Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

 Pai Gow Poker — This is an interesting blend of an ancient Chinese Domino based game (not sure how ancient just always sounds good when you talk about Chinese) and the game of poker.  The game was adjusted when Chinese Immigrants sought to teach Americans the game. To put it on a level that the Americans could understand, the game of Pai Gow moved away from the domino type pieces to a deck of poker cards.  This blended game of poker is very popular in Asian markets, and is becoming noticed again in the United States.  For many years Pai Gow Poker was available to play at many brick and mortar casinos, now with the introduction and growth the internet has brought Pai Gow Poker to the world.

An online game of Pai Gow Poker is played a little bit differently than what we might deem expected poker. The decks consists of 53 cards, or a standard deck plus a joker. The joker is played wild for this poker game. Unlike in most variations of poker, Pai Gow is played against a banker (dealer)  instead of other players, although one game may have up to 6 players at a time.

Remember while we are looking at the game, that is still poker, so the hand rankings are still the same, when you are looking at your combinations. Also, getting this game started and moving toward victory is the bring in bet. However that may be the only similarities to online Pai Gow Poker and more popular variations such as Texas Hold’em.

When the cards are dealt you will receive 2 hands, which will total 7 cards. One higher hand and one lower hand.  The lower hand is 2 cards and that is placed in front of the larger hand, which is the remaining 5. From here the betting begins and the goal is to hold  better cards then in the hand of the banker.   In order to be declared the winner, both hands need to win. Should only one of your hands beat the bankers hands, no one is declared the winner, this is a push and your money is returned to you.  The hand is dealt again.

Pai Gow Poker is a version that is not always played but is quite available online. This is certainly a change from the traditional and popular Texas Hold’em or Omaha Poker. I would highly recommend playing the game if you get the opportunity. The challenge to learn it will only better your poker online and off.

Vancouver is a beautiful city, and home to some of the greatest poker players (both online and offline).  It is probably one of my favorite cities to visit in Canada (here is a pic from my last trip there).  Unfortunately, one of the downsides to Vancouver is they get quite a bit of rain.  This doesn’t have to be such a bad thing though, because this means: MORE TIME TO PLAY POKER!

One of the great things about being Canadian in the online poker world, is your choices of places to play are practically endless.  There are very few sites that actually ban Canadian players (the only one that comes to mind is Bodog).

Here are a few choices for Canadian Poker Players when picking a room:

Top 5 Poker Sites – These are the current list of the best all around poker sites in the World.  This is based on traffic levels, bonuses, tournaments, promotions, support, security and a few more factors.

Easiest Poker Sites – Looking for a site with a lot of loose and novice players?  These are some of our favorite sites to go make some easy money (but this isn’t always good because you will probably see more bad beats).

Best New Poker Sites – Looking for the sites with the cool new features?  These are the latest sites to enter the online market ranked in order of which ones we expect to be big names in the near future.

So whether you are a Vancouver poker player, Toronto poker player, or playing poker from the other side of the country over in Halifax, check out our up to date lists of the Top Online Poker Sites!

Ever wonder what happens when someone wins the bad beat jackpot over at Absolute Poker? It is pretty cool what they do when you win… check this out:

Wow, talk about bad beats, check how this guy gets it bad on the river:

22-year old Jason Potter from the United States was robbed while down in Australia competing in the Aussie Millions Tournament. After cashing out $30,000 in chips, Potter decided to hit up the nearby MacDonalds with this money on him at 4:30am. After finishing up, he began to walk back accross a bridge (close to his hotel – The Crowne Plaza) when someone (who must have caught on to his recent cashout) came up from behind and hit him over the head.  According to Potter`s post on 2+2, the criminal knocks him down, reaches into his hoodie, grabs all the money while brandishing a knife.  The mugger then threatens Potter and runs off.

Detective Senior Constable Dean Trigger, of the Embona armed robbery task force, appealed to banks and financial institutions to call investigators if anyone tried to cash in large quantities of American currency.

Sources: Jason Potter`s post on 2+2 and NineMSN

It’s been a week now, since Lee Rousso annouced he is moving to unseat current Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire. Momentum is building in his favor. In his address on his gubernatorial site, he clearly speaks about his “buyers remorse” in voting for this Governor Gregoire with out hesitation. Now he intends to unseat her in the democratic primary for governor in August.

Lee Rousso is the Poker Player Alliance member, and the attorney who chose to challenge the state and the law SB 6613, in an effort to overturn the felony status of online gaming. In his suit he sited the constitution and the commerce clause there of. This holds the protective nature of the law in violation of the United States Constitution. In their effort to derail him, the state began to dig into his legal background seeking some violation of his own. He has no arrest record. Although the intrusive nature of the state’s inquisition, the court allowed it as part of the discovery process. Rouso appealed it.

With his convictions in tact, may Lee Rousso be elected the next United State Governor to the State of Washington. To offer support to this determined and focused attorney please visit his site at http://leeroussoforgovernor.org/ — perhaps we’ll see this accomplished political poker player run for president in 2010.