UFC 101 Betting Odds and Analysis

These boys better put on a show or the Philly fans will eat them for suppa. I don’t think they’ll be disappointed. There’s potential for lots of highlight footage in this show. In terms of bets I’m running primarily with chalk bets except for one shocker…I hope. Be sure to check out the lines being offered by 5 Dimes Sportsbook, they offer not only some of the best lines available, but some very intriguing prop bets. For example Forrest finishes the fight in round 3 +1540. There are over/unders, odds to finish in the distance (Penn in the distance –130). They are definitely worth a look ,I’ve been betting with them for a few months now and I’m very happy with the lines as well as the service .

Main card picks:
Forrest Griffin +300 (Bet $100 to win $300) BetUS
BJ Penn –230 (Bet $270 to win $100) BetUS
Amir Sadollah –115 (bet $115 to win $100) Bodog
Ricardo Almeida No bet unless odds hit -130 Josh Neer –200 (Bet $200 to win $100) BetUS

Undercard Picks:
Tamdan McCrory –180 No Bet
Thales Leites –345 No Bet Aaron Riley –160 No Bet
Matt Riddle -185 (bet $185 to win $100) BetUS
George Sotiropoulos –380 No bet
Danillo Vellefort –180 No Bet

Anderson Silva (-340 BetUS) vs. Forrest Griffin (+300 BetUS)

Nobody seems to be giving Forrest much of a chance. Yes he's had his shit conked by Jardine and Evans, but he's also stepped up and beat Rampage and Rua...That's huge, really. Anderson of course could put him away or possibly submit him. But Forrest is a machine and if he stays outside, works the leg kicks, and then shows off his new wrestling skills with some takedowns, he could hammer his way to a decision, or TKO…really!

Griffin’s size advantage in this fight should not be overlooked, he walks around at 240 and 6’3”. Silva’s walking weight is about 225. This fits right into the formula for a fighter to beat Silva. The other key ingredient is The ability to deal with an elite counter striker, Forrest has demonstrated this. The fight should be bad ass and the fact that Griffin has a real chance to topple the spider makes it even more exciting.

My first look at this fight I gave Griffin a 20-25% chance, but after looking closer at both of their training camps and looking closer at how these two match up in each aspect; I think Griffin wins 35-40% of the time. So yes, Silva should win, but Griffin wins often enough that at +300 there is a huge betting edge and it’s a bet I’m making.

Prediction: Griffin via TKO, Bet 1 unit to win 3 via BetUS

BJ Penn (-230 BetUS) vs Kenny Florian (+200 Bodog)

Technique or power, ground or striking? Typical questions for any match up, but in this one it's a bit cloudy. BJ's prowess on the ground is well know, but his finishes on the ground typically are initiated with strikes. Penn has greatly improved his cardio and has very smooth technical boxing with the fortunate addition of heavy hands. On top of all that, at light weight he's surprisingly strong and was not at a strength disadvantage with even the likes of Sherk. In the 155 division, no one has had enough power to control Penn on the ground, clinch, or feet. Does Florian?

Kenny, has continued to grow as a fighter as well as physically. He's put on a good amount of muscle over the last two years and now is able to comfortably grapple with any lightweight without having to rely solely on technique. His Muy Thai is also very impressive, especially his use of kicks to maintain a reach advantage and create space against grapplers.

In my eyes, Kenny is still at a disadvantage in most aspects of this fight. His striking is good but, it takes overwhelming power to control BJ so you can pummel that rock of a head endlessly (St. Pierre). He's a BJJ black belt, but he's not submitting the Hawaiian gumby. His best chance is the not so exciting prospect of out working BJ for 5 rounds. The last one is a real probability and if Florian can avoid getting lit up in the first two rounds he'll have a real chance of picking away at BJ in the final 3 rounds to pull out a huge decision.

My pick is BJ Penn to hand Kenny his first TKO loss since Diego lit him up in 2005. But if you think he can weather the storm and don't trust BJ's conditioning there's value in a Florian bet at +200.

Prediction: Penn via TKO, Bet 2.3 units to win 1 via BetUS

Amir Sadollah (-115 Bodog ) vs. Johny Hendricks (-100 BetUS)

Amir Sadollah is 1-0 in professional MMA, defeating C.B. Dollaway by armbar in the series finale. Sadollah is holds a black belt in Sambo. Amir trains with Xtrme Couture and is coming off a nearly 14 month hiatus due to a broken clavicle and staph infection.

Johny Hendricks (5-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) fought in the WEC before the welterweight division became part of the UFC. He’s a four-time All-American and two-time national champion from Oklahoma State. Hendricks trains at Team Takedown…which is a separate and very interesting story all it’s own…(Team Takedown sponsors the fighters offering seven-year contracts that include: salaries plus expenses, including houses, training, medical coverage and cars in exchange for half of their earnings).

Right, on to the fight. Amir’s advantage is in the ground game even from the bottom, while Hendricks holds an advantage in takedowns and GNP. In the end, even if Amir is being taken down he’ll be set up to finish the fight via submission. I still have questions about Sadollah’s year off but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and back him in this fight.

Prediction: Sadollah via submission, Bet 1.15 units to win 1

Kendall Grove (+150 BetUS) vs. Ricardo Almeida (-165 BetUS)
Ricardo Almeida (10-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) submission guru with not so great wrestling vs Kendall Grove (10-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) loooong Muy Thai striker who sometimes forgets he’s 6’6”. Each of these fighters haven’t quite lived up to everyone's hopes or expectations but they both have the tools to put the other away.

