Kiwi's Can Play Poker

Blogger Poker Tour S2 Game 5

2006-11-18T14:25:00.000-05:00

It was a packed house with 116 people sitting around the smokey tables in the "House Of Blues" Tourney, hosted by Skinski, (our Target for the Day)... we were induced into the laid back style of poker "Blues Style".

Shorthanded Poker..

At my table was
Seat 1 Bardiya
2 tomonbass
3 cazwil
4 myself
5 Wade79
6 empty seat

And sitting with the Target were..
Seat 1 astinaguy
2 skinski
3 mortguns
4 cashline
5 ATheGuruK
6 mimi2mik
and 20 other tables ready to go.

At 1500 it was Shuffle up and deal with the Final Table on all our minds.

6 hands into the tourney we already have 3 out and a clear leader with over $4k. (Crazylegs1984) and our 3 casualties are, redeyed030, CawtBluffin, and pinyo08.

Meanwhile our target skin's is up with solid hands but only in the Black by $120.

Lightening36 next to go and helped move TheBigSurprise into 2nd place with CentFootball59 just holding last with $65.

My own personal hands have been ok to start with but nothing to where I can make a larger bet to start on a stack... but lots of game to go yet.

Ok my description of the tourney is now over... AQ UTG just called in called Turn the Q and have cazwil go over the top with 2 pair sooted Q2... 2 weeks of waiting and bust out with monster hands ... out in 109th... looks like it may have to be BPT S3 b4 I have any chance of winning anything... The Blues are now playing in my house....

The link below is the final result link. Good Luck to everyone.. I am going back to get some more sleep as I had Forum Leage at 6am this morning.

http://www.poker.com/results/index.html?id=4199170-1

Moved back to the Tour to check in on the Final Table to see The Target Man still sitting there low stacked.. with iytoni and JayNYC the other remaining players.

Skin is ultra low stack and gets lucky heads up with his A5 vs A7 and K10 to AK.

The main money is going back and forward between Jay and iytoni until Jay moves all in with A7 spades and lost to iytoni's A6o.

Final 2 players Skin and iytoni.... with Skin at 48k and iytoni just over 200k.

Skin doubles up and stays alive catching the straight with his K8 vs Q9.
Totals now skinski 60k iytoni 160k.

Skin moves in with a reraise holding A5 running up against iytoni's AK. The King hits the flop and skinski is out in 2nd with iytoni recieving the win and the scalp of skinski, and skinski himself picking up 2nd place points and the host bonus...

check out the updated leaderboard at the link below... Congrats to the winners and commiseration to us losers.

http://www.bloggerpokertour.com/leaderboard.html

BPT Season 2 Event 5

2006-11-08T05:50:00.000-05:00

The House of Blues, is the Blogger Host.. go check out the site and get that password.

Here is the Link Shane put on the p.com Forum... http://forum.poker.com/showthread.php?t=9635

And a direct link to our Host... The one and Only Skinski.......
http://the-house-of-blues.blogspot.com/

So if you don't have a Blog as yet... then get your self moving and checkout the Tour it is a great time for all and you never know.... you may even win.

Good Luck everyone see you at the Tables.... Earl... watchout your mine.

My Bad

2006-11-08T05:34:00.000-05:00

I suppose that I should really have mentioned our safe arrival back in NZ...

The continuation of the Kiwi Returns Home was briefly as follows.

After Getting up and having a quick breakfast we went down to the Front desk for Timings of the Metro and Buses into Downtown LA.

After finding that the closest one was about 1 minle south of us I decided it was such a nice day with nothing but time on our hands we could walk...

Brandy deciding that she didn't like the fact that I was in control of the Directions, decided to ask a Police Officer who was finishing a report regarding an accident that occured on the road in front of the Hotel.. Before I knew what had happened. We were all bundled into the Police car and driven down to the Metro Station.

We go into Downtown Hollywood for the Typical sightseeing and have our meal and phots around the place including several hundred of the Pavement with those Stars, before we saw a big commotion across the Street in front of the New complex that was built since my last visit there a couple of years earlier.

With the Kids in tow I tried to get them across the road so that they could see the Cameras and Boom Microphones used in Television etc, and just as we were about to cross the road, they started to come to us.

Apparantly it was a series of a Fairly new show where New Bands are challenged to get passers-by to go on video with them singing their new Song and they would get points for each person who does it. So The kids and myself all agreed to do it, we wondered over the road and were promptly handed some percussion instruments to strike as the Band sang the song for the Video camera with about 36 others...

The show airs on MTV2 so keep an eye out for the Singing and Rocking Kiwi and family.

We were delayed with this filming so much that even the final 50 yards to the Manns Theatre was too much time and we had to hurry back to the Metro to get back to the Hotel to catch the Valet Service to the Airport for our trip to Auckland...

WELLLLLLLL, all did not go as planned... the metro had Mechanical problems delaying the second train we had to catch, and a little panic started to strike Brandy, I just shrugged shoulders and said oh well not much we can do now except wait. About 20mins later along came the Metro that took us all the way back without another single hitch.

Bags into Bus and off to the Airport to go back into Security Lines for Baggage checks before Ticketing, and then onto the Ticketing Counter... where I then found out we didnt have a direct flight, it was with a 2 hour layover in Tahiti, a nice place to visit with Time on your hands, AND DAYLIGHT, we arrived at 11pm local time and had to remain in the Airport... at least this airport allowed smoking... so that was a welcome and timely relief for me if nothing else.

