Probably one of the coolest things about poker is pulling off a monster bluff.

Misrepresenting your poker hand is not as easy as everyone thinks.  You have to set it up, fold a few times to make them believe that you are tight player and then you suck them in with your betting.  Sounds easy doesn’t it?  But I wouldn’t recommend it to beginners, just play tight and conservative poker if you are new to the game.  Learning how to misrepresent your poker hand takes subtle poker skills that you only learn over time.

You have to pay close attention to what cards are on the board and what potential hands your opponent might think that you have.  If there is no ways that you could have a strong hand, don’t pretend that you do have one.  The good poker players would have worked out all the permutations already.

The good players will spot a bluff a mile away, with the way that you have played hands before, the amount that you bet, the speed with which you bet and the subtle tell tale signs that you give away…

Exercise caution when you want to misrepresent your hand, when playing poker.  Get it wrong and it will cost you.

“Mike is Stud poker losing popularity?  Everywhere I go all I see is Texas Holdem or Omaha.”

I know that you see a lot of Texas Holdem poker and Omaha, on television and the internet, sometimes it seems that the other kinds of poker have been forgotten about.  But that’s not the case, people still enjoy playing Stud poker and I don’t think the popularity of Stud poker is decreasing.

Online poker sites are mostly offering Texas Holdem and you can learn to play poker by playing free holdem online.  A lot of people start off playing poker and learning Holdem, then they progress on to Stud poker and the other types of poker.  People always want to learn something new and progress onto other forms of the game.

So dont worry, I think that stud poker is alive and well and will be around for a while to come.  Nothing to lose sleep over!

Poker Connection is a worldwide online gambling directory.  I was impressed by the choice of poker rooms and online casinos that they had to offer, I mean we are talking of 6 pages of poker rooms to choose from here.  When you have had enough of where you are playing there is a whole lot of poker rooms and online casinos to choose.  You could play poker at a different site every week!

Its also a good way to make use of all their poker bonus offers, you have such a huge choice to choose from.  If you go the Affiliates section then that will open up a whole other avenue of poker and casino related sites.

There are poker articles, information on tournaments, poker and gambling news and a poker connection blog to interact with other poker players.  All offered in a choice of 10 different languages, so they certainly do offer a worldwide online gambling directory.

Poker Connection also offers a sports betting section for those that like to take a gamble on sports.  Once again there are 6 pages of online betting sites to choose from – just in case you want to try more than one!

A comprehensive online shopping directory for poker books and all sorts of things that you may want to buy online.  I found Poker Connection to have an incredible choice for gambling related and  poker sites – its well worth a visit.

Now I have seen some real class poker tables offered by Seven Game Tables, which are worth investigating.  There is nothing like playing poker at a genuine hardwood and leather poker table – it adds a touch of real class!

Poker Tables, Game Tables And Card Tables By Sevengametables.com.  They offer premium quality poker tables, game tables, card tables, bridge tables and Texas Holdem tables with distressed hardwood finishes and leather playing surfaces.

Fine dining conversion tabletops, leather club chairs and poker accessories are also available.

This should help you get ahead of the Jones’s!  Nothing like the feel and smell of real leather, or the quality look of real hardwood to create a bit of envy.  “Oh I say, is that mahogany old boy?”…  “No its walnut actually…”

“How did you know I didn’t have three queens?” asked Dave, he got really upset on the weekend because I read his bluff.  He got sucked in and kept trying to keep it going… cost him most of his chip stack!

“Because I saw the queens in the upcards that were folded and I counted them…”, was my calm reply… which irked him even more and started a twitch going in his eye…

“Damn” was all I heard amongst the muttering!  What I think he said I cant really write here…

Learn this poker lesson.  In stud poker remember the upturned cards in the folded hands, because they reduce the odds!!  You take them out of play.

Sorry Dave… maybe next time heh?

Not sure if Dave will want to play stud poker again…

Wow mention the word stimulation and it gets everyone commenting!  Maybe I am in the wrong business… need to think about this one a bit…

Trying to manage my three poker sites is taking more and more of my time.  What started out as a hobby and more of a part time thing is now growing into a full time job.  Maybe it is time to consider a business that has better returns for the amount of time spent… hmmm let me see now… just joking, poker is my passion I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.

I usually play catch up on the weekend.  I get loads of emails each day and whilst I was going through them on the weekend, I get this one titled,” We want to be your one stop shop for all your poker needs”, so I’m thinking yeah yeah… you and everybody else.

Actually now that I come to think of it… for my new business in stimulus, that could be quite a catchy phrase… all I need to change is the poker word…  Come now Mike stop day dreaming!

Anyway when I look at the email more closely, it is a company offering poker chip sets and they look pretty neat.  I have a nice set of chips at home but what I need to take a look at is some poker chip cases, mine is a bit weather beaten and it may be time to replace it.  What’s that website name might take a closer look.

Now as I was saying on my other blog, I met up with Patrick on the weekend.  Patrick is quite a competitive kinda guy, I might just have a look at their folding poker tables so that I can get one better than Pat!

Call me stupid, but I just don’t get it.

How is the Obama economic stimulation package supposed to work?  Can anyone explain it to me?

So far this is what I can make of it… the government, who is already in debt up to their eyeballs… spends loads of money to create jobs and to stimulate the economy… is that right?

