Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

Keep in mind that making big pre-flop moves when pairs are made under 9. You will not want to hold on to the pair under 9 should the flop bring you 3 of a kind. Should you chose to be playing smaller pairs regularly through the poker game, it is a promise that your chip stack will not make it through the game. If you enjoy the challenge brought by playing an active poker game with smaller pairs, do so ONLY when you have a lot of people calling, and the pot odds are better for you. By keeping such a simple tatic in mind you will be bettering your choices and your chances to bring in a good pot, or steal with a bad beat.

Came across a thread on 2+2 about a poker player named Ed Hollis who had recently been hitting the high stakes games over at Betfair Poker.  They were talking about him playing in a $100/$200 game with a $25k stack and how this guy had some massive swings.  In the thread there was a link to his blog, so I decided to check it out.

What a great blog it was!  Ed talks about how he lives on the edge, gambling with borrowed money at times, hustling to make a living on the poker tables.  Every time he seems to work up some kind of roll he blows it all away.  To me, this looks like the true sign of a gambling degen.  He seems to do well at the $100/$200 limits, but always tries to go to $250/$500 and ends up blowing his roll.  Ed, why don’t you just stay at $100/$200???

He doesn’t just bet at poker though.  Ed even mentions some of his swings from sports betting.  Unfortunately from what I can tell, I a lot of this looks like its on borrowed money.

I am really against betting with money that you can’t afford to lose.  Hopefully this works out for him, but far too often things don’t work out that great when you are betting with money that you can’t afford to lose.

Regardless, Ed has a very entertaining blog as you can literally be part of his major swings as you follow along.  I recommend checking it out!

Ed Hollis Blog

Good luck at the tables and please don’t get too much in debt!

The veterans recently got a boost in support and assistance from some well known people who love a good hand of poker. The Xtreme Couture GI Foundation partnered with UltimateBet to create Operation: All In, which was a big success on the 12^th of this month.

The live poker tournament was held at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas. The event drew in 150 players with the proceeds going to the veteran’s organization.  The final donation tally was more than 93 thousand dollars. What a wonderful thing it was to have such well known faces appearing to raise money for the wonderful people fighting for their freedom to be there.

The Xtream Couture GI Foundation is active and benefiting troops hurt in action and their families. Similar to the Wounded Warrior Foundation, they contribute funds to the bills and support to the families as well as encourage and provide aid to the wounded GI themselves as need be.

With the helping hand from UlitmateBet and the Hard Rock Café, the poker tournament will help hundreds of wounded soldiers and their families. This blessed group assists regardless of the type of injury, even extending the support to those scared by the wounds of battle mentally, emotionally, and physically. Challenges of returning to regular life after active duty battle are many, and the online poker giant along with Xtream Couture is helping them make the transition.

Mansion Poker is doing everything they can to entice you to play more often. Nothing new, right? Their new loyalty program changes are. What exciting changes they are! With the new changes online poker players competing at Mansion Poker will be able to acquire opportunities to play freeroll specifically for loyal Mansion Poker Players.

The corporate thoughts on the subject point to the fact that online poker players are among the most loyal in the online gaming industry. Regarding the new program, the Manson Poker Ambassador was excited to discuss the goal of rewarding some of the best online poker players available.

In the new program, every single cash game played on the Mansion Poker site by any player will accrue VIP Poker Points aka VPP. As each month comes to an end, the poker room will tally each player’s points and include them in one of 5 color coded categories. As points are tallied the player will receive benefits from each level of qualification. The categories are:

• Green: 0 - 15,999
• Silver: 16,000 - 49,999
• Gold: 50,000 - 149,999
• Platinum: 150,000 - 249,999
• Black: 250,000

One of the best parts of this program is that every player who competes in cash games becomes a VIP with their first hand. Every player has an auto classification of Green. Not to bad to know that with out fail you are important to one of the biggest most successful online poker rooms in the world. Moving through the ranks is simple with this program as well, as all anyone would need to do is play more cash games. Not to shabby when you only have to put money in your pocket and get rewarded for it.

Mansion Poker will be releasing weekly VPP statements for every player. In the attempt to assist their VIP players they will also add a way for players to get a point’s boost. The poker bonus boost will be the percentage in which a player has increased their VPP. In a press release the poker room made it clear that it was in their goal to see all of their VIP players reach the Black level and enjoy the rewards associated with it.

Ok, you are a Mansion Poker VIP and are moving your way through the ranks, accruing VPP’s and increasing you bankroll. Not to bad, but what do you do with the VPP’s you’re loading up on? Visit Mansion Poker’s VIP Loyalty Club Shop. The VPP’s can be cashed in for a variety of poker paraphernalia, incredible poker tournament packages of your choice, and many other desirable rewards.

According to at NeverwinPoker.com, Brandi Rose Hawbaker has changed her name to Naami Dea. I have no idea how she came up with a name like Naami Dea, but here is the alleged paperwork from her name change:

“Register Of ActionsCase No. D-08-386744-NIn the Matter of the Petition for Change of Name by: Brandi Rose Hawbaker, Petitioner(s). §

Case Type: Name Change Petition
Date Filed: 01/11/2008
Location: Department L
Conversion Case Number: D386744

Party Information Lead Attorneys
Petitioner Hawbaker, Brandi Rose
Pro Se

Retained
Events & Orders of the Court OTHER EVENTS AND HEARINGS
01/11/2008 Notice
of Petition for Change of Name
01/11/2008 Petition for Change of Name Naami Dea
Financial Information
Petitioner Hawbaker, Brandi Rose
Total Financial Assessment 148.00
Total Payments and Credits 148.00
Balance Due as of 01/23/2008 0.00

01/11/2008 Transaction Assessment 148.00
01/11/2008 Payment (Window) Receipt # 2008-01323-FAM Hawbaker, Brandi Rose (148.00)”

Also, in other Brandi news, here is a video of Brandi Hawbaker’s former husband Brandon being interviewed by Bryan Micon:


Editor Note: In my opinion, this just looks like dead story that Bryan Micon is trying to drag on and on again and won’t let die.

Play Strategically to avoid trouble - A poker player with out a strategy is like sitting down against a chess player without knowing the pieces. It is not worth the attempt. In chess you’ll be humiliated in 3 moves or less. In poker, you will be the fish thus losing your lunch money.

One important strategy to keep in mind during tournament play, in all forms including Sit and Go’s. In most tournaments the loose players will make big, often obvious moves very early. The attempt or goal is to steal blinds and in their mind, capitalize even if they are only holding a pair of 2’s. Let them go, in the end, the fewer players you compete with the better your pot odds will be. Now don’t take this as though you should throw away a strong hand if you get it early on. Play it, you can feel assured that those who have been pushing raising and attempting to steal blinds are the ones who will hand you their money. Proving no strategy in tournament play equals no poker tournament play, at least not for long. Play only your strong hands eary though because it is not worth leaving any poker tournament early.