Watch the videos of the final 9 players battle it out for the $9.1 million first place prize. As well the main event champion also receives the main eventWSOP bracelet.
Find out who wins the final table of the main event 2008 World Series of Poker. The winner received $9.1 Million. Even the first player elimited from the November 9 will receive $927,000.
The main event had 6844 entrants…watch and see the final table.
Most people playing poker at Facebook aren’t serious poker players.
Now don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean they aren’t good players. If they knew the game on texas holdem, specifically no-limit poker, they would soon realize that there isn’t much value in facebook poker. You just can’t win any money at poker on facebook.
If you are playing texas holdem on facebook maybe you should try an online poker room like CarbonPoker. They have free tournaments that you can win real money at.
Specifically, I am referring to freeroll poker tournaments. Freerolls are freezeout poker tournaments where you can win money. Granted, not a lot of money but something to start your bank roll and definitely more than anything you can hope to win at facebook.
Some online poker sites, like Carbon, offer free bonuses for signing up. They want you to play at there room and they will go to great lengths to entice you.
So if you are looking for a Facebook poker bonus code, I would suggest visiting CarbonPoker and signing up. You will receive their free sign up bonus and they have daily freerolls where you can win real money.
3rd Place: $4,503,352 - Dennis Phillips - started chip leader at final table
4th Place: $3,763,515 - Ylon Schwartz
5th Place: $3,088,012 - Scott Montgomery
6th Place: $2,412,510 - Darus Suharto
7th Place: $1,769,174 - David Rheem
8th Place: $1,286,672 - Kelly Kim
9th Place: $900,670 - Craig Marquis
The final 2 players are currently playing for the main event championship $9.1 million pay out. The final 2 players are Peter Eastgate who has taken out 4 of the final 9 players and Ivan Demidov.
Update: The 2008 World Series of Pokermain event champion is Peter Eastgate. After taking out 5 of the November 9 final table players, 22 Peter Eastgate takes the title, a WSOP bracelet and the $9.1 million dollar 1st place prize.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will resume tournament play at the final table this November 9th.
November Nine 2008 World Series of Poker main event final table player - Kelly Kim
Kelly Kim, resides in California, is a professional poker player and 31 years old. He cashed three times in the 2007 World Series of Poker and paid cash for his entry to this year’s main event. Before he turned pro, he was a business analyst and has a degree of UC San Diego. He comes into the final table as the short stack, with only 2,620,000 in chips.
Kelly Kim rounds out the November Nine as the long shot with a very small chip stack of only 2,620,000. That may seem like a lot of chips, but compared to the next lowest (Craig Marquis) stack of 10.2 million, and the highest (Dennis Phillips) of 26.2 million, it will be interesting to see if Kim can increase his stack size soon enough to stay in the Final Table. The professional poker player of Korean descent resides in Whittier, California. Growing up, he played football and wrestled in high school. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from UC-San Diego and used to work as a business analyst. During his sophomore year of college, he entered his first live poker tournament at a small Indian casino. Kim’s first live tournament cash came in 2001, earning $798, but those numbers have increased significantly to total 37 cashes and $351,744 in winnings. He respects Daniel Negreanu because he doesn’t hide anything from his fans, and is open and honest. Like many of the “November Nine,” Kim also plans to help his family and friends with the prize money.
Kelly Kim starts the main event final table with 2,620,000 in chips.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will resume tournament play at the final table this November 9th.
November Nine 2008 World Series of Poker main event final table player - Craig Marquis
Craig Marquis is a Texan from Arlington and is 23 years old, and could also become the youngest WSOPmain event champ ever. He’s a college student who’s pretty new to poker — he’s been playing about a year and a half. If he wins, he plans on buying his family a swimming pool.
He starts the final table with 10,210,000 in chips.