Then onto NZ and arrival around 6am and then slight Custom Delays before being met by my brother with his medium sized car, and knowledge that we all 4 had 2 suitcases, 1 personal and 1 carry one bag each... so it was into the Airport Shuttle service and $100 later we got to his house for a well deserved relaxing 4 days until our move to Tauranga.

And her is where we are to this date...

So sorry about the delay in this.. but as the say better late then never.

Blogger Tour Event 4

2006-11-04T15:00:00.000-05:00

Saturday Nov 4th 1500.

97 players were seated and rearing to go in the Irongirls Omaha Hi, 8 seat tourney.

Players at my table:
newfie25
stuarthomegame
DamRiver
bolcs5
KiwiWiz
lifesagrind
gohabs1234
thepurdle

The players with Irongirl as their target and at their table were...
Goliath2180
SweBlackbird
skinski
Chatuba
Kugr84
biggestron
abstratto
and of course Irongirl

Even before the Blinds had been raised the first time the field had found its first casualty... z0ot64 and the leaders had also put a little distance on the rest of the field.

Enortore 2nd casualty of the tourney, and EgonOlsen rasing to a 4,320 1st place position and still the blinds havn't been raised.

Irongirl is still secure mid field only posting blinds and sitting near the starting chip count.
Just in time to see the first Blind Raise the Field loses 2 more players and Egon Moves further ahead...

My luck so far has been having KKQQ (2 suited) raising that and seeing 3 cards to another suit hit the board... Flopping a set of Ks only to lose to running straights,(and the wheel at that to make it worse). I am hoping I can at least have a strong hand hold for once, as my return back to p.com since the move back to NZ has been very bad, every dominating hand has lost and every set beaten on the river by the Fish....

Anyway back to the game....

20 hands into the tourney... The top 2 players have over 5k already and we have lost 8 from the starting field of 97.
I am well down the field in 72nd place with 1740... njust ahead of Irongirl our Target (and host of this tourney).

Over the next 10 hands, my luck didn't change raising AAK10 to see 995 hit the board, in yet again the suit I don't have covered...

10 more players out, and the spread of Chips still going to the same players.... Hi stack TOMASO2 with 6500 and low stack has a meagre 540.

Irongirl is still midfield with 1,630 in chips and I am not even sure if she is seated 35 hands dealt 1 win and lots of close but bad luck hands... I am back in 70 of 75 with 1415 in chips, meanwhile TOMASO2 has doubled his stack to over 11k..

My Table is down to 6 with thepurdle taking both the other players out and moving his stack onto 8235.

Managed to double up through flopping 2 pair from BB and having it Boat on the Turn for me.. now in 36th of 75.. Irongirl is losing her chips and is now down to 1130, 68 of 75.. I hope we break tables and I have a chance at those chips.

50th hand just dealt, TOMASO2 has again lept up in the chip count to a 2-1 lead over 2nd place thepurdle, low stack is currently Rahaboss with 540, and I am sitting in 36th with 1765. Irongirl is still holding in there with 930 after posting her BB. And we have 73 remaining.

BB raised I have am 2 suited with A10 my top cards call and see yet again.. the Other suit dominate the flop, maybe I should just throw money on anything and hope like some of the Omaha players.

The first of the table changes due to the field size has occured and I am still sitting on my and am now joined by, tomonbass and mick5453 both of which are sitting around the same chip stack as myself... TOMASO2 has joined irongirlll with his 15k in chips.

Hand 60 on my table and 52 on Irongirls... she has 630 left and just posting blinds next hand... I think, she is close to giving someone her points

Her bb she goes all in over the top of TOMASO2 and loses.... so Chip leader increases his lead and takes the Hosts scalp.

57 remaining average chip count 3403, Chip Leader 15115, low stack, 415 I am holding firm at 38th with 1390.

And on we go to the break....

Current Standings...

Chip Leader Goliath2180 , since skinski took 6k in chips off TOMASO2 on the hand before the break...

2nd skinski 10210
3rd EgonOlsen 10142

Low Stack
DaMatrix 145

I am currently in 36th position with 1390 and blinds only 2 hands away at 200/100

Still my luck is running dry... AAKQ 3 suited. Only to see KQ10H hit the flop... Im dead yet again.

The field is now down to 50 with Hi Stack astinaguy with 14255 and low stack zowieZ with 60, average stack is now 4127 and I am back in 30th with 1915.
I have not seen the positive side of the chips (2000) since the start of the game...

WQith the blinds now at 150/300 I have just about no option but to push really hard on mext bet to try and make up some ground.

88th Hand 40 left and the chip spread is $16155 to $25 and average stack @ 4850.
I am currently nestled away in 24th place.

Ok My last 5 BBS raised all in by people I make a stand with AQQ10 against higher stack... He has AA26... and calls my reraise all in.

Flop A enough for me to go out in 30th place and yet again to a marginal hand.. sure AA is good but to hit the Case Ace really hurts...

Stack amounts at the moment are.

Hi Stack 31,120 astinaguy
14,292 EgonOlsen 2nd

Low stack in 28th place crazylegs1984 with 50.

