Early Freeroll Tournament Tips

Getting ready for Carbon Poker’s massive $100K Freeroll? Check out these tips for getting started in a free poker tourney.

Freeroll poker tournaments are one of the most unpredictable and crazy things in poker. There are all kinds of maniacs who are willing to go all-in from early position with ace-anything. Their thinking is that, since only a few prizes will be given out, they need to go all-in as frequently as possible to keep doubling-up. This coupled with the fact that most people don’t value their freeroll entry is why many players can’t handle the first few tables of a freeroll.

But in reality, you need to play a freeroll just like any other tournament if you want to have a chance of winning. The main thing is to avoid the temptation to challenge maniacs every time they decide to go all-in with one-overcard hands. As mentioned before, freeroll players like to go all-in anytime they get an ace. And sometimes they’ll get lucky by going all-in, which is what’s frustrating.

However, you should be using the opposite strategy by waiting for the good cards to come so you’ll have an advantage over those who go all-in with nothing. Sure the wild players will get lucky once and a while by busting your pocket queens with K-4, but you’ll win the majority of the time by playing solid.

The key to remember in the early part of a freeroll tournament is that you’ll get nowhere by trying to get lucky with second rate hands. There’s no reason to risk your tournament life time and time again with a whole tourney ahead of you. Once you get past the early stages, you can get riskier, but wait until the blinds start increasing before you take major risks.

Source: http://www.carbonpoker.com/blog

Mo Money, Mo Problems–Pro Poker’s Busto Stories

Poker pro Jean-Robert Bellande has recently reported to his eagerly awaiting Twitter fans (sarcasm) the woes of the roller coaster ride known as his bankroll management.

Strapping into the ride: “Poker Pro. Track my crazy swings as I take my bankroll from zero to a million.”

The top of the coaster: “I can’t take it anymore. Accepting the 15k loss. David Benjamine [sic] just too tough. 55k.”

The bottom: “Cash 0…I feel sleepy.”

It’s not the first time a poker pro has gone broke, and certainly won’t be the last. The poker lifestyle isn’t like the Ma$e “Feel So Good” video where people in lavish clothing are tossing hundos at fly honeys. There are only two constants with poker: there will be winners and there will be losers.

Many of the biggest winners in the game have taken the elevator from the gutter to the penthouse. Phil Ivey used to sleep under the boardwalk in Atlantic City when he’d go broke. Now he co-owns Heaven with Jesus. Scotty Nguyen dealt cards all day and played poker all night, eventually parlaying his bankroll $7000 into $1 million once he took it to Vegas. The fast-lane lifestyle caught up to him quick, when surmounting losses and addictions to booze and cocaine took their tolls, leaving him penniless days before the start of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event. It wasn’t until Mike Matusow helped stake Nguyen in a satellite qualifier to the $10,000 championship did he manage to leap back to the top, moving on to poker greatness with a Main Event win and never looking back.

It’s when you go from the penthouse and sleep in the gutter that you find the real sorrow in the losers. Most notably, the tragic life of famed pro Stu Ungar comes to mind. A man who many considered the greatest hold’em player to have ever lived and a genius in every sense of the word, the seedy underbelly of Vegas living caught up with Ungar. Drugs and hookers were cancer to a man who had reportedly won over $30 million playing poker in his life time. On November 22, 1998, he was found dead in his hotel room with $822 left to his name, the remnants of a loan from a friend.

The most current busto news sent shock waves through the internet poker forums late last year when it was discovered that the Plano Pawn Shop of Plano, Texas was selling a 14 karat gold, diamond-encrusted World Series of Poker bracelet from a 2005 $5000 no-limit hold’em on eBay. The bracelet belonged to none other than T.J. Cloutier, one of the game’s greatest tournament players. To his name, he has $9,413,236 in winnings and trails only Phil Hellmuth in WSOP final tables (41 and 39 respectively).

Speculation spread like wildfire once the bracelet was spotted as to whether or not Cloutier was sinking or swimming. Cloutier spottings started popping up all across Vegas, slumming at the free hot dog table for a buy-in to a nightly tourney or seeing his name on the wait list for $1/$2 no-limit games at different casinos. Reports also began surfacing regarding his major leak: craps. Terrance Chan, friend and fellow pro, stated in 2006 that “T.J. has lost more money at craps than possibly any human being alive.” Make that $9,413,236 to be exact.

The winning bidder was nice enough to return the bracelet back to Cloutier, a sign of utmost respect for somebody down on his luck. I say “down on his luck” loosely though, because after winning in upwards of $9 million and losing it all and then some, stupidity and self-restraint need to be taken into account.

So you think you want to be a poker pro? You may want to think again.

Source: http://www.carbonpoker.com/blog

Playing the Button in Heads-Up Poker Tournaments

Most poker players know quite a bit about what hands they should and shouldn’t play in both six-max and full table tournaments. They also know that being on a table with 6-10 players gives you the luxury of waiting for the good cards to come without worrying about being blinded out. However, heads-up poker tournaments are an entirely different ballgame.

