Poker Forums for Personal Poker Advice Tips and Coaching

Poker Forums for Personal Poker Advice Tips and Coaching

Whether you are a novice or pro you can benefit in many ways from inputting, being an avid user of or simply reading what is in poker forums. Poker forums are the perfect place for every poker player to obtain strategy, tips, hints and advice. So many people say “I am not into blogging”. Poker Forums are not about blogging. They have useful poker strategy information, poker tournament

information and can be the best poker coach you can possibly get!

Some poker forums are poker communities not just forums, members stick by each other and are always there to give a helping hand whenever your poker game has trouble. These include those such as the WOmanSome poker forums such as Dr Check Raise; that protect their poker forum community members by: exposing risky online poker sites and the ugly and grey areas of poker. These forums also have players with poker knowledge ready for the eating and are there for YOU 24/7!

Others have the best poker pros around to hand over information on how, when and what to do. This is much better then reading a book. Books don’t answer individual questions.

Then there are the likes of Poker Network Australia’s biggest forum offering up to date advice on tournaments and players throughout varied countries. (Dependable on where the forum is based). There are also close community type forums such as the newly releasing ThePokerHunter.com where players can get well known from the start and nicely knit together in friendship.

Every day a new forum is born and grows. There are forums by the thousands! I even have an unused one at http://www.wtfpokerradio.com which I will get to building eventually. Don’t turn your nose down at them, the reading is great and so are the community members you could meet. Get your nose stuck into some forums and see how much of an improvement your game has after a while. As always, take care with the advice you use and move on if the forum isn’t up to scratch when it comes to politeness.

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Poker Celebrities - Poker Celebrity 1 Al Alvarez

Poker Celebrities - Poker Celebrity 1 Al Alvarez

Al Alvarez is the first poker celebrity to be listed on this blog. There will be many more poker celebrities coming up. He was educated in Oxford where he took a first in English. Al Alvarez became a full time writer in his late twenties after teaching for a short period in Oxford and also the United States. For 10 years (1956 to 1966), Alvarez was a poetry editor. During this period he was also a critic for The Observer.

Al Alvarez is an author of many non-fiction books. He is best known for his study of suicide, The Savage God being one of his many famous novels (1972). He has also written on divorce , dreams, and the oil industry. Most amazingly he has also written about his poker hobby on 2 occasions the titles being:

The Biggest Game In Town - the first-ever description of the World Series of Poker and the people who played in it. This book is still in print today.

Poker Bets, Bluffs and Bad Beats which is - an illustrated survey of the history and psychology of poker.

To add to this poker listing one could include his most recent book which is titled “Risky Business” which contains a few essays on poker and gambling.

Alfred Alvarez also has a 1999 autobiography titled Where Did It All Go Right?

Al Alvarez's poker book The Biggest Game In Town shows how well he can study the psychology of some very unusual players. His book is quite old and outdated now, it is however still a great read. In this book Alvarez indicates players, places, interests and the World Championship back in 1981. His second poker book indicating his knowledge for the game with a perfect introduction for beginners and a nostalgic romp for those already addicted to the game - as reviewed by some readers.

Alvarez has a few famous poker quotes to his name a few which follow:

・ I absolutely don't believe in anything. Full stop. Including luck.

・ I could think of worse ways of going than at the poker table.

・ Yes, I think poker really isn’t gambling

・ I think one of the interesting things about poker is that once you let your ego in, you're done for.

Although Al Alvarez has only one win to his name (1995 Festival of Poker London- £14,400) he knows his poker game like the back of his books! From 1984 to 1994 Alvarez played at the World Series of Poker, but only once in the main event (1994). Al Alvarez may be one of the worlds biggest cash players, one can only assume; with very little information on his winnings.

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How to Make Money From Poker For a Living

How to Make Money From Poker For a Living

I hear these song words intruding on my brain as I write this blog “Love the One Your With, Love the One Your With!” Obviously this song has nothing to with poker but this is my writing here and when I write EVERYTHING has to do with NL Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Stud or online poker! In this case loving poker and how to make money from it, the obvious is of course win!

“Love the one your with” is something every single one of us should do both on and off the poker tables. I went through an online poker “fad” of playing only heads up. I was really, really worried. I was thinking over and over that this could affect my other games such as poker tournaments and cash play. I was however making money.

