Some players get some backing from either companies or individuals.  The backing helps them make the step-up to the next level and gives them the confidence to take on better poker players.

Lets face it all sports have coaches and some even have a whole team that will help their players from psychologists to physiotherapists.  So why not poker?

Sometimes we just need a little help from outside, someone who will look from a different angle and tell us what to work on to improve.  Thats if you will listen to it of course.  So if you are  a good poker player and want the extra help to fast-track your progress to the top tables, look around for someone who will back you.

Let me just warn you though, its not for everyone, some people don’t like playing with other people’s money and get nervous.  Then again you also get people who don’t play well when the high buy-ins and bets are coming from their own pockets.

What do you think of sports pros making a comeback?  Lance Armstrong trying to win another Tour de France… sports people having to face up to retirement must be hard enough, but coming out of retirement and training again to get to the top must be very dificult.

Psychologically you know that you used to be able to do it, but it must be hard to get to the top again.  Everyone knows what it is like to try and regain your fitness after a long layoff… its tough!!

Nice thing about poker is that you can be any age and still play.  Look at Doyle Brunson, he is still as sharp as ever!  And no-one is ever going to take that experience away!

Event 50 at the 2009 WSOP has just ended, with Greg “FBT” Mueller taking the bracelet at the $1,500 Limit Hold’em game.  He becomes one of few double bracelet winners at this year’s World Series of Poker, joining other great poker players like Phil Ivey, Brock Parker and Jeffrey Lissandro, who have also won two bracelets thus far.

Mueller got very lucky right at the end when he managed to hold out with a top kicker of 5h against Marc Naalden’s 2s… phew!!  Both players held a king which they managed to pair on the turn card, they both raised each other, with neither backing down, until Naalden went all in.  All-in with a pair of kings and a 2s as a kicker… but suppose you can’t criticize… Naalden has also won a bracelet at this year’s series, unusual to have two winners of previous events heads-up against each other.

Find your trusted online poker site, and catch up on the latest WSOP tournament news to see how players are doing.  There is event news every day, with a continual stream of events leading up to the big prize at the end – the main event.

There are the big names of poker there, the well known poker professionals that compete on all the major poker tours and tourneys, appear on poker television shows and have become celebrities.  Interesting to always see new names at the final tables, as new players rise through the system.

You will need a few items at home before taking on the world’s best players at the World Series of Poker. First, I recommend purchasing a few books about Texas hold’em. If you have trouble deciding which book to buy, then you need to ask yourself whose book to buy instead. Almost every famous modern poker player has a book out on their personal tips and game strategy. I personally am a fan of Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth, but I advise you to watch the pros on TV and then decide which personality you want to be when you sit down at the table.

That brings me to the poker table itself. Everyone should have a good-quality table at home in order to practice regularly with friends (and hopefully win their money as well). Why not make it custom poker tables? We’ve literally got the best poker tables at the best prices: we invite you to shop around and prove us wrong.

Once you’ve learned some playing strategy and have a poker table you can be proud of, it’s time to put the plan in action. Invite over some friends and work on your game. Look for tells, study personalities and your competitors’ ways of playing. Then with a bit of courage, try your luck playing Texas Hold’em in a casino or card club. Stick to low ante tables and get ready to strike when they deal you the monster. Do that for a few years and you’re on your way to being a world class Texas Hold’em poker player.

One of my all time top texas holdem players is Doyle Brunson.  The Big Pappa is the Texas in Texas Holdem!!

I dont want to go into great detail about Doyle Brunson and his life, if you want to know more about his poker career then look at his website, it has a comprehensive breakdown of everything the Legend of Poker has done and still does.

All I can say is that he is one of the most well known characters of poker – a true legend of the game.

Watching the 10 time WSOP Champion still compete against the young guns, is a true privilege.  Even though Doyle is 75 years old he still holds his own at the poker table.  In the last episode of season 5 High Stakes Poker he plays against young Dario Minieri from Rome, Italy and Tom “Durrrr” Dwan.  No limit Texas Holdem at its best!!!

Doyle plays a great hand of poker, heads up against Dwan, I won’t spoil it for you…  its true old school poker vs new school.  Afterwards, there is a wry comment of “Poker is fun” from Dwan…

Ladies and gentlemen, we have just witnessed the biggest pot in the history of High Stakes Poker!  Its huge!!!