Craig Marquis took a few years of community college, then went to UT-Arlington, before taking a break from school to play poker. While Marquis has only been playing poker for less than two years and mostly puts his skills to the test online, he has pocketed three live tournament cashes, all of which came from World Series of Poker events; the first two in 2007 and another this year in Event #17, the $1500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Shootout. Marquis looks forward to increasing his current earnings of $35,759 with his play this November in the Main Event Final Table. Marquis’s favorite poker players are David Benefield and Tom Dwan. In his free time, he enjoys playing the guitar and watching movies. He plans to help his family, and give his sisters some assistance with their schooling with his prize money.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will resume tournament play at the final table this November 9th.
November Nine 2008 World Series of Poker main event final table player - David Rheem
David Rheem or as he is known in the poker world, “Chino”,lives in Los Angeles, California and is 28. He’s a poker pro who’s been playing for 10 years and paid cash to enter the main event.
He starts the final table with 10,230,000 in chips.
Growing up, Rheem excelled at basketball and, as most kids following that sport, looked up to Michael Jordan. This California native has been playing professional poker for ten years now, topping the profits list with $634,657 over 15 cashes in the last three years. Five of those came from World Series of Poker events, but this will be Rheem’s first WSOPMain Event cash. He nearly won a bracelet in the 2006 No-Limit Hold’em $1,000 re-buy WSOP event finishing second and earning $328,000. Few people know that Chino is scared of heights. His plans with the prize money are to help his family and friends.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will make the final when the tournament resumes this November 9th.
November Nine final table main event player - Darus Suharto
Darus Suharto was born in Indonesia but now lives in Toronto, Ontario in Canada. He attended both York University and the University of Central Arkansas. He’s 39, has an MBA from Indiana University and works as an accountant. He won his way into the main event through a satellite.
He starts the final table with 12,520,000 in chips.
Suharto has only produced one live poker tournament cash in the amount of $26,389, for his 448th place finish at the 2006 World Series of PokerMain Event. His favorite poker player is Daniel Negreanu and his hobbies include traveling, reading, going to movies or just relaxing at home. In his free time, he also volunteers at some professional associations/not-for profit organizations.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will resume tournament play at the final table this November 9th.
November Nine 2008 World Series of Poker main event final table player - Scott Montgomery
Scott Montgomery is from Perth, Ontario in Canada, is 26 years old and sits in third place among the chip leaders in the Main Event final table at the 2008 World Series of Poker. He is a poker pro who’s been playing for about four years and paid cash to enter this year’s main event.
He starts the final table with 19,690,000 in chips.
He received his Bachelor of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo and has been playing poker for about four years. All of his live tournament cashes came in 2008 – three of those in the 2008 WSOP – and Montgomery’s total live tournament earnings equal $406,585. His favorite poker memory is winning three consecutive tournaments online. In poker circles, fellow Canadian Daniel Negreanu tops Montgomery’s list as his favorite player.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will make the final when the tournament resumes this November 9th.
Peter Eastgate is from Odense, Denmark and is 22 years old, making him the youngest player at the final table. If this poker pro wins, he’ll be the youngest WSOP champ ever. He’s a high school grad and paid his entry fee in cash.
He starts the final table with 18,375,000 in chips.
Nicknamed “Isser”, Peter is a professional poker player and has been involved with the game for about three years. He paid cash to enter the 2008 WSOP and now finds himself at the Final Table. He has claimed two live tournament cashes over the last two years, earning $76,084. While he respects many poker players, Eastgate says that his favorite is Patrik Antonius because of his “skill and class.”
Update: Peter East gate won the 2008 World Series of Pokermain event for $9.1 million. Of the 9 players at the final table Eastgate eliminated four of them.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will make the final when the tournament resumes this November 9th.
November 9 Player Ivan Demidov
Ivan Demidov is from Moscow, Russia. He’s a professional poker player, but 2008 was his first time playing at the World Series, where he also finished in 11th place in Event #44, the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em with rebuys event.
Nicknamed “Soul,” Ivan Demidov is the second highest chip leader in the 2008 Main Event Final Table. The 27-year-old professional poker player has earned most of his cashes in online poker rooms. Demidov has seen only three live tournament cashes, though his earnings total is an impressive $65,081. Demidov excels in computer games such as Starcraft and Warcraft and was one of the top online players. He is single and enjoys skiing and scuba diving.