But what I don’t get, is how does spending more money and getting further into debt, help the overall economic situation?  Now I know that I am just a simple poker player and not even close to being an economics expert.  But if I applied this economic stimulation principle to a small business or to a family or even to a small city, I still don’t see how spending ton loads of money would help get the small entity out of a slump.

So why doesn’t this apply to the US government?  Or do our esteemed leaders think that it doesn’t matter if the US gets into so much debt that it would take generations to pay off.  Or am I just one of those old fashioned folk that can’t relate to high levels of debt and that doesn’t like being in debt?

In my humble opinion I think that the economic stimulation package is a political ploy to stimulate popularity and to buy votes.  It is part of the consume more now and worry about the consequences later…

If I was running a business that suddenly got into financial trouble – I would analyze all the expenses and immediately reduce any unnecessary spending that is not directly linked to income contribution and profits.  I would dedicate a lot of resource to innovation and to creatively improving sales and income.

If it was my family we would look at what we can afford and consume less!

But no… we are expected to spend more… just doesn’t make common sense to me.  I can’t see a way out with the current plan.

Please can someone explain to me how it is supposed to work.

Tom “Durrrr” Dwan’s challenge to the poker world, well actually to a few of the top players, because he is hardly about to just challenge any old Joe, has really got everyone talking.

And thats exactly what he wants – publicity, publicity and more publicity.  Just imagine all the railbirding that will take place with Ivey vs Durrrr, four tables at once, 50,000 hands of poker – its a railbird’s dream come true.

By putting up such a large some of money and openly challenging some of the top players in the world, he has brought attention to online poker.  And thats exactly what online poker wants and needs – more attention! … actually as much attention as possible… to help spread poker, to bring new players and more money into the game.

What do you think about the Durrrr Challenge?  Who do you think will be the ultimate poker champion?

Tom “Durrrr” Dwan’s advantage is that he plays a lot of online poker and will be able to cope really well with the multi table competition.  Durrrr has great stamina and I wonder if some of the other players can stand up to playing so much poker online, day after day.

There are definitely better poker players than Durrrr, but he has been clever at evening the odds against his opposition.

So who do you think will take the title?  Will it be Durrrr himself….maybe the great Phil Ivey, or the Knockout Finn, Patrik Antonius…. perhaps David Benyamine?

I have no idea… the odds are so even… which will make it a great competition.  My money is most likely on an outsider being the ultimate winner.  But I am still not really sure, I might just not put any money on this one and rather enjoy watching the poker!

Rob Wheeler has joined Virtue Fusion as their Sales Manager.  Rob has 18 years of experience in sales and marketing within the gambling industry.  He has worked for some of the top online casino and gambling brands in the industry – such as Ladbrokes, WagerWorks and Gala Coral.  With so much experience and an excellent knowledge of business to business sales, this move will no doubt boost Virtue Fusion’s success.

For those of you that don’t know about Virtue Fusion.  They are one of the world’s largest online Bingo software providers.  Virtue Fusion is based in the UK and although they specialize in online Bingo, they also offer networked games such as slots and scratch cards.  Online Bingo has become very popular and has incredible growth, not only in the UK but also worldwide.

Apart from online Bingo, Virtue Fusion have developed some other funky games that are worth taking a look at.  They have a number of the big online poker and casino licensees as they clients, with this solid base they are well set to target other markets.

This is a company to watch for the future!

Need I say it – Poker is becoming one of the most popular games played on the web.  It is incredible how the game has taken-off over the past 15 years.  The game attracts millions of players to online gambling sites and poker tournaments, ranging from new comers to professionals.  The many variations of poker have specific rules for each game.  However, there are some universal strategies that all poker players should take into consideration, if you want to make your game better and win.

First off – Know your Game – Read as much as possible about poker through websites, books or any other source of information.  Knowledge is power indeed and you will never know everything about poker, know matter how good you think you are.  There are also continual changes in the online gambling industry and it would be wise to keep yourself informed as much as you can.

Never feel shy to ask advice from those players who are better than you.  Remember, no-one was born knowing how to play the game of poker, we all had to learn somehow. We all needed a poker guide.

Then, practice, practice, and practice.  Once you have enough theoretical knowledge, it is time to apply it to real poker games.  The best (and also cheapest) way to do this is to download free poker software from the web and practice until you acquire enough confidence in your poker game and until you polish your skills.  When you feel that it is the right time, then start gambling for real money.

Improve your math skills – playing the game of poker, you should know about probabilities or odds, the importance of outs and the way to calculate the pot odds.  If your mathematical skills are terrible, you risk playing a weaker game.  Refresh tour math and practice your odds until you feel that your math skill is good enough to play for real money.

Learn to be disciplined – In the end discipline is the thing that separates winners from losers!  A disciplined poker player is aware of how much cash he/she has to spend as well as how long every gambling session will continue.  Not only this – the disciplined poker player will stick to these decisions.  Such a player will know when to finish playing – straightway when on a “tilt” and a bit later when all is going well.

Develop your psychological skills. To make your poker game better, you should learn to understand what the other players around the table are doing and thinking.  You should be asking yourself, “What hand does my opponent have” and “What kind of a hand does the opponent guess I have”.