Poker is like riding a bike; we never forget how to play. Once we learn certain skills they may need a touch up now and again, but they are there forever! Mastering skills is the issue. We can play poker for a life time and will never actually master the game. Back to the point >

For weeks I am playing only heads up poker and had the thought this would affect my other games. I consulted friends and associates with great knowledge on the game whom I have the utter most respect for. They told me it would make no difference to my other games, while you are having fun, making money and loving it – stick with it!

I did just that, I loved heads up and continued loving the game (one) I was with at the time. This actually improved my other games. When I am heads up at the end of a tournament, I rarely lose. When I am playing against only one other opponent in a Texas Hold’em cash game (as everyone else has folded), I usually take down the pot.

Many people that play poker overlook the fact that they are there to make money. It is a job that so many of us enjoy but it can also be monotonous. Let me ask you something, would you rather play poker and make money or work a monotonous factory job? Some players grind $3.30 Sng’s all day. These players play poker for a living and make a truck load of cash.

Playing poker can be a very boring task when you do it as a daily grind. Gotta love it though; love it a lot more then stacking boxes or magazines or watching tins go past in a dead end job right? Again love the one your with. Playing poker to make money isn’t all about the thrill of winning a big tourney. It isn’t all about playing deep stacks and gloating that you took it down. Poker as a career means playing a lot of boring stuff. Again though if you are making money, say $100 an hour. Why would you choose anything else? Yes you CAN do it!

If you sit and play double ups (I suggest 10 seater) all day long you are going to make a mint. Have 5 of these running at once (Do not need much attention paid in double ups) and at $10 a hit and you are making at least $100 and hour. Not many people make that much. Again, it is not about the gloating and rubbing big wins in peoples faces, its about making money from poker as a living. May the grind begin and time it like a job and LOVE the work you do!

“Love the one your with” and stick with it for as long as you love it. That’s my motto anyway!

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The Poker Mask Poker Psychology

The Poker Mask Poker Psychology

Many people in both the world of poker and also in life itself hide, hide behind a mask. While some people in real life have mental illness and a psychological reason for not showing their real self to the world around them, other people have no real excuse for not showing their true colours. Funnily enough, the people who hide behind a mask in the game of life make great actors and actresses and also great poker tournament players. Or do they?

To determine if a person who hides behind a mask is indeed a great player we need to work out why they are hiding. Obviously if psychological illness is involved it is unlikely that the mask is going to help them at a poker table. For the record, I don’t mean those people with mental illnesses such as depression. I mean those people hiding behind a mask due to childhood trauma or the like causing them to snap in the brain, I mean really snap too!

If a person hides behind a mask due to fear of what people think, again they are not going to make the greatest of poker players. Indeed these people who hide behind masks can be over run and slaughtered at a poker table easily. It may be possible though they would go ok playing online poker.

If a person hides behind a mask as they don’t want to know you, if they hide behind the mask to avoid you knowing them as a real person – this is when the good poker player steps in! These people have skill. I have seen it my whole life. They have complete control over which people they show their true colours too. These people can be brilliant poker players; their mask is the greatest of poker strategy. Unfortunately, there are a ton of these people who are far from humanly nice, but hey! Being nice doesn’t come into place while on the felt!

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The Poker God and The Poker Devil

The Poker God and The Poker Devil

Players always talk about the poker god. They call out to him and beg him for a win in their poker tournaments. They ask the poker god or poker “gods” to be kind. In the actual bibles we read about the god that apparently made this wonderful world, it is pretty much stated that god does not inflict pain or suffering. God, Jesus, the people who wrote the bible, whoever came up with this theory blames the devil for pain and suffering. Right?

We all curse the poker gods when we cop the worst bad beat, a bad beat from "hell". Commonly spoken words are “The poker gods were not with me today!” Shouldn’t we be saying the “Poker devil cursed me with the worst bad beat ever!”? Clearly the “poker gods” were on the winner’s side when the bad beat occurred. Clearly if people are going to call out and pray to poker gods they should also curse that little monstrous poker devil that inflicts us pain. After all we are following the bible type theory right? In a matter of words anyway!

The poker devil we all know but choose to ignore as we blame the poker gods is a mean little sucker! They say good always conquers evil but when it comes to poker, sometimes I just don’t know! Who has ever seen ships running over boats in the ocean? It may happen once in a blue moon; at the poker table it happens frequently! Curse the poker devil is what I say!

