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ONLINE POKER SITE LAUNCHED BY AT THE RACES TV CHANNEL

UK horseracing television channel, At the Races, has entered into an agreement with gambling group Genting which will give UK poker and blackjack fans another new arrival on the internet gambling scene to look forward to.

Sean Boyce, the former Sky Poker presenter will be the front man of this new site that will be branded ATR Poker Club.com.

Boyce commented on the new site this week and said “It’s a fantastic idea. As a passionate poker player, I’ve always been a firm believer that the game makes us all better bettors and every one I know loves the thrill that both racing and poker provides.
Now, playing blackjack or poker online with the ATR Clubs combines my love of horse racing with my fascination with poker, and offers everyone great opportunities to enjoy a day at the races.”

However, Boyce revealed that he would now be living in fear each time he is playing on the ATR Poker Club.com as he is aware of the fact that his scalp in worth a few quid with Boycie’s Bounty Hunt at the moment.

Sean Boyce previously worked as a broadcaster, PR manager and eventually Head of Communications after joining At the Races.  He also shouted the odds on Horse Racing and appeared on many programs including Sky Sports News and Big Brother both as a reporter and a pundit.

Company spokesmen have reported that ATR Poker Club.com is making plans to host many live tournaments and will be broadcasting these tournaments on the ATR TV channel.

The partnership between Genting and At the Races is also organizing a sports betting venture which will be branded BetDif.  It will not be necessary for gamblers to choose their wagers from a set list and they will be offered much more flexibility with BetDif.

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3D Poker Room PKR.com Wins UK's Top Technology Award

A recent report published in the Sunday Times has revealed that PKR.com the popular 3D poker room, has won yet another award by being named the United Kingdom’s most successful and advanced technology company by topping the Microsoft sponsored tenth annual Sunday Times Tech Track 100 list.

Britain’s private technology companies were ranked by the 2010 Tech Track 100 according to its rate of growth of  sales over the latest three years, from 2006 to 2009 or from 2007 till 2010.

PKR.com ranked top by the Tech Track with a yearly sales growth of 356.44% for the period July 2006 to September 2009 which was double the growth rate of their closest rival.  During this period PKR.com’s revenues increased from an amount of  GBP 347,000 to an amount exceeding GBP 33m.

Well-known and rising trade-names on the league table included price comparison website Cheapflights Media and rental company LOVEFILM.com.

Chief Executive Officer of PKR, Malcolm Graham, stated that they are absolutely thrilled to be ranked number one in the 2010 Sunday Times Tech Track 100 as it is an extremely prestigious award.  He added that it is due to the relentless hard work that their talented and devoted team had put in over the past three years that resulted in the company coming out ahead of all the world class technology companies.

PKR has won many other awards since starting out in 2004 which include the “Hotshot Operator of the Year in 2008 and the Poker Operator of the Year in 2010.

The company offers its players a vast variety of exciting promotions to choose from including satellites to the PKR Live V event which is taking place during November in the United Kingdom.

Online poker players are offered a rewarding and entertaining environment in which to play and although their customer service does not offer telephone support, it offers an e-mail and a live chat option which is available at all hours.

Dusk Till Dawn Trying to Break UK Attendance Record

Rob Yong, owner of Dusk Till Dawn, home of United Kingdom poker, is trying to stage the most exciting event at the club by attempting to break the record for the largest ever UK tournament attendance.

At present the record stands at 730 runners at The European Poker Tour (EPT) in London and there is a possibility that this record could be broken at the next EPT which takes place later this month.

The Dusk Till Dawn Grand Prix will take place on 29^th October until 31^st October and Yong is attempting to get a record number of 800 runners to meet its GBP 40,000 guarantee.  There will be an entry fee of only GBP 50 and a cap of 900 in total.

Yong revealed that they had to set their target to above the current UK record of 730 runners in order to prove that they are determined to break the present record.  He was also determined that the buy-in would be affordable to all bankrolls and players will be given a great structure with 10,000 chips and a 45 minute clock for a mere buy-in of GBP 50.  In actual fact the guaranteed GBP 40,000 prize money reflects that this tournament is equivalent to a tournament with an entry of GBP 500 and 80 runners.  Players will, therefore, find that they are getting exceptional value with this new exciting event.

