Exclusively Irvine

Every year this debate pops up. Some years you’re proven right, some years you’re proven wrong, depending on which side of the fence you stand.

The argument? Do seeds matter?

My take – usually not. Unlike baseball betting or basketball betting (the professional leagues), playoff time leaves zero margin for error. It’s one and done, so to steal a line from Al Pacino, on any given Sunday you’re either gonna win or you’re gonna lose.

Last year would’ve been one of the seldom few that proved me wrong. But this isn’t last year, in reality and certainly in the world of college basketball.

When you’re filling out your bracket for your once a year basketball bet, count on this. 2009 will be one of the all-time crapshoot tournaments. I couldn’t name two sure picks to even make it to the Elite 8, never mind 4.

UConn was at the top of their game, dominating until they lost to Dyson according to the College Basketball Odds machine. Marquette was perceived by many as a Final Four team, but they recently just lost their best player. UNC, like many others, is struggling with their own injuries. Sooners see Griffin come back, but for how long and at what strength, especially when it counts? Pitt loses to Providence; Louisville killed by ND, Wake is the most up-and-down team of anyone this year. Memphis hasn’t been challenged…who else…Michigan State has had a few embarrassing home losses.

This may be the year (like every year) that cute secretary up has you beat after the first round.

Another main reason for this call is simply because nobody has exhibited the traits of a traditionally dominant tournament team: strong inside game, senior class leadership, reliable outside shooting. Most teams have one or two of these traits, but I can’t think of one that boasts the entire package. Looking down the road, this year’s Elite 8 and Final Four will be lucky to have at least a single No. 1 seed among the field.

Of course, as in soccer betting, seeds matter a little bit. Let’s not go overboard. The #1 and #2 seeds definitely have an easier road to the second and third rounds. #3 and #4 seeds aren’t nearly as fortunate. I’m sure you’ve figured this out for yourself, but it bears repeating…you can’t win the tournament if you don’t get past the first round.

Pai Gow is all about setting your hand, so it obviously becomes the only part of the game where strategy is called into play.

Like blackjack strategy, pai gow strategy will assist you as you attempt to not only beat the dealer’s hands, but avoid making the most costly mistakes. There are different tiers of strategy, for now we’ll start with the easiest to remember.

First, resist the temptation to make one powerhouse hand with your five-card hand, and then just leave the “leftovers” for your second hand. This will probably only backfire on you, since you have to win both to win the hand. You’ll need strength distributed evenly between both hands if you want to have a chance. If you’re sitting on two-pair, do yourself a favor and break those pairs up.

Second, while you’ll want to break up two-pair, it’s not a great idea to break up three of a kind. What does that get you? A decent pair for one hand and a lonely card that ain’t worth much stuck in the other hand. The one exception to this is aces. Putting an ace-high into your two-card hand while a pair of aces sits pretty on the other side is smart strategy for winning both.

Piggybacking on this, it’s important to realize that this isn’t regular free poker, meaning high hands aren’t going to be needed that much more than a simple two-pair or three of a kind to take the game. Just look at the odds. So taking this into account, don’t hesitate to separate four of a kind…you’ll almost guarantee yourself the win. Same goes for a full house, break it up.

Careful, though, not to separate flushes or straights, unless doing so benefits your pairing situation. Otherwise, you’re stuck with a bunch of runner cards that suddenly don’t have as much in common with the rest of your hand that you need them to. If breaking them up doesn’t give you a pair in one place, stick with the flush and take your chances with the garbage in the other hand…hopefully you at least have something higher than a nine to work with. To try out any of this pai gow strategy, we recommend that you visit GoldenCasino today and receive an exclusive $500 Bonus.

And finally, don’t be stupid. The one cardinal rule of stupidity is when you let your two-card hand have a higher value than your five-card hand. Dumb…it’s called a foul. It’ll probably happen to you by accident as some point or another, but if it happens more than once, you have nobody to blame but yourself.

Texas Holdem is a great game to learn how to play as millions of people play the game on Full Tilt and around the world and you can connect and play with them through online poker rooms. Texas Holdem is also one of the most popular games in a land based casino due to the fact it’s not a house game. The game itself is really simple to learn how to play. The game uses a fifty-two card deck and nothing is used as a wild card.

The game always uses a professional dealer and players never need to shuffle or deal cards. Everyone at the Titan Poker table becomes the dealer though and it switches every hand and the reason it needs to is because the dealer has the best position in the hand. To show who the dealer is every hand a little disc is used and it’s passed one spot clockwise after every hand.

Before the cards are dealt every hand there are two forced bets that are always forced to be put into the pot. The player to the left of the dealer needs to place the small blind and the player to the left of the small blind needs to put in the big blind. Once the blinds are in the pot the UltimateBet dealer will deal every player there two whole cards face down.