Grove must use his reach in this fight and avoid his favorite position the clinch. Almeida needs the fight to hit the ground and his shot sucks, but if Grove moves inside and starts throwing knees, it will be all to easy to get Grove down and detach one of those long limbs. As the fight wears on I think it will be apparent that Kendall is not going to get a KO and eventually Ricardo will wade in get Grove to the ground and quickly submit him.

I don’t completely like the odds on Almeida, I’ll wait to see if it gets closer to –130 or –125.

Prediction: Almeida via submission, Bet none until –130.

Josh Neer (-200 BetUS) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (+190 Bodog)
Look for an exciting fight between these two well-rounded lightweights. Josh Neer (25-7-1 MMA, 4-4 UFC) trains with Pat Miletich in Iowa. This will be Neer’s 4th fight as a UFC light weight and he really seems to be enjoying the fruits of being big for the division. Kurt Pellegrino (13-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) is a multiple time NAGA and Grapplers Quest winner and holding a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu.

This on is pretty simple If Neer can keep this fight standing, he should knock out Pellegrino. If Pellegrino gets the fight to the ground, he has the skills to finish Neer, but Neer's size and strength will make him tough to submit. Pelligrino’s striking isn’t that bad he’ll just be out gunned and facing a serious reach gap.

Prediction: Neer via TKO, Bet 2 units to win 1

Strip poker dream girl

I haven't posted squat in over a year, so why not just put up a pick of a cute chick. There's cards involved in the picture right?

God I kick Ass ?!?

Doublas put together a very nice post about self-decption in poker and how it effects your game, results, and image.

"Deception and poker go hand-in-hand. The game is all about making others think one thing when the truth is the opposite. In a situation where lies and deceit are all part of the game, it’s hard to be honest with the one person you need to tell the truth to: yourself. Here are some ways poker players self-deceive.

Self-Deception and Table Image in Poker

In poker, the table image is how others at the table perceive you. If you arrive at the table with a mountain of chips spilling all over, have a very loud personality and start betting into every pot, you will probably be perceived as......."

Click here to check his blog and read the rest of the post.

Poker and Sportsbooks Update

I'm back from beyond and sporting a new injury (broken arm), but if I take my time I can peck away at the keyboard with my left hand and I can sure as hell place bets! I want to mention a couple of nice changes at two of the sportsbooks I use.

First, Bodog has put a new payout method to use which lets you load winnings onto a debit card that you can use at a cash machine or store, very similar to the good old days with Netteller. You can have your winnings within a couple of days instead of waiting a week or more for a check!

Second, BetUS has totally revamped their sportsbook using a very slick interactive layout, which lets you see all of your betting options and payouts for your selections, ect. They've also added an interesting new twist, not only are they one of the only books offing Parlays for MMA, but now they offer multi-sport parlays and teasers. It's nice to have choices and the parlays can be a valuable tool when fight-cards are packed with heavy favorites. Also BetUS has moved their poker onto the Cake Poker Network, with great games.

You wanna make a bet....

Great Ass: That's an Understatement!

Wow, Keyra Augustina just blows my mind. I literally can't think for half an hour after I see her.

Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar Betting Odds and Analysis

I know it's a poker blog but there's alot of interest in this fight.

In the beginning of January Lesnar was coming in as a fairly heavy favorite (-200) and I suggested that due to experience and the match up of skills Mir should not be the underdog in this fight and the time was ripe for a bet on Mir at +160 (Mir vs Lesnar original betting post). Now that some time has past and bettors with more MMA experience have started bringing in their money, the lines have evened up a fair bit.

Mir is still a slight dog at +115 and a bet on him now isn't as strong of a value, so lets look at the match up and see what the straight pick is.

Frank Mir, former Heavywight Champ, has been slowly working his way back into top form since his accident in 2004. Just as he was looking most confident and fit, he was quickly stopped by Brandon Vera at UFC 65. Nine months later he returned to face another very strong striker in Antonio Hardonk and finished him with a kimura in just over a minute. Mir has been in the cage with many larger and stronger opponents, but what we've never seen is how Mir deals with a great wrestler. Most of his opponents have not been trying to take him down pass his guard and pound him out. Ideally this style will feed into his BJJ game, where Mir is fantastic at taking advantage of any mistake. On the other hand, perhaps Brock will fit the mold of Matt Hughes or Randy Couture who used great wrestling and athleticism to overwhelm fighters of many styles.

Brock Lesnar as an MMA fighter is pretty much a complete unknown. His debut fight did not provide a ton of insight. He did show he can still wrestle and is extremely strong, but his competition was quite weak and provided no test of any kind. A few fighters he trained with (Tim Sylvia) say he doesn't deal well with strikes or kicks and predicted an easy win for Mir. Of course from Tim's perspective he's remembering the Mir of old and his broken arm. Lesnar's best shot at a win is simple game plan... Takedown, control, pound, control, pound.

Lesnar will likely bring the heat early and Mir will look to stay outside weather the storm and search for errors and openings. Eventually Brock will get Mir on his back and then the show will be on. Brock will have a very hard time passing the guard of Frank and while he is working for that control his arms, legs, and neck will all be in danger. Mir will likely take some significant damage on his back, but during one of the many scrambles, Lesnar will likely offer up a limb for the taking and Frank will capitalize.