The World Series of Poker’s will resume Nov. 9 at Harrah’s in Las Vegas, as the nine remaining players compete for the WSOPMain Event bracelet and the $9,119,338 first prize. ESPN will air a preview of the final table on Nov. 4, and the final results on Nov. 11.
Dennis Phillips is leading the 9 players with 26,295,000 in chips. Phillips qualified for the event by winning a $200 satellite tournament, controls nearly 25 percent of the remaining chip at the final table.
For a brief interview with Dennis Phillips of the November 9 check out this video:
When asked, what does it take to make a World Series of Poker final table, Phillips responds,
If the same 6,844 player sat down and started the main event again, you would probably see nine different players at the final table. But you would also see an amazing amount of the same players who cashed this year also cashing again. It takes some luck and especially no bad luck to advance deep into a tournament but a huge amount of skill. You have to maximize those few premium hands that you get and be able to lay down a monster hand to someone. this is tough. I laid down pocket aces TWICE after the flop in the tournament.
As a member of the World Series of Poker final table “November 9″, Ylon Schwartz, 38 years old, from Brooklyn, New York, is starting with $12,525,000 in chips when the main event resumes this November the 9th.
• Schwartz has 11 World Series of Poker events cashes, including 15th place in the Limit Hold’em event this year. His cashes in 30 live tournaments have made him almost $256,000.
• As a former professional chess player, Schwartz, realized early on he could make more money at poker. He started playing chess when he was 13. At 16, he was making a living from chess in New York’s East Village. At 23, he became a chess master.
What to expect at the Final Table
Schwartz may have had the best attitude of any of the finalists: “I’ll evaluate my play, but I think I’m just going to find a hammock, a beach and a good bottle of tequila.”
How he qualified for the tournament
Schwartz has a Web site, shipthecheese.com, where he credits two men with teaching him poker: his grandfather and “Fat Nick,” whom he describes as “a 350-pound old man with one tooth in his mouth that crack was kind of enough to leave.”
Final table main event poker stardom?
“I still live in the same apartment,” he told the New York Post. “I go to the pub. Nothing has changed, except that I’m getting attention from TV people.”
Sponsor - PokerStars ESPN poker analyst Norman Chad:
“If he wins, he wants to go somewhere no one will find him, like Tim Robbins in ‘Shawshank Redemption.’ He’s smart and strange — you’ve got to fear the smart, strange ones — and he’ll wait for others to make mistakes at the table.”
For a brief interview with Ylon Schwartz watch this video about his expectations of the final table:
Ylon Schwartz, one of the nine players left at the final table in the main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), has decided to auction an opportunity to sponsor him.
The auction will take place on eBay and the winner will earn a ten-square-inch advertising patch on his hat, chest or arm, reports Poker News Daily.
A starting bid of $100,000 will have to be made and half of all the proceeds will be donated to the EDC Habitat for Humanity charity.
Scott Neuman, president of RecordWeb Communications, the firm promoting Schwartz, said that the poker star was pleased to help out with the fundraising effort.
He commented: “What people have to remember is that while it’s a charity auction, the value of the patch is worth between $100,000 and $3 million.”
Schwartz will sit down at the final table with over 12 million chips, which will put him in fifth place when the other eight take to the felt.
Dennis Phillips is the chip leader with over 26 million and he recently auctioned advertising space on his own jacket to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
The 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table - the November 9
The 2008 World Series of Pokermain event final table is about to make history. Normally the WSOPmain event is played out to one winner or champion in one continuous event. Not so this year.
Last July, the main event of the 2008 World Series of Poker was played from 6844 players down to the final nine. Instead of completing the event and producing a winner of the top prize of $9.1 million, the completion was set for a later date.
We are 6 days from the completion of the 2008 World Series of Pokermain event final table. Planned for November 9th on ESPN, the event will be played down to 2 players. Late on the 10th they will battle it out for the main event title, the bracelet and the 9 million dollar first place prize. It is explected to be completed sometime early on the 11th of November.
