FeltStars Women the WSOP and Leagues

FeltStars Women the WSOP and Leagues

Get your girlfriends, wife, aunties, sisters and mums ready or if you are a lady - get yourself sorted out! FeltStars announced they are catering to the rising growth of female poker players by introducing chances for women to play for their ladies WSOP seat in an exclusive buyin league. The Feltstars ladies WSOP league commences April 10th and carries on for an 8 week period.

To download FeltStars Click HERE: FELTSTARS

Dates for league games:

Wednesday evenings at 19:30 server time/8:30 p.m. EST

April 13 - June 1

Sundays at 13:30 server time/ 2:30 p.m. EST

April 10 - May 29

All games are no limit hold'em freezeout. $5 + $1 buyin. $2.50 will go toward each game's prize pool for that day. $2.50 will go toward the cumulative tournament at the end of the league. There is normal .50 tournament fee for each game.

Half the prize pool will be awarded to the players each week.

Half the prize pool will go toward a tournament at the end of the league, with extra ladies WSOP packages plus any remaining funds. The amount of this tournament will be determined at the end of the league.

Prizes sponsored by FeltStars for League winners:

League winner receives a $1500 prize package to attend the 2011 Ladies WSOP 2nd and 3rd place - $109 tournament entry to 50k guarantee on Feltstars 4th and 5th - $60 entry coupon on Feltstars 6th and 7th - $33 entry coupon on FeltStars 8th and 9th - $11 satellite entry coupon on FeltStars 10th - $5.50 Pro Bounty Coupon

Random prizes will be dispersed based on player participation. Announced week 3.

Top 20% of the league will receive an invite to the final tournament for the additional prizes collected from the buyins during the league.

For more details please see the FeltStars website.

Points will be awarded as follows:

1 point for participation 30 - 50th 1 additional point 20 - 30th 2 additional points 10 - 20th - 3 additional points 1 - 9th (final table) 5 additional points

League is open to females only. Winner will need to produce identification matching their player account to be declared the winner. WSOP package winners must agree to wear FeltStars gear for the entire time they are playing in the Ladies WSOP event. Prizes are not transferable.

See you there! Obviously I am registered.

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Are Pro Bounty Tournaments Rigged?

Are Pro Bounty Tournaments Rigged?

It seemed only yesterday when I played my first FeltStars Pro Bounty Tournament; as a bounty - yikes! I didn't know what to expect, there was more than $100,000.00 on the line with really a minimal amount of players entered to try and win it. They all paid $5 each.

There were really good odds based on the figures in anyone’s opinion (I guessed anyway): 159 players, 4 pros, $5 entry and up to $100,000.00 for knocking us out. $100.00 was going to definitely be made by 4 lucky people making their entry an ROI of around 20:1 if they were successful.

During the tournament I saw comments however. The comments alarmed me! Players were chatting saying: "There is no way anyone is going to even have a chance of knocking out 2 pros let alone all 4 and winning $100,000.00." As I scratched my head and wondered why this comment was made they continued their conversations. "Look at the pro bounty tournaments on the other sites, they are obviously all rigged! Not in almost 5 years has anyone ever won more than the minimal bounty prize (which is of course $100.00 for each pro in the case of the FeltStars tournaments). I again scratched my head and went and looked at the pro bounty tournament figures on other certain sites. There were masses of players which I guess assured me why.

I continued on playing and found myself the chip leader. Before long, one pro had been knocked out (Tyler Smith) and there were still 3/4 remaining. Myself (HotAusChick2), DrCheckRais & BootnTee. Not only were there still 3 pros remaining, but there were less than 2 tables of players left in the tournament. Amongst these players included the player whom knocked out Tyler meaning; he had a really good chance of still winning the $100,000.00 bounty prize if he could take some more of us down.

Before I knew it I found myself on a table with only 7 players, 3 were the remaining pros. BootnTee got knocked out and of course the final table followed. On this table, there was a man who had knocked out BootnTee, Me and DrCheckrais. The guy who knocked out Tyler had been busted so there was no chance of anyone winning the $100,000.00. There was still a massive chance of this guy who knocked out BootnTee winning $10,000.00 for his $5 entry (plus the prizepool cash of course).