In short, Frank should be the favorite in this fight due to experience alone, but in terms of a match up he has slight advantage with the combination of his stand up and BJJ, meaning he's a good value at any odds that have him as a dog.

You wanna make a bet....

I love a great ASS

Sometimes it's best not to talk too much...

Online Casino with 3-D Horse Race Gaming

Sponsored Post:

Yet another interesting addition to the online casino world. Comadorecasino.com is now 0ffering 3-D Horse racing, it allows you to combine the fun of 3-D gaming with my favorite pastime...gambling, what more could you ask for.

How To Play - Before you begin a race, you must first decide on the stakes. These can be found in the “Credits Value” menu in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. You can set the stakes as low as $0.01 and as high as $1.00.

Choose a Track - Gold Cup Horse Racing offers three different tracks for you to choose from: American, Asian and European. With each track, realistic racing conditions will be provided. Conditions for the track can be grass, dirt or mud, and the sky can be either cloudy, sunset or night.

Getting to Know the Horses -Each horse in Gold Cup Horse Racing has its own name and personality, with factors like age, preferred conditions and wins vs. losses all coming in to play. You can view all of a horse’s stats by clicking on their name with the mouse. Each race will feature between five and ten competing horses.

BET - Betting on Gold Cup Horse Racing is easier than ever before. They've taken out complicated terms like “Place,” and “Trifecta,” and completely simplified the betting process.

To place a bet on a horse, all you have to do is choose one of the competing horses, and choose which of five places you think it will finish in. You can bet that one horse will finish first, a different horse will place second, a different horse in third, and so on. However, if you aren’t sure which you think will finish first or second, that’s ok too. You can hedge your bets by betting that the same horse will finish first and place second. If you’re so inclined, you can even bet that every horse will finish in every position!

To place these bets, use the mouse to click the box that corresponds to the horse you want to bet on, and the place you think it will finish. When you do this, a green marker will be placed in that box. You can play up to five credits in each box, adding credits with the left mouse button, and subtracting them with the right.

You can tell how much you have wagered by looking under the “Bet Amount” column, which will tell you the amount you have wagered on each horse. Next to this column is the “Possible Win” column, which will display the cash amount that you can win on each horse.

Comadore Casino is focused on European customers and is not currently available for North Americans. Outside of their new 3-D gaming the offer the full host of online casino games you expect from a solid gaming company.

3 Card Poker at Casino Bar

While checking out new online casino's I came across a game I hadn't played before at The Casino Bar. It was quick and simple and the house edge is only about 2.3%. The following is a sponsored review of Cansino Bar and their 3 Card Poker Game.

Casino Bar's 3 Card Poker Game3 card poker is two online games in one. The player may bet on either one of the games, both, and in different amounts. Both casino games are based on hands consisting of three cards. There are two ways of playing 3 Card Poker, "Pairs Plus" and "Ante and Play" Here's the basic rules for each.

Pairs Plus - This is a game in which you get three cards and are paid according to their value. The dealer's hand is immaterial. There is no raising and no discarding; in fact no skill of any kind is involved just pure good luck at this online casino game.

Ante & Play - Play begins with a wager on Ante. After the player views his three cards he may either "raise" by putting an equal bet on play or "fold" and lose the Ante bet. If the player does raise, believing he has better odds in the game, he goes against the dealer's hand. The dealer needs at least a queen high to qualify. Below are the possible outcomes and their payouts:
* Dealer does not qualify: Ante wins 1 to 1, play bet is returned.
* Dealer qualifies and player beats dealer: Both play and Ante win 1 to 1.
* Dealer qualifies and dealer beats player: Both Play and Ante lose.
* Dealer qualifies and dealer ties player: Both Play and Ante push.

These games are about as simple as they come. It's an interesting way to pass some time and if you manage your winnings well and stop when your ahead you could make a few bucks. Check out 3 card poker and the other available casino games at Casino Bar

Student Wins $96K Poker Tournament

Daniel Booth a 19-year-old university student and part-time supermarket shelf-stacker has won $96,000 at a poker tournament in Adelaide.Daniel who has only been playing the game seriously for five months won the inaugural Adelaide Holdem Championship at the Skycity Casino over the weekend which featured Australian poker star Joe Hachem.

The tournament carried a total prize pool of more than $340,000 and included players from around Australia and overseas. Many paid a $3,000 entry fee while others, like Daniel Booth, won a seat at the table through a series of regional poker tournaments."I never dreamed I would win this tournament especially since I was up against so many of the worlds best," he said. "I've only recently started playing poker and taking it seriously since the poker league started in Adelaide pubs and hotels in June of this year."Hachem, who shot to fame when he won the World Series of Poker in 2005 and a prize of more than $7 million, was knocked out of the tournament on Saturday night but stayed around to present the cash prize to the winner.

"It's fantastic that such a young man who is playing his first live poker tournament for cash triumphs," he said.Daniel’s life returned to normal though on Sunday. He was back to work for a double-time shift!

