Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

The lure of online poker is one many cannot resist. It offers the opportunity to play whenever they wish against a wide variety of competitors from around the world. It gives them unlimited gaming options, and can be an intensely profitable pastime. However, this is only true if the player knows how to play. If he doesn’t, online poker is, to put it mildly, not fun. It is instead a fast way to lose a considerable amount of money.

Fortunately, Pocketfives.com has devised a way to prevent the impending loss from happening: free training. All a player has to do is sign up with one of the sponsored sites and he will be granted access to training through Leggo Poker, Stox Poker, Real Poker Training or all three. For six months, a player can take the classes on a variety of styles, strategy and methods, improving their poker game in the variation of choice and many more.

The list of possible online poker rooms is ever growing and changing, included is Doyle’s Room, a site for U.S. players who want to gamble with real money and real competition. So there’s no doubt that any player will be unable to find a place to play that suits their poker style and a place to learn that teaches the game as well. If more help is needed, wanted or sought, Pocketfives.com has created a free training forum where questions can be posed and answered. Poker lovers with thoughts and advice can find support and aid almost as easily as they will be able to ante up and rake in the money once their training sessions are complete.

Sit down, log in and play the game until you have become an expert.

The odds of hitting a royal flush in Texas Holdem are 1 in 649,740. The odds of doing this in a WSOP event in a hand where you get all your chips in play must be way higher!

At the 2007 WSOP Dag Martin Mikkelsen did just that when he shoved his AK suited diamonds into Mike Lovelaces raise (who held pocket 8s).

Here is the video of the hand:

For more videos like this, check our poker videos section.

Recently announced the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), who represents the interest of all poker players in the United States, will be holding a rally against a casino bill being voted on that would turn online poker playing into a felony in the state of Massachusetts. They are encouraging poker players of all stations in life to stand against this law by appearing at a rally. The rally is scheduled for March 18, 2008. If you are in the US state of Massachusetts, you need to read this post. The link to the thread has been included at the end of this excerpt.

The thread in the PPA Forum Reads as such:
Come Rally for poker on the state house steps in Boston. 8:30 AM March 18th. Major hearing going on that day on the bill that will make playing internet poker a felony in the state of Massachusetts. If you care about your rights as a poker player and a citizen of this country, we really need you to come and join us in a show of force. We will have Free T shirts, coffee and doughnuts for all who attend. Please pm me or email me at bryan@pokerplayersalliance.org and let me know if your going to come.
_________________
Bryan
PPA Member Relations
UPDATE IT WILL BE ACROSS THE STREET AT THE CORNER OF BEACON ST AND PARK, AT THE SHAW 54th MEMORIAL, DIRECTLY ACROSS BEACON ST FROM THE STATE HOUSE!!

http://webringamerica.com/4/pokerplayersalliance/viewtopic.php?t=2245
By appearing at this location, as some will be doing, the state level representatives will be forced to see the Poker Players as they walk into work that day. They will need to hear the voice of their constituents before they place their vote for or against this bill. It will be the opportunity for the average poker player who enjoys a game on occasion to make his voice heard and to take a stand for civil liberties.
Evidently after Governor Patrick proposed a compromise bill it was still against online poker players. With people like Representative Barney Frank against the bill, the PPA has organized this rally to insure the Massachusetts State government will hear the voice of the Poker Players, loud and clear. Contact Bryan above if you would like to take a stand for online poker and stop this bill from becoming a state law.
A handful of states across the United States have turned online poker into a felony, including Washington State. PPA State Representative Lee Rousso is running for governor after his clients at Betcha.com were extradited to Louisiana on a vaguely worded law that prohibits various forms of gambling, however money never exchanged hands at betcha.com. Combine the injustice served to the Betcha.com owners with the vaguely worded felony law established in the State of Washington, and you have a difficult situation for poker players of any level. Lee Rousso, like the PPA members in Massachusetts, wants to see it change.
In both states the poker players, online and off, are getting the opportunity to take a stand against the infringement of civil liberties and personal freedoms.

In early March the Ottawa provincial government made it clear they intend to shut down illegal gaming operations based on the Kahnawake Reservation outside Montreal, Quebec. According to public statements made by a representative for the office of Rob Nicholson, other measures are being examined outside of the standard enforcement options.

As the understanding by the general populace as well as the poker players and online gambling operators is that these ‘other measures’ would include bank restrictions and the like. Following these statements the local race track owners are speaking avidly for the measures. In reflection, this is something that sounds more like a protectionist measure such as what the United States passed in 2006. Enforcement of laws that are not applicable to the native nations would only serve to protect the land based tracks and gambling options.

It’s finally here. The European Union is seeing the impact of the US application of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, and they are taking action. An investigation has begun into the impact of the UIGEA on the 27 nations who are a part of the European Union.  The industry brings in 10.05 billion Euro’s annually, which translates into 15.5 billion US Dollars. Not a small sum of pocket change. There is an anticipated level of financial injury to the economies of the international states, once that specific amount is ascertained there will be international implications.

The possible implications of the investigation include further claims through the WTO that were believed to be previously settled. The UIGEA is a violation of the World Trade Organization’s Free Trade Agreement, and it has subsequently lead to billions of dollars in claims against the US, and has resulted in the small island nation of Antigua  and Barbados balking at US copyright laws. Additionally as many as 7 separate claims are being filed or have been, with the WTO regarding significant amounts of money being lost to other nations by the US withdrawing themselves from this portion of the trade agreement.

Time will tell where the EU stands, but it is obvious it is not on the side of the UIGEA.

It has been a while since we wrote any reviews of other poker sites and blogs, so here is a new one of our good friends (scrawnybob) over at 4KingPoker.com.

Roughly 1 year ago today, 4KingPoker started their own poker blog. Since then they have been updating it daily with tons of great poker content.

The blog is broken up into a few different parts. They have a poker strategy section, where they give you tips to improve your game, poker videos with great videos like this one of the All-in Bull Poker at Rodeo, plus the regular poker news, reviews and all other things related to online poker.

All in all, scrawnybob does a great job providing entertaining fresh content, so I definitely recommend checking it out!