au. Between them all they have a fabulous range to suit everyone and anyone and it certainly beats wearing shirts that simply say a sites name!

Other considerations could be luggage, laptops and the like these however are far from stocking fillers! Good luck with your shopping – if you are buying for me, send none of the above as I obviously already have them – although more books and clothing I will never turn down nor will I turn down another game of online poker! ;-) :D

Building Your Name Through Poker Publicist - My New Role!

I am so happy to announce that I have just joined the company Poker Publicist. I guess a quick copy and paste from the Poker Publicist website will indicate exactly what my new job role will be:

About Poker Publicist:

When it comes to publicity, exposure and buzz - there's no PR firm better than Poker Publicist!

Poker Publicist was founded by Per Hagen in 2010.

Per was also the founder of the leading poker agency Poker Icons, and BLUFF Magazine ranks Hagen as one of the 20 most influential people in the (poker) world.

Quote from the media:

"Included on his current roster are several world class and superstar poker players.
It seems as wherever you turn your head, Per Hagen has played a role in whatever is going on in the poker industry.
His network is enormous and he's the guy you want if you need anything done!"

Per and his team of experienced publicists design custom publicity campaigns to land clients national, local and international publicity.
We know both poker and mainstream news, we have the smarts and the connections to land publicity when and where you need it!

Poker Publicist understand that the hallmark of any good publicity campaign is consistent communication between the publicist and clients.
That's why they'll set appointments late at night or early in the morning if that's when a client is available to talk.

Inside Poker Publicist everybody work as a team for the clients - which means everyone works together to further the publicity needs of all and every clients.

If you need a publicist willing to work hard to push you to the top, then you've found the right firm!

Our team will help get you where you want to go and manage the media. Whether it's securing a big international interview or one on a local TV station, Per and his team will get the job done!

Beyond my personal game of poker and working as a FeltStars pro and columnist for various media outlets I am really happy to be working in this field of the poker industry - it perfectly compliments my marketing and ability to relate and help other players. If you know me personally, you would know I sometimes work 20 hour days to do just that: Help other players with their name and game as I perform my duties writing, on radio and what not.

I think mostly the thing that excites me about this venture in my poker career is I will be working along side Per Hagen and Joe Wass who I am sure to get a lot more experience from in this sector of poker management and marketing. Per and Joe are very skilled; I am not saying that I am not skilled as I am highly skilled however their level of expertise in their fields are second to none!

Anyway, I just thought I would keep everyone updated on what I am doing and of course point you to the fact that there are services alike Poker Publicist ready to "Create Buzz and Exposure about YOU!" Do let me know if you are wanting any assistance in this area and I shall get with my fellow team mates and we shall put our heads together!

Life Reality for Poker Players

The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle,
When 24 hours in a day is not enough;
remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee..

A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly,
he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
and start to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again
if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of fine sand
and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded
With an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table
and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things - God, family,
children, health, friends, and favorite passions
Things that if everything else was lost
and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --
The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued,
'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are
important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time
to clean the house and fix the dripping tap.

'Take care of the golf balls first --
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand
and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.

'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend...'

Please share this with other "Golf Balls"

I Just did!!!!!!!!

Author Unknown - Sent to me from Rich Harvard; forever my close friend!

Breakfast Requirements for Poker Players

Months ago I started working on saving and rejuvenating my liver. I needed to determine not only a healthy breakfast but breakfast requirements for poker players such as myself. With the countless amounts of things I need to do each day, maintaining a good diet can be pretty hard. Having a delicious and nutritious breakfast is one of them and even though my diet is meant to be a very strict one I find myself reverting to take away foods a lot more then a should – which is pretty much never.

Every day I would love to start with something to kick start my system the right way for both brain power and digestive stability. Cereal, toast, fruit, juice are just a few things I would like on my menu! Add some scrambled eggs and I would be happy!

So this morning pretty much as usual I am run off my feet with 4 kids to organize for school and writing and poker to get to and miss breakfast, the kids missed it too, it was a frantic morning, a morning which has become far to duplicated. Due to this I went on search for the breakfast I would not only love for myself but also for my kids. What a waste of time!

I went to every cafe, fast food restaurant and bakery I could locate in this city and none of them had what was needed by humans to live beyond the means of their kitchen cupboards healthily. Now how does a busy mum and poker player survive like this? Here I am thinking of traveling and of course there is going to be a fabulous breakfast at any casino motel I may stay at, but if I don't? Hell I can't even get breakfast in my home city!