Gin Rummy at Rummy Royal

If you're looking for something a little different from the "Cadillac of Poker" playing gin rummy for money is a great option. I've checked out a few sites and here I'm going to provide a sponsored review for Rummy Royal:

The first thing I look at in any gaming situation is what does it take to get money in and out. The simplest mode for moving money in this platform is PayPal, they also use Moneybookers, credit cards, and wire transfers. Also interesting is that gin rummy is seen as a game of skill like chess and playing for money is currently not considered online gambling. As with most online gaming there is an intial depost bonus as well of 100% up to $200. You can also just play for free as long as you like. The number of players is still increasing and it's very easy to find a game.

The Playing platform is Flash based and has a 3D look similar to that of Pokerroom.com (gin rummy table preview). The layouts at the table are straight forward and logical. The flow and speed of the games are good.

The competition is highly variable. Many excellent players are there but the vast majority are complete newbs. It's a bit like the early days of online poker when you just had to find a good pond and go fishing.

The games offered include: Gin Rummy in single table tournaments with either an elimination or multi-round format. There are also multi-table tournaments with wider splits in the pot. These formats are also available for Oklahoma Gin (one of the most popular Gin Rummy variants), Kahluki and Traditional Rummy.

You don't have to be from the midwest to enjoy this game and although the basic rules are very simple there is a significant amount of strategy required to take any given tournament. Finding yourself in a rummy winning streak gives me a real sense of being "on" and can provide a nice little bit of ching in the pocket as well.

Give the free play a try when you have a little time on your hands and if you find that you have a knack for it, drop a few dimes and see how you do.

Poker Just For Fun ???

Yes, believe it or not, I play just for fun these days. I'm playing maybe 5,000 hands a month and a lot of it is Omaha H/L. Just something different and I'm still running in the + so I can't complain.

I split my play time evenly between Absolute, Full Tilt, and Bodog. The Omaha action has been the best at FT, but there's plenty of fishy players at all of them.

I'm still putting most of my free time into handicapping UFC and Pride fights at UFC Betting Odds and UFCMania.com. April was a very busy month with 3 full fight cards to research (29 fights) and of course that job thing takes up a lot of my time.

Three Aces...Hold 'em or Lay 'em down? The joys of Omaha.

Free Roll With The Main's Domain

"TheMain" man was on a pretty good tear last month and is looking to top himself in April. As insentive to himself, he's planning on putting up a percentage of his winnings in a freeroll at PokerStars.com. There will be a bounty on his head as well as some nice change up for grabs.

Follow TheMains progress and check out his site for some solid tips.

New Fight Handicapper for UFCMania.com

I've been eerily absent from my poker blog for some time now, but don't worry (I know my thousands of readers are). I still play at Bodog, Absolute Poker and Full Tilt Poker. Getting money in and out has become a bit easier these days, but I sure miss the good ol' Neteller days. I'm down to about 5,000 hands a month right now and enjoying some low limit PL OMAHA H/L. Low limit players often don't know what game they are playing and with patience it's pretty easy to pull entire stacks in one hand.

Most of my online time these days is invested in a new venture as the fight handicapper for UFCMania.com and my own UFC Betting blog. Betting on the fights itself doesn't take much time but researching bouts and writing articles definitely does for me. It's a great chance to combine my competitive fight loving side with my obsessive gambling side, what could be more fun.

I'm working with Bodog on a very exciting Poker/MMA fighting promotion, I provide more details once things are set.

Poker Tables at Cardroom Supply

Two months ago I reviewed the Cardroom Supply web site and ended up buying a foldable poker table from them. With all the troubles for americans trying to play online the timing couldn't have been better. Cardroom Supply has paid me to review the poker table and their web site.

My first concern buying a poker table online was the cost of shipping something so bulky. That worry was put to rest by Cardroom Supply, shipping is FREE on all purchases over $100, that's huge. the shipment came within a week, it was well packaged and arrived in perfect condition. The table itself is solid and well built, it folds up easily and we can put it on a shelf out of sight in our wharehouse. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts we play cards at work (after hours of course) and we need to keep our wharehouse floor open during the day. We considered just playing on a regular folding table but there there really is nothing like playing on a nice felt table with a padded rail and drink holder. Poker is as much about atmosphere as it is money.

I would tell you more about Cardroom Supplies customer service, but everything went so well, I haven't need to talk to them. The online process of buying the poker table was easy and secure. I had my shipping notice withing 2 days and knew exactly when it was going to show up so I could meet the shipment. We have a ten person tournament tonight and it's funny how excited people get just because we have an actual poker table. Good flops to you all.

Playing At Bodog Poker

Well after chasing down many possible methods of funding one of my poker accounts BODOG.com offered NuCharge as a deposit option. It took me about 5 minutes and I was back in business. Absolute Poker has informed me that they also have a similar deposit method coming oline this week. It was nice to sit down at the online table again and rake in some money. Doubled up my account in about 5 hours. I recently bought a home poker table with some work buddies and that makes for a great time once or twice a week. The pace isn't as fast or the money as good but the beer tastes a hell of a lot better when you're not alone.

No Neteller No Love No Poker

Well I've been buried in work and life for the last month and a half and playing no poker. Fortunately, I pulled all of my money out of the ro0ms so I could enjoy the fruits of my labor. Then all the ewallet, Neteller, yada yada went down and I've been putting off getting back into to online poker. I attemped to set up an account with www.epassporte.com which is still running and accepted at many of the big poker rooms. Unfortunately, my bank won't allow me to send money to epassporte because the are linked to online gambling. I feel like I'm trying to buy drugs or something. I don't want to use a credit card so I'm finding myself in a poker desert. Anyone who has found a a decent way around all this let me know (outside of moving out of the country). Good flops to you all.

My new poker table from Cardroom Supply

I have what most people would call a VERY relaxed work environment. Recently my co-workers and I decided that we should move our weekly poker games to our warehouse behind our office. We’ve always just played on the kitchen table at whatever house we go to each week, but it’s always lacking the feel you get when you play on a felt poker table. So we had talked about building our own, but that ideal has gone nowhere (we’re just to lazy). Our next ideal was to pool a little money and buy a table, so I recently started checking out online poker table suppliers. My favorite sites were HomePokerTourney's page for building your own table and Cardroom Supply if you want to buy one.

We specifically wanted a folding table (legs), but we found something even better at Cardroom Supply. It’s a folding table top that sits on top of an existing table, it’s very easy to store, only costs $175 and shipping is free. Everyone is psyched to set up our new poker room. As it turns out Cardroom Supply has also paid me to review their site here on my blog, which I am happy to do. They are a solid company with a huge selection of poker supplies. The web site design is well laid out and easy to navigate. I gave their costumer service line a try and I was helped immediately and treated well. I also feel that their prices are excellent for the products offered especially considering that shipping is FREE on all orders over $100, which is huge for me since I live in the middle of the freak’in desert. All in all great site, great product, great service, We got exactly what we wanted and didn’t even know we wanted it.

CardsChat Forum

In the day and age of angry 2+2 forum members, who lash out calling you a moron for every question you ask, it's nice to go to a forum filled with players seeking and giving genuine advice. The range of topics in the forum covered all of my points of interest on and of the table. They also offer a nice range of tools such as odds calculators, hand analysis, ect. Cardschat has a blog as well which focuses on poker strategy, poker site reviews and of course Paulson's personal poker experiences. If you are looking for a real poker community feal in a forum give cardschat a try.

This was a paid review

Poker Tracker vs Poker Office 2

I'll start by saying I've used Poker Tracker for about 3 years now and have been very happy. But, I'm always open to improvements. For myself the key ingredients to the perfect stats software are flexibility, function, real-time usability, coverage of multiple poker sites, ability to track tournaments and ring games, and of course as much detail on my opponents play as possible. So last year I gave Poker Office 2 a six month try-out.

My current set up includes Poker Tracker running with two add-ons, GameTime +, and I also use Poker Grapher to visually track my earnings. So during actual play I have 2 programs running, and GT+ must be told which table is which. It can get a bit taxing on the CPU but the realtime heads up stats display really helps with decision making. what's missing in the table view with GT is pot odds, hand rank, mucked card info, and the ability to track tournament play live. There is an add on called Poker Ace HUD which will provide all of these features for an additional $25. Poker tracker supports more sites than any other stats package, in fact Poker Tracker supports ALL of the US player friendly poker rooms. Poker Tracker has the distinction of being the most used and upgraded stats programs out there, but it doesn't mean it's perfect.

Poker Office 2, the first thing I noticed is that it's all in one super clean package; stats, realtime display, graphing, opposition stats and real-time play info like pot odds, hand rank, and mucked cards. The next big difference was CPU memory usage during play, Poker Office 2 is much more efficient. They support over 50 poker sites, unfortunately they don't support Absolute Poker or World Poker yet. If you brain and monitors will allow, you can track up to 10 tables at once. The integrated graphing is clean and very flexible. Another big plus for me is the number of sites they cover tournaments for (real-time). I got to tell you Just on looks and effieciency alone I was ready to switch, but I put poker office to the test for 6 months to give me a feel for it's realtime usability. The result TWO THUMBS UP... WAY UP! It was an easy process to convert all my Poker Tracker databases to Poker Office 2. As most software packages do, Poker Office 2 offers the program free if you sign up with an advertised poker room. These are great offers in my opinion. You deposit $50 bucks and play 200 raked hands and the software is yours, and of course youv'e already double your stack...right.

Overall, the decision between Poker Tracker vs Poker Office 2 comes down to what sites you play poker at, how much CPU effieciency you need, and how much control you want over your data. Poker Office 2 stands out for 1) All in one software package, 2) Greater CPU efficiency during play, and 3) Realtime stats for tournaments at more poker sites. Poker Tracker stands out for 1) The most in depth and flexible stats program, 2) They support ALL US Player friendly sites, and 3) They have the highest level of technical support.

I am a US player who prefers Absolute Poker therfore I currently use Poker Tracker, however when Poker Office 2 gets their support for my poker rooms up I will be switching back to Poker Office 2.

Back to Absolute and Poker Tracker

I'm back to playing at Absolute Poker and back to my winning ways. I've really missed the fish. The people flowing in from Party and other sites seems to have really helped out. A lot of players at lower limits are playing desperate WSOP all in bluff style poker. it's made for a very nice week and a half back at the tables.

I'm also back to using Poker Tracker they currently support ALL of the rooms which US players can play at....especially Absolute Poker.

I'm also a little late to the game but, I'll be playing at the poker bloggers tour, we poker blogtards make for great games and some really fun trash talk.

Poker Rooms still Accepting US Players

With the recent passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act, many players assumed that the name meant what is says. It does not. The new law does not make online poker a crime. The new applies to banks and financial institutions. You cannot be arrested for playing online poker because of this new law.

Many large poker sites are no longer accepting US players, namely Party Poker, Poker Room, and Pacific Poker. Their decision is based on being publicly traded stocks of the London Stock exchange, so they must abide by laws in all countries in which they operate.

Here is a list of the poker rooms still accepting US players. These sites have made specific statements that they are here to stay and that all funds deposited with them will be available and secure.

AbsolutePoker.com

UltimateBet (They went private just before the law passed so they could keep and continue to accept US players....Koodos to Ultimate.)

FULL TILT POKER



POKER.COM

POKER STARS (They have postponed their upcoming IPO with the London Stock Exchange in light of the new law and are considering their options, they are now the largest online poker room and no doubt would like to stay there.)

WORLD POKER EXCHANGE


In terms of funding your accounts and withdrawing money NETELLER is still the best option and accepted by all the poker rooms listed above. Some sites such as Firepay will no longer send money to gambling sites.

Show your support for these companies which are fighting the battle and I would urge all online poker players to go to Poker Players Alliance and sign up. They are a non-profit group who is supporting online poker. Please check out their site and join all the other poker players who have become members.

NL Tournament for UFC 65 Tickets

So outside of poker I love MMA fighting and especially the big UFC events. I'm heading to Anahiem this week with my wife to see UFC 63, we're totally pysched. The damn tickets are expensive ($200 each for mid level). So I had an ideal....why not put on a poker tournament for UFC fans and use the affiliate commissions to put up some sweet UFC Tickets. I've started checking around with both poker players and MMA folks to see if there is an interest. So far it seems pretty positive from the fight lovers.

Now I'm curious what the poker players think. The people would have to be new players to Pokerroom, to collect the affiliate $$. The buy-in would be $22, the payout would follow standard percentages for the cash prize pool with the bonus of 2 mid level tickets going to the winner. A minimum of 20 players would be needed. If I can find 30 players we can bump the winners tickets up to 100 level tickets ($450 ea) and give a mid level ticket to both 2nd and 3rd place.

UFC 65 should happen in mid Nov. in Vegas at the Mandalay Bay. The Tournament would happen in in mid Oct.

Do any of you think this is a good offer and would you be interested in playing?

UFC Poker Tournaments Blog has more details.

The Summer Rolls By

Not alot happing on the poker front, I've had a couple weeks of the river so I've played a little. I've been playing almost entirely at World Poker Exchange, the rake rebate is just too good to be true. I play tourneies on a few other sites but right now my mind is on relaxing. This weekend I head back out on the river and I won't be done until the end of October, by which time I'll be ready to sit on my ass and play some serious cards. I did place a few bets on the WSOP $10,000 championship, the odds are OK, so I'm dropping a few dimes on Ivey and the "Grinder" to win. I'm also placing a few bets on who will make the final table (I let the big boys make little money for me).

Hope all you blogtards have a great fall, I be peeking in to keep an eye on you.

No Rake Poker

This is just a reminder about World Poker Exchange they are the only rake free poker site on the net. They do not take affiliates nor do they advertise much. The site however, is for real. An article in last months Card Player Magazine highlights Haden Ware and his pioneering ideals in online betting and gaming and his great success with World Sports Exchange.

The way the program is run is that rake and tourney fees are collected as normal, but it is tracked (you have a page you can check daily) and then 100% of the rake and fees are returned to your account each Monday. For those of you who play a lot and get rake rebates of 20-40%, you know what an important part of your income rake rebate is, and quadrupling it is pretty damn sweet! There are typically around 1,000-1,500 players most days, and this is why I keep mentioning the sight it needs more players. 90% of the players on there right now play somewhere between Tight Aggressive and Tight Timid, most seem happy to play it safe and collect their weekly rake. Give it a shot and tell me what you think.

Spring Poker Round Up

Well, I'm still spending most of my days on the river, but I play ring games whever I get a little time. I cashed out my accounts in 2 rooms and bought myself some toys (why play if your not going to enjoy the fruits...right?). I've been reading alot working on devoloping my tournament play, which I hope to hit hard during July. Not much else going on besides floating rivers and dreaming of cowgirls.

Best of luck to you all....

World Poker Exchange

A buddy pointed me to World Poker Exchange it's part of the World Sports Betting Site. They are currnetly offering 100% rake back, which is returned weekly. They say they are doing this to bring additional bettors for their main site and believe they can maintain their poker site as rake free. They are a very large successful betting site so maybe it will work for them. I've been playing there a bit for 3 weeks now and they have rebated all of my rake each week. The software is not my favorite but it's OK. The traffic is 800-1500 depending on time of day. They also run small garaunteed tournies that generally have a very good overlay due to the low traffic. I have not played the higher limit tables yet but the rake rebate appears to make people looser (looking to play more hands and return more rake I suppose). Limit and NL Holdem are the only games which people are playing.

They don't have an affiliate program so all of their traffic is genrated from in-house ads and word of mouth. So get in there and play I some competition.

Time to squeeze the fish

March is gone and so is most of my free time. As an endangered fish biologist, I start my field season in earnest now. I just got off the San Juan River and I have about 100 more days on the river before the season is over. Fish squeezer livin on the river...that's me.

The limit games went well for most of March and I've banked another nice stash on rake back. But, now that I have little time to play I'll concentrate on the occasional $1 or $2 NL game. I've also gone back on my word to myself. I'm playing at Pokershare.com again. I'm a sucker for bonuses and money sitting in an account with my name on it. They put $50 back in my account and added a 100% bonus to anything I deposited, so I dropped a hudred bucks in. Any one else take thier offer??? I still like the general "PokerShare" idea so I'll play it out.

