Poker

The 888 Poker Bonus Is Always Worth Looking Into

Ah, poker. If there’s one casino game that we find ourselves coming back to over and over again, it would have to be poker. There is something about the intersection of strategy, luck, and skill that just seems to pull us back in no matter what other game that is on our minds. If you’re going to play poker online for serious money, you need to go to a casino that means business. We’re not here to trash talk casinos, honestly — there are a lot of great casinos out there. However, we do think that where you play matters. A lot of players are so hungry to win money that they don’t stop to think about where they play. That’s a short sighted mistake that leads to long term problems.

If you want a quality casino, look no further than 888poker. It’s a casino that has great poker rooms, and plenty of action. Action just refers to the amount of people that play at the casino. You’ll have a lot of poker fans to square off with. That means more opportunities to make money. After all, not every player is going to be Scotty Nguyen or Doyle Brunson. That gives you a lot of chances to catch fish and take their money. Hey, we never said that poker was a nice game — we just said we couldn’t live without it. You have to get a little tough and play well in order to really win money. If you try to make friends in poker, you’ll get creamed. It’s really every man — and woman — for themselves, and that’s the way we like it.

Of course, we can’t talk about 888 Poker without talking about the 888 poker bonus. You got to look into all of your bonuses before you play the game. If you only think about the game without the bonuses, you’re going to leave behind money that could have funded your bankroll.

Every casino player knows that the more bankroll you actually have, the better off you will be in the long run. You just have to claim the money, and there’s no shame in claiming the bonus — why not claim it today?

Fast poker action and plenty of other casino games make 888 Casino worth checking out — but you’ll definitely want to make sure that you take some time to have fun. After all, you only have one life to live, you know!

Can You Really Play Poker Professionally

By Martin

One dream that seems to be common among new and veteran gamblers alike online is playing at their game of choice professionally. Since poker is pretty popular, we’ll cover some of what it takes to play professionally.

First and foremost, playing poker professionally isn’t something that you take lightly. When you’re trying to make it your primary source of income, you have to be able to be just that good — there’s no other way to say it. If you doubt your poker skills at all, this is not the time to quit your day job and start playing poker.

You need to think of it almost like starting your own business. If you don’t do that, then you’re going to have a really hard time getting the right attitude about playing poker. It’s something that can really change your life, but it’s also something that can change your life for the worse.

Most professional poker players play a LOT of poker — this is not something where you can play a few hands over a weekend and then rake in the money. You will need to grind it out day in and day out in order to really see any success.

Keep in mind that as a professional gambler, you will have losses. You will have off days. You will have times where you are sick and tired of playing poker. Taking breaks will definitely help you excel in your game.

Don’t forget that you also want to sharpen your game when money isn’t on the line. Playing free poker games can help you do that. Freerolls and tournaments that are low cost would also be good. Keeping track of your strategic moves helps you lock in money that would otherwise fly out the door. Analyzing your poker games from start to finish helps you understand not only the type of player you are, but the types of players that you’re meeting on the battlefield.

Don’t hesitate to take breaks or rely on your savings when things get rough. It’s better than burning out and giving up. You also want to surround yourself with positive people. Anytime that you’re taking a big leap of faith, the last thing you want is to be surrounded by people who don’t believe in you. It doesn’t help you run a business, and it certainly won’t help you handle your new life as a professional poker player.

If you want to work on getting sponsored by a casino, you will want to make sure that you’re visible. Pick a good handle and stick to it everywhere you go. Make sure that you socialize with people that are active as well. Someone that wants to be a legend in the industry can’t be another anonymous face. Put up a blog and show your face, talk about your story and what you bring to the table. People invest in characters and they look for stories — so don’t be afraid to share yours!

Can you really make it as a professional poker player? We think so, but it’s up to you to make it happen! Good luck!

Rediscovering The Joy of Poker

By Martin

Poker is something that people often play in “waves”. Sometimes they will feel like they’re running hot and there’s no way that they can lose. You’re on a roll and the world feels like it’s starting to actually give you a break for a change. This is a good place and state of mind to be in, but it’s been our experience that it doesn’t last forever. You will eventually start feeling like there’s no way that you can possibly get anything done, and you will ultimately feel like you should stop playing poker. So you leave poker for a while, thinking that someday, somehow, you’ll go back to playing poker. Your friends are still playing poker, and they miss you. Of course, they respect your decision to leave poker for a little while, but there’s going to come a time where you pretty much have to decide whether you’re going to sit on the sidelines forever, or come back with a mighty roar.