Anyway so here are the things that were available to me for breakfast this morning:

Bacon and Egg Rolls

Normal Cafe Food (Burgers, pies etc)

McDonalds Menu

Hungry Jacks Menu (Burger King)

Anything else required for breakfast equates to a huge wait and masses of dollars. I am not paying $25 for a healthy breakfast, I can't afford it; plain and simple! Multiply $25 by 5 or 6 people! Pffft!

So here is my thought; Someone out there PLEASE start a fast food breakfast and lunch chain / franchise. I certainly can't afford to otherwise I would. A fast food outlet where we can get cereal and milk in a plastic takeaway bowl, some toast, a fruit platter, a choice of fresh juice in a cup and some scrambled eggs maybe!

For lunch I would like a range of salads and lean cold meat or a casserole or meat and vegetables pretty much like healthy choice meals with the same options for dinner.

I am sure someone out there can see the fortune to be made with cars piling up through the drive through service at 6am to 9am with a carload of kiddies, business men and women and of course tradesmen and poker players!

Anyone who does this is not only going to line their pockets with bucket loads of cash but also feel good that they have helped the busy people in this world keep their bodies healthy by providing a diet that isn’t available unless they are transiting at a 5 star resort or through their own kitchen.

What did I have for breakfast? An orange juice and a disgusting tasting fatty burger - yuk!

What's A Poker Teleseminar?

Recently pokerteleseminars.com opened their online doors for business. This has left many people wondering what a poker teleseminar is. I thought seeing as though I was the next guest speaker I would put an explanation in my blog about what the benefits of poker teleseminars are as well as the main features of a poker teleseminar.

There are countless; thousands of teleseminars on the internet daily on various subjects and topics covering all walks of life. Seminars can be found on metaphysical subjects, fishing, camping, hunting, technology, internet and computer use, gardening, grief, you name it! You can find a teleseminar on any topic you like and this now includes poker!

A teleseminar is 100% LIVE training in the topic of choice. The seminars have guest speaker (trainers, teachers and educators) that are specialists in their areas of topic. For gardening you may find Don Burke a famous Aussie gardener talking about the art of keeping bugs out of your garden as an example. Pokerteleseminars.com have used the same concept but for poker.

Basically participants (in my words students) of the topic go to the seminar hosting site, enter their details and prepare for the live training which is held at a certain time and a certain day. They can participate as a student via the internet (web) or via telephone by ringing in. The trainer / guest speaker or teacher will be available at the organized time to cover curriculum and educate the participants on the chosen topic. In the case of my up and coming seminar, I will be discussing "The Art of Getting Sponsored" or gaining sponsorship in the many ways and forms it can be achieved by poker players.

Being 100% live training the students in the seminar have the ability to ask questions during question time. If they have participated in the seminar via telephone they simply push a button and it indicates to the host and co-coordinator they have placed their hand in the air to ask a question to the guest speaker / teacher. They then ask the question directly to the educator / trainer / teacher (whatever you would like to call them) and the question is answered for everyone to hear. There is also the option of submitting a question prior to the seminar on the topic via an "ask a question box" or during it; by typing the question in.

Seminars are held in halls and costs sometimes thousands of dollars to be trained in your particular field or topic of interest. Making an online seminar your choice of training gives you all the same benefits with the only difference being you are not face to face. There is no travel involved and no need to organize the pets, kids or motel room. What's more you can attend a seminar every week by various speakers on your subject of choice rather then once a year. This makes a teleseminar perfect for high level and quantity education purposes at a limited cost to you or me the students!

When I first looked at pokerteleseminars; to be honest i thought I could learn nothing from it. After attending seminars on other topics across the net and the pokerteleseminar held last week with guest speaker Tony Hachem on the "The Art of Consistency" I realized it is more then sure to work for everyone involved, particularly the students! My thoughts have indeed changed.

Anyway; this should explain a poker teleseminar I hope! It is something that even some pro's have added into their training schedule, after all - poker takes a life time to master even if it only takes a day to learn. With each and every pro in the world having awesome skills in very different areas; pokerteleseimnars will deliver more then any strategy book or video available anywhere. You have the best of the best teaching the best aspect of their game. From the smallest of Pro's through to our world champions! best of luck with your game and happy learning if you happen to participate in a poker teleseminar.