Slowly the field is reduced :
Egon has moved into 1st with 39392
while flushedhand is low stack in 16th with 2443. The average stack is 12125 with only 4 players above that

Final table time...

1st freeroll26 46607
2nd astinaguy 38072
egonOlsonn 31963
MTLdon 30930
imjusthereforthebeer
kufolem
stenenslb
Rahaboss

A little too and frowing and the final 5 are set with freeroll in 1st Egon in 2nd
and MTLdon in 5th the chip range is 84133 to 26052.

Final 3... freeroll, Egon and Imjusthereforthebeer..

Chip stacks 80k 57k 56k.. freeroll started to take control of the final 3 moving into a comanding 110k chip stack to the other stacks of 41 and 26k.

Egon out in 3rd with freeroll increasing his lead to nearly a 2 - 1 chip lead over imjusthereforthebeer.

Next handbeer raises AA and is reraised by freeroll holding Kqq... turn 5 river a 9 to complete freerolls straight and give him the win...

Congrats to freeroll, and all who played...

see ya at the next one.
Flop JTK setting freeroll up for the straight.

Off To NZ I Go

2006-10-23T01:09:00.000-04:00

Well, after hoping to have a nice Big Final shot at an MTT (Blogger Poker Tour Event 3) Yesterday, We (My wife, Brandy, and the Kids) all go ready for our big move back to NZ, to Help out Mom and Dad, with Moms illness.

We had an early start having to be at the Airport (DTE) at 4:15 to report in for our 6:15 flight from Detroit to Los Angeles. via Altanta with a 2 hour wait there..

Arriving in LA at approximately 1pm local time we had to firstly wait for nearly 40 mins for our Hotel Shuttle to arrive and then all Hell broke loose... The hotel we were booked into was a Complete and Utter Dive... It would have been lucky to get 1 star on a cloudless night.. Broken Walls, Dirty Carpets.. TV that had 1 channel only, and the list goes on....

So with Brandy making the reservations through Travel Agent Friends she was back onto the phone, and with in 1 hour we had the Ramada Courtesy Coach picking us up from the Flea Bag Hotel and delivering us here.. to a nice Hotel with Pool, AC and walls that actually looked and worked like walls...

We got the Kids fed at the Local Denny's about 200 yards down the road, and then back to the Hotel where they fell asleep nearly instantly... Due to the 3 hour time diffence... they know it is only 8 local and can't work out why they are so tired...

Tomorrow it is Up early, check baggage into Valet downstairs and then into LA to sightsee until around 2, when it is back to the Hotel and onto the Airport to check in and be ready for out 13 hour flight back to NZ....

So far so good.... 1 day down ... only 1 to go

Blogger Poker Tour Event 3

2006-10-21T14:54:00.000-04:00

Saturday, Oct 21st 1500 hours (1600 local time) Event 3 shuffled up and was dealt.

A total of 96 players entered and were ready to partake in battle once more for the Honour of Representing P.Com at the Aussie Millions Tournament in Melbourne, Aussie. (Land of the Tinny and Thong).

When all of a sudden up comes the message.... Blogger Poker Tour Event 3.. Shutdown....

hmmmm.... And I was so looking forward to winning this one..

Good Day at the Tables

2006-10-12T03:03:00.000-04:00

Well yesterday was one of my better days at the tables..

I entered 3 tourney, 2 Omaha PL, the Forum Individual and the 1k Freeroll.

After being rivered out of the 1st Omaha, I flopped a Boat and 4 callers bet before me I pushed the max bet, 1 person called, he caught his bigger boat on the river to take me out.. I then moved onto the Forum Individual MTT.

I got lucky with one hand then bust down rebuilt myself and then it happened, I hit it big calling into a raised bet with 44 against the top 2 stacks, I flop a 4 and they miss their sets for their pps AA KK, I check and let them bet moved all in with a Check raise and got called by both. I move to Hi stack and basically stay there until the end... Finished with a HU with one of my Forum Team Buddies... and took the win.

Onto the 1k, moved into 4th place early in the tourney and stayed in the top 20 basically for the first hour.. after the break, nothing, cards were colder a penguins privates in a whiteout. I managed to pick up 1 hand and made it to the next hour break..

Thinking this would be the time to start seeing cards again, but little did I know, the cards got even colder.... While all this was happening the next Omaha Tourney started.
So I was playing Omaha and the 1k at the same time. switching tables back and forth, I trippled up in Omaha to take 1st early with flopping the Nuts, and slow playing it all the way and pushing what Ihoped looked like a steal on the river when a deuce hit.... 2 players called my bet and I took them out.. Meanwhile my 1k cards remained cold for the next hour and I was starting to panic in there as I was rapidly losing all my chips to the blinds...

Back to the Omaha again to see, another good hand hold me in 1st for the next 30 mins, while the next break in the 1k was nearing I moved in with AQo and AK called I hit 2 pair on the flop pushed a large bet was raised so went all in.... He showed AK, no K hit the board and I doubled up to mid field. But still a long way to go to make any money.

The omaha moved progressively towards the final table with me moving back and forth from 1st and 5th... Until The Final table was formed I was sitting in 9th and only 5 being paid...

The 1k was on its 2nd break and I was just outside the money and realy worried...

