And in January Poker.com will be hosting 4 private tournaments for members of our 4kingpoker forum. We will also have an exclusive 100% reload bonus in January for players who have already signed up to Poker.com through 4kingpoker (Code to be announced).
Sunday 7th Jan 3pm EST - $50 FREEROLL
(Game 19 freeroll tour)
Sunday 14th Jan 3pm EST - $3+0.30 buy-in with $50 added
(Game 10 buy-in tour)
Sunday 21st Jan 3pm EST - $3+0.30 buy-in with $50 added
(Game 11 buy-in tour)
Sunday 27th Jan 3pm EST - $3+0.30 buy-in with $50 added
(Game 12 buy-in tour)
Negreanu Suprised on HSP
The Magican makes an "all-in" move on High Stakes Poker much to the suprise of Daniel Negreanu ... Almost Speechless
4kingpoker Forum Posting Jackpot Challenge
Starting January ... Win FREE $$$'s in your PokerStars Account in our poker forum posting competition.
The top 3 highest forum posters in each month will WIN a share of the MONTHLY JACKPOT split 1st 50%, 2nd 30% & 3rd 20% which will be paid into the winners PokerStars Accounts.
The monthly forum posting jackpot will be a guaranteed $50 pot so the top 3 posters will get at least $25 for 1st, $15 2nd & $10 for 3rd. Each forum post will add 10 cents to the monthly pot so if there are more than 500 posts the jackpot will grow over $50 ...
It's guaranteed to be at least a $50 Monthly Jackpot.
Once I can get the system backend to figure out monthly top posters we will start the monthly challenge. All posts will be subject to the normal rules so duplication, spam, aff links etc will be edited / deleted as usual - Get posting & YOU could be a winner.
More Tony G Trash Talk
I don't Tony G could ever be accused of not speaking his mind, but man does he like to drive it home ... scary guy but does have a nice site.
4kingpoker Losses
After last weeks blow up online at PokerStars & Full Tilt Poker I deposited at Poker.com as I needed to fund the private tournaments running in January. Anyway after barely a couple of hours play I'm $180 up. I'm fully expecting a random meltdown sometime soon which will probably see the profit and my bankroll disapear but you never know ... I might actually keep the gremlins at bay.
But at least I don't try to bluff Phil Ivey ...
4kingpoker Private Tournaments
Sunday 7th Jan - $50 FREEROLL
(Game 19 freeroll tour)
Sunday 14th Jan - $3+0.30 buy-in with $50 added
(Game 10 buy-in tour)
Sunday 21st Jan - $3+0.30 buy-in with $50 added
(Game 11 buy-in tour)
Sunday 27th Jan - $3+0.30 buy-in with $50 added
(Game 12 buy-in tour)
Random YouTube Corner - Will It Blend ?
Came across this purely because it was on the YouTube homepage. A great piece of viral marketing by a company who makes food blenders. Basically this guy tests household items to see if they will or won't blend. So far they've blended mobile phones, lightbulbs, pens, cans, crowbars & rake handles ...
The first satellites for Season 3 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour (EPT) have now started on PokerStars. PokerStars are currently hosting daily satellites for EPT3 events with buy-ins starting from as little as $11.
The Tour starts in Barcelona, continues in London, Baden in Austria, Dublin, Copenhagen, Deauville in France, and culminates with the Monte Carlo Grand Final, which is again taking place at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort in Monaco, starting on March 28, 2007
19 year old poker player Jeff Williams won last years EPT Final in Monte Carlo ...
"Genius" Bill Fillmaff Donks at PokerStars
Hitting a straight draw on the river with puppy feet calls for a rap if your The 1998 Worldwide Poker Champion Bill Fillmaff.
The donkey killer then takes down the blinds moving all-in with pocket cowboy's ... A move you won't find in Doyle Brunson's Super System ... but it's in the Fillmaff Secret System. You'd be mad to use it but crazy not to check it out.
Bill has become something of an online legend for his match-ups with Phil Helmuth - maybe Phil has no manners but I guess he has a sense of humour.
Coming Soon ... Win FREE $$$'s in your PokerStars Account in our poker forum posting competition.
The top 3 highest forum posters in each month will WIN a share of the MONTHLY JACKPOT split 1st 50%, 2nd 30% & 3rd 20% which will be paid into the winners PokerStars Accounts.
The monthly forum posting jackpot will be a guaranteed $50 pot so the top 3 posters will get at least $25 for 1st, $15 2nd & $10 for 3rd. Each forum post will add 10 cents to the monthly pot so if there are more than 500 posts the jackpot will grow over $50 ...
It's guaranteed to be at least a $50 Monthly Jackpot.
Once I can get the system backend to figure out monthly top posters we will start the monthly challenge. All posts will be subject to the normal rules so duplication, spam, aff links etc will be edited / deleted as usual - Get posting & YOU could be a winner.
4kingpoker Losses
I've had one of my usual big blowout online - I was doing ok playing at Full Tilt Poker and I'd been building up reasonably steadily. That said I'm playing alot more aggressively trying to pick up marginal pots that the other players are scared of and generally trying to setup a table image of stealing alot of pots in the hope that when I hit a big hand I can take down a big pot.
Anyway I'm playing at Phil Ivey's $1/2 NL table (he's out of town)
I'd been getting under everyones skin having taken down 4 or 5 pots in a row when I get Big Slick - AK on the Big Blind.
Preflop the betting came round to me, with several calls and a moderate raise by the Button, I re-raised and we were down to the two of us with a nice sized pot.
Flop comes down 3 Ace 3
So I'm first to act with 2 pair aces & 3's but the board showing 2 clubs. I raise twice the pot wanting to take out the flush draw and putting him on high cards or a high pocket pair. He re-raises me all-in and I figure he's gone for the steal before and lost a couple of hands to me so I call.
He turns over AA ... Gutted & I lose a big $386 hand ... Ouch
That pretty much took me out (I've been reckless with my bankroll) so I'm going to be down in the cheap seats to lick my wounds.
But at least I didn't lose my head playing Rodeo Poker ...
Random YouTube Corner - Classic Rainbow
We've had random weather, fete watch & now more childhood TV favourties. I found this clip from a classic episode of Rainbow from the 1970's it's totally unedited - Unbelievably the script writers got it through but it was the age of innocence and great entertainment for kids & parents alike.
So you've read some stuff on poker which I hope you've enjoyed ...
Now use the links & check out our 4kingpoker reviews sign-up to some poker sites through our links deposit some cash & get playing ;-)
As recently reported in the Sunday Times the UK government is planning to loosen up gambling regulations. Currently playing card games for cash in pubs requires a special permit. The new legislation is expected to allow playing poker and other card games for cash in all pubs but restrictions are expected. So far the most likely option is a cap on a players maximum loses - expected to be around £10 per night. The reforms to the UK pub licencing laws & regulations would take effect in 2007.
I personally think this is long overdue - Considering the legal state sponsored mugging via the National Lottery has been in full swing for years ... Promising billion to 1 odds at life changing money I hardly think £10 for a pub league or tournament buy-in is going to turn the nation into a bunch of hardcore gamblers.
Let's be honest about it the lottery did that years ago and some crazy statistic like 60% of lottery ticket buyers think buying £10 of tickets and scratch cards is a good way to provide for their pension.
If people seriously believe that - They don't need gambling legislation ... They need to be locked in a padded room.
We've been allowed to play certain pub games like cribbage for cash legally for years but only for penny change. I have fond memories of hours spent in the pub over a pint and a crib board to bring home a hansome profit of 25p at the end of a night ... The idea of a tenner from each player up for grabs is positively mouth watering.
The 2007 Crown Casino Poker Championship known as The Aussie Millions is this January from the 16th - 19th at the Crown Casino, Melbourne, Austrailia. With an estimated $5 million prize pool for the main event.
Big names expected so far are Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Marcel Luske, Mike Sexton, Barry Greenstein, Clonie Gowan, Joe Hatchem, Kenna James, John Juanda, Scott Fischman & Tony G who recently won the BetFair Asian Poker Tour.
So who won the Aussie Millions in 2006 ?
New Zealander Lee Nelson who also picked up 3rd place in the BetFair Asian Poker Tour, 1st place in the Grosvenor World Masters this year and has a string of other final table places over the past few years.
So you think you can multi-table ?
I'm not a big fan of multi-tabling to be honest.
OK so the arguement goes that if you play more tables you need to make less profit from each to make the same hourly win rate. That seems logical but for me going past 2 tables makes my head hurt and means you have next to no idea about the players your up against.
This might be ok for the micro low tables where everyone is going to be an idiot or make the big hands fairly obvious then playing tight and very slective is the best approach - but that really is just grinding. If your only going play premium hands I think that shows and at even just marginally higher stakes creative play on less tables is more profitable IMHO.
From what I can figure out multi table fans really go for straight play and premium hands - so if your on a table against someone you figure or know is in 3 or 4+ games then think about what they're capable of ... They're not going to get too tricky with marginal and drawing hands but they're going to have something to win big on with the hands they do play.
For me I prefer and have better success (relatively) playing a single table (or 2 max) aggressively and much more tactically - this means I may appear loose and crazy alot which means a very good chance of getting my big hands paid. If your sitting with 6+ games active and folding everything apart from big hands often it means you won't get paid when you hit and you miss alot of safer opportunities to pick up those mid size pots no-one is sure of.
Anyway there you go if you have money to burn you can hook up 4+ screens and multi-table on 16-20 games ... Crazy bankroll requirements but hey I'm sure these guys swear by it ... I'd love to know what they're hourly target is.
Pain Free move to New Look Blog ?
So this week I'm 4 days late posting this being Thursday. A combination of a bit of a cold, other work needing attention and deciding to move the blog onto the beta google thing explains the delay. So hopefully now after hours last night tinkering and pretty much wishing I hadn't - I now have a blog which actually has the same colours as 4kingpoker main site, which is something.
On the negative side Google's so called easier to use beta blogging thing isn't quite so slick ... yet. Limited colour choices means even the standard link colour blue isn't available and seems like everytime I change something for the sidebar stuff in HTML it looses the formating on the previous stuff which is annoying. Still I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.
4kingpoker Losses
So far I've only played a couple of hours or so in the last week, I didn't take the 250% re-deposit bonus Poker Heaven offered me in the end. I like PokerHeaven alot as the players are weak passive but I really need to check out the growth of juicy players now at FullTilt Poker, I'm up around $100 there and seem to be clearing the bonus quicker than I expected. I've also been playing PokerStars which also seems to have got juicier than I remember it, so far I'm up around $150 at Stars after not much play at all.
Wordsicles & Political Correctness Gone Mad
It's been a while since I've ranted about my pet hate ... Meaningless business jargon ... (I'll give Phil Hellmuth a rest as I think he's been doing some charity work recently). Wordsicles are those totally pointless buzz words idiot business & marketing types chuck around like confetti to give obvious concepts some kind of supernatural and zen like status.
So we've had "blue sky thinking" to the point it's become part of the language so those uber trendy muppets have to get to the new new thing ... "brain salad" "thought salad" ... so now instead of sending your under stimulated underlings off for some "blue sky thinking" they're gathering round to "toss some thought salad" ...
bullshit merchants
And as if having trendy wanabees coming up with daft ideas wasn't enough. The political correctness brigade are jumping in on the act ... Now don't get me wrong I'm all in favour of equality and totally against racism, discrimination and all for sticking up for minorities but this is just bolox.
Apparently the PC police of the motivational business & training junkets are no longer sending their droids ... oops I meant staff / delegates off to do some "brain storming" they now have to call it "mind mapping" due to brain storming being a type of very rare brain fit ...
Now I don't wish to seem dismissive or disrespectful of unfortunate people who have suffered from these brain storms or their families & friends ...
But equally I see little benefit for them knowing some stupid PC motivation coach has banned the term which clearly like many other words (proper ones at that) have several meanings ...
The sad thing is in all this political correctness we've actually lost genuine humanity and manners and replaced it with some half assed "have a nice day" (like I give a sh*t) culture.
Now you've read some stuff on poker, use the damn links, check out our 4kingpoker reviews, sign-up to some poker sites using our links, deposit a load of cash and get playing ;-) oh & Good Luck at the Tables ... Cheers Scrawnybob
FullTilt Beats Party Poker ... FullTilt becomes 2nd biggest Site.
FullTilt Poker has over taken Party Poker to become the 2nd largest poker room online. Whilst Party Poker player volume has taken a severe beating after withdrawing from US online poker, FullTilt has continued to accept American online poker players and has reaped the rewards. PokerStars also staying with US players has maintained its dominance and number one position by a wide margin.