The official home of pokerteleseminars can be found by clicking this: POKERTELESEMINARS 100% LIVE TRAINING

Aussie Millons Poker Championship Information

Many poker players around the globe are packed and ready months in advance to jet-set across the planet to the Land Down Under – Australia. In January they will be sweating it out from both the change of temperature and from the hands of poker they will play in the Aussie Millions Poker Championship.

Until a few years back the championship did not attract many international players. There were few that headed to the wide brown land to take a shot at the world-class action and the millions of dollars in prize money. This all changed with players from the USA, Europe, Asia and Canada taking down championship events and big cash prizes which were marketed largely. Although every winner has a fantastic story which increases the glitz and glamor of their win, no story has increased the participant numbers at the Aussie Millions more then Gus Hansen's when he won the main event and followed up his win with his widely famous book Every Hand Revealed.

It is not just memorable wins and great marketing that has players flocking to Australia to play poker in January each and every year. The fun times enjoyed by players globally can very much be attuned to the fantastic welcoming environment of Crown Casino Melbourne.

Crown Casino spares no expense. The player parties are fabulously catered and the entertainment is fantastic; there is usually an Aussie theme to make everyone feel right at home whilst at the same time giving them a good taste of the Australian culture. It is more than expected that on return to your home turf you have likely learnt the words of The Land Down Under by Men at Work, eaten a Vegemite sandwich and possibly held a snake, crocodile or other Australian fauna icon.

During the championship series it isn’t just poker that is on the agenda for many players. Many take short breaks from poker and make their way to the Australian Open to watch their favorite tennis players take to the court. The Australian Open is just a short stroll from the casino. Other players go to the Melbourne Zoo to have lunch in picnic areas with kangaroos hopping about and koalas in the gum trees. If the mammals are not their cup of tea, they have the Melbourne aquarium to visit, where they can see a spectacular amount of ocean life, including massive stingrays, which sadly led to the death of Aussie icon Steve Irwin, better known as the crocodile hunter!

Those lucky enough to take down an Aussie Millions event receive more than just the money. These players are given an exclusive Aussie Millions ring to proudly wear on their hand for eternity. There is also a beautiful watch and trophy to be won annually.

The caliber of player can get no better and if you are a poker fan, you will see just about every poker celeb. You will come across Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Chris Ferguson and of course local favorite Joe Hachem, the 2005 WSOP main event winner. They are always shown on feature tables for the crowd to enjoy and cheer on, although they are not always victorious of course.

Since June 1997 when the main event was a $1,000 buy in limit hold’em tournament that attracted only 74 entries with a $74,000 prize pool, the Aussie Millions has grown beyond belief. The 2008 championship, as an example, concluded with a record 780 players, which generated a prize pool of $7,800,000 with each entrant paying $10,500AUD each. The top 80 players were in the money and received between $15,000 and $1,650,000. The numbers have not stopped growing with 2009 and 2010 bigger again.

Since 1997 the structure of the tournament has also changed and is no longer a limit hold’em event. While most major hold’em tournaments, including the World Series of Poker, play at nine-handed tables throughout, the Aussie Millions main event begins with eight-handed tables. Play continues eight-handed until the field is reduced to 36 players, at which point all tables are six-handed. Day 1 is usually split into three flights.

All in all the Aussie Millions is not something that a professional poker player usually misses and the casual players around the world have also started joining in. From an Australian point of view, I cannot wait to shuffle up and deal.

Strategy To Make Your Poker Solid Or Use When You Have Lost Your Game

Of recent times due to lack of playing I seemed to have lost part of my poker game. I determined that it had a lot to do with my betting patterns, folding, checking and re-raising at the appropriate times. I compiled " Strategy To Make Your Poker Solid Or Use When You Have Lost Your Game" for myself and decided to share it on my blog to help others.

For many this list is a very basic list. To other poker players this list can help you implement new betting techniques or understand the reasoning behind making certain betting, checking or folding moves.

I hope it helps with your game regardless of what level of player you are, even the best can forget basic moves at times.

