Just last week I argued about it with a colleague of mine. He said that poker is pure luck.
So I started out giving him example after example to prove him that skill is more important than luck.
No matter what I told him he always came down to: “Yes, but you still where lucky you got the card you wanted, etc…”

So in the next week we played poker, I introduced an extra rule into the game I once saw being used on “High stakes poker” episodes. If you win with Seven Deuce (72) in your hand and show them, you get extra chips from every player at the table. But I didn’t tell him that this rule would prove to him that skill is more important than luck.

So we started playing hand after hand, nobody got the Seven Deuce hand. Then I saw a big raise pre-flop and immediately started thinking could he playing the Seven Deuce or does he have a big pair?
My hand was bas so I folded. The ‘luck’ guy called with a KJ suited. With a rainbow A49 flop, his king wasn’t good anymore. The other guy made a big raise and he folded his KJ. The guy who won the pot laughed and showed his Seven Deuce, cashing in some extra chips from every one of us and making my point clear. But I kept quiet, it wasn’t time yet to prove he’s wrong.

A few hands later another guy again won with Seven Deuce, not against him, but he did manage to bluff his hand.
The next day another 2 guys won with Seven Deuce. I just wanted to beat him myself with that hand and still said nothing.
The last day of the week, I finally got the Seven Deuce hand and faced myself playing him and another guy. So One of them had to go before the Turn-card. With AK2 on the flop and me on the button I raised big to get one of my opponents out of the game and letting them think I have an Ace or a king.
Success, me against the guy who believes poker is just pure luck. With another K on the turn, he made a small raise. I kept my cool, looked at him and didn’t put him on an Ace or a King. So I went All-in to try and bluff him out. He hesitated and started think the hand over, I raised pre-flop, I raised after the flop and I raised again after the turn. He looked at me and folded, showing his pocket jacks.

Before I showed him my hand, I asked him, “Hey, remember our little discussion about poker being luck or skill from last week?” He knotted his head and told me: “yes I sure do, why?”
“Well…” I said, “The hand I’m going to show you right now, proves which is why playing poker is clearly a game of skill!” putting my Seven Deuce on the table.
I also explained that by introducing that Seven Deuce rule, I could prove that no matter what you’re holding in your hand, you could bluff everybody out of the game. It’s just a mind switch you’ll have to make and don’t hope that your card will fall on the river.

You tell me, what do you believe, Skill or Luck?

And they’re celebrating it with you. They’re organizing great value tournaments and tons of exiting cash games. 

F40 Milestone hands

Poker players dealt in every millionth hand will win a cash prize of $40 for every VPP they earned in the previous 40 hands played on that table. Every player that’s dealt in will be awarded a VPP and the winner of the hand will get their cash prize doubled.
Example: Play at a $1/$2 table and get dealt into a milestone hand. Pokerstars calculates that you have earned 31VPPs in the last 40 hands + the extra VPP = 32 VPPs. This means 32x$40 = $1280!!! If you win the hand it will be doubled to $2560!!!
And to top it off, at the time the 40th Billion hand will be dealt, all players will be awarded $400 for every VPP earned in the previous 40 hands.
Example: 32VPP x $400 = $12800. Win the hand and earn a whopping $25600!!!!

Multi-Table tournaments (MTTs)

F40:Sunday Million $4.000.000 guaranteed on February 21st, the biggest prize pool EVER, with at least $1.000.000 for the winner!! Buy-in $215
F40: $40 Micro Million $1,000,000 guaranteed tournament

A special F40 tournament takes place at 14:30 ET on Sunday, February 14. For a buy-in of just $40 you can play for your share of a guaranteed $1,000,000 prize pool.

F40: 40 FPP - $40,000 Specials

You can also play in a series of special F40 FPP tournaments. Each has a buy-in of only 40 FPPs and a prize pool of $40,000. Start times will alternate between 13:40 ET & 21:40 ET each day.
To register for the Sunday Million or any of the other F40 tournaments, open the PokerStars lobby, click ‘Tourney’ & ‘Special’.

Sit & Go’s

F40: Super Sit & Go tournaments

A series of 40-man Super Sit & Go torunaments will be helt 24/7 from February 14 till February 21.

F40: First Depositor Freerolls

Every player whit a first real money deposit on Pokerstars using the code F40 will be awarded a ticket to all 40 of Pokerstars free-to-enter tournaments with a $1000 prize pool.

But still very calm I pushed myself right into the top 50 before the first break was there. The ‘key hand’ that changed everything for me in the tournament was at the time I had 7800 chips and called an all in against AKs with my (again) pocket Queens. He didn’t pair his Ace or king and I even made a set on the river. Suddenly I was in the top 100 and climbing higher and higher in the ranking.

