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Learn Train Dominate Poker

ESPN has announced that beginning Sunday, February 1, it will start airing the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe main event.  The tournament which took place at the Casino at the Empire in the heart of London’s theater district and attracted an impressive 362 entrants, will be aired in eight one hour episodes.  Event play took place over a six day period and ended in a final table which took over 19 hours to complete.  Players were competing for the first place prize of more than $1.5 million and the highly sought after World Series of Poker Europe bracelet.  ESPN will air the first four episodes back to back during the 6 p.m. time slot before moving over to ESPN2.  The episodes will then be rerun on ESPN2.  If the February 1st date catches your attention, its likely because that is also the date of Super Bowl Sunday.  A new feature that premiered during the World Series of Poker Europe is its "Mobile Hole Card Camera" which allowed ESPN to capture the hole cards of players sitting anywhere in the room.  Below are the ESPN2 air dates for the World Series of Poker Europe main event:

Feb. 1

· 10 p.m. — Episode 1

· 11 p.m. — Episode 2

Feb. 8

· 10 p.m. — Episode 3

· 11 p.m. — Episode 4

Feb. 15

· 10 p.m. — Episode 5

· 11 p.m. — Episode 6

March 1

· 10 p.m. — Episode 7

· 11 p.m. — Episode 8

Today, Titan Poker has announced yet another reward for its loyal players.  Club Titan will offer something for poker players at all levels with various rewards and special tournaments for its members throughout the year.  VIP members also reap the benefit of faster points accumulation, special reload bonuses and loyalty cash bonuses.  Dedicated players could potentially earn themselves tens of thousands of dollars. 

To celebrate the launch of their VIP program, Titan Poker is running the Million Dollar Race, an ongoing promotion that awards $1 million in cash prizes to Titan players.  The race kicks off in mid-January and will run through the end of April 2009.  A series of races will be staged at the same time, handing out prizes to top finishers and to those players who hit certain hot spots in the leader board standings.  Titan has already announced there will be many more tournaments available to Club Titan players throughout the year.  Players will have the benefit of being able to win multiple prizes while at the same time cashing in on their Club Titan points and building their bankrolls. 

Would you like to play for a share of $2,500,000?  If so, then get ready to play with Titan Poker in the ultimate guaranteed prize, $2.5 million!  The $2,500,000 Guaranteed Prize Tournament will kick off on March 8, 2009.  You can buy in directly for $1,500+$80 or win your seat at the Main Event by participating in Sit N Go’s and Multi Table Satellites.  You can start off for just $1.20+$.10!  Be sure to get in on the action and win a piece of the $2.5 million pie!

It’s a common myth that you can’t make good reads and/or spot a “tell” from an Online Poker player. For those that don’t know, a tell is an involuntary action from a poker player that indicates the relative strength or weakness of his or her hand. A common tell in a poker game would be a player that nervously taps his fingers on the table when he’s bluffing or a player that stares right back at your intensely when he’s holding a very strong hand.

On the Internet, you can also spot tells by carefully studying patterns. Since you can’t see the player, you should watch to see how long they typically take before making a bet/raise/check/fold. If you are able to recall this information, it may pay off when you’re able to use it effectively.

An example an Online Poker Tell would be a player that clicks the auto raise button when they have a strong hand. This is the WORST thing you can do as a player but people still use that option. If you’ve spotted a player that does this and then pauses before making a raise, you must piece together his actions before this. Did he limp in pre-flop? Was he a blind? What is the texture of the flop? Calculate that in your head and react accordingly based on the hand that you’re holding.

By watching how players react and play in certain situations and studying these patterns, you may be able to pick off a bluff or perhaps make a bluff of your own!

Poker Stars has now confirmed that its Caribbean Adventure event will be televised on the Game Show Network, giving viewers a glimpse into a dream scenario of playing poker in the beautiful Bahamas.  A representative for Poker Stars , Matt Clark, has confirmed that they have finally reached an agreement with the Game Show Network to air the tournament with the premier date has been tentatively set for May 31.
 