As the players dissapeared off the final table in the OH, I didnt improve my chip count and was close to being put out in around 6th when my luck changed... 3rd stack raised , called by 4th stack and hi stack went over the top putting them all in if they called, they did and Hi stack took out 2 leaving 6 of us with the new low stack only haning 800 and blinds at 1k... my own stack was 6k.... I could breath eassier as I knew I could get money back... but I started to catch some hands and between myself and Hi stack we moved everyone off leaving me a maassive underdog with 12k to Hi stacks 48k... but I finished 2nd... so I was really happy with that result...

Now I could concentrate back on the 1k, which was now down to 40 with me sitting at 36 and only 30 paid.... the third break was coming up and still no real cards since the first 1 hour session...

Just after the 3rd break I started to catch a couple of hands that moved me up the chips a little moving into mid 20s as the bubble position was burst... Then a couple of strategic ALL INS from mid or late position let me steal some blinds (2/4k) so that I was able to move into the mid teen positons and finally into the Final Table...

Mid stacked I pushed every pp and every Good Ace, eg AJ thru I was briefly into 1st but dropped quickly when chach trippledup into the 300k chip count, I was 2nd with around 120 and 3 others around the 100...

I started to catch a couple of hands and pushed hard got into a couple of HUs and then had my Big break with blinds at 10/20k... I had posted chach raised 1xbb called by 1 other I had 55 so called.. flop was 3 4 6.. I moved all in with my remaining chips, they folded I showed to let them see I had pair and also drawfor straight... and not straight bluff or steal (I do this occasionally so that I can bluff or steal later.. one of my techniques) They both missed their flops and had AK AJ I moved into the 240k and 1st again...

Down to final 4, Chach pused a raise on my bb again I reraised all in with a pp he called and missed his AJ while my 88 stood up... I had 500k 2nd had 240 and low stack 110 approximately.... low stack took out mid leaving the 2 of us close and I just got lucky with a couple of hands... pushing hard with my 2face valued cards hard and just 2x raising my single cards from K up... until I was dominating in chips approx 700k to 100k....

I had K2 in sb raised to 80k low stack pushed all in... I thought about it and felt since I had that much in I called... they had A6... I hit a K on flop and it stood up... I won and took out the 1k and received the 1k Cup trophy on my name tag now... giving me the 1k, 500 ribbon and 200 ribbon to decorate my name...

So to sum it up 2nd in Oh, 1st in Forum and 1st in 1k...

Lets see if this luck can stay.... only twice did my lower cards beat out a higher cards... AQ to AK and the final K2 vs A6.. all the other times my hand were the leading cards at the time I put in the money... and it is such a nice feeling to see the lead hand win.

Blogger Tour Game 2

2006-10-11T16:47:00.000-04:00

As stated before when The link was available for the results I would post it..

Here is the link for the Final 10 and the links to the overall Standings Table...
http://www.bloggerpokertour.com/s2e2-royals-bluff-till-you-drop.htm

Colour Changes

2006-10-11T16:02:00.000-04:00

Poker.com has undergone another transformation, as a result of theoutcry from alot of the players with regard to their newer Darker Colours..

As A result they have changed everything again with regard to the Table colour and Floor colour, as well as changing the sounds..

Find below a quick look at the new tourney tables...

Poker.com Blogger Tour Game 2

2006-10-09T19:03:00.001-04:00

I unfortunately had to pass on playing and even seeing the game played this weekend...
With our intended move back to New Zealand later this month we took the Kids back to our old Stomping ground for a Family Farewell...

I had to take the poker.com patch and apply it to my arm securly as I went through my withdrawl symptoms for the next 2 days...

I do have the link back to the Leaderboard, and will post my results as soon as a link to that game is posted...

http://www.bloggerpokertour.com/schedule.htm#leaderboard

Aussie Freeroll Grand Final

2006-10-01T21:53:00.000-04:00

Well 652 of us lined up at the Tables for the 1 Prize up for grabs... a $12500 Package to the Aussie Millions..

After Playing very Tight and Correct poker, reading the plays correctly I moved into 1st place about halfway through the tourney..

I shuffled in the top 3 for the next 1 1/2 hours until the final 2 tables where I moved back and forth twice..

Once we were down to the Final 10, It happened... Cold Card.. Nothing for so long..

I held out with my 200k for a lot then moved in UTG with a $40k Raise with 88, Button reraise all in 73k, I called he showed AQo and caught the Q... I was chopped in half..

A couple of steals and all in moves with Ak AQ and I was back to around 150k but in 5th place..

I call in to a 10k Raise with K10s and hit the 10 on the flop. SB Moved all (280k) in after the flop 1 caller so I folded, SB showed Ace Hi and Caller showed 88 in hand... Nothing hit and the Caller won. (I folded the 10s, after the all in with Q, 10 7 on the board... and would have taken down a monster pot.. but missed my opportunity.

Nothing again with 4 Blinds going past me and everyone raising my blinds... at this stage they were 6 & 12k...

I finally decided to make a stand UTG with 22 move all in 59k get called by HI stack, who show QQ.. I don't improve and am beaten out in 6th place..

Congrats to the Remaining table and eventual winner Paunch... with a dominating 900k stack against 300k in the HU...

Maybe next time...

New Look Update

2006-09-28T16:39:00.000-04:00

Now that the new look has had a time to sink in, I am liking it more and more..