After the first break, there were still plenty of other bloggers left playing before we reached the 153 paying places. My game was one of the best since a long while, so I was very pleased and nothing could touch me. Before heading into the 2nd break I had placed myself into the top 10 and more importantly, I was playing the table.
After winning 3 hands in a row, with KK, AK and 37s (on the Big Blind), they seemed to be a bit afraid of me. The 3 7 hand was of course very lucky as I only had to check to see the flop. And what a bad flop for my opponent, 4 3 9. He must have had an Ace or something high to make a call pre-flop. So I made a bet, the size of 2 times the BB, he called. The turn was a 2, so again a bad card for him I was thinking. But He’d called my ‘bluff’ on the flop, so I checked this time, not wanting to lose more chips. When checked also and the river made me a 2nd pair with a 7, I checked, hoping he would make a bet. And he did . He committed half his stack to the pot in the hope to scare me off, but hell no I would fold 2 pair how this hand was played. I raised him all in, hoping he would see it as a bluff. He called and mucked his cards while searching for the exit.

From then on, every time I called or re-raised, most of them folded and most of the time only the BB called me, trying to protect their BB. Example, sitting in late position, I re-raised pre-flop “ times the BB with only holding 2 9o in my hands. Only the BB called my bluff and with a AKJ flop, I was very scared he could have paired. But on the other hand, the way he played the hands before I was 99% sure he had nothing and completely missed the flop, just as I did. So I played my position and made a small bet. He re-raised me and now I was actually really scared, but something told me he was bluffing me. I could lose ½ my stack to him if I raised him all in, but because I felt strong, I re-raised him to an all in. He took whole his Time Bank seconds to think over what to do, but at the end he folded his cards, leaving me with a monster pot. I climbed up to the 3rd place with still more than 370 players left.

After the 2nd break I got really tired, it was already 1AM where I’m living and I guessed it would take at least another hour to get into the money places.
I made a deal with myself to stop playing at 1:30AM as I had to work also a few hours later and was desperate for some sleep.
So at 1:30AM with 250 players left, I clicked the ‘Sit Out next hand’ checkbox and went to bed.
I was very excited to see where I finished at the time I got up, so before everything else I checked my Pokerstars account to see the result.
I was surprised to see I finished on the 54th place, winning me a $16,5 SCOOP ticket.
On the other hand I was wondering what if I played out the whole tournament? The poker I was playing was very good and I was pretty sure I could reach the final table. But also 1 mistake could cost me the tournament before even reaching the paid places.

Conclusion, sitting out paid off this time. It wasn’t fun for me to do it, especially because I was standing 3rd at that time, but it had to be done.

Now up to the next WBCOOP event.
Did you play?

The $50 mark was passed in May 2009 and I hoped to double up in 2 months’ time. I guess I was wrong . It took me much longer than expected, but I had some other businesses to do that were a bit more important than playing poker unfortunately. But even then I didn’t reached the double up in 2 months.

What made it so hard this time was that I played more at cash tables and with that losing more. When playing freerolls, you don’t lose anything, you can only win. In cash games you better be sure you cash out at least the amount you spend to enter. And that’s a lesson I’ve learned to many times the last couple of months.
A couple of months back, I started playing more and more cash games and at first everything went really well. I had the $100 mark in sight with just a couple of cents left. But then in a $0,05/$0,10 cash game I got pocket jacks and lost to a set of 4’s on the river, losing $4 in one game.
It was the starter of a bad streak. The day after I lost a bit more than a dollar in 5 different cash games. The week after I only made profit in 30% of the cash games I played, but never enough to cover the losses.
I decided that it was time to stop playing for a while. I kept calling that it was bad luck etc… But never how I played. And that’s where the problem was. I was to confident and started bluffing the wrong way. Ok, sometimes it sure was bad luck and I definitely had some bad beats, but I was playing BAD, no doubt about that.
For a month I didn’t play at all, it was just what I needed, a little time of. (Hear me, sounding like a pro).
After that time-off I started playing safe and entered in the freerolls. And since then I’m also playing much better. It isn’t the fast money you would be expecting, but I was getting closer and closer to my goal.
Yesterday, with about $2 to go I played a $1000 and $5000 freeroll on PokerStars. In the $1000 freeroll, I won 0,85 cents and in the other I won $0,45 cents. So only about 50 cent left. And I was eager to pass that until now magical $100 marker the same day.

