I’ve read my fair share of poker websites, poker blogs and poker journals.  Ice-cold Poker is written by Sub-zero a poker pro from the United Kingdom.  I enjoyed the posts and the different perspective from somoene that shares the same passion for the game of poker, yet lives in a completely different country.

Most of the posts start with a quote from someoene famous – I like that approach it gets you thinking about life!  Which reminds me I must get a book of quotes so that I can use some from time to time.  Good one!!! Sub-zero keep it up, awesome poker journal, a bit chilly but I warmed to it after a while.  Really enjoy your posts describing your poker experiences.  Coming from a poker pro… they are very informative for the general poker public out there, trying to improve their game all the time.

I subscribe to GamingToday and would recommend their content to all serious gamers out there.  Thing is there is so much information coming at you every day, that you have to filter out the good stuff that works for you.  Its a question of quality rather than quantity.

The content on their website is up to date and relevant, if you prefer subscribing to online gambling information.  GamingToday also offers a wide selection for avid gamblers and I think that is why I like it so much because I like to dabble in everything gambling and gaming related – can’t help myself…

I enjoy what the writers have to say and usually find it really informative and topical.  Nothing worse than when you pay good money for a subscription and then you just flip through the articles because they don’t interest you.  That wont happen at GamingToday.

Did you notice that Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius chose to play Pot Limit Omaha Poker in the Durrrr Challenge?  Way to go guys!

I have been following some of the sessions on Full Tilt, but if you want a full update on the Durrrr Challenge, or if you miss some railbirding sessions, then go the site and catch up on all the news.

I think Omaha poker is the perfect version of poker for this kind of contest, it is very exciting and entertaining to play and to watch.  With four hole cards in your starting hand, your options open up… only problem is so do your opponents… Should make for some interesting games to watch between Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius.

And, its good for Omaha to get all this publicity!

Its High Stakes poker time again, down at the Golden Nugget.  An eagle feather brought protection, and boy did Barry Greenstein need it.  Half a million in the pot (the second biggest pot in the history of High Stakes poker), Greenstein and Tom Dwan go head to head, they decide to go all in.

Dwan has a pair of aces and thinks he has the hand.  Greenstein goes with a gut feeling that he can win it.  He admits after the game that mathematically Dwan was favored to win, but he goes with his gut feel, gets a lucky nine on the turn and manages to pull it off with two pair – jacks and nines.  Against a pair of aces (Dwan didn’t get lucky and was not able to add to his starting hand), thats brave poker play, even with an eagle feather to protect you.

“Aces over rated Doyle…”, not sure if it was a statement or a question from Elezra.

“Nice hand….”, whinces Dwan… ouch that has to hurt!

“Math is idiotic” is what he says not only to raise funds for the children’s charity – Children Incorporated, but also because sometimes in poker, math is idiotic.  So if you’re feeling generous and want to give to a good cause, go to the site and just send 20 bucks to their charity drive.

The saying, “math is idiotic”, comes from his son Joe who says he is a ‘feel player’, he doesn’t pay attention to the math, if he feels its right he does it!

Not sure that I would personally endorse the saying “math is idiotic”, I prefer to learn my poker odds and take no chances.

Either which way, watch the clip it sure is entertaining poker play!

Had an interesting texas holdem poker hand, play out the other day, which I thought was worth talking about…

Got a six, eight suited in my started hand, which made me sit up and think hello, lets see how this works out…

I guessed one other player had a pair at best, but would they get more???  Now what do you do in this situation?  Most times you have to go for the straight or flush, if you’ve got two in your hand already.  It depends on how the rest of the cards come and how this either favors you or the other players.

Flop helped me out for a change and I managed to get my straight with a lucky river card, but it was pretty touch and go for most of the time… A hand like that pushes you to the end and makes you commit chips!  There was no way I was backing out, so I got lucky!

Start digging around and asking questions about the history of Omaha poker and where it comes from… it seems that most people don’t really know.

Apparently it has nothing to do with the place called Omaha.

The reason no-one really knows is because it is a relatively new form of poker.  Whilst other forms of poker have been around for a long time, Omaha poker was only introduced in Las Vegas in 1982.  People liked the format of the game and it became very popular, so much so, that it now competes with Texas Holdem.  A lot can happen in a game of Omaha poker, players like the action and spectators are kept entertained.