The overall effect of the Rooms now are very calming. With a very plush feel to them.
The darkness really helps to emphasise the Highlighting of the Names and players still in the Hands.

There has been however a drop off in the tourneys later at night, now there is only a couple of tourneys from 1030ish through to 5 in the morning. This was a time that was good to play, however now with the reduced tourneys it is now a down time for me, or if lucky a rake time.

The traffic to the site has increased again with numbers now exceeding 4k whereas 6 months ago the numbers were just in the mid 2k range.

Hopefully the numbers will continue to increase.

My luck at the tables still hasn't changed although we had a Team game against a previous Double Forum League Winning Team and beat them. So hopefully that is another good indication for this seasons League Games.

The new format and schedule for these games are going to make it just a little harder however It is now a lot more balanced. These games start this weekend.

The Blogger Poker Tour is continuing along with game 1 down and game 2 to be advised shortly. I am hoping that I can at least have a better showing in that one, then I did in the last.. I have only 12 points so far and need to place final table to have any chance to make the prizes.

Back to the books I think to see if I can change anything in my game to help..

P.Com Upgrade Version 3.3

2006-09-27T01:53:00.001-04:00

Last night saw poker.com offline for a 2 hour period while they upgraded their client to Version 3.3

After playing on it for 1 day I have found it to be a very nice upgrade personally, however it has not gone over so well with all..

The major concern is the Darkened rooms and tables.
The over all color scheme now is in rich Deep Colors of Browns, including the Chat box and options boxes.
But to contrast this darkened color p.com has brought forward another concept that has kept them to the front (IMO) of other sites.

When playing a hand, all players involved remain very bright colors as does the board, however when you fold out of the hand, everything goes slightly darker, a very easy visual ensuring no confusion if you are involved...

Along with this is when a player is deciding his next play, His/Her name tag glows brightly with a Glow similar to a Halo around it.

So with the darkened room and the highlighted players a very nice overall effect.

Along with the color changes, there have been a couple of nice Option changes.

Firstly. The Auto Muck, Auto Bet options have been brought onto the Main screen, instead of being hidden inside the options box.

Secondly. The Bet buttons have been Increased to a Lage Button with a color code inside.. a nice look.

Thirdly. A New Hidden Smilie.. One that is quickly becoming my favorite...
Previously there was Donkey and Drunk, Now add to that FISH. and you will see a Suess like Fish appear from your Name tag...

There are more features and changes at the table including new Cards, and Fonts etc..

My overall opinion is Thumpsup poker.com

Briefly, other changes are Backgammon has been bade available for Real Money.
New Sign On Options, either email addy or Screen-name.
And other changes to the Admin and Accounts areas..

If you havn't been by for a while come check it out...

To qoute one of the Signature lines of a Regular players there...

Poker.com you can check out any time you like, But you can never leave.

A Quick Look at the New Look P.com Table

Game 1 Blogger Tour

2006-09-24T16:03:00.000-04:00

Yesterday saw the Initial game in the Second season of the Poker.com Poker Blogger Tour.

With 75 Plyers signed up and ready to play,and with all eyes on the Target Player "Shane@poker.com" as the Bounty. (take him out and recieve the same points as the winner of the tourney).

It was time to shurrle up and deal..

I missed seeing who took Shane out of the Tourney.

But a Big Congratulations to ReplicantPoker for winning Game 1.

To see the Full Result of the Game
just click on the following link....

Game 1

And good luck to everyone in Game 2.

Happy Birthday To Me

2006-09-21T15:25:00.000-04:00

With today being my birthday I am looking for one thing..

Tonight My Poker Team take on the staff of poker.com in the Forum League Final Game.

We already won the season (Season 7) and have the rights to play the staff tonight, so am really hoping that this game goes the way of Team ChipHunters...

There is 2 other mjor points of note from poker.com

1. There is another update coming this week.. This update is going to include among lots of others... New Games.. Including Stud and Omaha Hi Lo...

and

2. The Blogger Poker Tour Tournament is Back Check out the link for all the information.

Blogger Poker Tour

I'm Back

2006-09-16T21:21:00.000-04:00

After a time of movement, I am now back and able to write here again.

Firstly, let me explain the changes in Poker.com Site.

1. Deposit Changes - There have been a few changes.. 1 is that there are more bonuses when you sign up and deposit through "click2pay". So for a deposit you now get 100% from Poker.com, and instant 5% for depositing through click2pay, and the standard bonus.

These bonuses are released in $10 incriments at each 2k in Points...

Don't forget as well as the above there are Reload Bonuses for every month.. Just check out the Promotions page from the Home page of poker.com

2. Freeroll Changes - We are into week 3 of the New Schedule of the freerolls.. they are now
$50 freerolls every 3 hours
$1k freeroll every Mon - Fri
$2k freeroll every Saturday
$10k freeroll every Sunday (I was lucky enough to finish 3rd in the 1st 1k tourney)
$50k Freeroll on the Last Sunday of every month

In addition to these there are $500 New Depositors Freerolls (eligible for 1 week after 1st deposit) these are held Daily
As well as $50 New Depositors Freerolls which you are eligible to play for a specific time after your first deposit.

The current promotion is the Aussie Millions Tournament.