In a cash game on Full Tilt, I entered a $0,05/$0,10 cash game hoping to score the left cash. I waited for the big blind to really start playing, which gave me time to observe what I’m up to. With 4 games played I already won 20 cents. At the time I got AK suited (clubs) and in middle position, I raised 3x the BB to see only 1 player calling me. Flop was beautiful, although not pairing me, 9JQ with 2 clubs. I had a straight draw and a flush draw. My opponent checked and I made a 40 cent bet to get called again. If he paired, I needed a good card quick or I have to fold the hand. Luckily another spade (5) came on the turn, giving me the nuts. I could quietly sit back and figure out how many I would bet, not making him fold. He checked (as expected), I made a 20 cent bet, not too much to scare him, just enough to lure him into the trap. He called and when the river draws a 10 of hearts he made a 40 cent bet. I figured he made a straight now and I started thinking what amount of cash would make him fold or should I take the risk of re-raising and hope he would re-raise again? I could go all-in, but he definitely would fold then. So I took the bet and just re-raised him. He quickly went all-in to scare me. I called his all-in immediately. I won the hand and reached my goal!!!

Hopefully the next double up, to $200 will not take this long again

It’s time for all poker-playing bloggers to put down the keyboard and mouse and get ready for action, because the annual PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker (WBCOOP) is back once again. This time round the seven-day event includes six preliminary tournaments, running January 25-30, 2010. The action culminates with the Main Event on January 31, and you can register for all of the events now. What’s more, the WBCOOP is completely free-to-enter for all verified bloggers.

Every year the WBCOOP gives bloggers from all over the world the chance to play tournament poker for great prizes. It’s the perfect way to challenge other poker writers, and compete to prove that you are the best in the business. This year you can win seats to the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP)*, plus SCOOP Steps satellite tickets. We’ll also be awarding spot prizes during the event for the best live blogs and Twitter posts.

So if you have a blog that’s older than 2 months and regulary updated, you can join th eaction and try to win your seat. I’m alreasy registered, hope to see you there!

Hands I play in every position
Pocket pair: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 1010, 99
Suited cards: AK, AQ, AJ, A10, KQ, KJ, K10, QJ, Q10, J10
Unsuited: AK, AQ, AJ, KQ
With these hands, you should raise whenever you’re n middle or late position. If on the blinds, only raise whenever you’ll have a pocket pair or suited AK or AQ. Remember, you’re first to bet in the next draw so a weak hand isn’t good to bet on the blind.

Middle position
Pocket pairs: 88, 77, 66
Suited: A9 to A6, K9, Q9, J9, J8
Unsuited: A10, K10, QJ, Q10, J10

When you’re holding these cards, you have gained a little info about your opponents in front of you and depending on what they’re doing, you could call or raise. Remember there are still people behind you on the table and most of the times you still need to hit a card to win the hand. So don’t bet to much unless you have a good feeling about the table.

Late postion

Pocket pairs: 55 to 22
Suited: A5 to A2, K8 to K2, J7, 107, 98, 97, 87, 86, 76, 75, 65, 54
Unsuited: A9, A8, A3, A2, K9, Q9, J9, J8, 109, 108, 98, 97, 87

These hands aren’t hands to raise, just call to get to see the flop for as cheap as possible. Maybe you’ll hit a monster.
Also if a player in front of you raises big before the flop, throw your hands away, only call small raises.

Other hands
The hands I didn’t mentioned are practically unplayable, you should only play them on the blinds and hope you’ll flop a monster that will turn the tables in your favor.

What makes him so feared? Is it that he reads hands like the best? Or that you can’t put a tell on him? Or the way he rolls his eyes searching for information on the table?
Probably it’s this combination that makes him the most feared player in the world and he has a record to prove it.

In the WSOP he made 35 money finishes so far and won 7 Bracelets. He’s also the youngest player ever to win 7 bracelets.
In this year’s WSOP Main Event, he played one of his best Poker ever and earned himself a place in the November Nine where he finished 7th, earning $1,404,014.
Besides the WSOP tournaments he also plays games in the WPT and EPT which made him a stunning $12,000,000 so far.
Makes me wonder what his winnings are with regular cash games?

A special hand I recall that shows Phil Ivey is also human like the rest of us, is a play during this year’s WSOP main event where he’s folding a winning hand.
He’s holding pocket 8’s and after the river card was drawn he made a flush. Smith (his opponent) checked as did Phil Ivey. Smith showed his pair of Aces that he made on the river.
But Phil Ivey who always tries to look at his cards only once and very quick, made a mistake. He probably was thinking he had the 8 of diamonds and of clubs. Instead he had had the 8 of spades and a Flush on the river. After he saw Smith’s Ace, he mucked his cards without even looking at them again. (See video for the play).