The guy blew his chances of $10,000.00 and just collected the $100.00 bounty. This left the possibility of the remaining players winning $1000.00 for knocking out the remaining 2 pros. Myself and the good Dr.

Here we found ourselves in the final four. Myself, the Dr and 2 players. I went out with a lucky man taking $100.00 for bumping me! He now had a shot at $1000.00 if he took out the Dr as well! Quick re calculation on this man’s investment if he did take out the Dr! $5 entry to win $1000.00 (plus the prizepool which we will leave out of the equation. Around 200:1 ROI! (Return on Investment). That is HUGE for an online tourney with only 159 players!

Now of course; based on the chatters half way through the tourney this could NEVER happen. Well it did! He took out the Dr and by memory won the tournament. A happy day for this guy! A very happy day!

Back to the heading: Are Pro Bounty Tournaments Rigged? Obviously not ours! There were really high chances of winning the max prize of $100,000.00. Even higher chances of winning $10,000.00, and a more then incredibly high chance to win $1k! There is of course the certainty of winning $100.00 per pro for 4 people, that’s a definite!

Our next pro bounty tourney is on in 5 days from this post. If you have $5 to spare, you can know that it is a sure and reliable poker investment! As for any other sites tournaments; I can't comment as I have never played in them. I assume they all work the same though. There is one every month, check FeltStars lobby at the top!

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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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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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Women at the World Series of Poker 2010 My Winning Tips & My Feminine Poker Thoughts

Women at the World Series of Poker 2010 My Winning Tips & My Feminine Poker Thoughts

Today I find myself laying around and day dreaming. I have been thinking of my fellow women in poker, the WSOP and have also had deep thoughts about my friends and teams that I think have a really good chance this year. I thought my laying around day dreaming picture would be suitable for such a post to help you get the picture LOL. Let's start with me re-capping my thoughts on women and the WSOP.

There has been much speculation about 2010 being the year of women in poker and I have got to say I have been some what impressed by the performance of many ladies this year! There was a comment made by an absolute imbocile which has me writing this blog post on women. He said "A woman won't win a bracelet at the WSOP even if they are the only entrant - women suck at poker." The guy has my attention! Obviously! Comments anyone?

Here's my comment to the guy who thinks he knows everything. "You mate, are a fool! Let's start with the fact that there will definietly be one women that wins a bracelet and I won't be argued with on that. Infact, I am willing to make a wager bigger then I ever have before! You have no clue what you are talking about, obviously a lady will win a bracelet..... In the ladies event durrrrr!!!!!!" (I was laughing so hard as I thought this) Maybe there will not be 3 winners; but there WILL be at least one.

Anyway, events are underway and it's getting very exciting! If I had to pick a female that would win a bracelet beyond the ladies event it would be Annette Obrestad; although such pressure could surcome her. I guess everyone is expecting a big performance from her. I think an unknown women will cash too. Actually I HOPE not think. I want to see another last lady standing; one we don't know of as yet. It would be a fabulous addition to the years events. A new poker queen on a throne to join the current ones.

So just a quick re-cap on women in poker leading up to the tournaments of tournaments the WSOP.

We had Annette Obrestad win an Aussie Millions Gold ring to be the first sole woman.
We had Annie Duke take down NBC heads up
Liv Boeree win EPT San Remo
Vanessa Selbst has won the 2010 PokerStars North American Poker Tour

There have been many small wins too that people havn't noticed. Including ones in the WSOP circuit events. The likes of the CPT (canadian poker tour) see's a lady Mary Gabriel in 2nd spot too.

There have been 2 women signed as team pro's with online poker rooms (that I know of off the top of my head). Lacey Jones became the face of the CPT. Womens poker hour has re-started with Amy Zupko and Chess Bitch Jennifer Shahade and in Australia Kirsty Brew showing that she can come back to win an event from less then the cost of a big blind with 3 tables to go! (poker network magazine editor).

There has been a ton of publicity directed at women too. "Year of the women", "Women wins event". You get the hint; I think it already is the year of the women of poker, with or without an additional bracelet win beyond the ladies tournament at the WSOP.