Other poker sites are continuing to consolidate and buy out other sites, notably the iPoker / Playtech buyout of the Tribeca Europe operation which will see the migration from Tribeca to the iPoker Network of sites like VC Poker. Playtech boasts this will make the iPoker network the largest NON US focussed poker network in the business. The move is certain to boost player volumes for existing sites on the network like Titan Poker & Noble Poker over the next few months.
Guiness & Poker Blog ... Iggy Moves Home
The single most successful poker blogger - Iggy is to continue his Guiness & Poker Blog famed for uber posts and random thoughts at a new home, having teamed up with the PokerWorks / Pokernews conglomerate he can now be found here - Iggy's Blog.
Which leads me into thoughts about my own very humble blog ...
Scrawnybob's 4kingpoker Ramble ... Iggy wannabe / Iggy I ain't
I started this blog as something of an after thought ... after launching 4kingpoker.com with no clue about setting up an internet poker site or blogging.
One piece of reoccuring blogging advice which I've probably ignored is to personalise your blog or maybe have an alter ego.
I'm pretty sure my personal life is of little or no importance beyond my small part of the universe and I'm not about to recast Scrawnybob as some kind of poker superhero but I should at least make my blog a little more friendly & personal.
OK so here it is - I'm no beer drinking high stakes poker player with masses of wit and wisedom to impart but at least my name isn't Muriel and I don't have 45 cats and an "exciting" photographic collection of teapot cosies as a basis for my blog.
I am Scrawnybob, an average joe poker player from the UK. Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down, but hopefully I'm always learning more about poker. I setup 4kingpoker.com around a year ago having sat on the domains for 18mnths watching the easy money of the poker affiliate boom pass me by until I finally decided to give it a go.
After several attempts at giving the blog a structure, a purpose and an aim I think it's time to give up on having a plan and just chuck anything in which I think might be interesting ... and as I am unlikely to come close to blogging on a daily basis I'm just going try to get something up once a week.
At the end of the day anyone reading this ... read it quick & just get on playing poker - If you find any of my reviews etc useful ... Please sign up to the sites using my links here or at 4kingpoker.com ;-) deposit some cash and get playing online poker.
Back in my corner of the world I spent the weekend down at a nice cottage in Wales with a few surfy types and ended up playing poker with chocolate coins for chips (it was that or jigsaw pieces / crunchy nut cornflakes) ... great fun and I'm sure I could have cleaned them all out if we hadn't all started eating away at our chip stacks ... It's was great to see a full table of new poker virgins enjoying the game for the first time and a great reminder that it's not all about updating bonus offers and keeping track of promotions / dates and all the affiliate stuff.
The Phil Helmuth Corner ... More Ranting, Bitchin & Moaning
This time Annie Duke takes the flack from Phil Helmuth the self appointed "Genius" of Poker.
2007 Aussie Millions ... Online Qualifiers & Satelites
My recommended sites with qualifiers & satelites for the 2007 Aussie Millions - FullTilt Poker, PokerStars, Titan Poker, Poker.com, Mansion Poker & UltimateBet
The Random Non Poker Stuff ... Waste your life with YouTube
You Tube is my new pet waste of time, along with 90% of the rest of the connected world. There is just so much cr*p on there but I still can help watching it ... So I feel obligated to post it up and waste your time too.
Dog's Play Poker ... Donkey's dressed in Dog's Clothing
Phil Helmuth Bitching - Again
Personally I bloody strongly dislike Phil Helmuth (I won't say hate because I've never met the bloke). But seriously - World champion poker player or not, 50 WSOP in the money finishes or not & youngest prodigy poker genius or not ...
Phil Helmuth you seriously need to get some damn manners - you are frankly a spoilt brat and when it doesn't go your way a total tw*t.
Check out the 2nd to last hand Hellmuth played in the 2006 WSOP ... Seriously rude to an amateur, bitching an moaning like he'd been dealt 3 aces and got cracked - but no he had AK off the other guy had K 10 suited. The guy was close to braining Phil and I think if I'd been sat there I'd have lost it. Hellmuth comes out with his patent "He can't even spell poker" ... You know what Mr Bigshot Poker Champ, you can't spell manners ... Give me Mike the Mouth anyday at least he has a sense of humour.
4kingpoker News ... I've been changing a few things on 4kingpoker.com to try and get it all a bit more newsy and easier to navigate ... Not sure about the colour changes from blue to black yet but it's definately a more interesting read. If anyone is actually out there check it out and give us some feedback.
Random Stakes Poker ... Never bet your house on a hand.