Here is a list of the November 9, 2008 WSOPmain event final table players and their starting chip counts:
• DENNIS PHILLIPS, 53, St. Louis, Missouri, 26,295,000
• IVAN DEMIDOV, 27, Moscow, Russia, 24,400,000
• SCOTT MONTGOMERY, 26, Perth, Ontario, Canada, 19,690,000
• PETER EASTGATE, 22, Odense, Denmark, 18,375,000
• YLON SCHWARTZ, 38, Brooklyn, New York, 12,525,000
Who do you think is going to win the 2008 World Series of Pokermain event? They are down to the final 9 or as they have been called the “November 9″. Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth share their thoughts on who they think will win the main event bracelet.
How to Calculate Poker Odds
When playing poker, you are often faced with the decision whether to call or fold to a bet. One way to determine whether to call is to see if the odds of winning the money in the pot (”pot odds”) equal or exceed the odds of you getting the cards you need for a winning hand (also called your ‘outs’). Quickly calculating whether the pot odds you face are favorable is essential to a long term winning strategy. In other words, only make a bet if it will pay off in the long run. Here’s how:
You must know how much money is in the pot in order to calculate pot odds. In a limit game, you can easily calculate this by counting the number of bets that are in the pot. For example, if there is $100 in the pot at a 10/20 game on the flop, then there are 10 bets in there. If you must call a single bet to remain in the hand, then the pot odds are 10:1. Online poker rooms have the amount of the pot displayed, so it is easier to just divide the amount you must bet into the pot size.
Steps
Divide the number of cards unseen by the number of “outs” that you have. “Outs” are the cards remaining in the deck that will allow you to make a winning hand.
Subtract 1.
There must be at least that many bets in the pot (i.e., multiples of your bet) for a call.
Example: Say you have 2 hearts. Two more hearts fall on the flop. There are now 47 unseen cards. You have 9 outs (9 out of 13 unseen hearts remaining in the deck) to make your flush on the next card.
Divide 47 by 9 = 5.2
Subtract 1 = 4.2
There must be at least 4.2 bets in the pot for you to call a single bet.
If you don’t get your card on the turn, you may be faced with repeating the process in the next round of betting. Remember that post-turn bets are usually larger than pre-turn bets.
Tips
The preceding steps are a quick method for determining outs on the next card. Other methods exist.
Some people advocate determining the number of outs required to make your hand using all future cards. For example, if you need one card for a flush, you actually have two draws to that card, not just one. Doing the math, you get 1.5:1 odds, so 1.5 bets would be your break even. Since you can be can be forced out on the next round, this is only true if there is no more betting. However, you need to estimate all future bets to get to that last card (yours and theirs), and that ratio needs to be 1.5 or more. It’s much harder to do this math on the fly, however, and usually requires you to memorize an ‘out’ list for different card combinations.
Outs:-1—2—3—4–5-6-7-8-9-12-15 Need
Odds:45-22-14-10-8-7-6-5-4-3–2
Note that it mentions outs to a “winning hand”. There is no automatic system to determine what a “winning hand” is. Maybe that 3-of-a-kind could win. But maybe there’s 3 cards to a flush on the table. Experience will dictate what you consider a minimum strength hand to win.
The actual formula for calculating hand-odds is:(cards_left - outs)/outs (which is the same as cards_left/outs - 1)
The 2008 World Series of Poker is the 39th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). Held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, this year’s series began on May 30, 2008 and featured 55 poker championships in several variants. All events but the $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold’em Main Event, the most prestigious of the WSOP events, ended by July 15. As has been the WSOP custom since 1976, each of the event winners received a championship bracelet in addition to that event’s prize money, which (after the casino’s rake) ranged from $87,929 to $1,989,120.
The 2008 WSOPmain event was played out differently than the past years. The main event was played out to 9 players and stopped in July. Rather than complete the tournament and mark a champion of the $9.1 million first prize, the tournament was delayed until November 9th.