In order to prevent an uncontrollable queue at the cash desk at the club, it has been decided that registration will be online only.

Rob Yong is excited, yet nervous about the forthcoming event and hopes to get as close as possible to the 730 record.  However, as this is their first attempt, they will be satisfied with anything above 500 runners.  He is hoping that many of their 40,000 members will support the event, especially in view of the good value on offer.

Grand Final Results of UKIPT Dublin, British Masters Teeside and Sky Poker Tour

As predicted, the weekend ending 12^th September 2010 was a great weekend of poker with endless amounts of money won, champion titles given and trophy’s awarded.

UKIPT Dublin –

The winner of the Pokerstars UK and Ireland Poker Tour in Dublin main event was 20 year old Max Silver from Tuffnell Park, London who is currently living in Dublin.  Silver recently took down 6^th place in the UKIPT in Edinburgh.  After surviving a field of 589 players who paid an amount of E500 + 60 in order to enter this main event Max Silver succeeded in taking the first place prize of E 72,000 as well as an entry into the GBP 5,250 PokerStars.com EPT London Event.  This particular event is the season finale to the UK & Ireland Poker Tour.

Silver commented that it did not really sink in that he could win until they got to the last four and that it feels absolutely wonderful to win.  In response to being questioned about the EPT London seat he replied that it was a nice bonus even though he had already planned to play London.  He added that he was eagerly waiting to get back to his home town and would be playing many events there – hopefully just one all the way through.

British Masters Poker Tour –

The Teeside leg of the British Masters Poker Tour was won by Dom Mahoney.  Mahoney and Mark Trett were the same two players who fought heads up last year making this their second year of battling for the first place prize.  Whereas Mark Trett took the prize last year, this time it was Dom Mahoney’s turn.

Sky Poker Tour Grand Final –

The Sky Poker Tour 2010 Grand Final was won by Robert “bobbycat” Shiell from Sutton Coldfield in the United Kingdom.

The event was held at Dusk until Dawn in Nottingham with a prize pool of GBP 53,400 after 267 players had paid GBP 200 each.  Shiell won his seat through playing a GBP 2.40 satellite on SkyPoker in order to enter this tournament which was his first ever live poker tournament.  Shiell was thrilled with his Sky Poker Tour trophy and his first prize money of GBP 14,500.

World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Underway

The largest event of the UK poker year, the World Series of Poker Europe, got underway on Tuesday, 14^th September, 2010, at the Empire Casino in London.

All the big names in poker will be attending this festival that will be playing host to five bracelet events with two new formats.

The festival kicked off at noon BST (4 a.m. PDT) on 14^th September with a GBP 2,500 six handed no-limit hold’em 3 day event which continues until Thursday 16^th September.  This first event will in all probability be one of the toughest events of the year.

Day two of the event kicked off without the UK’s poster boy for online poker, Chris Moorman, who has won a boatload on the net during the past few years. No one at the Empire Casino seemed to know where he was and there was no answer on his phone until he suddenly showed up at the event.  Evidently he had trouble getting to bed the night before and no alarm or phone calls were able to wake him up when morning arrived.  He arrived just before his empty seat was about to cash.

The second event features a GBP 5,000 pot-limit Omaha tournament and will take place from Thursday 16^th September until Saturday 18^th September.

The third event will take place from Friday 17^th September till Tuesday 21^st September and will be a GBP 1,000 no-limit hold’em event.

A new event, which is a GBP 10,000 no-limit hold’em high roller heads-up, will make its debut on 21^st September as the fourth preliminary event.

23^rd September will see the beginning of the Grand Finale for the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe which is a GBP 10,000 no-limit hold’em main event.  This 5^th event will be a six day event and will continue until 28^th September.

British Poker Festival Opens Saturday, August 28th

September is London’s month for poker. London will be hosting events for the World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker Europe, and the European Poker Tour. These three big events will make London, England the number one destination for professional poker players in the month of September, even before the announcement of the British Poker Festival.