Of course, when you haven’t roared in a while, you might find that your “voice” is a little hoarse, so to speak. You might find that you really do need to step back and really look at what’s going on in the world of poker. You might need to figure out how to navigate through poker in a different way. It’s not like you will always win — that would be hard to pull off. Even the professional players that we all know and love have losing streaks. They don’t run off from poker, never to be heard from again. They dive into poker and play hard, taking breaks as needed. They also brush up on their skills and practice hard. You’ll actually find that professional poker players are some of the hardest working players out there. They don’t give up easily at all, and they don’t let their ego get in the way of the game.

Can you rediscover the joy of poker? Absolutely! One way to do that is to get into freeroll events. Casinos love throwing up freerolls because it’s a great teaser move. You’re going to eventually deposit more into the game, and you’ll keep playing. It’s also a very casual way to see where your skills are at since your departure. If you’re rusty beyond belief, don’t worry about it. You can always develop your skills again. You just have to make sure that you focus on the bigger picture and push from there.

What about those casino bonuses? Can you get those even if you’re not new to the world of poker?

The answer? Absolutely! If you are new to the casino, you can qualify for a bonus. Of course, you will want to make sure that you read the fine print but there’s nothing stopping you from at least checking it out, right? Go on and get back out there. Poker is a fun game that has a great mix of challenge and luck. Have fun!

Poker Shame

By Martin

The most common emotion that people try to project is sadness, or disappointment. The truth of the matter is, whether you’re willing to admit it, or not. All people like sympathy, and a free pass; and that’s no different at the poker table. People know that they’re being watched, and they know that what is being watched for is emotion and expression. (You always have to remember that most of the time you are dealing with somebody whose perception of emotion and expression is engrained in them by movies and television, and therefore exaggerated.)

Because of this, that’s what they’re thinking YOU are looking for, and people tend to animate (or now that you know better, over animate) themselves in a way that tries to lure you into putting your money in, when they know they’re ahead.

Sadness is one of a few unique emotions that has no universal tells. Sadness in every human being is different. So when you see it, how do you tell if its genuine? Well its real simple. All you have to do is ask yourself, how ridiculous does this person look right now?

If the answer is, everyone looks like that when they’re sad then they’re probably faking it. They may be very slightly irritated, or a bit unhappy, but they are not vulnerable! The reason for this is, when a person becomes overwhelmed with sadness, their conscious view of themselves is at its weakest point. That leads to the inability to control the facial muscles, and allows them to move freely and at random (random to the person, not necessarily the situation.)

Its natural for somebody’s brain to tell the body in this situation to try to attract as much comfort as they can, from anywhere they can. While on the other hand, somebody faking it is going to show the movie expressions. You may see eyebrows raise without being drawn together, wrinkling the forehead, accompanied with enlarged puppy dog eyes. You may see the mouth curl down making a sad face, and what I’ve found to be a solid giveaway is, when somebody is projecting this and sees another person looking, they’ll look down, or purposefully break eye contact. THESE kind of people are trying to draw as much sympathy as possible, but without attracting a lot of attention by projecting what they’ve seen as socially acceptable sad behavior (aka movie sad).

This happens by default, because their perception of themselves is active trying to put together the perfect combination of expressions, and they don’t want to project one that will make them look foolish. (It’s a human ego thing, nobody looks bad on purpose.) The bottom line is, nobody is going to be in a hand if they’re legitimately sad. If a person can’t control the muscles in their face when they’re sad, they sure as hell aren’t going to be able to play poker.

Shame on the other hand, is a little different. You WILL see this at the poker table, and it can be very valuable, especially if you’re paying attention to WHEN you see it, in relation to what cards are out on the board. This can help you narrow hand ranges down, and guess whether a person was drawing or not so that next time you know that they’re willing to draw for X amount of the pot, and bet larger.

You’ll usually see this when somebody is really reaching for a draw and it misses, or at the end of the hand when they just couldn’t let go of the good starting hand. This occurs whether they have to show their hand or not (Sidenote: A rule players aren’t commonly familiar with is, whoever has the last aggressive action(last person to bet or raise only), has to show their cards first, or concede the hand (muck) and you don’t unless you intend to challenge it(or they muck)) The most common time I see the projection of shame is when a person turns over a pair of aces or kings, with 2-9 for their kicker. They know that’s a joke to even turn over, and vs. somebody whose been betting or calling/raising the whole way its usually beat. The people who muck most likely missed a draw, or had top or 2nd pair on the flop that obviously didn’t hold up after the remaining 2 cards. [Read more…] about Poker Shame

Poker Guide – Micro Expressions

By Martin

Anger vs. happiness motion in the mouth area, was a good example of how similar movements can have meanings that are polar opposites. This should also prove the importance of being able to distinguish the slight differences between them. It is also just as important to realize that not all movements can be categorized into basic, easy to interpret feelings.

