Showing posts with label poker highlights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poker highlights. Show all posts

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!

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Poker News and Poker Results Help Grow Poker Industry


Global poker news is a very important part of the poker industry. In fact; the journalists, bloggers and film-makers of such news have some of the most important positions in this industry. Let's imagine if poker news was never heard nor seen. Would poker be in the boom stage it is today? I suggest not. Global poker news has helped spread the game of poker to every corner of the globe. Without the global news, poker would hardly be known or heard of throughout the world. I have found this applies to all different sectors of poker since the launch of Womens Poker News.

I can use two massive news stories as examples to show exactly how important it is to have poker news published. These two news stories changed poker for good. Without these stories poker would not be a part of the common man's life nor would it be booming in the land down under; Australia. Global news story number one is that of Chris Money Maker. Chrises unique and brilliant storey on his World Series of Poker win rocked the world. The rock was so deep that it made many men alike Chris (tradesmen) head to the felt to be the next world series champ. The news of this victory by a simple tradesman was spread as global news meaning tradesman world wide were now up for the challenge: “If he can do it, I can do it – How easy was that and with such little skill” was the common thought. Thus it wasn't Chris that made a poker boom amongst common men world wide, it was global poker news providers.

My second example would be that of Joe Hachem. Australians went crazy over poker after Joe's World Series of Poker win. Without poker news, we would not have even heard of the win. Australians would still be laying back knowing little about the game – rather then almost every citizen knowing something about it. I remember the days before Joe's win there were not so many Aussies playing on online poker sites as I see now. Now, they are everywhere! Thousands and thousands of them. Also incorporated of course the APL (Australian Poker League).

Although many people in the world did not read poker news from actual poker news sites or publications on these two industry changing wins (as poker was not as common), the hype was broadcast in many news variants from television and radio through to papers and magazines. Since then, the actual tournaments have been replayed also. The point is the news spread globally! The global poker news spread caused the poker booms!

Without global poker news poker wouldn't be what it is today. The roles of the reporters as mentioned above are of most importance. Poker news is responsible for the way poker is today – for without global poker news poker would not have boomed. The stories of the most fabulous and life changing wins would never be known.

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Telling Your Opponent Your Poker Hand as a Poker Strategy

Poker players have always been known to be less then truthful at the table. We all at one stage or another have lied about the cards we are holding after a brilliant bluff. My last trip to Crown Casino taught me that being a player quite the opposite by telling the truth can help in NL Texas Holdem!

Who would believe you when you tell them EXACTLY what you are holding? I would not have, until my recent discovery – some players use telling the truth as a magnificent poker strategy.

I was sitting playing a cash game with a few pros, nothing serious to most of us but for some more then serious. I was sitting in the big blind with a J and 2 of Spades. There were 2 limpers and i checked. Down came the flop 5, 7, and 9 of spades. I felt immediate joy when seeing this, but then immediately was distracted. Mr Texas Hold’em Poker Pro (will leave name anonymous) burst into laughter and hysterically started telling the table how he had flopped a straight flush.

Wow, what to do? Time to be a truth sleuth! Was he lying as we all normally do? Would he call with 6 and 8 of spades from first position? Was this just trash talk?

The hysterical laughter continued as did talk amongst the table. Mr Poker Pro had been calling EVERYTHING with a stack massive compared to most. Indeed it was possible he would have called with 6, 8 of spades! No risk taking – he looked too delighted – I was FOLDING!

The young man next to me had different ideas though. He was very serious. There was a big raise from Mr Poker pro and immediately he says “I call”. Mr Poker Pro was almost crying with laughter now. He said to the young man “What the hell are you doing man? I just told you; I have flopped a straight flush!” The young man replies “I am not listening to your table talk trash!” Poker Pro says “Well; I will raise you all in then if you are stupid enough to call”.

The turn saw Mr Poker Pro raise The Young Man ALL-IN! Instantly the young man says “I call, I have the nuts, Ace high flush!”

Mr Poker Pro fell off his seat laughing, crying and acting like he had just seen the funniest thing EVER. He couldn’t even sit up to show his cards as he rolled around floor of the poker room. Was he telling the truth? Did my sleuthing, my analysis and determination that someone would tell the truth pay off for me (although would have been beaten by the young man’s Ace high flush anyway).

When Mr Poker Pro got to his feet with tears rolling out of his eyes and flipped those cards, the Young Man went CRAZY! Indeed Mr Poker Pro had told the truth. Abuse now came from the young man’s mouth. Mr Pros reply was “quieten down, I was trying to save you money, there is no law against telling you my hand!”

Indeed – telling the truth can be a good poker strategy, also; being a truth sleuth can save you a lot of money if you detect correctly! It can also save you a lot of heartache. Just look at the movie "Mett the Parents" as an example of winning with the truth!

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Poker Is a Sport!

There have been many people talking about poker as a sport in recent times. These discussions are primarily due to the new World Team Poker. World Team Poker (WTP) is a new concept in poker where countries choose a team and of course team captains where they compete against the rest of the world to see which country has the World Team Poker Champions. This new concept runs kind of like the olympic games with countries such as Australia, Israel, United States, Italy, China and more all competeting to see who is the best.

With even things like patchwork quilting we can compete to see who is the best. We can score teams around the world as the best patch work quilters. We could play games like monopoly and see which countries match up as the best. Is there anything which sets poker aside from other activities and card games that makes it a sport or is it "Just another cardgame"?

I consider poker a sport for many reasons. I believe it is a game that you could participate in as part of the olympic games. Poker is like most sports, it takes a lot of preparation to be able to play an A-Grade game. Poker takes a lot of stamina, skill, focus, concentration, poker is a game that can be played at an elite level and when it is shouldn't be taken lightly.

When people are chosen for poker teams it is obvious that the team coaches or leaders / captains choose the best players at their disposal. These players have proven themselves time and time again alike olympic swimmers, throwers, runners, and table tennis players.

Poker can take a lot out of a persons physical body. Competing at the olympic games as a poker player day after day is sure to be no easy task, it is not for the amateur or light hearted. Players have little sleep in large tournaments such as the WSOP, EPT, Aussie Millions. They eat when they can and have few breaks. Tournament play can go on for hours and hours and hours. These things cause weight loss and sleep deprivation and these show that poker can be a very physical sport. In saying this I am not talking a sit and go or a cash game where you can stand up and leave at any time you desire, I mean a deepstack tournament with a multitude of players.

Poker pays money, trophies and endorsements and is therefore in the same category as many sports that participants can win medals in. A professional sprinter also recieves these things, money for wins and places, they get paid out for their win, they recieve endorsements from shoe companies and take home trophys too! How many people that play card games such as solataire, hearts or the like recieve anything near what a poker player does; one who would take down the EPT at any given location?

I am really glad to be seeing World Team Poker ready and set to go.

World Team Poker features a unique concept of team poker with the thrill of international
competition between top professional poker players from countries throughout the world battling it out for “Pride, Passion, Country.” World Team Poker’s season will culminate in a World Team Poker Championship Event in the tradition of the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, or Baseballs World Series, where the teams will compete for the ultimate title: World Team Poker Champions!


With this statement made by World Team Poker Executives and it distributed throughout press worldwide; need I say that many people in the world agree with me that Poker IS a sport!

Congrats to WTP for making this statement beyond "just words" and good luck to participants and to each and every countries poker teams that are involved. Sorry to say though; I am going for the Aussies all the way! Go Aussies, bring home the first ever trophy from World Team Poker xoxo

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