There are many ways to win a seat in Brisbane for this tournament..
With Daily Satellites to the Grand Final, as well as Daily Freerolls (must Comp 400 points the 24 hours prior). As well as the Freeroll Grand Final, which all New Depositors are automatically eligible for. And finally there is the Poker.com Blogger Tour, and the Official Blogger Correspondant.

The above are changes that have been made to the admin side.. there are many updates and changes to the actual client itself. With alot of the Tricks that has stood Poker.com out from other sites remaining.. (eg, rabbit and show buttons)

Also there is now the option of have a 4x4 window with your games and you can personalize your own colour for your name tag at the table.

New games are due shortly with 7 Card Stud, and Omaha Hi Lo both nearly finished with the testing phase and nearly ready to put it into the client.

And finally the Poker.com Blogger Tour Tournament are starting again....
Check out the link below and get some more details on this..

http://www.bloggerpokertour.com/?x=kris@poker.com

As always poker.com continues to excell in customer service and improvement..

Come on by through the link below and I will see you at the tables.

http://KiwiWizfriends.poker.com

More Good News At Poker.com

2006-05-15T08:07:00.000-04:00

Adding to the Already huge list of benifits and promotions that poker.com already have, you can now add FreeRolls to the WSOP Grandfinal... yes I didnt mistype it.... FREEROLLS to the WSOP Grandfinal.. and your chance to go to Vagas.

However there is a small requirement.. you have to rake 400 points in 24 hours.. but that is fairly easy to do as I am busy raking for the $500 Bankrollbuilder coupon and the 1st birthday tournament.

BTW I have just today received my 3rd $50 bonus for the bank roll builder coupon so I have to say Thanks to Poker.com for that..

Check it out.. you will be surprised to see what is on offer at poker.com

A Total Surprise

2006-05-11T20:22:00.000-04:00

Yesterday. $4k Freeroll... 4th.

My 2nd biggest payout from Poker.com and nearly my third ribbon.

I made it to the final table and onto 4th place to win $250 for my effort...

Annoyed that the Button didnt just call into my BB hand (I had J3o he goes all in 40k I fold flop J33 with 5 in the hand... I would have taken out 3 and been HU for the title..) but you gotta fold the junk.. But the eternal question.... What if???

Again I have to say Thanks to Poker.com for these tourneys.. twice a week and the 20k on Sunday..

Again showing more efforts by them to promote poker on their site.

Poker Promotions

2006-05-11T20:15:00.000-04:00

Well I have not posted here for a while as I have been busy raking points for the poker.com promotions. both the Birthday tourney (where I have to be in the top 50 for my Birthday Month). and also the 500bankRollBuilder Coupon where I am trying to make my 200k in points.

So far I am holding steady at 4th in the Birthday tourney so I should be issued a coupon for the Event.

With regard to the 200k raking, I have been playing multiple tables and working overtime to get the points required.. So far I have recieved 2 of the $50 bonus (40k collected in raked points) i am also only 7k away from the next $50 so hopefully I should have that in the next day or so.

These are awesome Promotions that everyone should be trying to participate in.

Not only are you raking points for rewards, but as long as the Fish arnt biting on the river you can actually make yourself a nice profit as well.

I will keep you updated on the outcome as time goes on

Bad Beats

2006-04-30T18:17:00.000-04:00

What are they and can you stop them????

There are two types of bad beats:
#1...
When you catch a big hand but lose to a BIGGER hand.
eg. You are holding pocket Aces and the flop hits A-6-6. (You have a full house AAA66)
Your opponent goes ALL-IN... and you call.
(You think your Aces are the best hand but they're NOT,because your opponent has pocket 66, which gives him the four-of-a-kind.)

#2...
When YOU have the best hand and your opponent has the WORST hand but your opponent GETS LUCKY and wins the pot.
eg. You have pocket AA and go all-in. Your opponent calls with pocket 33.
The flop hits 2-4-5 and the turn card is a 6.
Your opponent has the STRAIGHT and causing you to lose the hand.

The 2nd type of bad beat-- the one where your opponent gets totally LUCKY is the kind of beat that just plain SUCKS.
In fact, the second type of bad beat is the kind you REMEMBER the most too. Am I right?

Now here's what's interesting...
MORE BAD BEATS HAPPEN IN ONLINE POKER THAN IN "REGULAR" OFFLINE POKER.

Literally, you'll see more bad beats happen in an online poker game than you'll see at a local cash game or in a casino.
If you play both online and offline poker, I'm sure you agree with this statement.
So what's going on here? Why would it be this way?

There are two popular "theories"...
1. Online poker is rigged.
2. There are more hands per hour, therefore it's an ILLUSION that there are more bad beats.

In my opinion BOTH of these theories are WRONG.

Here's why:
Firstly, I genuinely believe online poker is NOT rigged.... Do you REALLY think these multi-billion dollar casinos would need to RIG hands?
They make their money from tournament entry fees and rakes...

Sowhat about the second theory?
Well, I do agree that there are more hands per hour in online poker than offline poker. There's no disputing that.
But I don't think that's a good enough reason...
Because my belief is that there are MORE bad beats that happen per X number of hands ONLINE than for offline poker.
For instance,
You played 100 hands, and let's say you caught two really bad beats for every 100 hands at a casino. That's 2%.