An online freeroll tournament is a chance to play an intense online poker tournament for real money prizes, without having to pay a buy-in or entry fee. Members of online poker communities will always find freeroll tournaments to play, but beyond simply offering free cash, there are many very profitable options available for any kind of player.
Many players have made their start in online poker by competing in freerolls, and there are different options to pick up free cash and win online tournaments. New player freerolls are awarded upon sign up, and are completely free to offer members a chance to start a solid bankroll. In addition, $50 freerolls are ran every four hours for absolutely any member to enjoy a good online tournament with real money at stake.
Playing AA against Pocket Pairs - at an online poker sites
A-A versus J-J gives you an 80% chance of winning the pot. If you play aggressively pre-flop, narrow the field to one or two callers, and get a read on your opponents, then you’ve done your job.
As for getting “out-kicked”…
Be careful with A-J and A-10… these hands are notorious for getting out-kicked. If there are more than six or seven players at the table when you pick up one of these hands, be VERY CAUTIOUS.
The goal is to find out WHERE YOU STAND before your opponent shows his cards at the end. Get a read on what your opponent is holding and put him to a decision for chips BEFORE the hand plays out all the way.
If there’s an Ace on the board and you’re opponent keeps betting… and you just keep calling with A-10… then you’re asking for trouble.
Raise your opponent to find out where you stand in the hand. If he’s got A-Q or A-K figure it out before the cards are turned over, not after.
The number one tip for every online poker player who joins a poker room online is…
…use an online poker bonus code! You wouldn’t believe how many players sign up without a free bonus code. Without taking advantage of the bonuses that the online poker sites offer you are missing out on a huge amount of free money.
The poker room’s want you to play at their site as opposed to their competitors. So they give out cash when you make your initial deposit. They offer a bonus code to be used when you first sign up. So even if you are only going to check out a site’s play money tables I would advise you to enter a bonus code. You may win some money in a freeroll tournament or later you may decide to make a real money deposit. Either way you are ahead by using a bonus code.
I have searched for the most popular bonus codes online and placed them here for your use.
Full Tilt Poker - enter bonus code RIVERNUTS - 100% up to $600 extra bonus
(clearly the best bonus online)
UltimateBet Poker - enter bonus code ultimate40 - 40% up to $100 extra bonus
Remember, always use a bonus code. Even if you are just going on the play money tables. Playing the freerolls alone is one reason to always use a bonus code.
Playing Medium Pairs in online poker can be challenging. Pocket tens, Jacks, and Queens are some of the MOST DIFFICULT hands to play.
Step 1. Decide whether or not to play them aggressively.
Just because you pick up a pocket pair does NOT automatically mean you should play the hand to win no matter what.
There’s always a good chance someone has a HIGHER pocket pair than you.
Also, you don’t want to get too aggressive when you’re in early position, like under the gun.
If you choose NOT to play aggressively, then you can shift into “aggressive mode” after the flop if you sense you have the best hand or if you hit trips.
Remember, position is everything. Consider playing much more aggressively (and possibly stealing the pot pre-flop) when you’re in late position.
Step 2. If you play aggressively pre-flop, try to narrow the field down to one or two callers.
Watch out for higher pocket pairs.
You’ll most likely get called from someone with a lower pocket pair or two face cards.
Step 3. Represent the flop. If there are “scary” cards out there (i.e. you have T-T and the flop hits A-3-K) then just give up on the hand and don’t lose anymore chips.
If you represent the flop but your opponent goes right back over the top of you, then fold.
You can win ten big hands a night but RUIN it all by losing one big hand. So know when to muck your cards.
Of course… if you hit your trips on the flop, play them hard!
The Mini-Bluff is an easy way to win BIGGER POTS
when you bluff… AND… decrease the chances that
your opponents will call your bluff.
It goes like this:
When you want to “buy the pot” and bluff out an
opponent you think is weak, what you do is make
the MINIMUM RAISE possible in the current round
of betting.
After they call, make your REAL BLUFF on the NEXT
round of betting… and take down the pot.
