New Texas Holdem Book Dissects the Pros

It's not about a samurai-slashing woman's wrath. It's only a new, non-violent, No Limit Texas Holdem poker instructional book.

Kill Phil is a tongue in cheek book from professional poker players Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson discussing strategies for playing against professionals on the tournament circuit today. The title comes from the predominance of the Phils -- Hellmuth, Ivey, Gordon, et. al. -- and their excellent approach to tournament poker.

There are four different levels of the "Kill Phil" strategy that range from the most basic of guides to a high level of intricacy, or as they call it the "Kill Phil Expert", which take into account stack size and opponent styles, among other things.

"Kill Phil" is a tremendous advocate for the "all-in" poker that many new players in the game seem to use, and with excellent results. The logic in the move is well explained by Rodman and Nelson when they say, "Early in tournaments, a "Phil" is particularly unwilling to risk his entire stack in an all-in confrontation unless he clearly has a big advantage."

The authors also warned that the "Kill Phil" strategies are not for the faint of heart. It is also not a strategy to use in a cash game setting (where stacks are normally well above the blind structure), but strictly for that of a tournament surroundings where the stacks are finite and there is a ramification for losing all your chips.

Phil Hellmuth lends his own thoughts by writing the foreword of the book. Guess that's a way of stamping his approval on this No Limit Hold'em strategy.

Bodog Poker has weekly $100,000 Guaranteed No Limit Texas Holdem Tournaments.

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Texas Hold'em Freerolls at Golden Palace

Golden Palace Poker has lined up exciting free rolls to add to your holiday cheers! Get ready for some promotions in December, coupled with a bunch of chances to win huge money:

$3000 First Purchase Freerolls

Make your first deposit between November 28 and December 25 to be automatically registere in one of four $3000 First Purchase free roll tournaments.

• Texas Hold’em Free Roll.
• No limits with 12-minute level-ups.

Daily $250 Midnight Freeroll.

• There will be a $250 freeroll at Midnight Eastern.
• Join with ONLY 100 Action Points.
• Texas Hold'em with 8 minute level ups

$1000. New Years Eve Party Freeroll

Join GP Poker in a New Year’s Kiss. Starting at Midnight (00:00:01) GMT January 1, 2006, every hour on the hour until Midnight on the U.S. West Coast — that's NINE TIMES — the site will launch a $1000 Freeroll.

• Hourly from Midnight (GMT) to Midnight (PST)
• Join with ONLY 10 Action Points
• Texas Hold'em with 6 minute level-ups

$5000 First Time myCitadel Freeroll

When you deposit funds using myCitadel for the first time during December, you will be automatically registered in a $5000 free roll Tournament to be held 6:30 pm Eastern on Wednesday January 4th 2006.

You better hurry 'coz ONLY the first 999 registrants for each freeroll will be admitted. End your 2005 with a bang at Golden Palace Poker!

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No Limit Hold'em for Katrina Victims

The online poker community is coming to the aid of hurricane Katrina victims.

Royal Vegas Poker is running a tournament to aid survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

The Hold'em No Limit Freezeout tournament will take place on Tuesday September 6th @ 9pm EST on Royal Vegas Poker and 7 Sultans Poker.

The Buy-in is $25+$0 (i.e. our client poker rooms are not taking any fees). 50% of prize pool will be donated to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, while the balance will go to the top 20 finishers, based on a percentage prize pool.

This tournament can be found under the Multi Table Tournaments section, under Special.

Other online poker rooms who are sponsoring special poker tournaments inlcude Bodog Poker, which launched the Hurricane Katrina Benefit Tournaments, running daily Sept. 8-12. Bodog will match and donate all of the players' fees from the five poker tournaments to the Red Cross hurricane relief fund.

Party Poker is also extending a helping hand, by hosting a special Hurricane Help Tournament on Wednesday, September 7, 2005, 20:55 p.m. EST. The online cardroom owned by Party Gaming, has allocated 90% of the prize pool for charity, and will donate a sum equal to the prize pool to the relief efforts.

You can find this tournament under the “Special Tournaments” tab in the Party Poker lobby.

Golden Palace has a $10k Guaranteed Re-Buy No Limit Holdem tournament


Poker, Poker Tournament, Poker Freeroll, Online Poker 2006

Pro Beats Robot in Limit Holdem Challenge

It wasn't just the WSOP main event that was a success, as organizers for the first ever World Series of Poker Robots said their tournament, which pitted the best computer programmers--via their poker "robots"--against each other, was a smashing success.