Whenever I see Phil Ivey play, I try to learn how he’s playing, what hands he plays and how he’s playing them. If anybody can teach you to play poker it’s Phil Ivey.
You can also learn from him if you follow the lessons on Full Tilt

Cada self is a young professional poker player who quit school to play pro. His parents were against his decision, but after they saw how good their son was at it, they came back on their decision and gave him their full support.
Cada made the good choice and is living the dream.

To end up the post, the full result of the final table.
1 $ 8,547,042 Joe Cada
2 $ 5,182,928 Darvin Moon
3 $ 3,479,670 Antoine Saout
4 $ 2,502,890 Eric Buchman
5 $ 1,953,452 Jeff Shulman
6 $ 1,587,160 Steven Begleiter
7 $ 1,404,014 Phil Ivey
8 $ 1,300,231 Kevin Schaffel
9 $ 1,263,602 James Akenhead

Congratulations Joe!!!

A series of heads-up matches to win $25.000 against team pokerstars pro’s and celebrity poker players. Daniel Negreanu will be there to coach you and help you beating them all.
After this you can take home the $25k or go for a guaranteed $100.000 and a shot to the $1.000.000 main prize if you beat Daniel Negreanu.

Don’t have the pokerstars software installed? No problem, you can download it right here.

Good luck!!!

In the time I started playing poker, I did experiment with cash games before, but overall it didn’t go well. I still was too much focused on playing tournaments.
A big mistake I made was that I didn’t make a bet or a raise when it was needed. For example, I’m holding pocket 8’s and the flop was Q J 8. Instead of making a bet here I just checked hoping somebody would make a bet so I could re-raise. But nobody did just that, so they all got a free run to the next card, a King. Not a good flop for me, with 4 other players in the game. Someone certainly has an Ace and will make a straight if the 10 flops. Or one has a 10 or 9 and also will make a straight if their needed card hits. So in a desperate attempt scaring them of I made a bet, 4 times the big blind. 2 players called and I could only hope the board will pair or no Ace or 10 will show up. And as expected a 10 was drawn on the river And I got forced to fold my set when the first player made a bet and was re-raised by the other player. They both had the straight to the Ace.
Ok, I made a very good laydown here, but it wasn’t hard at all to fold it as it was pretty obvious I was beaten. If I only made a good bet after the flop, maybe they folded already then?

I can name a few other hands like this that I played wrong in a cash game that would not harm me that much in a tournament. When playing in a tournament, you can make up for this loss, but in a cash game it’s actually real money that I was losing and we don’t like that do we?

So after a few misplayed games I decided to focus myself back on tournaments to get my bankroll up.
And although it took some time, I can say I did pretty good so far.
When I started out in February with $0 it took me a couple of games to win my first money. $2 to be exactly. A freeroll on Full Tilt set me on my way to success  
5 days later I again ended up in the money and with a few cash games in between I Managed to end the month with $4,73 on my bankroll.
March was awesome, I made it to my first Final Table, but got a bit too excited and tried to win the pot with deuce seven This immediately ended my final table experience.
Not too worried about that, the day after I made it to the Final table a 2nd time. This time I ended on the 4th place.
10 days later I did exactly the same, finished 4th again.

In April I started out playing on PokerStars also where I won my biggest tournament cash so far, $24 in a $500 freeroll. But this money was needed to deal with the losses I made in cash games. With a few other good tournament results, I almost made it to the $50 that month.
May was the best month so far with 13 money finishes in freeroll tournaments. I got my first real top 3 finish when I ended 2nd and on the last day of the month I won my first tournament with AK.
In June I took a well deserved holiday near Venice, Italy so I didn’t play that much. In July and August I enjoyed the nice weather here in Belgium so I didn’t play much. And in September I started out playing freeroll tournaments on Pokerstars where the Pokerchamp of Flanders will be decided. Closest I got in the weekly final was a 7th place, just 2 places away from advancing to the live regional finals. But I did manage to qualify myself 4 weeks in a row for the weekly final.

So with the bit more experience I gained in the last couple of months, I tried to play some cash games again and so far with good results. Biggest win I had was in a $0,02/$0,05 cash game where I bought myself in for $2 and cashed out with $3,9. Best win was when my KK won over QQ and 66.
In the few cash games I played now, I certainly can see that my game evolved compared to how I was playing before in cash games.
So the plan for the next month is to play more cash games and less freeroll tournaments.
Now let’s play some poker!!!