Here’s what I mean…
Let’s say you’re playing $1-2 no limit with good
positioning. Josh makes a pre-flop raise of $15.
The next few players fold… and the action is to
you. You look down at J-10 of diamonds. You know
this is a “hidden hand” that could bust Josh if
something good hits on the flop… so you call.
It’s just you and Josh heads-up. The flop hits:
7h-9s-2c
Not exactly the flop you had hoped for. It gives
you an inside straight draw… which means you
have outs… but YOU KNOW BETTER than to chase an
inside straight draw.
Josh represents the flop and bets $25. You know he
doesn’t have anything… there’s no way that flop
helped him.
He’s been representing the flop all night with
that same $25 bet…
So YOUR READ on Josh is that he doesn’t have
anything, and that YOU can buy this pot.
What do you do?
The answer is to make the MINIMUM RAISE.
Come back over Josh and make it $50 to play.
(This is your “Mini-Bluff”.)
By doing this, you’re taking control of the action
and finding out EXACTLY where you stand in the
hand.
Most likely, Josh will call your raise. If he has
something really good, he’ll re-raise you. And in
that case you should probably fold.
BUT IF YOUR READ WAS CORRECT– and Josh DOESN’T
have a strong hand– he’ll just call…
The reason he won’t fold is because HE made the
original bet. And since you only raised him the
MINIMUM amount, it won’t be enough to scare him
off.
OK, so Josh calls, and the turn hits:
7d
That pairs the board… but is no help to you.
Josh is first to act again, but this time taps his
fist against the table and checks.
Just as you’d hoped.
NOW it’s time to make a REAL bluff and buy this
pot.
You come out firing $100 in chips…
Josh shakes his head and says, “I can’t call.”
He flips over his A-J.
You throw your cards into the muck FACE DOWN…
leaving everyone wondering what you had. And you
rake a nice pot.
Here’s why the Mini-Bluff technique is so
powerful:
1. It gives you control in the hand.
When you raise your opponent, you automatically
assume a level of CONTROL. If your opponent
re-raises, he takes control again…
The entire POINT of a bluff is to get your
opponent to fold. If he feels like he’s in
control, he won’t fold… and your bluff won’t
work.
2. You get a better read on your opponent.
In our example, Josh could have easily had
something like A-9 (and hit top pair) or an over
pair or whatever.
You didn’t THINK he had something good, but it’s
tough to know for sure.
Your Mini-Bluff eliminates the confusion. If Josh
had a monster, he would have either gone back over
the top of you with a re-raise… or would have
bet after the turn card.
Instead, he just CALLED and then CHECKED the turn.
That’s pretty much a dead giveaway that he didn’t
have anything.
3. It builds the pot.
In this case, you won $25 more by “setting up”
your bluff with the Mini-Bluff. That’s $25 more in
your pocket at the end of the night…
If you use the Mini-Bluff technique five times a
game, that’s a nice chunk of change added to your
wins.
4. There’s less risk involved.
A MINIMUM RAISE is much safer than trying to buy
the pot outright… especially when you’re not
completely sure your opponent is weak.
The Mini-Bluff prevents pot-commitment and leaves
you room to GET OUT of the hand if necessary.
5. Your bluff is more believable.
The Mini-Bluff raises “red flags” for your
opponent… mostly because he’s not used to it.
It doesn’t APPEAR that your bluffing– and that’s
the whole point, of course.
After he calls your Mini-Bluff, he’s going to be
weary of you… confused about your hand. And THAT
is the perfect setup for taking down the pot.
So that’s the power of the Mini-Bluff.
It’s a great technique to add to your poker “bag
of tricks”…
But as with all strategies, use the Mini-Bluff
SPARINGLY. Don’t get careless with it or use it
too much.
The Mini-Bluff is NOT a replacement for your
regular bluffing patterns. It’s meant to keep your
opponents off balance and MILK them for a few
extra dollars once in awhile.
Also, only perform the Mini-Bluff when you’ve got
good positioning and sense weakness at the
table… the same conditions as any other bluff.