Every little curl and twitch means something different, and every combination of them together, further increases the possibilities. The reason I say this is so important is because often when first exploring the use of this skill, its common for a person to make a critical ‘error’ when trying to read the micro expressions of another person.

This isn’t because that person is an exception, or the information they’d learned was wrong or misinterpreted when you read it. Its because you don’t have all of the information.(Don’t feel bad, nobody can acquire, understand, and put to use, everything, all at once.) You probably noticed, I put the word ‘error’ in quotes just now, and that’s because the specific ‘error’ I’m talking about is completely avoidable.

For lack of better words, I’m going to call this type of error ‘filling in the blank.’ Here’s a scenario where this happens. You’ve decided that you want to try to learn to read people’s emotions through the micro expressions, and you’ve spent a little time researching how a few of the basic emotions show on the face. You’ve tested it out on a few friends, or family members with a fair amount of success and decide to have a seat at the table and give it a whirl. It doesn’t take long before you become involved in a hand where you are heads up preflop with an opponent, he 4 bet under the gun, everyone folded to you on the big blind. You are hold As Kc and decide to finish the bet and see a flop. Heres your chance! You think as you watch his face closely as the flop comes out. Nothing, not a single movement on his face. You look down and see that the flop is 7h 4h 2c, and hasn’t helped you, and you check to the raiser. He puts out a bet of about ½ pot, and you decide the flop was weak enough to call it with 2 over cards, and you look back at him to watch his face when the turn card comes out. This time you see movement. One corner of their pressed together lips curled upward(one side) for just a fraction of a second. You do a quick rundown in your head of what you learned, or researched so far.

**Here is the error** “I only saw one corner curl, but that probably doesn’t matter.” WRONG. “Well… it kind of looked like….” WRONG. (Most common} ”Curling lips in general means happy or angry.“ WRONG.

The correct, and hardest thing to do in this instance, is to recognize that you are dealing with an emotion you ARE NOT YET FAMILIAR WITH. This is literally a science and you can’t generalize the information by as I called earlier, filling in the blanks. Just to show you why, lets finish this hand using the more common, of the ‘error’ approaches listed above.

You decide its either happy or angry, and you didn’t see teeth, so you come to the conclusion, he’s happy, so that card must’ve helped him! You then look down to see a 3 of hearts. Normally a blank, but there are now three hearts on the board, and you don’t have any in your hand. You check to him, and again, he puts out a half pot bet. Now your line of thinking has changed, you think hes happy, and a bet that size is surely just trying to get value, so you fold. When you fold, you proudly turn over AK to justify your pre and post flop calls, and ability to get away from a monster hand. But right after, your opponent laughs and turns over Ax10x, also not holding any hearts. You immediately feel your stomach knot and can’t believe all the time you put in learning about facial expressions, just cost you money. [Read more…] about Poker Guide – Micro Expressions

Poker Anger

By Martin

By now(hopefully) you’ve come to realize, that when you see an opponent with cards is happy, you should probably get out of the hand. Or at the very least, proceed with extreme caution, because they’re surely on the make. Now that you’ll have a little easier time spotting this when it happens, I want to distinguish the difference between happiness and anger, in relation to the mouth.

Now, anger is not to be confused with discontent. When a player is discontent at the poker table, its usually accompanied by the feeling of being beat. (I’ve described this as ‘dread’) and its something every player will experience at some point. Whether the reason is because of a bad run of cards, multiple losing sessions, or problems in your personal life; that sneak out from the back of your mind when you aren’t in a hand. It instills the feeling that you have no luck, or just aren’t meant to come out on top.

Anger, is usually accompanied with the feeling of what I categorize as ‘subtle-rage’. They aren’t flipping out, causing a scene, but he’s decided at some point in, or before the hand that they’re going to take somebody’s money.

These players are often mistaken for being or getting ‘aggressive’ and since to remain aggressive, you have to open your hand range and its usually presumed, that ½ or most of the time, that they are getting out of line.