Longtime I-gaming executive Steve Latham helped promote the event, which invited programmers from India, Canada, Hong Kong and the United States to pit their poker bots against each other in a tournament. The winner, Hilton Gibbons, got $100,000 for his efforts and was invited to a heads-up game against poker pro Phil Lakke (a.k.a. the "Unibomber"), who proceeded to topple Gibbons' bot.

For the moment, human's prevail in poker, but University of Alberta professor Jonathan Schaeffer, who was involved in the event, said it may just be a matter of time before the tables are turned.

"I don't think that there's a program today that would be a strong favorite versus a human," Schaeffer said, but he added that one-on-one limit Hold'Em glitches can be solved, thereby enabling a computer to play perfectly.

It took more than 300 hands for Laak to put away "PokerProbot," and after the action, Laak acknowledged that most average players would have a tough time against it.

"It would for sure make money online," Laak said. "At least in the simpler versions of Texas hold 'em with betting limits, bots are better than the average person."

Play Limit, Pot Limit, and No Limit Texas Holdem poker online and win seats to the WSOP and WPT. Top Tournament Sites to choose from with daily, weekly, and monthly tournaments! Play poker online now!

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Hold'em Starting Hands

The most crucial decision you make in a Texas Hold'em game is whether you will play your hole cards or not.

Here's a list of the best, and those that are good enough, starting hands when playing Holdem poker:

The Strongest Starting Hands:

PAIR of HIGH CARDS - AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 1010
ACE and HIGH CARD SUITED - AK(S), AQ(S), AJ(S), A10(S)
FACES SUITED - KQ(S), KJ(S), QJ(S)
ACE KING - AK

Medium Strength Starting Hands:

FACE TEN SUITED - K10(S), Q10(S), J10(S)
MEDIUM PAIRS - 99, 88, 77
TWO HIGH CARDS - AQ, AJ, A10 (ace king ranks higher, above), KQ down to J10
ACE and MEDIUM SUITED - A9(S), A8(S), A7(S)
MEDIUM SUITED CONNECTORS (No Gap/One Gap) - J9(S), 109(S), 108(S), 98(S), 97(S) down to 75(S)

When you receive these starting hands, it's pretty safe to play them for the pot. But of course you have to play it wise. There are still the flop, the turn, and the river to consider.

For more Texas Hold'em tips, strategies, and complete lessons go to Poker Lessons, with extensive lessons of all your favorite poker games plus free access to top online poker sites!

Poker, Texas Holdem, No Limit Holdem, Limit Holdem

Hold'em Poker Tournaments Ruled Legal in Texas

The Poker Gazette: A recent attorney general opinion requested by a West Texas prosecutor says the popular 'Texas Hold 'Em' poker tournaments are legal as long as players don't risk money for a prize.

District Attorney John Smith asked Greg Abbott whether holding the tournaments in bars violates state anti-gambling laws.

Gambling is permitted in a private setting as long as every player has the same chance of winning and the house doesn't take a cut. The rules change for public places, where gambling is forbidden at sites that have on-premises alcohol licenses.

However, Abbott's opinion said public tournaments that either do not require a 'buy in' or in which the winner does not receive a prize - even if they are held in bars - don't technically constitute gambling.

In February, Smith said he asked for Abbott's opinion because several local business owners had asked about holding bet-free poker tournaments at bars."

Poker, Texas Holdem, No Limit Holdem, Limit Holdem

The 3 Types of Texas Hold'em Poker

There are three major variations of Texas Hold'em poker: Limit, No Limit, and Pot Limit Hold'em.

Limit Texas Hold'em Poker Limit Texas Hold'em poker is the most popular form of non-tournament poker. If you've understood the basics of Texas Hold'em, you've pretty much mastered Limit Hold'em.

No Limit Hold'em Poker Simply put, in No-Limit Hold'em poker, you can make as many Bets or Raises as you want. There are no limits to the number of raises allowed. This form of Hold'em poker is most popular in Tournament games.

Pot Limit Hold'em Poker Pot Limit Hold'em poker is very similar to No Limit. The only difference is that in Pot Limit, you can never bet more than the current size of the pot.

If you're a beginner in the game of poker, our advise is to stick first with Limit Hold'em. Because although No Limit and Pot Limit seem have easier rules, the strategies are much more complex and difficult.

Texas Holdem, or Texas Hold'em, poker is the most popular poker game in the world--- both among online and offline casino players. It is the game you see televised on the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and World Poker Tour (WPT).

For more Texas Hold'em lessons and flash tutorial, go to Poker Lessons-- Poker Lesson Online, Game Lessons for Texas Holdem, Stud & Omaha

WSOP, Texas Holdem, No Limit Holdem, Pot Limit Holdem, Limit Holdem, WSOP 2005