February 12th, 2010
Pokerstars is the top place to play online poker, so if you have not yet opened an account there, it is not too late.
You may have heard this somewhere else, that pokerstars is number one. But is it true, and by what measure? Like all number ones, it depend on what measure you use, and as far as traffic is concerned, Stars is the uncontested number one, with a big lead over the number two, Full Tilt Poker.
And all other poker rooms are left in the dust, far behind. But nothing is static and the rankings can change fast in online gambling. So beyond the fact that pokerstars in number one for traffic, are they also number one by other measures?
Pokerstars is easily the largest and most popular online poker room on the globe. If you are looking for a reason to sign up at pokerstars, this is already in itself a great reason. More traffic means more poker variations and tournament formats available, more ring game table and stakes with action to choose from, more lucrative promotions dues to their bigger budget. More frequent and larger freerools, less waiting times at practically any poker activity you are interested in.
Some of the best pros in the world have chosen to sponsor Pokerstars, such as Daniel Negreanu and Vanessa Rousso. This is a sign of quality as these people are among the best poker players in the world, and they would not tarnish their reputation by joining a room they do not trust and enjoy playing at.
An added advantage of having all these poker pros is that it improves the overall quality of the games, and this is certainly a feature that will help you improve your poker skills. As the large buy in tournaments and the highest stakes ring games are where these pros operate, the amateurs who confront them learn from them and this knowledge somehow flows to the lower limit levels.
So if you do not have an account at stars, now is the time to get one.
Tags: Daniel Negreanu, number one poker room, poker pros, poker tournaments, poker traffic, pokerstars, Vanessa Rousso
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February 3rd, 2010
It is now been a few months since I started to test a robot poker player that is currently available for purchase on the market.
I bought it just by curiosity. I have a good training in computer science so this is the type of product I love to play with (I am a borderline geek let us be honest). Since the robot can play poker by itself and the coding can be modified through an open source programming language (available). There is a default setup with the program, or you can also tweak it in details when you buy.
I do not care too much about the results, but the facts are there: my initial deposit of 150 dollars at pokerstars has increased to 260 dollars in a few hours without any human intervention other than sitting at the tables and starting the robot. This 110 dollars gain includes the profit from playing at the tables plus part of a bonus conversion, but no rakeback (as pokerstars does not offer rakeback but the initial deposit bonus is quite easy to grind).
The robot plays without emotions obviously, which is one of its main advantages beyond the fact that it is programmed to always make the optimal decision. It applies strictly to the letter my own playing style at no-limit Texas Hold’em, bluffing, semi-bluffing, blocking bets, etc. None of that was omitted in his design. It is always content to apply its algorithm, without ever asking any question or getting upset when getting a bad beat from a lucky player.
Is it a big risk to use such a bot? Lol, I don’t think so: He goes to bed without getting angry after to a bad beat, he continues to play without getting annoyed, he never tilts. The advantage is that I can run two or three tables at once and let it run while I do other things, a great way to convert bonuses and to collect rakeback potentially.
Of course, the test period is still too short to make any conclusion, but the actual result is quite satisfactory: it is a true pleasure to program this robot, to adapt it to my profile as a player, watch him play and make corrections and improvements.
Tags: bots, poker bots, poker cheating, poker coding, poker programming, poker robot, texas Hold'em
Posted in online poker | No Comments »
January 28th, 2010
This is the aspiration of many young men and women: to become an online poker pro.
Some work ten hours a day … or week. Some make income that CEOs would envy. With the explosion of the game of poker online, they are now hundreds of online poker pros who make a living from poker.
Often they make the move to pro when they start to realize that they can make more money in online poker than from their regular job. And if their job is a pain, the choice is even easier. Multi-tabling is a common practice where that play from 4 to 24 tables simultaneously, just to maximize their gains.
The ideal that such players seek to achieve is to get sponsorship by an online poker room. Recently Tom “durrrr” Dwan joined the prestigious Team Full Tilt Poker in a contract valued at about 2 million a year. As Full Tilt pays travel and registration fees for all major international tournaments. And Tom Dwan does not pay rake, which equates hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings every year as he plays in the ultra high stakes.
To last in this business, you must be good at cards and in your head too.
Having a job where you earn a good living and where you have total freedom is a great plus. No boss, a lot of travel to the Bahamas, Australia, Monte Carlo, etc . Nothing to complain about.
It is estimated that about 10% of poker players earn money from the game, but only 1% of them manage to live very well from it. Many smaller grinders only succeed in making a smaller income that just pays the bills. And they play ten hours a day. It is a question of style and stake level.
Being a poker pro is having a great freedom and earning lots of money only to the best of them. But there are also a lot of instability. Players do not know at the end of the month how much they will win or if they will win. To last in this business you must be good cards, but most importantly have a strong head. Because poker is a game of strategy and psychology, where luck plays an important role in the short term.
Tags: grinder, poker pro, Tom Dwan
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January 4th, 2010
Hello chip shuffling friend.
This is my blog about everything related to online gambling. Yes I know I could have chosen another name for this blog, as online one cannot shuffle chips. The chips are virtual chips and not physical objects like in a brick and mortar casino. But this is a figure of speech.
Chip shuffling is a way to relax our body while preparing our next bet, and you can do that also online. So what games are we talking about here? Any game involving chips, i.e. poker, blackjack, roulette, baccarat, etc. The list of available games at online gambling venues is long and getting longer, so each individual type of game will be covered in the posts of this blog looking forward.
The focus of this gambling blog nevertheless will be card games as this is what I like the most. Poker in particular, and you will read interesting stories about the different poker variations such as Texas Hold’em poker, Pot-Limit Omaha, 5-card Stud, Triple Draw, HORSE and other mixed games, Caribbean Stud, Chinese poker and many more.
Other card games I do not know as well so there will be some sort of learning curve by given my deep knowledge of the game of poker, this should not be an issue. Blackjack promise to be a very hot topic and I will cover card counting systems, trying to uncover if there exist any profitable systems to play online blackjack.
Anyway thanks for reading and please subscribe to the rss feed in order to get live updates.
Tags: card games, online casino, online gambling
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »