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Orionrg goes from short stack to winner of the March 1, 2010 Poker Stars Sunday Million. Orionrg finally wins the Sunday Million after finishing 120^th in August, 123^rd in September and 262^nd in December. Here are the final table results along with the final table highlights.  

PokerStars Sunday Million

Running 11 hour(s) 14 minute(s)

Buy-in: $200 + $15
Prize Pool: $2,015,400
Entrants: 10,077

  Full Results

 * Deals at the final table may not be represented

A deal was made at the final table resulting in the following final results:

Orionrg  255,429.56

The well-noted poker pro captured the lead on our Multi Table Tournaments board after taking down the coveted PokerStars’ WCOOP Main Event.  In addition to winning the world’s most prestigious online poker tournament, Timoshenko also managed to earn $1,715,200; this huge amount of cash propelled him to the title on our leader board. 

Finishing just behind Timoshenko in second and third place were “Udon Wannit” and “djk123”.  Much like Jovial Gent, these two players gained their ground on the leader boards through a high finish in the WCOOP Main Event.

“chapmoney”, who was featured in last week’s article, was the big winner on our Top Shark of the Year Sit and Go leaderboard.  “chapmoney”, a.k.a. Mike Chappus, played well during the months of November and December to take over the top spot on the Sit and Go leader boards. 

Several 6-max sit and go victories helped him overtake the former leader in “azntracker”.  Chappus was also able to hold off “scossett” who made a late surge during the month of December before falling short in second place. 

With 2009 now in the books, players are already jockeying for position on the 2010 Top Shark of the Year leader boards.  “Drinking Buddy” is sitting in first place on the Multi Table Tournaments side while “ahmed-poker” is in first on the Sit and Go boards.  We’ve got almost 12 months of poker ahead of us though so the leader boards are sure to be shaken up plenty as the year goes on.

With just a month left in 2009, Chappus looks poised to take first place in the Top Shark of the Year Sit and Go Tournaments race.  And since chapmoney plays in lots of high buy-in sit and go tourneys each day, he doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon.

In addition to his sit and go prowess, Chappus is also a very good multi-table tournament player who has several big finishes.  This year, the Windsor, Ontario resident placed 95^th in the PokerStars WCOOP Main Event which earned him $16,616.  He also took 2^nd place in the PokerStars Quarter Million event, and was able to cash for $37,503.  Just the other day, chapmoney made another $2,587 after finishing 22^nd in The Super Tuesday at PokerStars.

It seems that, at a time when many players are winding down their year and getting ready for the holidays, Mike Chappus is picking up his volume and playing more poker than ever!  With all of the tournaments he is entering, it seems that chapmoney is determined to take down the Sit and Go Tournaments leaderboard title!

But moving to a different poker game is easier said than done since it takes a lot of work for one to prepare them self for such a move.  The first thing you have to factor in is the time you’ll need to spend studying the new variation.  Sure you may already have plenty of general poker knowledge from studying Texas Hold’em, but a new variation requires learning new strategy.  Reading books and articles, enlisting the services of a poker coach, and investing in training software are all things that can help you seamlessly move to a different poker game.

Another thing you should be concerned about when making the switch to a new poker game is what limits you’ll play.  The obvious decision is that you should drop down at least a couple of limits from whatever variation you were previously playing.  To be on the safe side, dropping down near the bottom is preferred until you really develop a feel for the new poker game you’re playing.

One more important thing you really need to do when transitioning to a new poker variation is keep your playing sessions short.  The reason for this is that you not only need to focus more intently in the beginning, but you also need to be able to review the sessions afterwards.  If you’re able to accomplish all of these things when moving to a new poker game then your transition should be pretty successful.

Jake Toole’s success has continued into college where he has been a valuable contributor to the Penn State tennis team in his first two seasons.  But what is really amazing about Toole is that he’s been able to balance his academics and athletics with the game of poker.

He plays under the name “psutennis11” and has jumped up to 7^th on the PokerProLab.com Multi Table Tournament rankings.  Toole was able to move into 7^th place on our Top Shark Player of the Year leaderboard after a big win in Event #22 of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series XIII. 

Facing 850 competitors, Toole was able to position himself near the top of the tournament leaderboard going into the final table.  Eventually, Toole would take the lead going into his heads-up match with noted online pro Brian Hastings.  Over the course of their matchup, psutennis11 gained a huge chip advantage over Hastings. 

The final play of the tournament saw Hastings go all-in with pocket sixes only to be called by Toole’s Jc-8c hand.  The board helped Tool pair his jacks while Hastings failed to improve his pocket 6’s.  After winning Event #22 of FTOPS XIII, psutennis11 earned a massive payday of $453,687 along with the necessary points to move up on the Multi Table Tournament leaderboard.  And considering the fact that Toole is such a consistent online poker player, there is a very good chance he could work his way higher up the leaderboard before the end of the year.  

All that is really known about fyrtuk is that this player is from Hungary, and has made hundreds of thousands of dollars already this year.  To be more accurate, fyrtuk has cashed for over $815,000 in 2009, and is ranked third on the Poker Pro Labs Multi Table Top Shark of the Year board.

“fyrtuk” was able to move up our leaderboard rankings rather quickly after taking first place in Event #22 of the FTOPS series.  After grabbing the victory in this $5,000 tournament, fyrtuk received $625,000 which makes up a large percentage of the $815,000 earned this year.  Other big cashes this year for fyrtuk include an 8^th place finish in the Full Tilt $1 Million Guaranteed ($20,600), and a 16^th place finish in an FTOPS Super Stack tournament ($10,000).

With the year only halfway over and plenty of money still left to be won, fyrtuk definitely has a good chance to top the $1 million mark in winnings this year.  And the Hungarian will have to keep marching at this pace or better in order to catch the top players on our Multi Table Tournaments leaderboard.  Seeing as how fyrtuk has fared so well in the big events, there is definitely time to capture Top Shark of the Year honors.

The basic definition of multi-tabling in poker is playing more than one table at once in an effort to make more money.  Some players can’t handle more than two or three tables at once because the decision-making time one has is drastically decreased.  Other players thrive at multi-tabling, and may even work their way up to playing 12 tables at one time.  But very few people are ever able to handle as many tables as Shaun “shaundeeb” Deebcan handle.

Once mistaken for the famous live player Freddy Deeb, Shaun has definitely made a name for himself in the poker world through his incredible online exploits.  Perhaps his most amazing feat is that Shaun Deebis consistently able to play 30 tables at once during his online sessions.  This means that Shaun Deeb has just a few seconds to act every time he has to make a play at each table.

Despite playing so many tables at one time, Deeb is still able to remain one of the top online players in the world.  He is a mainstay in the Poker Pro Labs’ Multi Table Tournaments Top 10, and has numerous victories to his credit over the years.  Deeb’s won both Full Tilt and PokerStars events that have earned him cashes of over $100,000 in addition to the countless victories he’s had in smaller tournaments.

Many consider Shaun Deeb to be one of the hardest working online poker players in the world since he continues to keep his torrid schedule which has included some major live tournaments as of late.  With so much tourney experience under his belt, you can definitely expect Shaun Deebto become a major force in live play as well! 

Online poker players talk about making big cashes in tournaments all of the time.  And for most online players, a big cash means earning anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 in a single tournament.  But if you talk to Jude “j. thaddeus” Ainsworth about a big cash, he’ll give you an entirely different definition. 

That’s because Ainsworth was able to battle his way through one of the toughest tournament fields ever to win the PokerStars SCOOP Main Event and the $963,338 first place prize.  Ainsworth outlasted such online poker legends as Jon “PearlJammed” Turner, Chris “Moorman1” Moorman, and Steven “$teveMoney” Merrifield to grab the victory in this $10,300 buy-in event. 

In winning the SCOOP Main Event, j. thaddeus was also able to vault himself to the top of the leaderboard standings in many online poker ranking systems including our own “Top Shark Player of the Year” Multi Table Tournaments board.  But winning the SCOOP Main Event isn’t the only big accomplishment j. thaddeus has had in his online poker career.

Some of his other accomplishments include getting 3^rd in one of the PokerStars Sunday Million tourneys which earned him $91,419, taking 3^rd in the PokerStars Super Tuesday event where he made $39,552, and finishing 3^rd in one of PokerStars $150,000 Guaranteed tournaments which gave Ainsworth another $20,643.

But the win in the SCOOP Main Event is certainly where j. thaddeus gets the bulk of his fame from, as well as the bulk of his bank account.  Fresh off of his huge victory, look for j. thaddeus to continue playing in the huge PokerStars events as he tries to hold his lead on the Top Shark Player of the Year leaderboard.

The most obvious way to do this is by taking breaks every now and then so that you don’t become sick of poker. It’s a good idea to stop playing for a while when you’ve been running bad or are just getting bored with the game. A good one or two week break can be a great way to renew your enthusiasm for poker.

Another must for avoiding burnout at the tables is to set realistic goals and expectations along the way. It is all too easy for people to get caught up in trying to play above the limits they’re comfortable with in an effort to make more money. And when personal expectations are too high then you’re only setting yourself up for failure. Having reachable goals is the perfect way to combat this problem.

One more thing that’s really helpful is to take time out to help a less experienced player improve their poker game. This is something that many people don’t often think of, but teaching someone else the fundamentals and observing their enthusiasm is a great way to renew your own drive for poker. Above all, just make sure that you do whatever it takes to keep poker fun and keep yourself improving.

 If you are not a Tournament Shark user and play SNG’s, MTT’s or Heads-up, you can download a free 7 day trial of the latest version.

He is currently ranked second on the Poker Pro Labs’ “Top Shark of the Year” multi-table rankings where you can commonly see the top online players in the world.One of the accomplishments that helped Gross earn this lofty ranking was a first place finish in Event 10 ($1.5 Million Guaranteed) of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series XI. After this finish, gboro780 earned an incredible $275,601 cash which is more than the vast majority of players make in their whole career.

But Gross isn’t some one tournament wonder since he has been doing this along as he took second place in the Full Tilt $1 Million Guaranteed tournament earlier this year and earned $126,506.Last year, Steve also managed to take first place in two different AbsolutePoker $100k Pro Bounty Guaranteed tournaments and made over $67,000 for the pair of victories.

 But these handful of great finishes are only a small part of the body of work Gross has put together during his poker playing career.The 23 year-old from Glassboro, New Jersey has also managed to win lots of other tournaments and has made numerous cashes.And it’s clear that Gross’ momentum isn’t slowing down at all since he earned $414,000 in the month of February.After this kind of month you can expect to see Gross’ name a lot more around the online poker world.

There are a lot of things people set goals for when they are trying to accomplish something. Things like losing weight, saving money, and work projects all require planning and goal setting to get the desired end result. But one thing that always amazes me is that people never look at the game of poker as something where goals and planning can be effective. In fact, most people play poker with only a vague goal of making money or finishing with a big tournament cash.

Of course it’s always a good idea to try and make money by playing poker, but you should have a plan in mind for how you’re going to do it – especially in tournaments. If you’ve never even come close to cashing in a big tournament then just blindly telling yourself you want to cash in the next one isn’t going to work. You’ve got to set some minor goals first and then work your way up to cashing and, eventually, final tables.

A good goal for those who don’t experience a lot of success in tournaments is to finish in the top third of a tourney they are entering. This won’t get you in the money, but it will put you within striking distance of cashing and, when you’ve reached this goal, you will have a shot at making money. Even if you don’t cash, you’ve still reached the original goal and have something to build upon for the future.

The overall plan is to set up reachable goals and work from there to keep getting further and further in tournaments rather than just playing with no direction.

Poker Pro Labs is pleased to announce support for the IPoker Network. The IPoker network includes an impressive array of poker sites like Titan Poker, CD Poker, Tony G, Noble Poker, Paddypower Poker and many others.

With the addition of IPoker, we will now track more than 8 million online poker players. This is a continuation of our goal to cover all poker sites and networks. We currently support Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, Poker Room, Crypto Logic and now IPoker for multi table , sit and go and heads-up poker tournaments and support most poker sites for ring games.

Please let us know if there is anything we can add to make your poker playing more enjoyable.

Unfortunately, there is also a breed of players that take free poker much more seriously. These are the people that aspire for the quick wealth and job independence poker provides and need some place to hone their skills. Naturally, they think free online poker is the best place to get started since it’s a low-pressure environment and there is no risk assumed. But that’s exactly the problem: there is no risk assumed!

Since players have nothing on the line in free poker, most of them make ridiculous calls and raises without any regard for poker strategy. In addition to this, the majority of players in free poker are relatively unskilled so a person isn’t going to improve much considering their competition.

If you are someone who is totally new to poker and unfamiliar with how it works then playing poker for free is a good way to get acquainted with the game. However, anyone who is serious about getting better at poker is better off starting their career by playing low limits and working their way up.

As the field eliminated player after player, Podarok found himself on the wrong side of a flush on the turn that cracked his flopped two pair and eliminated him in 10^th place as the final table bubble boy, collecting $16,260 for his amazing run. As the final table was now set, AAmerican held the chip lead with nearly $36 million chips, but lp_Sakisaki was just behind him with $31.5 million. All other players were at least 10 million chips behind.

Though not nearly the low stack at the table, kharak re-raised a 1.5 million chip raise for his last 10 million with Ah-Qc, and was called by the pocket nines of salmor. With the board no help to kharak, he was sent packing in 9^th place with $22,764 to show for it.

Just a few hands later, La_Alvarado needed a miracle as he re-raised all-in with Ac-Td and was called by the As-Js of MauryFishant. The board brought no help, and La_Alvarado hit the rail in 8^th place with $32,520 for his effort.

The remaining seven players battled for some time before the next player was eliminated. AAmerican re-raised MauryFishant’s initial 1.5 million chip raise for his last 4 million with Ad-5h. MauryFishant called with Qh-Jh, and with a queen hitting the flop with no ace in site, AAmerican hit the rail in 7^th place, collecting $50,406. Just a few hands later, salmor would push all-in after the turn with As-7d as the board read 7c-6s-5c-7h to give him trips with top kicker, but lp_SakiSaki called holding 4s-8s for a straight, and with no full house coming on the river salmor was sent packing in 6^th place and $73,170 for his effort.

The low stack at the table manifest23 was the next to go, as he tried to steal moving all-in with 3c-6c, but was called by Beufford’s pocket sixes. The board brought no help, and manifest23 was eliminated in 5^th place and collected $97,560. The next elimination came when k0rt went all in with pocket kings against the Ad-Js of lp_Sakisaki. When the board came 9h-8c-6c, k0rt was in great shape to stay alive. Yet to k0rt’s dismay, the turn brought a Qh and the river brought a Tc giving lp_SakiSaki the runner runner straight, ending k0rt’s day in 4^th place and $130,080 for his effort.

With three players left talk of deal surfaced, yet lp_SakiSaki, who was in the lead at the time with 70 million chips, refused and played continued. With his stack dwindling, MauryFishant raised with pocket threes and was re-raised all-in by the chip leader lp_SakiSaki. MauryFishant called for his tournament life, only to see lp_Sakisaki turn of pocket kings. The board brought no three, and MauryFishant was eliminated in 3^rd place, collecting $162,600 for the amazing run.

The heads up battle was a real David vs. Goliath affair, as Ip_SakiSaki had nearly a 4-1 chip advantage over Beufford. After trading small pots for the first several hands, lp_Sakisaki opened for 2.8 million chips and was called by Beufford. The flop came 8h-2d-2c and Beufford bet out for 4.2 million chips. lp_Sakisaki called, and the turn came 4c, which prompted an all-in call from Beufford for his last 50 million chips. Lp_Sakisaki called immediately and showed 2h-8d for a flopped full house, while Beufford turned over Kd-8c. when Beufford only hope did not come on the river, he exited the tournament in 2^nd place worth $227,640. Lp_Sakisaki claimed first place, and the largest non-WCCOP first place money worth $331,378.80. Congratulations!

Poker Pro Labs is pleased to announce support of the Ongame Network to its TopShark poker rankings. The Ongame network poker rooms include brands like Poker Room, Bwin Poker and Hollywood poker.

TopShark now provides online poker rankings and statistics for Multi Table, Sit and Go and Heads-up tournaments on Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and (Ongame) Poker Room.

With the addition of Ongame, TopShark will now track more than 7.1 million online poker players.This will make TopShark one of the largest poker rankings sites on the web.

Another newly added feature to the TopShark rankings system is "Filter Text". This feature will show you the exact filter being used to generate the tournament information. This is a very usefull feature if you choose to share or post this information elsewhere. A similar feature has also been added to the graphs. This way if you use the "get player graph link" to post on a forum, player information will be incorporated within the graph.

Free online poker rankings.

 When the final was set, Wolfman7979 stood atop the heap with just over 175,000 in chips, with Brock “ bobcards2 ” Parker in second with 167,802 chips and ib4eman a close third with just under 160,000.

The action began fast and furious, with 2 players quickly exiting the tournament. First to go was Eugene “ myrabbifoo ” Katchalov, who after some raising back and forth went all in with pocket eights against the 10s-9s of ib4eman. The board brought to spades, and with a third spade hitting the turn, Katchalov was sent to the rail in 9^th place worth $7,260. The second elimination came just one level later, when Jeremiah “ Believer8219 ” Vinsant shove his last 60,000 chips in with pocket tens, only to be called by the pocket kings of Brock “ bobcards2 ” Parker. With not ten hitting the board, Vinsant was sent packing in 8^th place, collecting $9,075 for his effort.

The remaining seven players continued to battle for some time until PeachyMer raised all-in with Ad-Qh and was immediately called by the Ah-Ks of bizzleraises. The board brought four spades instead of the needed queen, and PeachyMer exited the tournament in 7^th place worth $11,797.50. A few hands later, Wolfman7979 went all in with Qd-10h for his last 30,000 chips after an initial raise from Brock “ bobcards2 ” Parker. Parker called with Qs-Js, and once again a much neede ten never hit the board and Wolfman7979 hit the rail in 6^th place, collecting $18,150 in the process.

Soon after ib4eman raised all in with AsKd after an initial raise by bizzleraises, and bizzleraises called the all-in with pocket kings. The board came Jc-6h-10c-7c, and when a Qc hot the river, ib4eman cracked bizzleraises kings and sent him packing in 5^th place worth $25,410. Several hands later, torkolort went all-in with Qc-7c and was immediately by the Ac-7h of ib4eman. The board yielded no queen for torkolort, and he was eliminated in 4^th place, collecting $33,577.50 for his effort.

With three players remaining, ib4eman held nearly a 2-1-chip lead over the next player with nearly 600,000 in chips. Play continued for some time until the now short-stacked Brock “ bobcards2 ” Parker raised all-in for his last 93,000 chips and was called by the pocket fours of paperdotcom. The board was no help to Parker, and he exited the tournament in 3^rd place worth $43,560. At this point ib4eman still held a commanding chip lead, and a few moments later, paperdotcom shoved all-in with Kd-Qh and was called by the pocket eights of ib4eman. The board came 2s-2d-5s-9c-7h, and with no pictures in sight, paperdotcom hit the rail in 2^nd place, collecting $58,000 for his effort. Meanwhile, ib4eman was the last man standing, and collected $90,750 for his amazing run.

            When the final table was decided, Alvaro “ VARICO ” Ballesteros stood quite firmly in the lead with 313,753 chips, with Matias “ Festivuss ” Gabrenja a distant secong with just over 160,000 in chips.

            The first player, or in this case players, to hit the rail came only a few hands into the final table, when caio_pimenta raised all-in for his last 30,000 chips and Thomas “ BMH v.2.37 ” Rau went all in for just over 143,000 chips and gave caio_pimenta protection. Unfortunately for both players, Mike “ chapmoney ” Chappus was holding pocket aces in the small blind and went all-in for just over 145,000, covering both players. Caio_pimenta turned over Kd-9d, and Rau showed Ah-Ks, solidifying Mike Chappus’s overwhelming advantage. The board was of no help to either player, and caio_pimenta was quickly eliminated in 9^th place for $7,000, with Rau right behind him in 8^th place worth $10,000.

            The next player to hit the rail was Wesley “ teh_R3aLde4L ” Whybrew who called the all-in bet of chapmoney with his last 40,000 chips. Chapmoney was holding pocket deuces against Whybrew’s Ad-Th, and when the board brought nothing to help Whybrew’s position, he exited the tournament in 7^th place and $14,000 to show for his effort. A few hands later, caprioli re-raised VARICO for his last 65,000 chips with pocket fours after an initial 10,000-chip raise. VARICO called and turned over pocket tens, and with little help from the board, caprioli was sent packing in 6^th place and collected $18,000.

            A few minutes before the players were set to go on break, Dani “ supernova9 ” Stern re-raised a bet by Mike Chappus all-in with As-Jh, and was called by Chappus’s pocket eights. The board was favorable for Stern bringing both an ace and a jack on the flop. Yet, as it happens at times in poker, an eight hit the river, and sent Stern packing in 5^th place with $23,000 in winnings.

            Play resumed after the break with a couple of very quick eliminations. First, Matias “ Festivuss ” Gabrenja went all-in with Ad-2s, but was sent packing by the pocket kings of ale3560 when the board brought no ace or any other help to Gabrenja. He finished the tournament in 3^rd place and $33,600 in prize money. The second elimination came when chapmoney re-raised all-in with Ah-8d after VARICO’s initial raise. VARICO called with pocket sixes and tripped up on the river. Chapmoney hit the rail in 3^rd place and $44,000 for his effort.

            The heads-up battle had Alvaro “ VARICO ” Ballesteros with a 4-1 chip lead over ale3560, and just a few hands into their battle Ballesteros raised all-in with pocket fours and was quickly called by the Ac-3d of ale3560. The ace never cane foe ale3560 an he was eliminated in 2^nd place with an impressive $59,000 for his tremendous effort. VARICO’s final table chip lead held true, and he claimed 1^st place and $78,000 in prize money.   http://pokerprolabs.com/articles/templates/?z=0&a=45Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMTThe PokerStars Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Championship concluded on Sunday December 7^th with 34-yearr old Australian Martin Rowe outlasting 476 other hopefuls to take down the championship, and the AUD$1,000,000 first prize. Rowe, who had been playing poker for only about three years, certainly has made life easier for him and his family, considering the fact that he has a one and a half year old daughter, with another baby on the way.

             “I cannot believe I have won tonight”, said Rowe after the win. “I think I might take a break from work. I won’t be making any decisions until after tomorrow.”

            The championship even featured many famous names among the 477 entrants, including professionals such as fellow Australian Joe “ JoeHachem ” Hachem, American Chris “ Money800 ” Moneymaker and reigning WSOP Champion Peter “ Isser ” Eastgate. Rowe became the second Australian champion in this event in as many years, following another Sidney native Grant Levy, who won the event in 2007. Levy was a 29 year-old schoolteacher who came out of nowhere last year to take down the event.

            The final table last well over 9 hours, and saw two Australians, Rowe and fellow Sidney native Jason Gray, go heads up for the championship. When the heads-up battle began, Rowe held a 5-1 chip lead over Gray, yet it still took Rowe over 2 hours to eliminate his fellow Australian. The final hand brought both player two pair, but Rowe was Holding Ac-Qh for top two pair, and sent Gray to the rail in 2^nd place with AUD$476,000 for his tremendous effort.

            The final table was comprised mostly of Australian players, with only one Canadian and one player from Poland. Surprisingly no Americans or Europeans made the final table, as they have been dominating major events for the last couple of years. But Rowe silenced the international crowd by continuing Australian dominance in this event, even if only for the last two years.

  Several hours into the tournament the bubble boy, platinni, hit the rail in 1171^st place, taking a lot of pressure of the remaining players, and of course opening the proverbial flood gates for all those short stacked or loose aggressive. The first player to test these waters and come up short was JasonGray, who finished the tournament in 1170^th place and collected $303.08.The remaining players continued to duke it out, and just over eight hours into the tournament the final two tables were decided. It took over another hour to reach the final table, with shan261966 shoving the last of his chips in with pocket jacks and losing to ggiillaadd’s pocket kings, ending his tournament in 10^th place and $7,577 for his effort. The final table began with ggiillaadd in the chip lead with 15.5 million, and drritalin hot on his heals with 14.6 million in chips. The rest of the pack all had several million of the chips in play, with mozitas being the low stack with 3.5 million in chips.

The next player to risk the last of his chips was mozitas, who was the short stack at the table. Mozitas re-raised all-in with Ac-Qc after herdgolf86’s initial raise, and herdgolf86 called with Ad-Kc. The board brought no queen for mozitas, and he exited the tournament in 8^th place and $17,427.10 in winnings. A few hands later, JSchnett pushed all in with As-Tc and was called by the pocket nines of ggiillaadd. A race ensued, and the flop brought both a nine and a ten, giving JSchnett a pair of tens and ggiillaadd trip nines. With no help on the turn or river, JSchnett finished the tournament in 7^th place and a well-deserved $26,519.50 in prize money.

At this point, talks of a deal surfaced, and with several people interested it was herdgolf86 who squelched the talks and bade everyone good luck. Ironically, it was herdgolf86 who, just a few levels later, pushed all-in for his last 5.8 million chips with Qh-Jc. Herdgolf86 was quickly called by the Ah-Qd of Aftret, and when the board brought four hearts, herdgolf86’s flush was second best to the nut flush of Aftret, and he was sent packing with $38,642.70. Certainly a much lower amount than he would have received if only he would have listened to talks of a deal. Oh well.

Play resumed with all players thoroughly pleased with the deal, and just a few hands later Winn8D was at risk for all his chips holding pocket jacks against the pocket tens of Aftret. But the flop brought a ten for Aftret, and with no help on the turn or river, Winn8D was ousted in 5^th place and his agreed upon $78,701 in prize money. Mrvogt was the next to go, when his Kh-Tc ran into the pocket kings of Aftret, and mrvogt was gone in 4^th place and $96,458 in winnings courtesy of the deal. After a few more hands, Aftret was the next to run into a bigger hand when his Ah-Th went heads up with the Ad-Qh of ggiillaadd. The board brought nothing for either player, and Aftret was out in 3^rd place with $92,881 in winnings.

This left drritalin and ggiillaadd to play for the remaining $30,000, with ggiillaadd holding more than a two to one chip lead. But drritalin battled back to regain the chip lead, and eventually crippled ggiillaadd down to 5 million in chips. The final hand brought ggiillaadd two pair after the river, but drritalin turned over a boat and sent ggiillaadd packing in 2^nd place, with $114,355 to show for his awesome run. Drritalin claimed the final $30,000 for his 1^st place finish, and won $136,021 overall for the tournament. Congratulations!

Among the early casualties were some big names in the world of poker, such as John Juanda, Chris “ Money800 ” Moneymaker, Gavin “ GavinGriffin ” Griffin and Terrence “ Not Johnny ” Chan. All these players, including several others, hit the rail early and were in no position to even challenge for the money.

Bad beats were certainly not uncommon at this tournament, as the afore mentioned Terrence Chan flopped a set of jacks against the pocket aces of John Mendel, but with an ace on the turn Chan was sent packing. Though this might not seem like a bad beat, a two-outer on the turn or river can certainly sour anyone’s disposition.

As the bubble neared, another bad beat, a legitimate one this time, sent a player packing with the best starting hand in poker. Marlon Goonawardana raised pre-flop with pocket nines and was immediately by the pocket aces of Andrew Meldrum. The flop and the river were of no consequence, but a nine on the river gave Goonawardana trips to devastate Meldrum and send him packing so close to the money.

The bubble boy ended up being David Sanis, as he went all for the last of his chips with Ah-8c. Sanis had survived several all-ins before this hand, but when Tim English called this all-in bet with pocket queens, and hit a queen on the flop, Sanis’s day ended on the bubble and certainly with a long walk back down the red carpet.

With 48 exhausted players left in the tournament, and some much needed sleep in their future, the day concluded with Frank Saffioti in the chip lead with 619,000, and Brendan Edmonds hot on his heals with 508,000 in chips. Play will resume on Saturday December 6^th at 12:30pm local time in Sydney, with  AUD $1,000,000 top prize at stake.

            Russia has become the new hotbed for live and online poker in the last couple of years since Kravchenko won his bracelet at the 2007 WSOP. And with Demidov's astounding the world by finishing in the top three at both the WSOP Europe and the WSOP, the popularity of poker has skyrocketed over the last few months alone. With an untapped population of over 150 million, and more relaxed laws on information and the use of the World Wide Web, it is very easy to see why Russia is considered one of the fastest growing poker markets.

            The opening event will take place on January 25- February 1, 2009 in St. Petersburg, and will have a buy-in of $5,000. The second scheduled event, which will takes place in Moscow February 22-28, 2009, will feature a $10,000 buy-in and assuredly some of the worlds finest players.

            PokerStars is currently running satellites for entry into these tournaments, featuring low stakes qualifiers as low as $2.22, as well as FPP (Frequent Player Points) tournaments. The satellites will be available until the end of December, and winners will take home packages worth over $8,000, which will include a buy-in into the tournament, hotel accommodations and a $1,000 spending money.

Once the final table was set, dreamgirl3 was comfortably in the lead with almost 287,000 in chips, with the ever-dangerous Brian “ Sno0owman ” Hawkins lurking in 3^rd position with 147,000 in chips.

A few hands into the final table, one of the low stacks, -db-, called the raise of Robert “ Craps4Dinner ” Saltiel from the big blind with Jc-9c, and went all in for the last of his chips when 9h-5h-2h hit the flop. Obviously feeling good with top pair, -db- shoved all-in with his last 40,000 chips, and was quickly called by Craps4Dinner who turned over pocket aces. The turn and river were no help to –db-, and he hit the rail in 9^th place and collected $7,000.

The new low stack at the table was DareYou2Call, and he was the next to push all-in with Ad-Kc. Unfortunately for him he was called by the pocket eights of oneandahalf, and with five blank cards DareYou2Call was sent home in 8^th place and $10,000 richer. Shortly after, Tony “ DrunkPPlaya ” Gargano shoved all in with Ac-7s, but was quickly called by the pocket kings of Craps4Dinner. An ace never hit the board, and Gargano was sent packing in 7^th place, collecting $14,000 for his effort.

After a few inconsequential hands, Pist0nH0nda went all-in with As-5d and found himself dominated by the Ac-Js of Brian “ Sno0owman ” Hawkins. With the board not bringing a much-needed five, Pist0nH0nda exited the tournament in 6^th place, and $18,000 in his pocket.

With just five players left at the table, oneandahalf made a raise from under the gun, and was immediately re-raised by dreamgirl3. After a moment, oneandahalf risked his last 150,000 chips going all-in with As-Qc, and was immediately called by dreamgirl3’s pocket nines. The board spiked a nine giving dramgirl3 trips, and oneandahalf hit the rail in 5^th place worth $23,000. Just a few minutes later, dreamgirl3 caught another break when her As-Qs cracked the pocket aces of Craps4Dinner with a flush on the turn. Craps4Dinner took the bad beat with him as he was sent home in 4^th place worth $33,600.

Dreangirl3’s amazing run certainly didn’t stop there. With luck on her side, she was all-in with Ad-5d, and was dominated by the As-10h of Hawkins. With the flop no help to either player, the turn magically spiked a five, and Hawkins was crippled by another dreamgirl3 bad beat. Sno0owman exited the tournament just a few moments later in 3^rd place worth $44,000.

With the heads-up battle ready to begin, vui-qua-di, who had been flying under the radar for most of the tournament, held a 200,000-chip advantage over dreamgirl3. But dreamgirl3’s luck had been evident the whole tournament, and within just a few hands she had recaptured the chip lead. And just a few hands after that, dreamgirl3 raised 41,000 and was immediately re-raised all-in by vui-qua-di who was holding Ah-7s. Dreamgirl3 called immediately and flipped over Ad-Kc. The board held true for dreamgirl3, and vui-qua-di exited the tournament in 2^nd place, collecting $59,000 for an amazing run. Dreamgirl3 was the tournament champion and collected $78,000 for he astounding and improbable run.

While you still have all the basic features, such as players per table options, MTT SnG and Heads-Up options, filters to view the exact information on a given player necessary for your success, and the ability to refresh the page as new players enter the table, Tournament Shark added a couple new features to make your playing experience more enjoyable.

Before, one was only able to use Tournament Shark on Full Tilt while running in standard view, but with our new added support, you can run Tournament Shark on Full Tilt using Racetrack View with as much ease as the standard. You will no longer be limited when choosing the type of view that you find most comfortable while playing online poker.

Another very important feature that was added was a line at the bottom of the players list labeled “You”. Now you longer need to type and re-type your name into a blank field in order see or compare your poker statistics to the other players at your table. This feature was added for your convenience, and will assuredly save you time and energy when using our product Tournament Shark at the tables. Good luck!

With 2008 winding down, this tournament was one of the last few chances for players to make a push at challenging for the Top Shark Player of the Year for MTT’s. Though ckingusc has a commanding lead, there is still time for players to both cash in and climb the charts.

The tournament featured 8001 entrants, one of the largest fields ever, and carried with it a total prize pool of $1,600,200. Several famous poker professionals were once again part of the enormous field, including Daniel “ KidPoker ” Negreanu, Barry “ Barryg1 ” Greenstein, Hevad “ RaiNKhaN ” Khan and many others. Yet none of these professionals even came close to the money, with Bertrand “ ElkY ” Grospellier coming closest in the 1906^th spot, nearly 800 places from the money.

The battle for the money lasted about four hours, and kobeshomie exited the tournament as the bubble boy in 1171^st place. It took another four hours to reach the final two tables, and the final table was reached just a half hour later when martyyy pushed the last of his 1.6 million chips with Ad-9h and lost to the As-Jh of PureProfiFo, ending martyyy’s day in 10^th place and $8,001 for his effort.

The final table began with svansa and fratzl in the lead with 19 million and 17 million in chips respectively, and had twirlpro holding down 3^rd place with just over 12 million chips. The first of the short stacks to hit the rail was omba when he called the re-raise of NewsKool for all his chips. Omba turned over As-Js and soon saw he was crushed by NewsKools’s Ah-Qs, and as the board was no help to either player, omba exited the tournament in 9^th place with $11,201.40 in prize money.

The next player to exit the tournament was PureProfitFo when he re-raised all in with his pocket jacks and was called by the As-Kh of svansa. As a king hit the flop PureProfiFo was all but done, and with no help on the turn or river, PureProfitFo, who was one of the big stacks at the table, hit the rail in 8^th place and $18,402.30 for his trouble. Just a few hands later, the new short stack ankolo pushed in pre-flop with pocket jacks and was called by the Ks-Qs of fratzl. Once again the pocket jacks were crushed as a queen hit the flop, and with no help the rest of the way ankolo left the table in 7^th place yet $28,003.50 richer.

1bobbyl, who had been battling back from a crippling position, managed to grow his stack to over 8 million chips before trying to bluff twirlpro by raising all in from the big blind with 10h-5h. The problem for 1bobbyl was that twirlpro was holding Ac-Qh and called the all-in raise without hesitation. The flop hit for both players as a queen and five came, but with blanks on the turn and river, 1bobbyl was sent packing in 6^th place and $40,805.10 to show for his terrific run.    

 Twirlpro’s luck continued as he called the 6 million-chip all-in of Terkel1 with Kc-7s. Terkel1 turned over Ad-6d and was dominating going to the flop. But as we said twirlpro was running hot and hit two pair, ending Terkel1’s day in 5^th place, with $56,807.10 for his effort.

The final four players battled extensively, as each shot stack managed all in wins that kept them firmly in the tournament. At this point svansa asked the rest of the table if they wanted to deal, but the request fell upon deaf ears. Finally, svansa, who was holding Ad-6c, hit top pair when the flop came 7d-9s-Ah, and went all in for his last 7 million chips. Twirlpro, who was holding bottom pair and a straight draw with 8s-7s, called, and hit a 10s on the turn and a 5s on the river for a runner runner flush to eliminate svansa in 4^th place with $72,809.10.

NewsKool was the next player to attempt a deal, but as no answer was once again received, he called the all-in raise from twirlpro for his last 8 million chips. NewsKool turned over Ah-5h and quickly saw that he was dominating the Kc-6c of twirlpro. Yet once again twirlpro hit runner runner flush on the turn and river to eliminate NewsKool in 3^rd place with a huge payday of $89,611.20, not bad at all for 10 hours of work.

The heads-up battle showed fratzl ahead of twirlpro 42 million chips to 37 million chips, but this was certainly either player’s tournament to win. After several hands, twirpro regained the chip lead, and grew his stack to just over 50 million chips before the final hand was dealt. With just over 20 million chips left, fratzl push all-in pre-flop with Ac-Qd and was quickly called by the pocket kings of twirlpro. The flop came 2c-Qh-Jc, and gave fratzl a glimmer of hope before a Kh on the river gave twirlpro a set and ended the tournament. Fratzl’s day was done in 2nd place, and he ended his thanksgiving weekend winning  $132,176.52 and certainly a lot to be thankful for.

Twirlpro’s amazing run never let up, and he came out on top winning one of the largest PokerStars Sunday Millions ever, taking home $196, 024.50 and the title PokerStars Sunday Millions Champion. 

As the year winds down to a close, the final WPT Event of the year is ready to start today in Las Vegas. The Five Diamond World Poker Classic, one of the most anticipated events in Las Vegas every year, will take place at the Bellagio Hotel over the next two weeks, and will feature some of the best live and online poker players in the world. The tournaments begin today with a $500 buy-in event, and in the next fourteen day the event will also feature $1500, $2000, and $3000 buy-in events which are sure to bring out the poker elite.

The two main events will be the $5000 buy-in tournament, and of course the Doyle Brunson Classic, which is a $15,000 buy-in event that always plays host to top players such as Daniel “ KidPoker ” Negreanu, David “ David Pham ” Pham and Erik “ Erik Lindgren ” Lindgren, as well as many others. This major tournament takes place at the end of the preliminary events on December 13^th, and lasts until December 19^th when the final table takes place.

The 2007 Doyle Brunson Classic featured a field of 626 players, and carried a prize pool of $10 million. The event was host to a star studded field of professionals, and was one of the most competitive live events of the last few years beside the WSOP. In the end, Eugene Katchalov held of David “The Devilfish” Ulliott and online poker pro Ryan “ Daut44 ” Daut to take 1^st place a a prize of $2.4 million. The 2008 event should also be nothing short of spectacular, and with so many deserving hopefuls the competition is expected to just be heating up.

The November 25th PokerStars Super Tuesday was another star studded event that featured the likes of Victor “ VictorRamdin ” Ramdin who finished in 20^th place and collected $2,800, and online poker pro Shaun “ ShaunDeeb ” Deeb who finished in 17^th place and collected $4,000 for his effort. The $1,000+50 buy-in event attracted 367 players, and featured a large prize pool of $400,000. With most of the big names out before the final table, nine hopefuls were vying for the first place prize of $78,000.

The first to depart the final table was Daniel " amichaiKK " Makowsky, whose As-Kc unfortunately fell Makowsky’s Ac-9c when a nine hit the flop and the turn and river provided no help. amichaiKK collected $4,000 for his 9^th place finish. Just a few hands later, hwtd1 hit the rail when his pocket jacks were ousted by  IfIHadItAll's Ah-Ks, ending his tournament in 8^th place and collecting $7,000. Over the next few hands, Tom " SBRounder " West and mr_natoli hit the rail winning $14,000 and $18,000 dollars respectively to narrow the field down to five players.

Dreamgirl3 was the first of the final five to exit the tournament, when her pocket queens went up against the As-Kd of IfIHadItAll. The flop saw IfIHadItAll hit two pair, and with the turn and river no help to Dreamgirl3, she hit the rail in 5^th place and $23,000 richer.

The next to go was Bryn Kenney, who’s Ac-10c fell to the pocket kings of Pot Odds 3 when the board brought absolutely no help. Kenney finished the tournament in 4^th place and $33,600 for his effort. Yet Pot Odds 3 was not done, as he eliminated Sms9231 in 3rd place when his pocket sevens held true against Sms9231’s Ad-6s, sending Sms9231 to the rail with $44,000 in prize money.

As the final two were set, Pot Odds 3 had nearly a four to one chip advantage over IfIHadItAll. But after a long battle, IfIHadItAll regained the lead.  Pot Odds 3 shoved his last 250,000 chips in with As-3c and was called by IfIHadItAll’s pocket sevens. The board brought no ace for Pot Odds 3, and he exited the tournament with $59,000 for his tremendous effort. IfIHadItAll claimed the top spot and collected a prize of $78,000.

Daniel Negreanu, who currently resides Las Vegas, made the long trip home to Canada last weekend to play in one of the largest Canadian poker championships, the 2008 British Colombia Open.  The star studded event featured some of Canada’s finest poker players including the likes of Gavin " birdguts " Smith, Gabe Kaplan, Steve Paul Ambrose and many others. The event took place at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, BC, just outside of Vancouver.

                The $2500 buy-in event featured a field of 690 players, and was the final event in a week long poker extravaganza that took place from November 16-23, and featured three events with a prize pool totaling $2.9 million. Daniel “ KidPoker ” Negreanu ended up taking first place in the event and collected a prize of $371,910 and the title of 2008 BC Poker Champion. This was Negreanu’s third major cash this year in a live event. He finished fifth at the WSOP Europe Main Event, and won a bracelet at the 2008 WSOP $2000 buy-in Limit Hold Em event.

                "The tournament was extremely well organized and my opponents were very good”, said Negreanu. “It may have been a smaller tournament but I would say this has been the best $2500 buy-in event structure I've ever played."

                Negreanu is considered one of the best poker players in the world, and often plays online on PokerStars as well as in live events. Known as “ KidPoker ”, Negreanu recently finished 236^th out of 7999 entrants in the November 16^th PokerStars Sunday Millions, and collected $1439 for his effort. Negreanu’s abilities at the poker table are just as legendary on the screen as they are on the felt according to Top Shark online poker rankings, and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down as we head into 2009.   

The PokerStars Sunday Millions, which took place on November 23, 2008, saw another star studded event rise above the guaranteed $1.5 Million prize pool with 7,755 entrants, including Barry “ barryg1 ” Greenstein who finished 483^rd, Gavin “GavinGriffin ” Griffin and Danny “ THE__D__RY ” Ryan. All amateurs and professionals alike were fighting for the chance at the $190,000 first place money, and a chance to change their lives forever.

The tournament rolled along at a quick pace, as bubble boy thorbarden finished the tournament in 1171^st in just under four hours. Once the money broke, players continued to fly to the rail as the next 100 or so players were gone in just under 3 minutes, collecting over $300 for their time and troubles. As the numbers dwindled with guaranteed cash in the pockets of those willing to risk it all with queen deuce off suit, the final two tables were reached with just over eight hours elapsed. Players were now playing very carefully, and it took nearly an hour to reach the final table when Major_Bomb’s straight eliminated Xanny21 and his pocket sevens in tenth place but $7,755 richer.

With just a few hands under their belt, the final nine experienced their first casualty, as the short stack at the table, Hikkespett, pushed all in for his last 4.5 million chips with As-10c and was quickly called by the Ad-Jh of xfadomas666. The flop itself gave no help to Hikkespett, and while he hit a ten on the river to pair up, the ten gave his opponent a straight and ended his evening in 9^th place and a prize of $10,857. The next to go was A_Ivanovich who called an all in bet from Stammdogg for the last of his chips. A_Ivanovich flipped over pockets jacks and was dominating heading to the flop against Stammdogg’s pocket eights. When a jack hit the flop A_Ivanovich was all but ready to double up, but Stammdogg hit runner runner straight cards to knock A_Ivanovich out in 8^th place $17,386.50 for his effort.

Thebosshead, who was one of the chip leaders when the final table began, lost a huge hand to THE__D__RY, leaving him with just under 700,000 chips. Basically crippled, thebosshead went all in on the next hand and ended up losing to parachuting’s Kd-8c when a king hit the river. He mucked his hand in disgust, and finished the tournament in 7^th place, collecting $27,142.50.

Stammdogg was the next to go as he called an all in bet from Major_BomB for his last 6 million chips with Kh-Qs. Major_BomB embarrassingly turned over 5h-4h, but caught a five on the flop. With no help for Stammdogg on the turn or river, he was sent packing in 6^th place and $39,550.50 in his pocket. Just a few hands later Verichip also pushed his last 6 million chips into the pot with king queen off suit, but this time the Ad-Jc of xfamdomas666 was ahead, and with an ace on the flop and river, Verichip was sent home in 5^th place with $55,060.50 for his effort.

Ironically, Major_BomB was the next to be blown off the table as he pushed all in for his last 9 million chips with As-Kc, and was called by the pockets nines of parachuting. The board yielded no help for the Major, and he was eliminated in 4^th place with $70,570.50 to console him on his way home.

The final three saw xfandomas666 double up through parachuting, leaving parachuting the low stack at the table and vulnerable. And just a few hands later, parachuting called the raise of THE__D__RY for his last 11 million chips with Kc-Jd after hitting a king on the flop. Unfortunately for him an ace also hit the flop, and at the conclusion of the hand THE__D__RY flipped over Ah-5d to show the winning pair of aces and ended parachuting’s evening in 3^rd place with $86,856 in prize money.

The final two were decided, and THE__D__RY had a commanding four to one chip lead over xfandomas666. With THE__D__RY mum on any kind of a deal, xfandomas666 resorted to aggression instead. Yet with his chips dwindling quickly, xfandomas666 called a 2 million chip raise pre-flop with his Qs-8d. The Flop yielded nothing for both players as it came 6d-4h-10s, and both players checked. The turn came 8s, and xfandomas666 went all in for his last 12 million chips. He was called very quickly by THE__D__RY who flipped over 9c-7h and the straight, leaving very little need for the river. Xfandomas666 finished the tournament in 2^nd place and collected $128,112.60 for his impressive finish, while the winner, Danny “THE__D__RY ” Ryan took down the tournament and $189,997.50 for his amazing run at the PokerStars Sunday Millions.

The Main Event lasted just over eleven hours before the final table was set, and the final nine were lead by sckilla who had over 11,000,000 in chips, with Va Shon “ Julian Verse ” Watkins the closest with just over 7,000,000. The blinds opened at 80,000/160,000, and sd bum, who was the low stack to start the final table with 1,321,912 in chips, was the first to be eliminated when his Ah-Qd fell short against Hummelhintern’s pocket kings, ending his tournament in 9^th place and collecting $33,962.50 for his effort.

The next to go was RollinHand1, whose pocket fours were eagerly called by Julian Verse’s pocket nines from the small blind. The board provided little help for the small pocket pair, and RollinHand1 hit the rail in 8^th place but $45,718.75 richer. Shortly after, when the blinds had already reached 100,000/200,000, sinrake went all in for his last 3 million chips with Ad-4h and ended up running into the Ac-Jc of ilovepoka. The board did nothing to improve sinrake’s hand, and he exited the tournament in 7^th place, taking home $60,087.50.

The next two players to exit the tournament were Kraag, whose Jc-10s was dominated by the Kd-10c of sckilla, and bazeman who caught a flush on the turn only to lose on the next card when Hummelhintern hit a full house on the river. Kraag finished the tournament in 6^th place and collected $77,068.75, while bazeman finished in 5^th place and collected $103,193.75 for his effort.

Ilovepoka was the next to go as his pocket sevens ran into the pocket aces of sckilla, and with no seven hitting the board, he quickly found the rail and a 4^th place finish worth $137,156.25. And just a few hands later, Hummelhintern was the final casualty before the heads-up clash when his Qh-Jc missed the board completely and lost to the pocket deuces of Julian Verse. Hummelhintern finished the tournament in 3^rd place and collected $175,560.

This left a heads-up match between sckilla and Va Shon “ Julian Verse ” Watkins for the coveted FTOPS Main Event first prize of over $450,000. sckilla had a distinct chip advantage with over 22 million chips to Julian Verse’s 16 million. But after a few hands were dealt, Watkins flopped a flush and slow played the hand perfectly. After a Qh hit the turn, sckilla went all in with his Kh-4d and was immediately called by Watkins and his flush. Sckilla was drawing dead, and the 9h on the river was irrelevant. After two small double ups by sckilla, Watkins put the tournament away when his Qc-7s beat out the 6d-2c of sckilla, sending him to the rail in 2^nd place. Sckilla earned $273,006.25 for his magnificent run, while Watkins collected $450,708.50 and the title FTOPS X Main Event champion. For this major victory, Va Shon “ Julian Verse ” Watkins climbed almost 40,000 spots to 21^st place on the Top Shark MTT Player of the Year Leader Board. 

The SnG tournament starts when 10 players have registered for the game. Most SnG’s are single-table tournaments, but there are two-table SnGs which have 18 to 20 players and a larger prize pool. There’s an even quicker version called the “Turbo” SnGs, with fewer players and quicker blind changes. The popularity of the SnG tournament has become so high, just getting a seat at the table may be the hardest part of the game.

In a SnG tournament, each player makes a buy-in, which is a set amount that goes to the prize pool. Each player gets the same number of chips, normally 800-1,200, and then the game begins. The typical buy-ins for SnGs start at $5-$1, with $5 going to the pot and $1 going to the rake, the cut taken by the online casino. For obvious reasons, the competition gets tougher as the stakes get higher, with $30-$3 table generally considered the point where things really heat up.

Your mental approach to Hold’em is the first issue to address. Poker should be treated like a long-term investment plan, especially a game like Hold’em. A common poker phrase that is filled with some sage advice is that Hold’em “is simple to learn, but takes a lifetime to master.” You can pick up the basics of the game fairly quick, but conquering the subtleties will take time and patience. After a few years of playing, you’ll look back at some of the hands and mistakes you’ve made and wonder what you were thinking at the time. Every player must travel through this process, without exception. It’s the only way to learn. Once you’re comfortable with the long-term mental approach, the more concrete aspects of Hold’em strategies will start to take shape.

Another basic lesson to understand about Hold’em is that because it’s a community-card game, you will need to play hands that consistently start with higher cards than your opponents. Chasing straights and flushes too many times is dangerous water to tread in unless you’re getting a good price.

The rest of the field, who were all battling for the top 1170 spots and a chance at the money, saw players begin to fly out of the tournament very quickly after hellhound broke the seal and collected 319.96 for his effort and a 1170^th place finish. Players continued to dissipate for several hours until the final two tables were determined at about the nine hours mark, at which point play slowed considerable.

While it took some time to dwindle down to ten players, the move from ten to eight came very quickly. Within a span of just a few minutes, kjmosu1978, who was short stacked, pushed all his chips in pre-flop with Tc-9c and was eliminated by the pocket queens of orkim when three deuces hit the flop, and LEstradioto was eliminated when his Kc-7d ran into Mr_BigQueso who was holding Kh-Jh. Kjmosu1978 collected $7,999 for his effort and a tenth place finish, while LEstradioto finished 9^th and took home $11,198.60.

The final table was now set with just eight players, and fireworks began almost immediately with jarocho123 risking all his chips with As-Qd against kesher 79’s pocket 4’s. The flop yielded nothing for jarocho123, with the turn and river achieving the same result, ending jarocho123’s tournament in 8^th place and giving him a cash of $18,397.70.

RiverCardRob was the next to go when his Ah-Kd went up against the pocket queens of rS.Wisdom. An ace hit the flop to give RiverCardRob a chance to keep his tournament hopes alive, but a queen on the river ironically sent RiverCardRob packing in 7^th place, and $27,996.50 in prize money. Yet rS.wisdom wasn’t finished clearing the table, and orkim was the next to go as his pocket eights we crushed buy the pocket aces of rS.Wisdom at showdown, ending orkim’s tournament in 6^th place with $40,794.90 in prize money. Shortly after, kesher79 eliminated Mr_BigQueso when his pocket aces crushed Mr_BigQueso’s Ad-9d and sent him packing in 5^th place and $56,792.90 richer. This was followed maverick8487 also being eliminated by kesher79 when maverick8487’s pocket fives were trumped by kesher79’s pocket jacks, ending his tournament in 4^th place and $72,790.90 for his effort.

At the ten-hour mark three players remained to fight it out for the first place money. Kesher79 and rS.Wisdom were almost even in chips, with mjluth, who avoided confrontation at the final table, short-stacked and down 3-1 in chips. While he managed to hang around and battle for a few hands, mjluth was eliminated in 3^rd place when kesher79 hit a three outer on the turn to beat mjluth’s Ac-Kh with his Ks-Qd. While no doubt disappointed, mjluth collected $89,588.80 for this fantastic showing.

With just two players left, kesher79 had a seventeen million-chip lead over rS.Wisdom, and the rest of the tournament lasted only a few more hands. On the last hand of the tournament, rS.Wisdom, who held Ad-Tc, turned two pair with the board showing Jh-Td-2h-Ac. The final card seemed like an innocuous 2s and rS.Wisdom called his last $19 million chips after the river. But kesher79 was slow playing an absolute monster, turning over pocket deuces to show quads, ending the tournament for rS.Wisdom who took home $132,143.48 for his second place finish.

Kesher79, who outlasted nearly eight thousand entrants, claimed the first place prize money of $195,975.50, which has propelled him up the Top Shark Player of the Year leader board.  

Everyone is familiar with someone who has a bad poker face. We’ve all seen the poker commercial where the girlfriend bounces out of the dressing room in a ghastly outfit and asks her boyfriend how she looks. The expression on his face is priceless, as he’s unable to conceal his shock and disgust. In the next scene, of course, he’s got a broken nose. The point? This guy has a bad poker face. Who needs to hear someone talking when facial expressions and body language can communicate just as much?
Reading your opponents and their tells has been a part of poker since the days of the Wild West saloon games. Now, in the high-tech world created by the Internet, poker has become a faceless game, and relying on body language has become futile.

A tell in poker is simply a player who unintentionally reveals a part of his or her personality. It’s a habit or physical reaction. A trait, mannerism or expression that gives clues away to the other players. Obviously, while playing online you can’t tell if a player has flaring nostrils, sweaty palms or crooked smile. As a matter of fact, you can’t even tell if they’re sitting at the computer or in the kitchen getting a snack.

So if you have no face-to-face contact, what good are tells in the online world? Well, they do exist, and they’re quite different from the traditional tells.

Poker tells are never foolproof, whether they’re in the real world or over the Internet. There are no guarantees. But online players can gain an edge by watching the response speed of other players. It’s the No. 1 tell in the cyberspace game. Quick bets on the turn and river often signal a good hand, while quick checks in the early rounds likely mean the player has a weak hand.

Online poker sites even provide assistance to players who go on reconnaissance missions of sort. The No. 1 clue most professional online players look for is the flop percentage. When you’re in the lobby of most online poker websites, the amount of players remaining after the flop is represented in a percentage. In this case, the more, the merrier.

A big number of players sticking around after the flop means there is likely a high number of novices at that table playing fast and loose with their money. They’re not playing smart and chasing a lot of drawing hands. If the flop percentage is listed as more than 35 percent, it’s likely you’ve stumbled onto a table that could pay high dividends. And a profitable table is the whole point.

In the online multi-table tournament, it’s Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory that takes center stage.

Multi-Table Tournaments, or MTTs, require a different way of thinking than the typical ring game, where digging into your pocket or bank account for more money is an option. These online tournaments can take up a good chunk of time, but have become the standard-bearer of the game, as poker has become a cultural force through coverage of the World Series of Poker on ESPN and the Travel Channel’s World Poker Tour. In fact, the MTT game has become even more intriguing since the 2003 WSOP winner Chris Moneymaker qualified for the world’s biggest tournament through a multi-table satellite tournament for a paltry $40 buy-in.

The basics of an MTT begin with the buy-in fee. The range can be from $1 to $200, depending on the site and size of the tournament. Each player starts with the same amount of chips, the blinds increase periodically, and the winnings are given out according to how a player finishes the tournament. So, when you take the leap into an MTT, you should have one major goal: finish in the money. Strategy for tournament games revolves around chip stack. Your survival depends on it. Just making it past the early rounds, where you should practice playing tight, means several things. It means when you do bet, the chances of being called are much lower. It means that when you are called, you should expect to be facing a better hand than normal. And finally, it means you will be mucking some good hands you never imagined you would be laying downFor any MTT rookie, the sound strategy is to not overstep your bounds early in the tournament. Coming out too aggressive when the blinds are relatively cheap is a big mistake. Patience is the key and only the best hands should be played as you watch the other overly aggressive players go toe-to-toe, trying to knock each other out. If, however, you do have the hand, like a big pair, it’s wise to play aggressively in order to make a statement and protect yourself from the bad beat.

As you build your stack, your approach to the game has to change. Players who make it to the final table in the MTT have to turn on the aggression or they’ll end up with less prize money. At this point of the game, players can’t just sit back and let the bigger blinds eat away at their chip stacks.

In a Texas Hold ’Em hand, there’s no prize for second-best. You enter each and every hand with the idea of winning. It’s not a horse race where a place or show bet pays off. Therefore, your starting hand selection is the most important part of the game.

It goes without saying that good starting cards will help make your decisions much easier. However, it’s not always that simple. If, for instance, you started each poker hand with K-Q suited, your opening move would be different every time when you consider the tremendous amount of variables involved. Beyond the strong starting hand, you have to consider several factors, including: What is your position in the hand? Is the game tight or loose? What type of players are you going up against? Has any other player called or raised? How you play that suited K-Q in one hand can change 180 degrees in the next hand. And if you don’t play it correctly, it just may end up costing you.

There are several starting-hand strategies which are promoted, but one that’s universally recognized as the best for most players is using hand value and position. Simply put, hand value and position breaks down like this: From the early position, only strong starting cards like big pairs of queens and above, or A-K, A-Q should be played. As your position moves closer to the middle, pairs down to nines and lesser combinations like A-J, K-Q, Q-J and A-9 can safely be put into play. The progression follows with late position, where any pair becomes a viable option, along with suited connectors and combinations like K-10 and Q-9. But position and hand value are just two components to determine whether you get in or get out. Because five or the seven cards dealt in Hold’em are community cards, the game is about what you have in the hole, not about chasing pairs. The reason? If you improve, your opponent usually will too. If you don’t consistently start with higher cards than your opponents, no matter how many years you’ve put in at the tables, you will not come out a winner.

If you draw pocket pairs, where odds run 16-1, consider yourself lucky and in good position to win the pot. But you still have to know how to play them correctly, whether you’re sitting with a pair or deuces or a monster pair of aces.

Professional poker players are able to use these methods since they often come across the same players on the circuit. But with the rise in poker’s popularity, even the pros are finding it almost impossible to keep track of players, as a constant stream of unfamiliar faces continue to jump on the bandwagon.

If you’re the occasional casino or card room player, opponent tracking is extremely difficult. For online players, it’s a different story. With software like Poker Calculator Pro, the ability to track the actions of opponents, as well as your own, is not only possible, it’s easy.

The importance of opponent tracking can’t be underestimated. Tracking every single hand gives a history, detailed summaries and statistics that will put your game on the offensive. Critical parts of an opponents’ game to track include starting hands, raising hands and flop play.

Opponent tracking is all about finding the weak players and taking their money. Like a lion on the African plain, you’re looking for the weak wildebeest in the heard. Once you identify a weak opponent, most poker sites provide the ability to bookmark this person so you can face off with them in the future. To maximize your profits, build a “buddy list” and seek out these players when they’re online.

Poker is all about finding the edge, and using an opponent tracking system not only gives you insight on player tendencies, but slaps a sign on particular online players that they’re ripe for picking and, as the dialog in “Rounders” so aptly pointed out, “If you can’t spot the sucker in the first half hour, then you’re the sucker.”

Rule 2 is don’t come to the table with an underfunded bankroll. Sit down at an online poker table with lightweight numbers and you will be the target of every good player. You will be vulnerable, the chum to a shark, as players associate a small starting stack with weakness. A general rule is that you should buy into a game for no less than 100 times the big blind. Therefore, if you’re playing in a .50/$1 No-Limit game, you should bring at least $100 to the table.

Under the same rule, if you’ve decided that your poker capital for the month is $1,000, don’t take a seat at the $5/$10 table. Risking a large percentage of your bankroll in one shot is a recipe for disaster. The general rule is to risk no more than 10 percent of your total poker capital in one session.

• The skill to spot a bluff is just as important as pulling one off. A player who’s in poor position and bets pre-flop, and then bets after a poor flop, could be bluffing. Raising the bet is one sure way of drawing them out.

• You’ve heard the expression, “too stupid to be bluffed.” Well, that’s one thing to watch out for when playing with amateurs, which the online poker world is filled with. It’s hard to bluff weak players because they tend to be loose and just have to know what you’re holding. So they’ll risk calling just to see your cards.

• What’s the chip strength of your opponents? Obviously, players with big stacks are more likely to call your bluff than short-stacked players. Also, the higher the pot, the harder to bluff. Players are willing to risk more when the reward is higher, so that pair of sixes you’re bluffing with is stronger when the pot is $50 as opposed to $500.

• Consider using the semi-bluff, which is also an effective move. The semi-bluff is betting when you’re behind in the hand but have several cards remaining in the deck that can give you a victory. These cards are called “outs.”

If you have spent anytime watching poker on television, you will occasionally see a player staring at the pot and mumbling numbers. It appears you’re watching a human calculator, but what’s actually going on is the player is likely trying to figure out the pot odds.

Pot odds are the size of the pot relative to the cost of calling the bets necessary to remain in the hand. Just knowing the math part of poker won’t turn you into a champion. But pot odds are an important component in understanding whether a hand is worth betting on or not.

It’s an absolute certainty that you will be behind in most poker hands, forcing you to pick and choose your spots when going for a draw and chasing a hand. But when is the right moment to take a chance on that long shot? This is the point where knowing how to figure out pot odds comes into play.

Start out by keeping track of how much money is in the pot so you can quickly figure out the pots odds when the time is right. Then, use the pot odds to simplify challenging decisions. For example, if you have a flush draw of diamonds (four diamonds) after the flop in a game of Texas Hold ’Em, and there are a total of 13 diamonds in a deck, there would be nine other diamonds remaining (13 - 4 = 9). This gives you a 19% chance of hitting a diamond on the next card. Now that you’ve established the 19% number, take the amount of the pot, lets say 80, and add it to the amount of the bet to call, lets say 10. The equation would be: 80 + 10 x .19 = 17.1. Since 17.1 is greater than 10, making the call would be the right move. In this example, if the pot were 30, the pot odds would change dramatically: 30 + 10 x. 19 = 7.6. Since 7.6 is less than 10, this would put the pot odds against you.

             Eastgate found himself in the chip lead when the final two were announced, playing against the media darling and final table favorite Ivan “hasuling” Demidov. Demidov came out strong in the first several hands, and had taken over the chip lead from Eastgate. But as we surmised here at Poker Pro Labs in our Monday article, “Demidov, Eastgate battle for WSOP Eminence”, Eastgate was a more reliable heads-up player, since he had won nearly 60% of his heads-up matches in the last few months according to Top Shark online poker rankings, while Demidov had won approximately 44% of the time in heads-up play. We gave the edge to Eastgate not just because of his commanding chip lead, but because we felt the correlation between live and online poker was quite prevalent, and the shear tournament results encouraged us to all but predict a win for Eastgate.

            By the 22^nd hand of the heads-up match, Eastgate re-captured the chip lead and never looked back. We felt that Demidov could play a little loose based off his Top Shark heads-up tournament results, and in actuality he was quoted as saying that he made a couple of foolish bluffs and loose calls which cost him a substantial amount of chips. While an unfortunate 4 of clubs hit the turn on the final hand to give Demidov two pair and Eastgate the wheel, Demidov was already crippled with only 20 million chips left. Needless to say Peter Eastgate captured the hand and the tournament to become the youngest WSOP Main Event Champion ever.

            It is clear to us at Poker Pro Labs, that any differences between the live and online game are so minute as to no longer require any consideration. The two finalists at the WSOP Main Event have had very little in the way of live experience, with Ivan Demidov only seeing three live tournament cashes in his life, and Eastgate only cashing twice in live events during his short career. These two players, and countless others who performed well in this mightiest of poker events, have honed their skills with countless hours online at poker sites like PokerStars, and not the card rooms of Las Vegas or Atlantic City. And though we do not doubt that the prestige of live poker will keep its supremacy for some time longer, we fearlessly predict that a hostile takeover by online players is in the works, if not already at hand.    

For the last four or so months we have heard names like David “Chino” Rheem, Dennis “FordMan1954” Phillips and Darus “Dennis_TO” Suharto ringing through the halls of the Rio Hotel Las Vegas. We have lived through triumph and heartache with players like Ylon “TenthPlanet” Schwartz, Craig Marquis and Scott “ScottMontgomery” Montgomery, as they attempted to defy the odds and forever change their future. Yet as that balmy Sunday in November dwindled in the twilight of a waxing moon, there amongst the ruins of broken dreams, stood the figures of two men prepared to do battle, like the samurai of ancient Japan, for the greatest treasure in the world.

As Peter “Isser” Eastgate and Ivan “hasuling” Demidov prepare themselves for the most important day of their young lives, we at Poker Pro Labs attempt to delve inside the numbers of Top Shark online poker rankings and tournament results, and determine which of these new giants of the game carry with them an edge heading into the most important Heads-Up match of the year.

We stated in our previous article, “Demidov, Suharto Prepare for WSOP Final Table”, that most members of the November Nine used these last four months to hone their skills playing on PokerStars and other various poker sites online. Demidov, in particular, spent most of his time online line playing Heads-Up tournaments, with 71 of 89 tournaments played coming of that variety. It seems like Demidov knew what was coming, and may have even gained a distinct advantage through his preparation, despite having a 22 million-chip deficit. It certainly helps Demidov that Phil Hellmuth and Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu announced on ESPN that they both pick him to win the bracelet. Yet probing Top Shark online poker rankings a little further, we learn that Demidov only won 34 of the 71 Heads-Up tournaments he played online, losing nearly seven thousand dollars in the process, and almost assuredly playing against weaker opponents than the one facing him in less that ten hours.

Eastgate, on the other hand, who has played far fewer tournaments online since the November Nine were announced, has won 8 of the14 Heads-Up matches he has played on PokerStars, with only six other tournaments played of a different variety. Eastgate won nearly seven thousand in contrast to Demidov, and may have shown a propensity for success in a Heads-Up match.      

     While it takes more than numbers and stats to capture the 2008 WSOP Main Event bracelet and over 9 million dollars, we feel that there is a distinct correlation between the live and online game, and the history of someone’s play online can easily translate to the most important live matches. That is why Eastgate, who already starts the final Heads-Up match at the WSOP Main Event with nearly a 22 million-chip lead, may have the history, along with his enormous chip lead, to capture the most coveted trophy in poker, and the name 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion.  

            According to Top Shark online poker rankings and tournament results, Ylon “TenthPlanet” Schwartz has played over 50 various tournaments on PokerStars alone, with almost 48 of those tournaments being of the MTT variety. Schwartz has earned nearly $11,000 in these tournaments overall, and the aggressive play he displayed throughout the WSOP appears to not have lost any bite when translating to the online game.

            Peter “Isser” Eastgate, much like Demidov, has spent almost all his time preparing for the Main Event final table by playing high stakes Heads-Up tournaments on PokerStars. According to Top Shark online poker rankings, Eastgate has had an average buy-in of nearly $900 in these heads-up events; perhaps attempting to emulate the extreme high stakes atmosphere he will experience not 4 days hence.

            Dennis “FordMan1954” Phillips took a page from Rheem’s book since mid July, by playing only a sparse number of tournaments online. What sets Phillips apart from players like Eastgate and Schwartz is that though he spent less time playing online, Phillips has an almost equal number of MMT’s, SnG’s and Heads-Up tournaments played in the last 4 months. Unlike most of the November Nine, who have concentrated most their efforts on a particular type of tournament in preparation for the Main Event final table, Phillips apparently has attempted to sharpen every facet of his game.

            It is clear to us at Poker Pro Labs, that whatever the approach, all nine members of the Main Events final table are doing what they feel is necessary to prepare themselves mentally and physically for the grueling days ahead.

            In an interview with David “Chino” Rheem directly following his making the final table, Rheem indicated that he was going to spend time with family and friends, and take a well-deserved vacation from poker, and thoughts of the final table. As we at Poker Pro Labs found out, not all those headed for the WSOP Main Event final table have taken the same approach.

            Several players have spent their time sharpening their skills in the online game on sites such as PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Darus “Dennis_TO” Suharto, has played over 60 MTT, SnG and Heads-Up tournaments on Poker Stars, and according to Top Shark online poker rankings and statistics, has earned nearly $3,000 extra dollars since the WSOP final table was decided. Suharto has played mostly MTT tournaments, with only 11 of his over 60 tournaments being either of SnG’s or Heads-Up variety.

            In Contrast to Sahurto’s approach, Ivan “hasuling” Demidov has spent the majority of his time since mid July playing Heads-Up online. In the last four or so months, Demidov has played 89 tournaments on PokerStars, with 71 of those tournaments of the Heads-Up variety. Though his success rate at those Heads-Up tournaments has been lackluster according to his results on Top Shark online poker rankings, his preparation to the biggest final table of his life so far has definitely been unique in comparison to other members of the November Nine.