But anger doesn’t just magically show up. It festers, and they’ve been waiting for a premium(to their range) hand to release it. This can cause you to be baited into calling large raises with marginal hands, just because of your position in relation to them, or misread on their mood. Or it can cause you to be intimidated out of the hand.(Which you should never allow to happen.) When whats really going on is, the opponent is just irritated by another player’s(or your) play whether collectively, or just in one hand. Once that’s seeded in their mind; its only a matter of time before they’re going to feel the need to intervene, and try to teach somebody a lesson. It’s important to be able to HONESTLY evaluate your hand here.

Pre-flop is the only part of poker where I believe you need to play the cards, before you play the player. For example, theres no reason to call 67 suited to a 5bet+, preflop at a cash game. I don’t care if you ARE on the button. You are essentially going into the hand with 67 vs. at LEAST one face card, or a pocket pair. Let it go, and wait for a better SITUATION. Its not that 67 suited is a horrible hand, its just more likely to be beat when facing a raise like that **by somebody who is angry**. I’m not telling you to allow yourself to be pushed around. Although an exemption to this would be in a tournament, there are a lot of other factors to consider, and you may or may not want to see a flop. But that’s only because of the TIME constraints that you have to deal with in a tournament.(rising blinds)

Now that you know why you need this information, I’m going to tell you how to find it. I’ve already explained how to find ‘happy’ in the mouth area. You would think anger would be a lot easier to see, but that’s not the case. Due to sunglasses, and hats, a good portion of the giveaways from the nose up are usually hidden or obscured.(for instance, *from the nose up*, a player with a hat and sunglasses is more prone to look confused, or as if he’s analyzing the hand when hes actually fuming. This is because the band of the hat restricts some of the movements in the forehead, and the nose pads on the sunglasses is constantly inducing a slight downward pull due to the weight of the glasses, thus restricting motion between, and at the edges of the eyebrows.) So where do you look? The same place you look to find ‘happy’. The mouth. [Read more…] about Poker Anger

Titan Poker Review

By Martin

If you’re going to play online gambling games, you might as well take time to find a casino that’s going to work for you. Reading reviews is the best way to get a head start on finding somewhere wonderful to play.

So let’s start from the top — why not check out Titan Poker? Here’s what you need to know about this casino.

First and foremost, Titan Poker is a great place to play…you guessed it — poker! If you’re not really a poker person, this casino isn’t going to really appeal to you. However, if you’re looking for multiple varieties of poker, you’ve come to the right place.

This is actually a poker room that’s part of the great iPoker network, so if you’re hoping to play many rooms at once, this is going to be a top destination for you.

You will also find games running around the clock. If you keep erratic hours, you’ll love being able to play virtually any time of the day or night. That will be the best part — playing when it feels right to play. If you’re trying to work on your poker game, you want to wait until you’re rested and you really feel like playing. How we feel when we play poker undoubtedly has an effect, you know!

The games at Titan Poker include Texas Hold’Em, Hi-Lo, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Stud with full-ring, heads-up poker and plenty of other games. There are also monthly freerolls available, just so you can keep a little more money in your pocket.

There are plenty of tournaments as well. Tournaments are nice because you get a big field of players, which means that the top money slots are going to pay off nicely. This also attracts a good number of fish that you can snipe 🙂

Hey, all is fair in love, war, and poker. What can we say?

Thinking about satellite events? You want to get in on the satellites for the multi-million dollar European Championship of Online Poker. Big money to be won, why not check that out?

Don’t just take our word for it — aside from the great support, tournaments, and bonuses, there is a nice community around this casino. Look into it for yourself, you really won’t be disappointed!

Survivor Thoughts

By Martin

Did you catch the past Survivor Poker: Donkey Island event? It was definitely one to get into. It was a $5 multi-entry spell with plenty of teams, plenty of poker, and plenty of alliances.

Alliances? Psychological poker? That’s just something that you should grow to expect. I won’t bother recapping all of Survivor Poker for you, because you can get that anywhere. I’m going to talk a little more about the type of psychological poker you need to be playing if you’re really serious about getting better and better at not only events like this, but in poker in general.

Tournaments where you have to lean on other players in order to advance means that you need to be studying how they play and what they’re thinking about. Do they tend to shove? Do they play it tight and close to the vest? You have to figure out how your opponents of all stripes are going to play.

What about yourself? How you play makes a big difference. If you’re too timid to take risks, you’re going to have a hard time surviving any type of tournament play. It’s all about taking risks. Yeah, you might not place but you will always learn something powerful that you can use in the future. It’s all about making sure that you can push hard and score big. There’s really nothing else in poker that matters more than that.