There were similar games to Omaha, but they were called different names.  Some say that it was a derivative of Texas Holdem because of the similarity, who knows?

An older version of Texas Holdem required you to use both of your cards in your hand, this game was known as “Omaha”.  So apparently, when the modern version of Omaha poker was introduced to casinos it took on the name “Omaha” because you had to use two of your cards in your hand…. once again who really knows???

Some will say who cares?  Omaha poker is a great game and I don’t need to know where it came from.

OTS Software offer some excellent free arcade games which you should really try out – if you are into arcade games.

They have a huge selection of over 3400 free flash games, so you are bound to find one that you like amongst that big selection.  Their mission is to provide you with some of the best arcade games available, for free… so that you can bookmark them on whatever social media you use, put them on MySpace, Facebook, Google Bookmarks.. whatever you use…  share the games with your friends and most importantly have fun playing them.

Their website is well laid out and easy to use.  You register for free to become a user and they have a great OTS Software Gaming Community Toolbar that you can download and use.

I tried a few games and was hooked… spent hours playing!

Poker has become so popular that there are new poker players joining the game all the time.  This is great for the game because it means that it is growing all the time.  Sure there are people that will become bored, discover other interests and move onto other things, but as long as new players are joining the whole time, then poker will remain alive and well.

You wouldn’t believe the amount of requests for poker knowledge that I get from poker beginners all the time.  There are many sites that are dedicated to providing poker for beginners, these are great places to learn, to engage with other poker players and to pick up poker tips if you are a new poker player.  I can’t possibly answer all the questions, you’ll learn a bit from my sites … but the best is to learn from as many sources as possible and develop your own poker strategy from a whole lot of different sources.

There is no right way to play poker, sometimes one type of strategy will work and other times another – over time you will know what to do in certain situations and slowly you will develop the poker strategy that works for you.

Aint it awesome when the poker game starts playing into your hands.

You start off with a good looking starting hand, then down come the community cards and you know you have a winning hand.  What do you do?  How do you play it?

If you’ve ever been fishing you’ll know that you have to play the fish (I don’t mean act like a fish ok…), if you’ve hooked a big one that is too big for the line, then you have to let the fish run (actually its swim… but for some reason fishermen say run???) or take line out of the reel.

You mustn’t resist too much because then something will have to give and usually the line will break. The fish will then get tired and then it is time to start reeling in line and fish.  A  tired fish will resist less and you have a better chance of landing the fish.

Playing your opponents is just the same…

Come out slow at first… let them take the bait and run with it…

Let’em get a good taste of the bait… let’em swallow the hook and then wham you strike!!

If you come out too strong, they’ll know you have a strong hand and they’ll fold.  What’s the point of that?  You’ll collect the blinds and some small change.

Let’em think they have a chance of winning and get them to start playing into your hands… pretend you are fishing and that you have to play the fish to land the big one!

All this talk of cutting back and retrenching has got everyone in jitters… understandably… this is people’s lives we are talking about!

Everywhere you look there is someone talking about cut backs, which is not surprising after all the excess of the past few years, actually if we really think about it has not just been the last few years, but a long extended spell of the good life.  Now we have to just buckle down, accept the situation and get on with having less.

Whilst I realize that companies are not earning as much, due to reduced sales and turnover – so they have to cut back on spending to reduce cost and prevent overall loses.  It makes sense to cut back on expenses, but one of the first things that they look at is getting rid of people.

What I can’t understand is why did they hire the extra people in the first place?

Do these same companies ask themselves why they are not selling as many products?  Why do people not want our stuff?  Is it too expensive?  Are there better substitutes?

Let’s take Ford Motor Company as an example…they have just reported a $14.6 billion loss for the year…. Wow…. that’s huge.  Does anyone know just how much $14.6 billion is?  That’s like the entire budget of a small city!!!  And these guys running Ford have made a loss that big!!!!

Do they ask themselves why people don’t like our cars?  Do they do anything about changing and adapting to give the consumer what they want?  I’m not sure, but they are very quick to announce cut backs and reductions in staff.

Same goes for the government, members of Congress do they listen to what the majority of their voters want?  We want to play online poker and not feel like we are committing a criminal act!

Anything wrong with that request?