If we were to think back and compare to actual religious teachings; that god cares for us as the devil causes pain, things would make more sense when shitty bad beats occur or we have a massive downhill run. We can’t blame the poker god for this occurrence, he is the one that helps our pocket aces hold up and is clearly overrun by the poker devil at times. Blaming the poker god is hypocritical! If we are going to be praying to him, we can’t be cursing him at the same time. Maybe asking “Why, why? Why did this happen?”is acceptable that’s about it though.

I know this is one crazy piece of writing; it’s as crazy as you sound to someone that doesn’t play poker when you mumble that the poker god was an arse today! It would however; SURELY make more sense to a non poker playing person if you said “No mate, I didn’t win. The damn poker devil made sure of that today!” Ok, maybe saying that would sound crazy too; it would however make more sense in a poker concept though – wouldn’t it?

It’s all a bit whacky and also a little silly but lots of fun for us to call upon poker gods or curse a poker devil. I am going to be doing both from now on. Cursing that little devil and praying the poker gods fight him to make my hands hold up is going to be my crazy thing, even if no-one else does it!

“Dear poker god, please be by my side during my poker game and make sure that little devil doesn’t have my boats run over with ships! AMEN.”

P.S. writing this was fun and was not done under the influence of drugs lol

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Poker Domination Strategy and Use

Poker Domination Strategy and Use

I recently sat back and watched one of the world’s best professional poker players on another table during the MTT (Multi-Table Tournament) we had entered.

Watching him play brought to my attention his ability to take charge of the table. His natural ability to lead and dominate stood out to me, more than anything, going on – even my own game.

Through the initial tournament stages he pushed and shoved, he dominated to the point he had table ownership. Respect came from this table ownership! Such respect that if he raised the opponents in the poker tournament folded. When he was called, he didn’t back down unless an obvious firing gun was pointed at his head.

This made me realise that even in an online poker tournament; taking charge of your table and dominating is by far the best method to achieve brilliant results.

His leadership role continued from table to table, there was never a chance he was going to be beaten. It appeared by taking leadership of his table, and taking the chip lead of the entire poker tournament, the tournament was also under his control! Domination from the start works, taking the leadership role on the table and for the entire tournament is something we all should try and do.

Admittedly I was busted out in 40^th place after attempting some stupid aggression to take the lead and try and dominate my table. I learnt from this mistake though, I did it too late! Once the table was owned it was too late! The only way I could have altered this is attack the dominator, make him look foolish and me the one in table control. Next time, leadership and domination from the start or at the right point!

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Playing Against Family and Friends in Poker

Playing Against Family and Friends in Poker

It’s an everyday occurrence for me, battling my wonderful friends in poker tournaments. At times it is hard to bust them out, take their chips and say goodbye to them. This however is a must.

Relatives and friends in the poker circuit; both online poker and at our local casinos is a common thing. The unfortunate thing is on those tables they are our enemies! Playing your brother, lover mother or son can be a horrible thing – but that’s poker. It is in our blood and seems to pass through families. Our associates once entering this wonderful world become close friends as we travel, dine, play, party and bunk with them. How do we overcome the feelings of resentment either party may have after knocking each other out of a major online poker tournament and tournaments such as the WSOP and Aussie Millions?

I remember back to Annie Duke knocking her brother out of the tournament of champions. I may be wrong, maybe it was another tournament. Regardless; it must have been a hard thing for Annie to do and hard for her elite playing brother to take.

Simple poker strategy must always be used – friends off the table, enemies on it! I have made the mistake in past times of going easy on friends only to be smashed by them in return. I have felt guilt at knocking a friend out on the bubble, I even offered them a portion of my winnings just due to the fact I busted them. As I grow in the game of poker and learn, I have learnt to check raise and bust even my mother!

There must not be resentment or feelings of hate, guilt or unhappiness after busting each other – end of story! Entering a poker tournament with the people closest to us is simply friends and family going to battle; and the battle means POKER ONLY all friendships and feelings aside!

Step off that table and rail them to victory if you are busted out, it feels fantastic after a while – alike if you we there to watch and support them to start with. Your concentrated feelings of being annoyed to the maximum soon fade and the concentration is focused on their success instead. Harder said than done I know!

When the game is over, celebrations are going to occur and best it be the celebration of a friend or family member winning rather than a stranger or someone you do not like. I think it’s a marvellous thing to be able to compete and battle with friends this way.

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