The $10,000 buy in European Poker Tour event will kick off on Monday, January 5th.  The Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure is now entering its sixth year and has become one of the premier events on the poker circuit that the pros highly anticipate.  An impressive 1,136 players competed last year for a lucrative $2 million first prize.
 
The Game Show Network has agreed to show the tournament in eight one hour episodes, with each show debuting once in prime time then again in late night rotation, according to the Game Show Network’s public relations director, Jennifer Minezaki.
 
The network also recently announced that it was designating Sunday night as ‘Poker Night’ and from all indications, the Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure coverage will be a large part of that coverage.  The Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure is held annually at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas.

If you’re looking for a little more than the standard 100% bonus offer that most sites promote, look no further than Doyles Room. They’re giving new depositing players a 100% bonus match up to $550. The requirements to clear the bonus aren’t that bad, so if you’re good at multi tabling and can go four tables at a time, you’ll clear this in no time.

Another good way to speed up clearing your bonus and earning more loyalty points at the same time is by playing in “Doyles Den”. These cash tables offer every player the opportunity to accelerate their points earnings at a quicker pace than the standard cash tables. Make sure to check these out once you’ve deposited.

Tournament players will love the 150K Guarantee event every Sunday and since it’s an unlimited rebuy tournament, you can keep playing even after taking a bad beat. Speaking of bad beats, there’s also a progressive bad beat jackpot at Doyles Room that was over $250,000 the last time we checked!

If you get tired of the poker tables, there’s also a Casino where you can let off steam playing Craps, Blackjack, or many other games that are available. For information on this and other promotions, make sure to visit Doyles Room today.

The poker charity Poker for the Homeless, formerly known as Simon Poker Day, is scheduled to take place along side the 2009 Irish Poker Championship circuit.  The charity poker event runs on Sunday, January 4th, the last day of the Irish Poker Championship.  Players can buy in at the door for €300 + €30 which gets them started with 8,000 in chips.  The charity will get €100 straight from the buy in.
 
The charity group has held three tournaments to date and has so far raised over €100,000 for homeless charities.  Just two of the charities who will be benefitting from this Poker for the Homeless tournament are Simon Community and Brother Kevin of the Capuchin Day Center.
 
Poker pro Padraig Parkinson is the organizer of Poker for the Homeless.  He is an Ireland native who has 34 cashes and $1,122,924 in total winnings on his resume.  With Parkinson being from Ireland, the charity holds special meaning to him and other players are likely to help a cause so close to his heart.  To date, the list of well known Poker Pros who are expected to play are Kenna James, Noel Furlong, Ciaran O’Leary, Marty Smyth, Mike Sexton, Surinder Sunar, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott and Mad Marty Wilson.
 
Also joining in support of Parkinson’s charity are poker sites which include Party Poker , Ladbrokes, Boyle Poker, Bruce Poker and Poker Trillion. 
 
Holding the tournament near the holiday season will help relieve the extra burden that charities typically face during this time of the year.  Parkinson is also excited that at the prospect of the change in tournament location from Dublin to Galaway.  He showed his gratitude to the charity’s sponsors stating, “We’re moving to Galway for this event and are very grateful for all the support we’ve had from our sponsors. Local homeless charities will benefit directly from this event and, as usual at an Irish tournament, we plan to have some fun along the way.”

The National Heads up Poker Championship is now in its fourth year and offers players a real challenge, playing one on one against the best players in the world.  The event is an invite only, 64 player tournament held in Las Vegas available only to US players who qualify online.

For your chance to win a seat at this very exclusive event, enter Poker Stars ’ Round 1 Freerolls.  Win your way through those then go on to Round 2, finish in the top 56 there and you are then qualified for the Grand Final where two incredible prize packages await worth over $21,000 each and feature $20,000 tournament entry, four nights accommodation and $1,000 for travel.

You could be sitting at the table with well known Team Poker Stars Pros such as Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Joe Hachem , Vanessa Roussu and Greg Raymer.  The event will be held at Caesar’s Palace, the venue known for its historic poker events.

