When you log onto play a game of heads up (HU) poker and see 25 tables all with the same guy sat waiting then you should start to worry. In fact, unless you are really confident in your game, then you wouldn’t sit down at all. Unfortunately, this is exactly what is happening in our HU world.

Nearly everyone in the game realises that something needs to be done about this situation, even the regulars and very best pros and fans of Betfair will know this. If you are the world’s greatest HU player it is irrelevant if you never get to play in the first place! So the HU game is ripe for a change, but what exactly should be changed?

Here are some ideas taken from the mind of one of the world’s best HU players – Phil Galfond.

First up is the ability for people to create their own heads up tables. All of the tables with people sat on them waiting for action will be shown in the lobby. Although Galfond generates this idea for debate he is not in favour of it. He believes that infinite tables will put players off. He is also a believer that today’s fish realise that the HU games revolve around them and ONLY them – therefore they no longer play. http://poker.betfair.com/en/

Then there are king of the hill tables. These are a series of tables where players who will play anyone can take a seat and cannot be removed until they leave. This system would favour the better players in the game, of which Galfond is one, and he admits this as much in his writings.

What will be done about the future of HU action? Who knows but the wind of change is whipping up a storm.

Omaha is not only the largest city in the State if Nebraska, but it is also the name of a form of poker that uses community cards similar to the more famous relative Texas Hold’em Poker. Omaha is located in the Midwestern State of the US, alongside the Missouri River, but the name has no ties to the history of the game itself, unlike Texas Hold’em, which derives its name from Robstown, Texas.

Omaha is a form of Hold’em and in fact the game was originally known as Omaha Hold’em. More recently online poker players are more likely to name the game after the type of Omaha you play e.g. Pot Limit Omaha is known as the acronym PLO. There is no recorded reasoning as to where the name Omaha comes from and it seems just purely coincidental that the US has a state of the same name. The professional poker player and World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Robert “Chip Burner” Turner introduced the game into the mainstream during the 1970s. At the time William “Bill” Walter Boyd (also a professional poker player) was Director of Operations at the Golden Nugget casino and Turner approached Boyd with the game and it was introduced at the tables of the casino under the name Nugget Hold’em.

Omaha is a game played all over the world including the realms of cyber-space. There are multiple derivatives of the game including Omaha hi-low split-8 or better, Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Omaha. The game is most commonly played with each player being dealt four cards with five community cards shared by all players. Hands have to be made by using three community cards and two of the four cards held by each player.

What sets No Limit Hold’ Em (NLHE) apart from all forms of limit poker is the ability to move all of your chips into the middle of the pot at any point in the hand. This difference is the reason Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson christened the game The Cadillac of Poker.

Moving all-in can be a very aggressive move, especially if you have your opponent covered. In a tournament, for example, the players main purpose is to survive and being faced with an all-in shove means death if you get it horribly wrong. Anyone who has made a poker download should remember this.

It is important to realise that moving all-in may only be seen as a sign of strength in the eyes of the recreational player. The professional player will have seen it all before and will have a different view on the decision you have made. Imagine you have found yourself on the flop in a raised pot holding king-queen.

There are 2,000 chips in the middle and you have 4,000 in your stack. The flop misses your hand and when the action falls to you, you decide to move all-in. Now why would you move all-in for twice the size of the pot? Unless you are in a deep thinking meta-game with your opponent, he will likely see this move as the bluff that it is, and call with a much lighter range of hands. This is what is called polarising your range – when you play pokeronline you either have it or you don’t.

So just be smart and retain an element of composure when deciding to move all-in. Ask yourself am I going to get called or not? Do I want to be called or not?

Each and every one of us will have memories of being on the wrong side of one thing or another. Maybe you were the last man standing by the wall when the two captains picked the football sides in school? Maybe you remember having your dinner money stolen? Perhaps you remember your big brother always changing the TV channels?
Perhaps we are all gambling to try and recover all of these losses we incurred as a child?

We believe that when you are playing poker far worse things will happen than good. Anyone looking at a Betfair poker download should remember this.