In addition to all of this we have Marsha Waggoner being the only inductee for the year and first female inducted into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame. The USLPC (US Ladies Poker Championship) coming up. The Maven Awards for Women in Poker in it's Inagrual year (with some fine candidates I must add) and much, much, more! I could type all day, but I won't! You get the hint.

I am now going to sit back and watch and cheer on the ladies of the felt; and also my team mates from Team FeltStars at the WSOP. I will also be cheering on team Shulman again and are hoping to see them hit the final table or even take down another bracelet. Of course, I will also be cheering on all my friends and fellow Aussies when I see them doing well. Until next years WSOP when there will be one more lady added to the felt in Vegas - me!

Just to prove I pre thought of it, in the case that it may happen. I pick that my mate Sorel Mizzi will final table the WSOP and or win a bracelet. I think he is ready to bash his way through. Good Luck to Huggy also!

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Are You Out Already?! The Poker Question that Annoys Us All!

Are You Out Already?! The Poker Question that Annoys Us All!

There is nothing worse than being knocked out of a poker tournament, heading to the toilet then to the bar to be asked by person after person “Are you out already?” It is like these people do it to annoy the living shit out of you! As if it isn’t bad enough you have lost a little form or had your ass whooped by a donkey player and been sent to the rail – these questioners want to annoy you even further!

Not only are they annoying you and making you even madder about being knocked out but they are making you re-live the hand that just ruined your tournament life and your night. The last thing you want to be doing is remembering that bad beat and repeating the story over and over again. Regardless, we all know it happens and we do.

Is it actually the case though that these people are deliberately annoying you or even mocking your play? It’s a really simple one to answer. Not every player is asked this question “Are you out already?” when their poker tournament is history and they are back to being a railing snoop. Some people are knocked out and it isn’t noticed as they head to the rail line up or – the bar!

Before getting annoyed and wanting to slap them in the head for the further insult on your nights play; have a good hard think. Why are they asking me this?
I personally take this question as a compliment! They actually expect you to still be playing! I have asked the best pros in the world this question! My words: “Oh my god! Are you out already?” I don’t ask as an annoyer or insulter but because I am shocked!

Use the askers to air your annoyance, head to the rail and watch Mr or Mrs Donkey who knocked you out give your chips away to the lucky recipient and enjoy your night! Alternatively – go home and play some internet poker and be prepared for your online mates to repeat the question "Are you out already?"

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Poker Tournament and Casino Travel Budget Style - SAVE!

Poker Tournament and Casino Travel Budget Style - SAVE!

We are always trying to save a buck no matter what we are doing. Hitting the poker tournament circle or taking a long distance trip to the casino we must do the same. Save a buck in every way possible! We can all go poker tournament tracking and hit the casinos based on our budget and save pennies no matter what they buy-ins, location or participants.

When travelling to our daily jobs, many of us car pool to save costs. To head to the casino the same method can be used. Don’t be shy to gather a full car of poker mates for the ride and split the costs equally! Pre-plan the trip in advance and get the numbers. You can also grab some last minute flight deals at budget price saving hundreds of dollars. There are also daily flight booking times where the same applies.

On arrival at your destination the same you can also save bucks! All you need is a place to crash (sleep) 6 players can easily share a $120 a night motel room crammed or not! Take a sleeping bag and be happy to sleep on the floor or even share a double bed with someone you rather wouldn’t! Maybe a friend already has a motel room and wants to buddy share? Network; look around at who is doing what.

Food and drinks can be a HUGE expense when travelling. We would all rather use our money more wisely at a Omaha or Texas Hold’em poker table! Pre-prepare and pack an esky. Ensure to pack food that doesn’t need to be cooked such as fruit, sandwiches and cold meat and salads. To save on mini bar costs take your own alcohol if you plan to drink. A 750ml bottle of spirits for less then $30 is a heck of a lot cheaper then 3 drinks from the mini bar. (This is of course if you plan to drink). You can empty the mini bar refridgerator on arrival placing the items in a safe spot and fill it with your own stuff.

Before you even hit the table you will be hundreds in front; and in front is what all poker players want to be! I hope my handy travel tips help those who are stepping out of the world of online poker into travel that they had never previously expected possible!

How do I know this? I have done it and are not ashamed to say so! Especially in my early days of being a poker journo! Save, save, save!

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