Round 1 tournaments run every day from December 20, 2008 - February 20, 2009 at 19:00 and 22:00 ET.

Round 2 tournaments will take place December 27, January 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, February 14 and 21 at 16:00 ET.

The Grand Final will take place February 22, 2009 at 15:00 ET.

The National Heads Up Championship will take place on March 5-8, 2009.

Be sure to enter the Round 1 freerolls at Poker Stars today for your chance to participate in this exclusive tournament!

Mansion Poker currently is offering enough bonuses and promotions to fill, well, a mansion…

New players making their first deposit at Mansion will receive a deposit bonus of 100% up to $500 with easy play through requirements to clear the bonus. If that sounds good and you want to tell a friend about it, make sure to use the “refer a friend” feature and you’ll get a sweet $75 bonus as well an extra $25 for you pal.

If you’re a Sit N Go player, there are several Jackpots up for grabs. By winning consecutive Sit N Go’s you may win up to $50,000. There are actually three different Jackpots based on your buy in but these start at just $5+$1 to enter and the lowest Jackpot is still a whopping $15,000. There’s also a Non-Progressive Jackpot called the Dirty Dozen by taking down four SNG’s in a row in the special 12 man seat events.

Make sure you don’t miss Happy Hour at Mansion, either. These promotions runs twice daily and gives you the chance to accelerate your points earning. You can use these points to enter tournaments or redeem in the Mansion Store.

For more information, make sure to check out our Mansion Poker information page.

After an amazing 28 years of growth, Atlantic City has succumbed to the recent down turn in the economy seeing its gambling proceeds tumble for the second time in a row.  In the first 11 months of 2008, casino revenue from games fell 6.7 percent.  Last year’s decline of 5.7 percent was the first ever as the number of visitors also fell from 34.5 million to 33.3 million.  Casino employment has also taken a direct hit, dropping from 42,000 as recently as August to 39,137 in November. 

James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University has said, “It’s possible Atlantic City is past its peak. It could never go back to its past glory. It’s a much tougher game now.”  He also predicted the situation may worsen over the next year.

Construction projects are now being shelved.  A $2.5 billion Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. casino project was put on hold earlier this year.  Also in the works was a $5 billion Atlantic City resort by MGM Mirage which was canceled in October.  Even Atlantic City’s most profitable hotel casino, the Borgata, hasn’t been immune to the economic woes.  MGM’s co-owned darling has seen casino winnings there drop 2.9 percent in the last month alone.

Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., who owns three Atlantic City casinos, has watched its bonds trade at as little as 12.25 cents on the dollar due to concerns the company cant make interest payments.  A grace period for Trump to make a late coupon payment or reach agreement with bondholders to restructure is looming ever closer.

Atlantic City was an aging resort area until in 1976, New Jersey legalized casino gambling limited to the one location.  The first casino opened in 1978 but by 1988, 12 casinos were in operation and the number of annual visitors was on the rise at 33 million.

According to Michael Paladino, a Fitch Ratings analyst in New York, "The U.S. gaming industry will remain under significant pressure in 2009, with a recovery unlikely until 2010.”

Heading into 2009, the folks at CD Poker have added several exciting promotions for new players. When you make your first deposit, you’ll see a generous welcome bonus match of 100% up to $500.  Couple that with their regular reload bonuses and you’ll find your bankroll sitting pretty in no time at all.

In addition, CD Poker has a Bad Beat Bonus that is paid out anytime a player holding quad Jacks or better is beaten. The player holding the losing hand is entitled to a nice $150.00 bonus! It’s a rare opportunity indeed to actually MAKE money after losing a monster like that. Want an extra $100 bonus? If you’re fortunate enough to hit a Royal Flush you may collect another cash infusion before the day is done.

Also for 2009, CD Poker is offering satellites to the Irish Open and the Aussie Millions tournament. For more details on these and other offers, make sure to check out CD Poker today!