In heads-up tournaments, you’re forced to play much riskier hands in an effort to avoid being bullied by your opponent. And the blinds come around every single hand so there’s no hiding behind other players until you get the nuts. What’s more is that you’ll be dealing with a lot of luck in heads-up tournament play as well.

If you don’t agree, then consider these stats: having two hole cards or a single ace assure you of winning around 70% of the time, even when behind you’ll have around a 40% chance of winning (on average), and dominated hands still win about 30% of the time. So even when you have A-J going against A-3, you’re only 70% sure you can win.

Getting to the button tips, your primary advantage is position. In the big blind, you are out of position after the flop so the button is obviously the best spot, even though the button acts first before the flop. As the button, you should call nearly every time since you will be getting pot odds; you’re only contributing one-fourth of the pot, and you will rarely be a 3/1 underdog in any hand.

Of course, if you are only shown to be a tight player, the big blind can raise you and knock you out of the hand. So it’s important to mix up your play with both calls and raises in an effort to confuse your opponent. Obviously the match won’t end until both players get solid hands and decide to go all-in, but using some of the tips for playing the button in heads-up tourneys will help you get a chip advantage before this happens.

Source: http://www.carbonpoker.com/blog/

Are there any US Casinos left in the game?

Are there any U.S. online casinos left in the game or do they fade out in the endless space of the Internet? 2 years ago, U.S laws banned banks and financial institutions from defrayment payments to and from online Americans gambling websites. Well, it was very difficult for a lot of online casinos to give away their profits so there are still big online casinos that allows Americans to gamble. There are a lot of big online casinos that accept U.S. players, some of them are well-known for several years and some are new. So what's left of the U.S. online casinos?

First on the list is Rushmore casino. Although it is relative new, the casino is one of the most respected online casinos with excellent reliability, good customer service and wide rage of online services, free online games and free online coupons. Rushmore considered being one of the best online gambling entertainment sites

Second on the list is a casino whose name says it all - > Las Vegas USA Casino. This U.S. online casino is well-known for customer satisfaction, it's based on a RTG platform and the players who play it are consider to be loyal and usually come back again and again.

Third on the list of US online casinos is the Golden Casino, it also based on the RTG platform and welcomes U.S. players. You have several ways of payment to choose from and it easy to operate.

There are many more great online casino that will happily accept U.S. players. They all operate out of the U.S.A. and offer great online entertainment. You can find online casinos that allow you (if you are American or not.) to play.

Source:http://www.slotstop.com/blogs/any-us-casinos-left.aspx

The connection between oil prices to Las Vegas

Is there any connection between the two? and if so -what is the connection between them?

Well, there seems to be a strong connection between the two.

Oil prices are constantly rising and have reached $130 a barrel, a recession is around the corner.

When planning vacations, tourists are cutting back their expenses and very often decide not to travel both by air and by car. Foreign tourists outside America are only 13% of all visitors in Vegas so it can be a big problem for the city.

MGM Mirage Inc which is one of the most famous casinos in Las Vegas, announced that earnings dropped to $118.3 million, compared to $168.2 million in the same quarter a year ago. Same with all the Casinos located in the "STRIP ".

I have friends that live in Denver, Colorado. They used to travel to Vegas at least 4 times a year but not this summer. The gas price is too high for them and it's a long drive.

You can hear people across the country saying similar thing.

You should ask-who is getting the benefit from all this?

The answer is simple - online casinos. The harsh economy causes many gamblers to cancel or reduce the number of casino trips so they choose the fastest and easiest way to gamble - they join online casinos in a minute and start playing.

With this situation, players are looking for the big and easy money and the online jackpot websites are the best way!

Players can bet small stakes and get the chance of winning a huge amount of money. Last month a guy won $1,500,000 in the jackpot of Europa casino.

You can find another big jackpot at Las Vegas USA Casino, which allows American players. And it is one of the best online Casinos.

As you can see, there are some really good alternatives for Las Vegas offline casinos, so start saving your money and consider playing online at one of our recommended casinos.

Source:http://www.slotstop.com/blogs/connection-between-oil-price-to-vegas.aspx

Bingo is the new trend in Online Gaming

Bingo is one of the oldest and preferred games that there is. We've noticed that bingo is becoming hot and that it is The New Trend in Online Gaming.

The online casinos have entered many new characteristics to the game.

The new characteristics made the game faster, easier, cooler more convenient for any bingo player that doesn't want to travel to a bingo event.

Online bingo games are much faster allowing you to play more games in the allotted time period.

Also, you can play from your most convenient place like home or work so you don't need to waste time and money to travel when you could sit and play easily with no rush.

Playing bingo online is becoming increasingly popular. This makes getting great bonuses very easy because so many bingo sites are competing for your business.

There are two online casinos that are leading the online bingo industry.

The first is Moonbingo. It's considered to be one of the most professional casinos that specializes in bingo. It has a great bonus and unseen features in the game.

The second online bingo casino is Spectra Bingo. It is famous due to the fact the it's highly reliable and hands out its great bonuses for new players.

You can find the best bingo bonuses and the biggest potential to enjoy this remarkable game..

Source:http://www.slotstop.com/blogs/casino-blogs.aspx