        Regardless of game or tournament type, it is clear the several members of this historic WSOP final table do not differentiate too much between live and online poker, and spend a good portion of their preparation for this final table online honing their skills. For whatever reason, it is starting to seem to us at Poker Pro Labs that the dividing line between live and online poker is slowly disappearing, and the November Nine’s recent involvement in online poker is certainly a testament to that.

The online game, meanwhile, is a great starting point for the beginner. The intimidation factor goes way down for someone just learning the game when they try their hand at a Web casino. They can participate in “play money” games, which don’t exist at a casino. And players who don’t handle the pressure of face-to-face confrontation in the casino card rooms have access to an environment that’s casual and comfortable. That said, it doesn’t mean the online game is filled with beginners. There are plenty of skilled players taking their game online to cash in on a piece of the pie.

One major difference between the two venues is speed. The online game moves much faster with an average of 50-60 hands per hour. And some full-time pros have turned playing multiple tables at the same time into a lucrative business.

Online poker, in general, tends to be much looser than the typical casino game. When all it takes is the click of a mouse, players tend to call and raise more often than make the smart play and fold. The online bluff works the same way. It’s a lot easier to bluff someone who’s not giving you the 1,000-mile stare.

Expressing yourself is another difference between playing on your computer or playing at a casino. Being a good sport and maintaining some professionalism is required at a casino, but if you suffer a bad beat online, you can act out in whatever way you choose. It may not be the endearing part of Internet poker, but not having to bottle up your frustrations is probably good for your health.

Finally, convenience is absolutely the biggest distinction between casino and online games. The casinos are open 24 hours a day, of course, but the action at the poker tables is limited to the number of tables, players, etc. For the online player, it’s like being a kid in a candy store. Any game, any time, at any level is available. It’s why virtual poker rooms have become a billion-dollar industry.

“Ziggy47” is one player who is definitely schooling others at Poker Stars over the last month. “Ziggy47” has cashed five times this month in major tournaments with two top ten finishes. The largest of these cashes came in the August 10th Sunday Millions tournament where “Ziggy47” outlasted 8235 other entrants, taking the top spot and collecting $199,475. While “Ziggy47” fell just short of cracking the Poker Pro Labs’ (pokerprolabs.com) Top Shark annual leader board for Poker Stars, his performance landed him the 2nd spot on the Top Shark monthly leader board for August. Sitting in first place on Top Shark for August, “Fred_Brink” landed a huge cash by winning the August 3rd Sunday Millions. He outlasted a large field of 8430 participants, and collected a whopping $204,198. “Fred_Brink” cashed four other times this month with his largest coming on August 17th where he finished 43 out of 443 entrants, and collected $784.

For Poker Stars SnG’s, “sizzlinbetta” grabbed the top spot on Poker Pro Labs’ Top Shark SnG leader board for August with $29,092 in winnings, and now sits in 15th place for the year. Finishing second for the month with $27,773, “BB John” has climbed all the way to the 2nd spot on the Top Shark annual leader board with $113,402, just behind the leader “spacegravy” who maintains his lead with $117,804 in winnings for the year.

At Full Tilt, the FTOPS tournaments yielded huge prize pools that resulted in drastic changes to the Top Shark MTT annual leader board for Full Tilt. “hAAydon”, who sits atop the Top Shark leader board for August with $537,323 in winnings, collected the largest cash this month in the FTOPS Event #22 on August 17th. “hAAydon” outlasted 941 entrants in the $2500+120 buy-in event, finishing in 1st and collecting $541,650. “hAAydon” had no other this month, and no other cashes over $1000 this year, yet currently sits in 3rd place on the Top Shark annual leader board. Also cracking the top ten on the Top Shark annual leader board are “dubbeemin”(7th), who won the FTOPS $500+35 buy-in Main Event on August 18th and collected $432,400, and “triathlon4” (10th), who finished second at the FTOPS Event #22 on August 17th and collected $341,475. All three of these players are still chasing “Halfrek”, who has a commanding lead atop the Top Shark annual leader board with $865,120 in winnings.

For Full Tilt SnG’s, “culaopho” took the top spot on the Top Shark SnG leader board for August with $29,754 in winnings, with “DOTTT” a close second at $27,970 for the month. Overall “Thomas Bihl” had another good month with $11,647 in winnings, which keeps him atop the Top Shark SnG annual leader board for Full Tilt with $83,981 in winnings this year.

The effect of these large prize pools in a mere two-week period of time was a complete re-ordering of Poker Pro Labs’ (pokerprolabs.com) Top Shark annual leader board for Poker Stars. With five players collecting over $700,000 in the WCOOP Main Event, it is no surprise to see so many new names and faces at the top. “liberace”, who finished second in the $5000+200 buy-in WCOOP Main Event on September 21st, collected $1,375,249, which was the most money earned by any player in this tournament, because the last five players compromised on a chip chop, and “liberace” was the chip leader at the time. This single enormous cash propelled “liberace” not only to the top of the Top Shark monthly leader board for September, but catapulted “liberace” to the top spot on the Poker Pro Labs’ Top Shark annual leader board for Poker Stars. The winner of the Main Event “ckingusc” finished second in the money with $1,265,432, but outlasted the 2185 entrants to capture the remaining $200,000 left over after the chip chop and the WCOOP bracelet. This earned “ckingusc” the 2nd spot on the Top Shark monthly leader board for September, as well as 2nd place on the Poker Pro Labs’ Top Shark annual leader board for Poker Stars. The last three players involved in the chip chop were “AJKHoosier1”, who collected $782,542 and finished 3rd, “Markush13”, who collected $961, 718 and finished 4th, and “ShoesRDurrty”, who collected $801,153 and finished in 5th place. All three of these players sit just behind “liberace” and “ckingusc” to round out the top five on the Poker Pro Labs’ Top Shark annual leader board for Poker Stars.

For Poker Stars SnG’s, “azntracker” grabbed the top spot on Poker Pro Labs’ Top Shark SnG leader board for September with $34,395 in winnings, and now sits in 9th position on the Top Shark SnG annual leader board for Poker Stars with $88,616. “azntracker”, as well as the rest of the field, are still chasing “spacegravy”, who with an almost workman like approach, won $18,119 in September, and sits in 1st place on the Poker Pro Labs’ Top Shark SnG annual leader board with $143,206.

Over at Full Tilt, “slaktarn” finished 1st in the $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up PLO Championship on September 6th, collecting $560,000 and grabbing the top spot on the Poker Pro Labs’ Top Shark leader board for September. This massive win has propelled “slaktarn” to the second spot on the Poker Pro Labs’ Top Shark annual leader board for Full Tilt with $749,194 in winnings, trailing only “Halfrek” who maintains the top spot with $858,770. Patrik Antonius, who finished 2nd in the $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up PLO Championship and collected $320,000, grabbed the 2nd spot on Top Shark for September with $295,000, but did not manage to crack the top 20 on the Poker Pro Labs’ Top Shark annual leader board for Full Tilt.

For Full Tilt SnG’s, “PokerToronto” claimed the top spot on the Top Shark SnG leader board for September with $35,687 in winnings, and climbed to 11th place in earnings for the year. “beanmo”, who collected $18,012 in winnings for the month of September, has narrowly edged out “sh0rty_oo7” and “Thomas Bihl” to claim the top spot on the Top Shark SnG annual leader board for Full Tilt with $80,743 in winnings.

Unfortunately, using a calculator on most math tests would be cheating, and would get that kid a one-way trip to the principal’s office. But there are no teachers, principals or a ban on calculators for the online poker player. He or she is free to use this tool without fear or detention or any disciplinary action from the school board.

A poker calculator, like the one that’s part of Poker Calculator Pro’s revolutionary software, is created by a complex set of algorithms, which compute the odds of winning based on past computations – the odds that a particular combination of cards will come up at a particular point in the game. That definition is one that only a super-geek could understand, and is the reason a calculator comes in handy for the average Joe poker player.

Both the software and pocket versions of the poker calculator serve up the statistical odds and risks of betting on a certain hand based on how many players are in the hand, the point of the hand and the cards that have already been dealt. For example, in a game of Texas Hold ’Em, Poker Calculator Pro’s calculator will give you your percentage of winning the hand after the starting cards have been dealt, after the flop, following the turn and finally, after the river. The calculator enhances the online poker experience in real-time, allowing players to make the split-second decisions necessary to win hands and rake in big pots.

The pocket version of the calculator has one major drawback to the software version. Take it into a brick-and-mortar casino and you’re likely to get a visit from some unfriendly security personnel. So what’s an online player whose poker calculator is attached at the hip supposed to do when he or she wants to play at a casino? While the numbers a calculator crunches are almost impossible to memorize, a solid poker player should understand some of the basic theories of odds in order to make quick decisions. When playing online, use the poker calculator as a learning tool, not just a crutch. That way, if you decide to play in a casino or home game, you’ll be able to make those snap decisions.

One of the ways a poker calculator helps a beginner is to determine the strength of a starting hand. The most common blunder by Texas Hold ’Em rookies is playing too many hands. Beginners are typically anxious and overly ambitious, thinking they can compete in every hand. A poker calculator is a good way to bring them back to reality. Flawed thinking is when a player starts with two bad cards and hopes the flop will result in two pair or trips. The right poker calculator, like the one on Poker Pro’s software, will display exactly how strong or weak the starting hand is based on a percentage.It’s easy determining the hand rank difference between A-A and 7-3. But there are plenty of others that aren’t so clear where a poker calculator comes in handy. In a five-player game, here are the starting hands: A-5 unsuited; J-10 suited; A-Q unsuited; 9-8 suited and a pair of 2s. Looks can be deceiving, but here’s how the hands rank. You would think a pair always ranks fairly high, but in this scenario, it finishes a distant fourth. Because of the straight and flush possibilities, the high hand is the J-10 suited with a 27% shot at winning. The 9-8 suited comes second at 24%, followed by the A-Q unsuited at 22%. The small pair of twos is a 17% and the A-5 unsuited is a distant fifth at 8%.

Some consider poker calculators like using a golf cart instead of walking the course. But when you’re facing stiff competition online and want to sharpen your knowledge of odds tracking, then a calculator like the one provided by Poker Calculator Pro is a must-have.