In online poker, you're likely to catch FIVE or even TEN of those really bad beats per 100 hands. That's 5-10%.
So the fact that you're seeing MORE hands doesn't explain the HIGHER PERCENTAGE of bad beats.

Got it so far???

OK, so now he is another "theory" about this.

It's not really a theory just good old simple logic.

The reason there are more bad beats in ONLINE poker is because the very NATURE of online poker leads people to PLAY DIFFERENTLY.
The CARDS and ODDS are the same.
It's the PLAYERS that aren't the same.

What I mean is that for online poker, a LARGE portion of players adopt the style of LOOSE-AGGRESSIVE.

Translation? MANIAC.

They act irrationally... play hands they shouldn't play... and bet way too aggressively for most given situations.

And here is a Reason Why.

Because online poker isn't as "real".
The money isn't as real.
The cards aren't real.
The chips aren't real.
Thetable isn't real.
NONE OF THAT STUFF EVEN EXISTS.

That's it.
Nothing else.

And if you LOSE a game, all you have to do is make a couple of mouse clicks and you're INSTANTLY playing another game.

And you can PLAY ten games at once if you want!

The FACT that players are LOOSE-AGGRESSIVE is what leads to the SITUATIONS where bad beats happen.
Here's why:
1. Players bet their draws more or call large bets with draws or OK hands (i.e. bottom pair).
2. More players are involved in every pot.
3. The pots are bigger, since players are more aggressive.

When these conditions COMBINE TOGETHER, it creates a situation where there are a lot of BIG POTS and bad beats.

It's not that the cards are "rigged".
It's that the betting patterns and playing styles are DIFFERENT than what you're used to.

And when you combine that with the fact that you see more hands per hour, it inevitably leads to seeing a lot more "crazy" hands and bad beats thanin regular poker.

Is there any way to PREVENT bad beats?
The answer is yes and no.

Ultimately, bad beats will occur NO MATTER WHAT, if you're playing good poker. Because to win at poker, you've got to be willing to take RISKS.
And most risks have a minimum 20% chance or more of NOT working out in your favor.

Not only can you prevent Bad Beats, but you can literally turn it around and make it YOUR ULTIMATE ADVANTAGE.

The key is to "tilt the tables" in your favor and USE the fact that players are so loose and aggressive to HELP YOU win more pots.

The way you achieve this is by adopting a SPECIAL playing style designed SPECIFICALLY for online poker...

TIGHT-AGGRESSIVE SQUARED.
The concept of "tight-aggressive squared" is quite simple...
It starts with the logic that tight-aggressive is the most effective playing style to use in poker.
Tight-aggressive means TIGHT with hand selection, AGGRESSIVE with betting.

With online poker, there are more players in every hand. That means you must play EVEN TIGHTER with your hand selection.
You should ONLY play BIG hands!

You're bound to run into players who are CHASING or who just caught an extremely lucky flop.

When you DO get involved with a hand, you must be OVERLY aggressive. The pot size will be bigger, so you can't go losing many hands or else you'll be out of the game in a hurry.

You see, the goal is to do two things:
1. Force out all but one, maybe two players for any pot you get involved with.
2. Have the odds so unbelievably stacked in your favor that you win far more HUGE pots than you lose.
And when you win lots of big pots, you become chip leader VERY QUICKLY. And that's how you take control over a poker table.

The reason you want to force people OUT of the hand is simple mathematics.

Let's say you get pocket AA.
Here's what three of your opponents are holding:
Player 1: K-K
Player 2: 10-9 suited
Player 3: Q-10 off suit

Now, if you went heads-up against any of these hands ONE-ON-ONE, your odds of winning would be about 80%. They'd be 85% against Player 3.

BUT...

If you went up against ALL THREE of these opponents in one single hand, your odds of winningis just 58.5%!

That's just over 50/50 with the absolute BEST starting hand possible.

So when you GET pocket Aces, you need to FORCE OUT all but one caller.
You've got to be VERY AGGRESSIVE.

In low stakes Sit and Go's and ring games online, that quite often means going all-in.
Like I said, you've got to risk ALL your chips.

Now if you go all-in and one of those players makes a CALL, you'll win four out of five times.
So if you get five big hands a game, you only lose ONCE.

If all you did was ever FOLD or go ALL-IN, why would anyone ever CALL your bets?

It's because online poker isn't the same as offline poker. The people on there are DISTRACTED and often STUPID and VERY LOOSE.

(This was abbreviated from an email sent out by pokerplayer.com)

2 Great Incentives to Play At Poker.com

2006-04-27T02:56:00.000-04:00

Incentive 1.

Commencing on April 12th, poker.com issued a Bank Roll Builder Coupon to all its members.
This coupon has a $500 values as long as you can rake the required points. (200k)

Now don't be alarmed at this figure as I hae already stated, poker.com is very much a Player based site, to show this, they have made this coupon an incremental coupon.

So for every 20k you rake, they are going to credit your account with $50.

There are a couple of other conditions, however nothing about these conditions is outragous or require anything other than you sitting at the tables and playing poker..

What could be better, rake points to attain free money and win extra money from the players at the tables.

I have just received my first $50 bonus. So I do 1st hand it is true.

Incentive 2.

May is the Birthday month of poker.com and to celebrate their 1st Brithday,they are holding a $50k Tournament.

To enter this tournament, again they have come up with various ideas to assist the players.