You better believe it, because its true!  Tom Dwan and Barry Greenstein clashed earlier in the poker show, and Greenstein got the better of Dwan… but what will happen this time?  for this $925,000 pot… I’m all in, lets see what you got…

Daniel Negreanu has not had a lot of poker luck in this episode of High Stakes Poker, every time he has tried to get a winning hand together, the cards have not obliged.  When he did get the cards, no-one wanted to play poker…

Elezra and Sahamies dont have the best of it either.  Doyle Brunson continues to play tight poker, but the young ‘online poker’ guns, play loose poker – the older players can’t believe just how loose their poker play becomes sometimes!   It seems to work for Dwan.

Its pure poker entertainment… but let me not spoil it for you…

Take a look… this time its split into 3 clips.  Its your last chance to see these poker pros in action, the next High Stakes Poker show will have a different bunch of poker pros.

You have to watch High Stakes Poker down at the Golden Nugget, Sin City… makes great entertainment, I could watch it all day!  Good way to pick up some texas holdem tips.

One of the best things to watch, apart from how the poker pros play the cards, is the dialogue between them. Trying to put each other off their poker game, play out of their comfort zone and upset their poker strategy.

Peter Eastgate taking on Tom Dwan and getting to know each other better.  Hello Mr. Dwan this is the World Series of Poker champion… from Denmark, Northern Europe… across the Atlantic… just in case you didn’t know.  Or foreigners as Doyle Brunson refers to them…

A lot of poker action from Tom Dwan in this clip, even though his apparent nut hand gets beaten, he still does ok.  Dwan plays so many hands that the others think he has to be bluffing some of them, thing is he does have a run of good cards.  Thats poker!

The third annual National Heads-Up Championship has come to a close. A great line-up of poker players went head to head at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas this weekend and after the smoke had cleared Paul Wasicka was the last man standing.

The last year has been great to Paul Wasicka. Few had probably heard about Paul before he finished second in the World Series of Poker Main Event 2006, taking home over $6 million. He also finished in the money in two other events during last years WSOP. After that he has been seen in the fabulous TV-show High Stakes. And now he has finally proved once and for all that he is no one hit wonder – beating some of the best players in the world in no-limit Texas holdembecoming the new Heads-Up Champion.
Wasicka brought home $500,000 after beating Chad Brown in the final match. On the way to his final victory he also beat Joe Hachem, T.J.
Cloutier, Name Lee, and one of my personal favourites – Shannon Elisabeth. I think this will definitely be Wasicka’s year and will not be surprised if he managed to go far in this years WSOP as well.

So watch out for former bartender from Texas. He has only been playing for two years and will only be getting better.

Read more about no-limit Texas holdem here .

The World Championship of Online Poker has come to an end. The tournament action at Poker Stars has been truly amazing the last couple of weeks. People have been playing in record-breaking numbers and earlier this week the 2006 World Champion of Online Poker was crowned.
With over 2,500 players participating in the WCOOP Main Event it was not very likely that a well known player would manage to win it. With the ever increasing number of participants in major online and live tournaments we see more and more one hit wonders – players that win a large event and then disappears. But this was not the case this year. When the smoke had cleared J.C. “area23JC” Tran stood as the overall winner. Tran is no newbie on the poker scene. Born in Vietnam but living in Sacramento California. He started playing poker while studying business at Cal State University. After getting his Bachelor Degree in Business Management he discovered that he could make more money playing poker than on a regular day job and decided to give it a shot. It proved to be the right decision. Tran has several final tables both in WSOP and WPT and now he is also the World Champion of Online Poker. Congratulations to you J.C., hope you put the $670,000 to good use.

Read my Poker Stars review here.

At first he was sued for half his winnings and now he is accused of colluding. The Jamie Gold soap opera continues. The winner of the World Series of Poker main event is supposed to be an ambassador of poker, doing the talk shows, traveling the world, and in general showing poker at its best. Well, well in my opinion I can’t see why this has to be the case, I mean most people thought that Monemaker sucked when he became world champion 2003. Why does the WSOP champions have to represent poker, winning a tournament with over 8,000 players is a lottery, let great players like Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and others do it instead.

Ironically it does not look like this years WSOP winner is going to represent poker in a very positive manner, already accused of braking deals and colluding, he is not the same clean cut ambassador as Joseph Hachem or Greg Raymer. And it does not help that most of the poker community seem to think that the guy is a pompous prick.

I don’t know if he was colluding or not, but he has admitted himself, in an interview with Bluff Magazine, that he made agreements with other players at the table that allowed him to tell them how to act. So either he is telling the truth – then he is a cheat or he is lying, which means he is just plain stupid. I am sure we will hear more about this mess soon enough and I will definitely keep you posted.