The new software is pretty good. The traffic is almost 100% Euro folks on the TAIN Network. I'm doing well on the $1 NL tables playing as a LAG. The gauranteed tournies seem to be another place with good potential... not many entrants.

Update: Changing gears to focus on rake rebate

So, my February test period at Absolute Poker is over. I made a major change in my ring game play last month. I moved up in limits from $1 and $2 no-limit tables to $3/6 limit games (6 handed). The ideal was to increase my return on rake rebate and try to even out my earnings for the month. Because I play limit games a bit more mechanically, it's easier for me to multi-table. I played 3 - 4 tables for 3-4 hours, and 4 to 5 days a week, which resulted in just over 25,000 hands. I started off with a real bang I my first 3 sessions I was up over $600 in about 1000 hands (I'd retire in a year if I could maintain 60 bb/100 hands). Of course the fire died, but I maintained a very respectable 1.3 bb/100 hands for the month ($1,958). My rake rebate was the best I've ever had with an additional $1,158 hitting my account. Now It's decision time, a new month is apon me and I'm easily bored with hours of multi-tabling, but for a fish squeezer like me that's a lot of money. So I will continue with this line of play for March and see how I hold up while squeezing in the occasional weekend tournament. If you are in need of a great rake rabate deal from the top sites nobody beats the offers and service of Thisisthenuts.com

I don't know what it is about tourney play but I really love it. In the end my goals lead me to playing large $$ tournaments (like so many of the poker blogsphere). I think it's the desire to be the best, or be challenged by others for a like goal. Absolute Poker and PokerRoom both have some decent tournaments with good overlays that I dabble in, but lately I've been drawn to Full Tilt Poker because of the number of pro-players you can watch and play against. Two weeks ago I played in a $1 buy-in Razz tournament and was seated with Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, How cool is that! Then I sat and watched Phil Ivey play a couple of NL heads-up cash games. On any given night you can watch or play against the top pros. There's a lot to be said for learning from watching the best. So I'm transfering $1,000 into my FullTilt acct and chasing my tournament dreams there.

KK streak continues

Wow, I changed up my style of play became much more agressive in the later game and built up a great stack. Down to 110 people in a tournament of 500ish. Once agian I'm in middle position, w KK and raise 5x the BB. A player with a stack just a little bigger than mine goes all-in. He has raised 5 of the last 5 hands and ( and sucked out with crap 4 times) I call knowing I'm going to get sucked out on somthing, but damnit someone has put the kibosh on this donk. He shows 66 the board unfolds 897...2...5. The maniac catches the str8 and I'm out on kings again. That's 5 in a row for the Pokerroom tournament. I'm on fire baby.

European Daily Tournament at Pokerroom.com

This has become my tournament of choice if I have time to play one. I've place in the money 3 of my last 4 outings, so I'm fairly happy about that. What's interesting is that every tourny has ended in me going all-in with KK and getting cracked by garbagio. Today was no different. It was down to 3 tables blinds are 500/1000 the 8 biggest stacks are all at the table (30-18,000) I'm sitting on 7,5oo in middle position. The UTG with 7,600 raises to 2000, I push and I know he will call because he's committed and the blinds are hitting. He calls and shows Ah4s , great...I like my odds flop comes 8s 4d 6s...hmmm.....turn 9s.....oh boy.....river 10 spade of course. That's poker of course but I think one of my biggest problems is when I get to the final 3 tables I'm often in the red or yellow zone, having to push to play, looking to win what seem like easy races. But one goes wrong and I'm out. I play pretty tight and that is what gets me in the money, but I think my end / bubble play is hurting me. Back to studying Harrington II, something has to help.

Scheduled Tournaments at my Favorite Poker Sites

Online Poker Tournament Listings provided by TournamentMonitor.com

A step up in table limits

At Absolute Poker I have switched my play for the next month to the $3/6 limit tables. The action has been very good but my play has been a bit variable. The time of day seems to have really made a difference in the level of competition. As with most sites playing at night has been the most profitable but also the most variable. It never ceases to amaze me that even at these limits there are people capping a 3 bet with 104 o and calling down to the river in the hopes to catch a 3 outer. Of course they will catch sometimes and I'll bang my head on the screen, but in the end their money ends up in my account. The other reason I switched to the 3/6 limit tables is to increase the value of my rake rebate. By playing tables where more rake is collected I am able to more or less gaurantee a certain level of monthly income. In real terms it means an extra 3 cents per hand above what I made in January or $300 per 10,000 hands.

Pimped Link With the Shark

I have exchanged links with Shark's bad a$$ (an original sharkism) blog the Road Warrior. He's a poker Player and owner of the Shark Powered Network, Shark runs herd on a bunch of chip tossin' loonies, helps run several websites and is part of the Shark Staked players team.

New Poker Drink of Choice - Pimp Juice

Oh hell ya, I gotta get me some 'O dat. MMM a big phat goblet wit my initials on it. You be pay'n yo respect at da tables now.

Sorry, that was just lame, but really man.... Pimp Juice... No shit... I'm drinking this at all my live games. How could you go wrong.

Check out their web site, Sweeet pimp'n graphics

LetitLoose.com

Do I Have To Choose A Favorite

Opposing forces are at work in my wee brain. One side says you know what you're good at stick with it and be happy with the money you make. The other side (a voice from a little lower in my body) says you've got the skills play bigger, play more, try everything, win everything.

I've been working half assed at MTT's with OK results but, I just don't have the time to dedicate myself to the 5 hr games. I've also started playing more limit short handed ring games. My BB/100 hands at the 3/6 games is around 13 which is fantastic ( You've got to love the fish at Absolute Poker). So I'm going to build up my BR with this play for the next 20-30,000 hands and see where I stand. If solid returns continue, I will move up to the 5/10's. I will also continue to play a couple of MTT's a week.

Any suggestions on Tournaments worth dropping $100 on?

Poker Tracker vs Poker Office 2

I'll start by saying I've used Poker Tracker for over 2 years now and have been very happy. But, I'm always open to improvements. For myself the key ingredients to the perfect stats software are flexibility, function, real-time usability, coverage of multiple poker sites, ability to track tournaments and ring games, and of course as much detail on my opponents play as possible.

My current set up includes Poker Tracker running with two add-ons, GameTime +, and I also use Poker Grapher to visually track my earnings. So during actual play I have 2 programs running, and GT+ must be told which table is which. It can get a bit taxing on the CPU but the realtime heads up stats display really helps with decision making. what's missing in the table view with GT is pot odds, hand rank, mucked card info, and the ability to track tournament play live. There is an add on called Poker Ace HUD which will provide all of these features for an additional $25. Poker tracker supports most sites but it's original design was for volume play at Party Poker sites, but you need a computer with a lot of memory to play 4-8 tables using 3 interacting programs. Poker Tracker has the distinction of being the most used and upgraded stats programs out there, but it doesn't mean it's perfect.

Poker Office 2, the first thing I noticed is that it's all in one super clean package; stats, realtime display, graphing, opposition stats and real-time play info like pot odds, hand rank, and mucked cards. The next big difference was CPU memory usage during play, Poker Office 2 is much more efficient. They support over 50 poker sites so coverage is not a problem. If you brain and monitors will allow, you can track up to 10 tables at once. The integrated graphing is clean and very flexible. Another big plus for me is the number of sites they cover tournaments for (real-time). I got to tell you Just on looks and effieciency alone I was ready to switch, but I put poker office to the test for 4,000 hands, not a ton but it really gave me a feel for it's realtime usability. The result TWO THUMBS UP... WAY UP! It was an easy process to convert all my Poker Tracker databases to Poker Office 2.

As most software packages do, Poker Office 2 offers the program free if you sign up with CDPoker or Noble Poker through them. These are great offers in my opinion. You deposit $50 bucks and play 200 raked hands and the software is yours. I went the Empire route, deposited $50 (got a $10 bonus) cleared the raked hands and the bonus in about 3 hrs. (Note as of Feb 22 Empire is no longer avail.)

Overall, both Poker Tracker and Poker Office 2 are incredibley powerful stats packages which provide great details about your play and the pay of your competition. The key factors which make Poker Office 2 stand out are; 1) All in one software package 2) Greater CPU efficiency during play 3) Realtime stats for tournaments at more poker sites and 4) It's just plain sexy.

New 3 Column Blog Layout

I've updated to a new three column template provided by isnaini.com. So far I really like the flexability of 3 columns and I think the look is full but clean. Give the a Try if you like this layout.

Bonus Pimping to Start My Bankroll

This is an overview of how I started my poker bankroll. Last winter I was visiting my mother and the subject of poker came up, I told her that I had been playing quite a bit how I started and how easy it was. Well during our family games she always kicks my ass so she decided to try a little online action. I gave some instruction on the fundementals of tight Agg Limit holdem and told her which sites to go to for the best bonuses.

Mom's Bonus Pimping Results

My Bonus Pimping Results

As you can see my end result was better, but I invested more time and felt more confident in my play. Mom however just din't want to lose her money and became extremely tight. She was happy to walk away with $500 bucks.

Taking advantage of the poker rooms offer to bring you in is a great way to get your feet wet have fun and maybe even start some serious money making.

I reccomend starting with Party Poker because their intial deposit is cheap ($50) and the $25 bonus is very easy to clear. Most people clear it in 1-2 days, and being the largest poker room on earth means you can play what ever level you like whenever you like.

To sign up with Party Poker use:

BONUS REFFERAL CODE - MOAB

If you prefer to start with a bigger bonus (ie 200% or 100%) then follow the links on the right under the heading Bonus Offers. I have played at all of these sites and collected their full bonus offers.

Absolute Poker is Still My Favorite Poker Room

Back to what I do best and the right tables for me. at NL $1 tables I'm a winner in over 83% of my sessions. It only took 1,200 hands to make back every thing I blew at the $4 table debacle. My tracker graph cover my last 7,000 hands at AP ring games.

I have also been playing NL ring games at party poker and Bet on Bet (a pokerroom skin). I have been a winner in those rooms as well but not to the same extent.

I've also gotten back to working on my tournament play in both MT and SNG types of games. Again Absolute Poker is where I have had the most success especially at MT Tournaments. In the last 2 weeks I have entered 10 $5 or $10 buy-in MT's. I was in the money in 4/10 place second in one ($498) and tonight I got my 1st tourney win ever $10 buy-in 178 people ($443).

Money won is always sweeter than money earned....