Online Poker Players Descend on Capitol Hill

On Tuesday night, the poker Players Alliance held a charity poker tournament where several lawmakers, including Peter King (R-NY), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Shelley Berkeley (D-NV) and Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), played alongside the game's greats, like Howard (The Professor) Lederer, Annie Duke, Greg Raymer and Dennis Phillips. Proceeds went to the Washington Metro USO. The Poker Players Alliance receives a significant amount of support from veterans, particularly wounded and disabled vets who often find it difficult to get to casinos. An Army sergeant beat out the pros to win the tournament, netting a trip to Las Vegas.

In other lobbying activities this week, players told members of Congress thateffective regulation would offer consumer protection and prevent minorsfrom playing. Additionally, taxing poker sites could earning thegovernment a healthy revenue stream: one estimate valued the U.S. pokermarket at $1.5 billion.

Online Poker Betting Tips

Texas Holdem is the most popular poker variant. Poker is a card game in which players with fully or partially-concealed cards make wagers into a communal pot during the course of a hand, after which the pot is awarded to the player or players with the best combination of cards.

Multiplayer Poker is usually played with a standard 4-suit 52-card deck, but a joker or other wild cards may be added. The game is commonly played in card rooms (often within casinos), in private homes, and increasingly, on the Internet.

The card ranking is as follows: Ace (the highest), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (the lowest), Ace (this may also be the lowest card depending on the variation being used, but it is usually the highest).

There are four suits: Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs. No suit is higher than another. All poker hands contain five cards.

The use of Wild Cards depends on the variations and these take on whatever rank or suit the player wants these to take. A wild card can either be a separate card added like a joker or the player may specify a certain card in the standard deck to be wild like deuces, or whatever else.

The number of cards dealt is dependent on what type of game is being played.

During a given betting round, each player in turn may take one of these actions:

• Check which is a bet of zero that does not forfeit a player's interest in the pot;
• Bet or Raise which is a non-zero wager that is greater than preceding bets. All successive players must match or exceed this or else forfeit all interest in the pot;
• Call which is a non-zero bet equal to a preceding bet that maintains a player's interest in the pot; or
• Fold which is a surrender of interest in the pot in response to another player's bet, accompanied by the loss of one's cards and previous bets

poker usually proceeds in a circle until each player has either called all bets or folded. Different poker games have various numbers of betting rounds interspersed with the receipt or replacement of cards.

Betting limits apply to the amount a player may open or raise, and come in four common forms:

• No Limit
  A game played with a no limit betting structure allows each player to raise any amount of his stake at any time (subject to the table stakes rules and any other rules about raising).
• Pot Limit
  A game played with a pot limit betting structure allows any player to raise up to an amount equal to the size of the whole pot before the raise.
• Fixed Limit
  In a game played with a fixed limit betting structure, a player chooses only whether to bet or not - the amount is fixed by rule. Commonly later betting rounds specify higher bets than earlier rounds.
• Spread limit
  A game played with a spread limit betting structure allows a player to raise any amount within a specified range.

The player with the highest hand wins the game. The poker hand rankings are discussed here.

2009 World Series of Poker Starts 28th

Now that the final table has paused, ESPN can put those old World Series of Poker reruns to rest and roll out their 2009 footage.

ESPN has shuffled up their WSOP programming schedule this year, answering their viewer's requests for "more Main Event!" with 24-hours dedicated solely to the tournament of all tournaments. Bracelet events paid the price, as in addition to the Main Event, only Event #2, the special $40K anniversary tourney, will hand over any gold on ESPN.

The $40K event, which is a one-time event commemorating 40 years of the WSOP, will be the first to air. A two-hour episode will show Tuesday, July 28th at 8:00 p.m. ET. Two other two-hour episodes will follow Event #2 on the airwaves; the WSOP Champions Invitational and the Ante Up for Africa charity tournament.

The WSOP Champions Invitational is a freeroll that was held to reward all former Main Event winners. I lieu of a bracelet, you will be able to see the winner awarded the Binion Cup, presented by Jack Binion, and a shiny new car on the air on Tuesday, August 4th, at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Steven Begleiter-Online Poker Betting Player Profile

Steven Begleiter won’t be quitting his day job anytime soon. But after making the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, he’ll have some extra spending money to take back to his home in Chappaqua, NY.

Begleiter is a Senior Principal at investment firm Flexpoint Ford in New York City. Prior to joining Flexpoint Ford, he was a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns & Co. where he was a member of the firm’s Management and Compensation Committee. Begleiter puts a good amount of time into his career, but in his down time he enjoys playing poker with friends at a local home game, which is precisely where he earned his seat into the Main Event. Begleiter won a league to pay for his $10,000 seat and a percentage of his winning will be divided between the players in that game once the tournament is completed on November 10th.

He’s described his run in the Main Event to many media outlets as “dancing between raindrops in the middle of a minefield.” Begleiter survived through a field of 6,494 to earn his seat as a member of the November Nine, which guarantees him a minimum payout of $1,263,602. He’ll enter the final table third in chips with 29,885,000 and, despite never cashing in a WSOP event before, he says he has a great shot at winning his first WSOP gold bracelet and prize of $8,546,435.

Online Poker Betting-Pokerstars Breaks Record with 65,000 Player Turnout

Earlier today, Pokerstars once again broke the record for "Largest Online Poker Tournament".

65,000 players turned out for the $1 ($130k Guaranteed) tournament on Pokerstars, which allowed the company to hold off a strong challenge from Full Tilt Poker.

A few weeks ago, Full Tilt Poker announced that they would be attempting to beat the 35,000 player record that was held by Pokerstars . This was going to be a part of their "Full Tilt Poker Five" promotion.

Pokerstars, not wanting to lose the record and their place in the Guinness Book of World Records, quickly sprang into action.

The behemoth announced that they would also be attempting to best their old record. Not only that, but they would be attempting to break their old record on the same day that Full Tilt Poker was making their attempt.