The British Poker Festival begins August 28th, runs all month until the tail end of September, and will consist of over 100 different events. If you’re a poker player, you’re sure to find something to match your style at the Festival.

September 2-3 will see one of the most popular events of the festival, Poker in the Park. This event will allow fans and players to see some of poker’s top professional players in action. Organizers expect over 20,000 people to attend the event, which will be opened by EPT San Remo winner Liv Boeree. For autograph seekers, Evander Holyfield will be giving out his autograph and promoting RealDealPoker.

Festival organizer Michael Caselli said “We are thrilled to have a superstar like Evander on board at Poker in the Park. We’re used to having the most famous players in poker drop by, but Evander’s presence really illustrates the synergy between poker and mainstream sports and the exciting growth of poker in general.”
Attendees will be able to hear speeches from the likes of Phil Laak, David Ulliot, and Jamie Gold. For those more interested in doing than in listening, there will be Turbo Sit and Go tournaments avaulable in the two ‘Poker Domes’ set up for the event. The tournaments will run overnight, making sure that nobody is left out.

Saturday, September 4th, Bluff’s Poker Academy will be open, and players will be able to learn from Neil Channing and Alex Rousso in a lecture on ‘Poker Psychology: Tells and Tilts.’ On the thirteenth of September, the British Poker Awards will take place at the Kensington Close Hotel. Prizes will be awarded for Best Cash Player, Best Tournament Player, Best Online Player, Best International Player, Best Poker League, Best UK Card Room, Best Contribution to Poker, Best UK Poker Forum, Best All Around Player, Best New Player, and Player of the Year.

Just in case the festival seemed too serious, don’t worry. There’s also a Strip Poker Championship. To make sure that the championship game is interesting, the Stringfellows Gentlemen’s Club will be hosting the event, and their dancers will be doing the stripping in lieu of the players.

The European Poker Tour

The Monte Carlo round of the European Poker Tour is one of my favorites, as it takes place in one of the grandest casinos known to mankind.  The setting is apt for Europe’s premier poker tour, as its known to be the home to some of the richest people on the continent. read more…

Poker Jargon

When setting you heart on mastering poker, you have to realize that it will take you months if not years to go from amateur to experienced player. This is not a game for the faint hearted. To get you started on your journey, I have made a list of some of the most commonly used poker terms.

Most commonly used poker terms:

Poker Bets:

• Blinds: Players are forced to make a bet in place of an ante. The player who sits on the left hand side of the dealer first pay the small blind and the player after him pays the big blind.

• Draw: Players are said to be on a draw when they are hoping for more cards from the board to complete their hand.

• Preflop: This is the betting round that you make after you get two hole cards, and before there are any cards on the board.

Poker odds:

• Pot Odds: The poker odds you get when you draw.

• Implied Odds: Implied odds is like pot odds but it also take into account the wagers you will make as the game continues. This means that you can call on the flop but still have the advantage of implied odds of creating bigger bets if you hit your draw on later rounds.

Poker Cards

• Board Cards: Community cards placed in the middle of the table.

• Flop: Holdem’s first three board cards.

• Turn: Holdem’s fourth board card, the one after the flop.

• River: Holdem’s fifth & final card, the card after the turn.

• Outs: These are the cards that you can get that will improve your hand.

Poker Games

Shorthand: When a poker game has six or less players.

Longhand: When a poker game has seven plus players.

Limit Poker: When a poker game has fixed-size bets.

Position: This is where you sit at the poker table. The best position to be in is the dealer as you then get to play last, after you get a sense of what the other players are doing. The worst position to be in is the small blind spot because this player is the first to act.

More on Poker Pot Odds

In a previous blog we have looked at the basic principles of pot odds in poker. Let’s now look at it in a bit more detail.

If you read the previous blog you would know that the pot odds was quite simple. It was as follows: read more…

Poker Strategy: Pot Odds and Probability

It is necessary that all poker players should understand pot odds and probability. The good news is that it’s not a difficult concept, easy to understand (even for non maths geniuses), and one that you will always be able to use in the future.

In short, pot odds is what happens when you compare the cost of playing to how much you can win. For example, let’s look at this poker game that’s on the flop. read more…