Getting your emotions in check is also one of the top things that you will need to address. It’s tempting to think that you’re not going to have to really think about that, but you’re mistaken. If you let your anger get out of hand, you might make plays that just don’t make sense. On the other hand, if you get too emotional or happy, you might take risks that just aren’t called for. Every game is different, but tournament play requires you to be in a neutral mood. Not so happy that you think you’re invincible, but not so unhappy that you think there’s no way that you can win.

Clearly, there’s going to be a lot of different ideas at play here, but you do have what it takes to make things happen — why not check it out today? You’ll truly be glad that you did when you finish in the money in Survivor Poker — or any other big tournament game!

888Casino Review

By Martin

888 Casino is huge — and we don’t really use that word around here often. Casinos are huge by definition, and they capture thousands upon thousands of visitors every month. However, 888 Casino stands tall amongst all of the competition for many reasons.

First and foremost, they really try to give you a lot of different games to play. It’s not just about poker, blackjack, and maybe a handful of slots. No, 888 Casino is going to offer you a lot more than that. Like most casinos, 888 gives you a choice between downloading their free client (which isn’t half bad, really), or doing instant play. We lean towards doing the download because then you get the full experience.

Another angle that’s nice is that they give you a mobile interface as well — you can play the top games right on your Android device. Most of our gambling friends are just as busy as we are, so getting in time with your favorite games on the go is pretty important now.

Live casino action is a big theme at 888, and they make sure that they bring in live dealers. That adds a completely new dimension to the casino itself. It really is like going to a big time casino offline, without having to leave your home. If you’re looking for the ability to win big, you have to make sure that you check out the live casino at least once.

Bonuses are rampant for 888 Casino. You really can’t go too far without running into some good bonus codes for this casino. They reward you for depositing big money, and there’s always some sort of jackpot or big sweepstakes going on.

If you’re going to play slots, this is one of the best casinos to do so at. You have Monopoly Slots, the Incredible Hulk, Millionaire Genie, Fantastic Four, and even Spiderman Slots.

Need bigger payouts? Ultimate Grill Thrills is also available here. You can play slots for a long time at 888 because of the low minimum bets — as long as you have 1p in your account; you can place a good spin. You just never know if you’re going to get lucky.

What about the idea of community? Every big time gambler that’s been enjoying this hobby for a while knows all about 888 Casino. You never know when you’ll see a friend of yours playing poker or hanging out at the blackjack table. With real live action, you never know who is going to say what.

Is this the right casino for you? We think so — it’s got a little bit of something for everyone. Support is top notch and the casino as a whole audits the games frequently to make sure that everything is still considered safe and fair.

Why not check it out today for yourself?

PartyPoker Review

By Martin

With a name like PartyPoker, it has to be good, right? Well, one thing is for certain: it’s definitely all about poker! If you’ve been looking for another poker room to check out, Party Poker is definitely for you. One thing this casino prides itself on is fast payments — there’s been a lot of talk in the general casino community about getting your payments on time and quick. Party Poker has stepped up to the challenge, and so far the reviews have been pretty good.

So, why skip your current poker room and check out Party Poker?

Well, Party Poker is a pretty big deal — they sponsor a lot of different events in sports and gambling, including the German Masters of Snooker, the World Grand Prix of Darts, and the Mosconi Cup. So while they’re not always about poker, they definitely have made their mark there as well.

They have a sponsorship program that is still pretty awesome. Currently, they sponsor: Tony G, Kara Scott, Mike Sexton, Tomeu Gomila, and Marvin Rettenmaier.

They actively hold promotions where regular players can win a Team PartyPoker sponsorship package as well — which would be pretty cool!

But let’s get back to the poker play, shall we?

If you’re a huge fan of tournaments, you’ll find plenty of different tournaments running at all times of the day. There is a focus on European time, so keep that in mind in case you’re somewhere else in the world.

There is Sit & Go Single-Table, plenty of multi-table tournaments, shootouts, and heads up. As you can see, there’s a lot of action here. You can pretty much play any tournament you want and the rules are also listed for each and every one.

As with any other poker parlor, you can pick up some bonuses pretty easily. There’s nothing stopping you from making sure that you definitely have every advantage possible when it comes to playing — including being able to pocket a little more into your bankroll! Since bonuses and promotions are always subject to change, it’s never a bad idea to make sure that you check into PartyPoker yourself, when you’re ready to get started. That’s the best way to get the freshest information.

From here, the world is yours. If you want to grow your poker game, switching it up and playing against a wide variety of people is definitely the way to go — good luck!

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