In the case that no other player has made a raise / bet - you perform the following actions for the following reasons:

CHECK

You Check if:

1) You have nothing
2) You have a marginal hand such as; an open ended straight or a flush draw and will call a raise by another player that is not too large.
3) You have a great hand and when someone bets you will raise. Using the check raise technique to extract chips and trick your opponent.
4) You have a weak hand and you intend to bluff by raising, being sure you can place your opponent on a hand so as not to trap yourself.

RAISE

You Raise if:

1) You have the best hand and want to make pot bigger
2) You have the best hand and want to eliminate competition that may be chasing better hands
3) You wish to bluff with a lousy hand
4) You wish to get respect from players on turn to continuation bet for reasons 2) and 3).

In the case that a player has made a raise / bet before it is your turn to act - you perform the following actions for the following reasons:

FOLD

You Fold If:

1) You do not have a good hand
2) You do not have the right pot odds and have a marginal hand (open ended straight as an example and the raise was too big)
3) If bluff will not work

CALL

You Call If:

1) You have a marginal hand and can make it a better hand if in the case the raise is reasonably small
2) You have a great hand and want the other players to call to build the pot

RE-RAISE

You re-raise if:

1) You have an awesome hand and consider it the nuts or thereabouts
2) You can bluff your opponent out of the hand as they appear weak

Again, this may not be suitable for all players - I do however hope it has somewhat helped you. Test it out!

Online Poker Monopoly Overlooked by Players

I am sure it is not surprising for you to read the following words:

The biggest poker sites on the internet are PokerStars, Fulltilt Poker and Party Poker.

These sites have far more traffic, the traffic on these sites compared to smaller networked sites is just beyond belief and it isn't because of anything special other then the T word being TRAFFIC. If few by few players played on smaller sites this would change. Remember: There once wasn't a single person playing on the online giants! Not one! People say 6000 players isn't enough traffic when it's plenty enough. Once the likes of FTP and PS had NONE!

What does bring the traffic to these sites other then a ton of money they now have due to being one of the first, which they use to market and promote largely? They do not have better games, better support, better promotions and better software. If we looked closely the benefits of playing on these sites are far from great to be honest - other then the obvious fact that more traffic = bigger payouts in tournaments. On the other side - The competition is stiffer, there are many more entrants to beat in tournaments to be able to make a good buck (smaller sites offered non stop guaranteed tournaments which can equate to the same prize money - more actually).

Really, the benefits appear to be on smaller sites! So why do we all keep going back to the giants?

Reputation is one reason, lets face it though there have been scandals on bigger sites and we know it. The smaller sites are not in the position to scam anyone, they can simply not afford to! There have been some dodgy small sites that ripped people off. I am talking NETWORK skins though. Merge, Cake, Poker Network, ELG just to name a few of the networks which have skins.

Sure it is my job to sell the fabulous benefits of playing on feltstars.com but this blog is not about selling feltstars but more so showing that the more players that spread their funds across multiple smaller sites, the more we as players are going to have on offer.

Compare these signup and promotions at the moment between a MAJOR SITE and a Network SKIN, now really compare and if you didn't know the names PS and FTP who would you choose?

Skin:

Major Site:

100% signup bonus up to $600
The other promotions do not really apply to smaller, casual or lower limit players
There are leagues
VIP Points System
Rakeback Available
Cash Freerolls with over 3000 players

As for support, skin has live support and major site takes 4 days.

I think that should answer who we should be supporting. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer is a true saying when industries monopolize. In my opinion when players wake up to the fact they can make a ton of money on small sites, the players will be the ones winning with more and more suitable promos being thrown about by all sites.

FeltStars Current Deposit Rewards

Please forgive me for not blogging of late, I have not been well. Below I pretty much copied and pasted adding a few little things from FeltStars itself. As shown on the FeltStars site, here are the latest deposit bonuses which i do not think can be beaten! Definitely the best bang for your buck I can see at the moment!

To kick off our FeltStars Deposit Rewards, for a limited time only, FeltStars will be offering a 20% Instant Deposit Bonus .

As a special thank you to all of FeltStars loyal players we will be rewarding all depositors from October 8th till November 27th 2010 with some huge rewards. The FeltStars Deposit Rewards levels have been outlined below:

Our first level is our Silver Star depositor, which is achieved by a player whose total deposits during the time of the promotion exceed $25.
Silver Star depositors will receive a coupon to play in our $100,000 Pro Bounty Tournament . it is shown in the FeltStars lobby and can be easily spotted by the big number in the title $100,000.00.