Play your position and get a feel for the poker table. Use these considerations when deciding how much to raise the pot. These strategies also apply to free online poker sites.
If everyone is folding when you get a big hand, you need to mix up your game. By that I mean show a bluff once in awhile… that way you confuse your opponents.
When you get to the “bubble” with four players left, try to make your move BEFORE getting short-stacked.
Don’t get “desperate”. Instead, steal some pots! Especially since everyone is folding to you.
Those “stolen” pots will build momentum and carry you into the money finishes…
Pay attention to the player stack amounts. If there is a player who is short stacked, expect 2 things. First they will go all-in when they have an A anything or 2 high cards. Second there will be good chance they will be taken out shortly. So play accordingly. Don’t take chances against the big stack while there is a short stack soon to be blinded out.
Big Sit N Go strategy
The $5 and $50 Sit n go’s are much different. Be careful not to blow your bankroll when you move up to the higher stakes. I see it happen all the time.
If you’re going to play in the $50 Sit and Go’s make sure your game is SHARP… I’d recommend just WATCHING a few before you dive in.
With that being said, I know a lot of guys who find the higher stakes games to be EASIER than the lower stakes ones… because the players are more predictable. Higher stakes tables have fast poker play.
A strong advantage to playing online poker is that you can use training aides while you’re playing at the computer. You can have books, charts, tables, and notes in front of you to assist you in making decisions, a practice that is totally legal and ethical in online poker. Having instructional paraphernalia handy is especially useful if you are a novice at poker. For example, you can put a starting-hands chart in front of you and refer to it when making a decision about whether to call or fold from a middle position. Be careful, however, not to slow down the game.
If you are an experienced player and have been keeping notes on your usual opponents, you can drag them out and put them by your computer. Maybe you remember the online name of someone who you’ve played before. Taking a look at your notes, you see that she’s a loose player who might raise with any two cards, or maybe she’s a solid player who will play certain hands in one situation but not in another one. In a sense, you’re “reading” your opponent by reading your notes! Most of the major online poker sites allow you to take notes and keep files on players. You can review your notes by simply placing your mouse over that player at the table and right-clicking it.
You should constantly keep track of everyone’s chip count in the tournament. It’s easier to do in online poker sites than in land-based poker rooms because the exact amount of chips everybody has is on display right in front of them. In a traditional poker rooms, you have to size up the stacks of your opponents. You are allowed to ask your opponent how many chips he has, and he must tell you, but you usually just estimate his stack size visually. Land based poker rooms require you to place all your big-denomination chips in front of your lower-denomination chips because your opponents have the right to know how many chips you have at all times. In online poker tournaments, the graphics are right there on the screen so that you can easily see how many chips the other players have.
Tables are constantly breaking down so that you’re frequently moving to a new table in multi-table tournament play. As soon as you get to a new table, look around to see who is the chip leader at the table and which players have more chips than you do. Recognize which players can break you and those who cannot. Automatically program this concept into your mind when you play a tournament, whether online or in a regular poker room. This is Tournament 101 basic strategy. Make assessing your opponent’s chip stacks something that you automatically do—it is vital to your success.
As soon as you have mastered the basics in free games online, advance to a small buy-in tournament, preferably a single-table tournament in which you will be playing against nine opponents (when playing Hold ‘Em and Omaha). Play in a $5 or $10 buy-in single-table tournament. Once you experience playing for something, you will have a new enthusiasm for the game. I know I’ve said it before, but here it is again: in poker, decisions should matter. You should be rewarded for good decisions and penalized for bad ones. This concept is critical to your success at playing poker for money.
Try small buy-in tournaments when you first start playing for money. In cash games, you might lose more money than you originally wanted to put at risk. Even in the $3-$6 limit games, which are considered to be pretty small games, it’s fairly easy to go through $100. Why not take that $100 and play $5 or $10 buy-in tournaments? That way you can play time and time again on the same bankroll and experience the joy of playing poker for something.