Method 1: Be ranked in the top 50 people of your Birthday month.. (eg. If you were born in September, then you are ranked against all the other September births.)

Method 2: Make a Deposit to poker.com through Click2Pay, NetTeller or Citadell, and they (poker.com) will make a drawing of those that deposited and award them a free entry ticket tothe tournament.

Method 3: Be a First time depositor and play in their First Time Depositors Freeroll. The First 3 Placegetters will receive not only the Freeroll Prize money but also their Ticket tothe 50k Tourney.

Method 4: Simply play on the Cash Tables and be there when somone from poker.com Admin visit your table, you could be surprised with a free coupon just for being there.

As you can see, poker.com are continuing to show that they are definately a site that is very active in the satisfaction of their players.

Something a lot more of the other sites may want to pay attention to.

Pot Odds

2006-04-22T17:13:00.000-04:00

These are the magic words that alot of people tend to use when they have sucked out on your hand with a limited out hand or a marginal hand..

What are pot odds... how do you work them out..
Pot Odds are not as most would have you believe, Throwing money into the pot becasue you have an Ace or an overcard... It is actually the fact that you have "The Better Odds" at winning the Pot with Your Hand.

Well there are many ways to do this, I am going to describe a very quick and easy method as simple advise.

To work out the POT ODDS you firstly have to cosider your OUTS (how many cards will give you The winning hand).. For example you have KQ off suit and the flop is 8 10 J.. you have an open ended straight draw and therefore any 9 or A on the turn or river will give you the winning hand..

So let us also say that the person betting only has a J.. therefore you now have any 9 A K or Q.. your odds for the outs have increased..

To figure out the Outs simply add all the cards needed to win multiplied by the number of the cards in the pack... eg 4x9 4xA3xK 3xQ therefore you have 14 Outs.... as if any 1 of those cards hit the turn or river you will win. (Only covering this briefly as most of the Players will already understand this).

To work out the POT ODDS from this hand simply multiplay the outs at theFlop by 4

So you now have 14 x 4 = 56 therefore you have a 56 % chance of winning this hand..

No to put that into the Pot... if there is say $100 in the pot and the person holding the J bets $50.. you are being asked tocall a bet of $50 to see the next card.. so put this into an equation.

100 (pot) + 50 (their bet) = 150 (NewPot) so therefore you arebeing asked to put in $50 or 1/3rd (33%) of the pot... with a 56% chance of winning the hand. The odds are in your favor to win the pot so it is worth it.

If a 5 card hits the turn after calling you have to re-evaluate the Odds.. To do this you simply work out the OUTS and this time multiply by 2. So therefore your odds of winning this hand are now 14 x 2= 28%. So any bet that is made must therefore be less then your odds of winning foryou to continue with your POT ODDS call.

eg.. the pot is now $200 the Person with The J bets 50 again your odds are:

200 + 50 = 250 Therefore a call of $50 is 25% of the pot and the odds are correct.

However if he is betting 200, your odds are now:

200 + 200 = 400.. a call of $200 is 50% ofthepot and your Pot Odds are Now reduced..

As I stated this is avery simple way to calculate Pot Odds sowhen you state it next time You may very well bequoting fact and not fiction.

2006-04-21T03:37:00.000-04:00

A little Guide to help the Beginner to get started with their On Line poker play..

This guide is set for a 10 man Texas Holdem Game.

For the best results it is better to start with playig only a few Hi Scoring hands until you are used to the game and start to read how people are playing a little better.

So my advise for the beginner is to start only with hands that have a scoring value of 15 and up.

This will of course change depending on the table you are playing on.

Stay tuned for more tips to come, and feel free to add some of your own.

My Favorite Poker Site

2006-04-21T01:30:00.000-04:00

Having played On line poker for a couple of years, and playing at numerous sites on line.
I was fortunate enough to be directed to THE BEST online site without question.

Poker.com is a fairly new site to the world of On Line Poker, however don't let that put you off.

They are definately at the forefront of Development of Poker Software, and are without question concerned about the welfare and happiness of their Poker Players.

Both of these indicate to me a site that is not copying what is already existing in the On Line world, and want to consistantly improve the Players enjoyment at this site.

Poker.com has a very active Forum where you can post and receive any information that you may require to assist you in the Game of Poker.

Not only are the Poker.com staff active in the Postings on the Forum, but they are available 24 hours a day for Live Support chat to also assist you with any questions, queries or problems that you may have on their site.

Their Poker software is continuously being updated with areas to assist you (the player) with navigating multiple tables, or any area that you may need to go.

These updates are not just initiated by the staff, for the staff, but in a lot of cases, the updates are as a direct response to areas that the Players themselves have brought to the Staffs attention.

With Texas Holdem and Omaha Ring tables in Limit, Pot Limit and No Limit, along with the Sit and Go Tourneys, all of the same games, there are a lot of opportunities to play some poker of your choice.

Put all of those games with their regular Multi Table Tournaments, both Free Rolls and Buy ins. There is something for everyone.

So if you are sick and tired of the same old players beating you out at that boring old site.. check this site out..

I am positive that once you play you will stay.

Sign up through the link below

http://KiwiWiz.friends.poker.com

or navigate directly to

www.poker.com

Read about them at their blog

Poker.com Poker Blog