The second level is our Gold Star depositor, which is achieved by a player whose total deposits during the time of the promotion exceed $75.
Gold Star depositors will enjoy ALL the rewards that the Silver Star depositors enjoy and more. As a Gold Star depositor you receive free entry into a $1,500 Freeroll on November 27th at 12:00 Server Time which is limited to only the first 1,000 players who achieve Gold Star depositor status or higher!

The third level is our Platinum Star depositor, which is achieved by a player whose total deposits during the time of the promotion exceed $150.
These depositors will enjoy ALL the rewards of Silver and Gold depositors, but in addition they will also have access to an exclusive $5,000 Freeroll on November 28th at 13:30 Server Time which is limited to only the first 750 players who achieve Platinum Star depositor status or higher!

Then our highest level is our Diamond Star depositor, which is achieved by a player whose total deposits during the time of the promotion exceed $500.
A Diamond Star level depositor will enjoy ALL that is offered to Silver, Gold and Platinum depositors plus they will also receive a free entry coupon into our Sunday $50,000 Guaranteed Tournament($109 Value) on November 28th at 15:00 Server Time, as well as a special FeltStars Gift Package. In short you could say that a Diamond Star depositor WILL be hopefully buying some diamonds when they ahve finished playing all of the games!

Here is a table to show you how it works!

How to Play Omaha The Rules

Below is how to play and also the basic rules of omaha, omaha hi/lo 8ob. Omaha is much like the popular and booming Texas Hold’em poker. There is however one huge difference between the two. Each player is dealt 4 hole cards (card that only the player can see) instead of 2. Omaha has two different variants, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo. The differences in the 2 variants will be explained below.

There are some questions on playing Omaha variants you may want answered. “What is a flop, the turn and the river card?” are some classic examples of these. For people whom normally play Texas Hold’em common questions about Omaha include “How does Omaha Hi/Lo work?” Here for your convenience I have written the rules and objectives of both of the Omaha variants. Let’s have a quick look.

The Basics of Omaha.

The basics of both variants of Omaha remain the same. As mentioned, they are much the same as Texas Hold’em for anyone who has previously played it. There are from 2 (Heads Up) to 10 players per table. The ultimate aim is to make the best 5 card hand possible after the community cards have been dealt. In all, you will have a total of 9 cards to make this 5 card hand from. The hand ranks are the same as those in no limit texas hold'em with a royal flush being the best ranked hand and A high being the worst.

Pre Flop

As each hand starts a compulsory bet (posting of blinds) must be made by the players sitting after the dealers chip. The players are called the Big Blind and Small Blind (the blinds). As each hand finishes and the dealers chip moves along, so do the blinds with every player at the table eventually having to make the compulsory blind post. The small blind is half the amount of the big blinds bet.

Each player is dealt 4 cards (hole cards) and must decide which option to take once viewing them. You MUST use 2 of the four cards, no more, no less. The options include folding (not playing with them), calling (calling the amount of the already posted Big Blind), raising (increasing the amount that was posted by the big blind), re-raising (raising a players bet, that has raised the bet prior to you) or in the case you are the Big Blind checking (Do nothing). Your decision on what to do is dependable on the cards you are holding.

Post Flop.

As mentioned, you will have 9 cards in total to choose from. These include your 4 whole cards (which only you can) see and five community cards. After everyone has made their moves pre flop (folded, raised and checked etc), 3 cards will be dealt face up on the table. These are the first 3 of the 5 community cards. These 3 cards are what make up the flop. The flop helps you to determine what to do next. The betting is the same post flop as pre flop, the same options are available. Again, you have the option to check, bet, raise, re-raise and fold. Once every player has made their decision the dealer will place another card on the table face up. This is called the turn card. Again, you will have the same options as pre flop and after the flop. Finally, the dealer will place the last of the five community cards on the table. This card is called the river. Once again, you have the choice of what you would prefer to do. You can fold, bet, raise, check and re-raise.

The winner.

The winner of the hand is the person holding the highest ranked 5 card hand in Omaha, in Omaha Hi/Lo, it is a little different, and this shall be explained below in the Omaha game variants . Alike Texas Hold’em in the case that 2 people have the same hand, the “pot” (money in the middle of the table from all betting actions) will be split between these players.

Poker Down Under and Every Where Else