At most sites, single-table tournaments pay three places. Usually, the winner gets 50 percent, second place gets 30 percent, and third place gets 20 percent of the prize pool. (Note that all online poker rooms charge a nominal entry fee, usually about $1, when you sign up to play in a tournament.) If everybody puts up $10 each, for example, the prize pool is $100. The winner at that table receives $50, second place wins $30, and third place receives $20. In other words, you don’t have to take first place to make a profit. As you progress in your poker skills, you will start to win some of those tournaments.
Small online tournaments are fun and exciting, and they give you a big bang for your buck. Play one and you’ll see what I mean.
Every day CarbonPoker gives players the chance to earn themselves an entry into the World Series by playing in the lower buy-in satellite tournaments. There are multi table tournament (MTT) and Sit’n'Go satellites starting from as low as $2 buy-in.
Players may buy in at any level or work their way up to the Grand Final events, where either large guaranteed prize pools or $12,500 real life tournament packages are given away.
World Series Satellite Tournament Schedule
* Sit’n'Go - $2, $10 & $55 tournaments registering 24/7, visit the Tournaments > Sit’n'Go > Satellite tab of the CarbonPoker software
* $2 MTT - Every day at 06:30, 09:00, 13:45, 16:00, 20:30 & 00:00 CarbonPoker time. (GMT-5 / ET-1)
Budgeting your time is very important when you’re playing tournament poker online. You need to know how much time you have to play poker before you sign up for an online tournament. Don’t play if you’re in a hurry. You can’t play in a multitable tournament in which there are 1,000 players if you don’t have four to six hours to devote to playing in it. If you only have two hours, you will be tempted to play fast and throw offyour money because you need to be somewhere else in a short time. Rather than playing a big-field event, play a single-table tournament that will take only an hour to play if you win it.
f you’re on a limited time schedule, you can play a sit-and-go tournament. A sit-and-go event is one in which there is no predetermined starting time. Players sit down at a table one by one, and as soon as the table fills up, the tournament begins. You may be the first player at the table, but as soon as the 10th player comes in, bang! The tournament is off and running instantly. (This is how single-table tournaments work, as well as some two- and three-table tournaments.)
In contrast, a multitable tournament is going to have a lot of players in it—and a big prize pool. Multitable events are posted on the site’s tournament schedule, and each has a specific starting time. You must register in advance for these tournaments. Suppose you want to enter a $20 buy-in Hold ‘Em tournament that begins on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. You can register a few days in advance or up to a few minutes prior to the scheduled starting time to play in that event. And you know that if you win that tournament, you’ll be sitting there until midnight (and perhaps partying the rest of the night).
Always choose the type of tournament that will best fit your time schedule.
Don’t always use the Advance Action tab even when you know what you’re going to do before it’s your turn to act. The Advance Action boxes are the little tabs that come up on your computer screen with options such as Bet, Check, Call, Call Any, Fold, Raise, Raise Any, and Raise Pot. In online poker, you have a chance to click one of those buttons before it’s your turn to act, whereas in land-based games you don’t have that option.
The Advance Action button is a nice feature in that it speeds up play. If a player knows she’s going to call, she can click the Call tab and instantly be entered into the pot when the action gets to her. (This action is nullified if someone in front of her raises the pot.) She doesn’t have to wait until her turn to make her decision. The same thing applies when she wants to fold or raise. If someone raises in front of you, your Advance Action is no longer in effect. A tab will appear that forces you to wait to act until it’s your turn in the betting sequence, just as you must do in a traditional casino.
There are tells that you should be aware of in online poker. One of the Advance Action tabs reads “Raise Any.” When you’re planning to raise the pot no matter what anybody else does, you can click that tab. Be forewarned, however, that when you click the Raise Any button, observant players will recognize that you have a big hand because you didn’t take any time in making your decision. This is one of the big tells in online poker. Essentially, your opponents can tell that you have a strong hand because the Advance Action tab lit up instantly, telling them that you intended to raise.
You may not be able to see the whites of your opponents’ eyes online, but you can tell something about the strength of their hands by their advanced betting actions. Don’t give your actions away— wait until it’s your turn to act, especially if you have a big hand.