Once everyone has been dealt there two cards a round of betting begins with the player to the left of the big blind. Every player will have the choice between calling the big blind, raising the big bling or just folding there hand if they don’t like what they see. After everyone has decided what they’re going to do the flop is put on the board by the dealer. There is another round of betting at this juncture in the hand and then the turn is placed on the board. After the turn card is revealed there is another round of betting and then the final community card called the river is shown.

Absolute Poker players will bet one more time at this stage of the hand and then if there are two or more players left in the pot after the round of betting players reveal there whole cards. This is called the showdown and is where you see if you won the pot or not if you’re still in it. You need to make the best possible five card poker hand using the seven cards available to you which are the five community cards and the two whole cards you’re dealt.

Once the winner has been determined the dealer is moved one spot to the left and then the two players will post there blind before the next hand starts. It’s a really simple game to learn how to play, what takes a long time is becoming good at playing the game. Make sure after reading through this article that you check out our hand rankings article which shows you the possible hands you can make in Texas Holdem pkr poker so you know what to aim for when playing.

The fact is most people around the world have a computer and internet connection and with the rise of online activity gambling was a sector that took off. Over the past decade or so roughly online poker has made its mark on the world and millions of people have played online poker at sites like www.FullTiltPoker.net. There are certain benefits of playing online poker over playing live poker in a club or casino and that’s what we’re going to spend some time looking at today.

* The best thing about online poker which has drawn in many players is the convenience of playing poker on the internet. You can have your account set-up and ready with money within minutes and with such ease of access a lot of people tend to just play at home rather then traveling to a casino to play. One thing that could backfire about the ease of depositing money into your poker account is that some players don’t know when to stop if they’re losing. Make sure you always can afford the money you’re using for poker and never dig into debt to play.

* Full Tilt Poker is a much faster game then live poker and you’ll be able to play a lot more hands online then you can at a live poker game. The reason is really simple and it’s that chips are automatically counted and distributed plus cards are automatically dealt and shuffled. This means you can play more hands per hour online then at a casino so if you like playing and not waiting around then online is the way to go.

* If you’re a new player to Full Tilt you don’t need to worry about giving away any tells by your posture or speech online. The same goes for players who always shake when they have a hand. All of these tells used on a live poker table can’t be used online due to the simple fact that nobody can see or what you’re doing.

* You can stop playing whenever you want and you also have a better selection of tables to choose from. This helps you out if you’re losing on a certain FullTiltPoker.com table because you’ll be able to change tables easily and try your luck there. At most casinos there are only a couple tables usually open per stake level so you don’t have many options of moving tables.

* Most live poker games have regulars who play everyday and thus start to learn how certain players play poker. Online you don’t need to worry about playing the same person over and over again and therefore you don’t need to worry about any of your opponents learning your playing style over time.

* Action is generally much looser at FullTilt then live poker and players aren’t scared to push around and make large pots. I would recommend online poker offering the bigger potential of winning big money then any casino can due to the betting patterns I’ve seen over the years in online poker rooms and live casinos.

H.O.R.S.E. Poker is the most popular mixed poker game being played on PokerStars.com right now and it’s a very fun poker game to learn how to play. There are no specific rule changes in HORSE Poker and all you need to know how to do is play the five poker games that are rotated in H.O.R.S.E. Poker. The five poker games played in HORSE Poker are as followed.

• Holdem
• Omaha
• Razz
• Seven Card Stud
• Stud Eight or Better

Once you download pokerstars and learn how to play these five poker games then you’ll be ready to play H.O.R.S.E. Poker. If you’re going to be playing regularly then I recommend practicing the games you’re not good at first because the competition in mixed poker games online is generally a lot tougher then the competition you’ll find at the Holdem or Omaha tables.

What you need to know about H.O.R.S.E. Poker is that the games switch every time around the table typically and then once at Stud Eight or Better it moves back to Holdem. The game continues rotating through each game like clockwork so you need to be able to switch gears quickly and change your strategy so it can work for the game you’re playing.

It’s imperative before you play poker online that you know how to play every game or else you’ll be lost when you’re playing and it’s not fair for you or your opponents. When players don’t know how to play they end up losing money and they also slow down the game so it’s a lose-lose situation so make sure you learn the games. Learning some strategy for each game should also be on the top of your list if you’re expecting to make money and not just playing for fun.

You can only play HORSE Poker on Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars right now and this is because other poker room don’t have the traffic to fill up tables for this game. The action at Poker Stars is usually pretty good and you should be able to always find a game going on at that online poker room. They also have tournaments going on everyday for H.O.R.S.E. Poker so if you’re looking to just learn the game a bit and get a feel for the game then I recommend playing in some small buy-in tournaments. You won’t be able to win much, but you’ll be able to find out if you like the game and more importantly if you’re any good at the game.

Remember like I mentioned the action is quick and the competition is usually tough in this mixed game so don’t get carried away with it. I find that I do better just playing internet poker Holdem, but it’s a lot of fun playing mixed games because it switched up all the time which is why I play this game sometimes. Keep a tally of how much of your bankroll you’ve won or lost on your bankroll so that you know how well or bad you’ve been doing.