You will fold more hands than you play, and you will lose more than you win when you do play them. Poker is like that – it can be a real nightmare. This idiom means that you need to keep your inner child under control at all times. There is no room for him at the table and if he starts to surface then get up, head to the toilet and wash him away with some nice cold water. http://poker.betfair.com/en/how_to_play/

Playing the victim may work if you want a hug from your loved ones, but there is no room for it on the felt. By playing the role of the victim you are releasing your responsibility and handing it to the rest of the players in the game. You will stop caring and will wallow in your own self-pity.

Put simply if you play the role of the victim you are very likely to end up going broke.

The waters of the United States online gambling industry are very turbulent at the moment. If you have been hiding under a rock for the past few weeks let’s bring you very quickly up to speed.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released to the public a formal legal opinion on the scope of the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 concluding that, “intrastate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a sporting event or contest fall outside of the reach of the Wire Act.”

Almost immediately various States started to prepare for the onslaught of legalised online gambling. It has often been thought that intrastate gambling would produce a fantastic profit base for the States but the New York Times is taking a different angle on it. Fans of www.betfairpoker.com will no doubt be keeping an eye on things.

The New York Times are saying that although the States will in fact create a new revenue stream, the stream will not be juicy enough to solve critical budget issues. The writer Michael Cooper starts his investigation by comparing online poker with the State lotteries. He writes that multi-state lotteries such as Powerball and Mega Millions pull in revenue upwards of $18 billion per year, much more than online poker would achieve.

Cooper looks at the state of Iowa as an example. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission recently carried out a study based on the revenue and taxation of online gaming and believe the state could pull in somewhere between $13 and $60 million annually. Fans of Betfair Free Poker should remember this.

With some States looking to plug gaps in their budget’s tottering around in the billions, all of a sudden online gaming doesn’t look like it will tick all of the boxes.

When a truly great poker player is playing poker they never get lost. They know exactly where they are, what their surroundings look like and where they want to be.

Let’s use the example of a Texas Holdem poker tournament spread over a period of five days as an example. On Day 1 the player will probably start with 30,000 chips, a 60-minute clock and blinds at 25/50 with no ante. This gives each player 600 big blinds to begin the first hand with. Let’s imagine a very inexperienced player finds himself or herself in this situation and are dealt pocket kings in the very first hand of Day 1. How are they going to play the hand with 600 big blinds? Are they going to get lost?

The experienced player will realise that whatever they do with those pair of kings they are not going to win the tournament for them. They understand that poker tournaments are not won or lost on day 1 of the tournament. This means that because an experienced player knows where they are they will play the hand much slower.

Experienced players use a wide variety of different signs to help them understand where they are in a game. One sign is the number of big blinds that they or their opponent has, the particular day of a tournament that they are in, understanding that they are approaching the bubble, understanding they are playing the bubble and so on and so on.

Knowing where you are in the game of poker is gained through experience. So start playing and continually ask for advice and eventually you will create your own poker sat-nav and getting lost will be a thing of the past.

If you were a football fanatic, as a child, didn’t you just hate the goal hanger? There would be some players who had all of the creative genius of a little Diego Maradona, and then this kid would just hang around the net, pinch the ball and smash it into the roof of the net! The ignominy of it all! Maybe you were the goal hanger yourself? If you were then maybe you could give us poker lads and lasses a few hints because we believe the goal hanger and successful Betfair poker players have a lot in common.

There will be times in your poker sessions when you seem to be the creative little dribbler. Everything seems to revolve around you. You seem to be the epicentre of excitement and the entire game channels through your actions. There will also be times when you are sat around doing absolutely nothing except watching a different creative little genius run rings around everyone. In fact, you will find yourself in the role of bystander more often than the creative little genius. Those playing poker online should remember this.

While this is happening make sure that you make something out of the fact you are doing nothing. Watch the creative little dribbler. What is he doing right? What is he doing wrong? What mistakes is he forcing his opponents to make? Sooner, rather than later, the tide will change. The ball will slip away from the feet of the creative little dribbler and it will end up at your foot. When it does make sure you are ready – be the goal hanger and slam that ball in the back of the net!