Sports Finals

During June and July, RakeTheRake players who refer friends to the rakeback specialist’s site will rank in a new leaderboard. And the ten players who notch up the most referrals by 31 July 2010 will win some fantastic prizes: a mini jukebox replica (worth 795 US Dollars), an LG champagne flute home cinema system (worth 720 US Dollars), an Apple iPad (worth 625 US Dollars) and a really cool pocket cinema (worth 360 US Dollars) are all up for grabs. On top of this the 6 runners up will receive some high quality RakeTheRake goodies.

Players simply need to login to their RakeTheRake account and invite their friends to sign up for rakeback by entering their email addresses. It’s completely free to join and ensures they get cashback from every game, win or lose. Alternately players can select special banners and text links to add to their own websites to promote the benefits of rakeback to players. The current referral time is from 1st June right through to 31st July 2010. There will be a cash alternative to the main 4 prizes on offer.

For any RakeTheRake players who refer their friends, they will earn a regular monthly commission of 4% of their players net rake and for all sub referrals 1%. Commission payments are not taken from your players’ rakeback.

In every poker game a commission, or rake, of around 5% of the pot is taken by the online poker room and it’s non refundable unless you have a rakeback program in place.

RakeTheRake works with all the top online poker rooms to bring up to 100% rakeback to players. Rakeback, which is sometimes described quite nicely as poker cashback assures online poker players of receiving the maximum cash from their game and it doesn’t matter if they win or lose.

With over 600,000 US Dollars in freerolls and rake races on offer every month, RakeTheRake provides online poker players with the very best return on their game.

You can also sign up to Full Tilt Rakeback and Everest Poker (no climbing of mountains necessary).

During the past year PokerStars has successfully signed up some famous people, including rapper Nelly, baseball player Orel Hershiser and even former Seinfeld star Jason Alexander. And you can add one more interesting signing to PokerStars’ growing list of online poker players since they recently signed Argentina football player Juan Sebastian Verón to their roster.

Verón has been a football star since 1994, and he has played a big part in Argentina’s run through the World Cup so far. Away from the field, the two-time South American Player of the Year will also be pivotal to PokerStars’ campaign to promote internet poker in Latin America. PokerStars has already held several casino poker events in Latin American through their ever-popular LAPT organization.

The world’s biggest online poker room was elated to add Verón as managing director of PokerStars Latin America Sarne Lightman said, “It is truly a pleasure for us to have Verón as an Ambassador for PokerStars.net. His sporting and competitive spirit embodies the values of our brand and we feel very proud that this great soccer player decided to represent the number one poker site in the world.”

Verón’s signing comes at a time when poker games are really starting to take off in Argentina. The LAPT is a huge reason for the rise in popularity, and especially so sinceArgentina will be holding the PokerStars LAPT Grand Final. Now that one of the world’s best football players is promoting holdem poker, this will inevitably make poker even more popular in Argentina.

With more and more Argentineans now getting involved with online poker, they will be able to take full advantage of the excellent VIP deals that are on offer through pokerStars. Some of the best PokerStars players get as much as an 80% return! Of course, this is in addition to other great online poker deals that PokerStars is already offering its members. Other games they could play include Everest Poker, or perhaps Betfair Poker

The Irish Poker Festival is one of Europe’s biggest casino poker events. In fact, last year’s Main Event saw 752 players sit down at the poker tables to create a €400,000 prize pool. This year the Poker tournament organisers are anticipating an even greater turnout for the Irish Poker Festival, which is why you will be keen in winning a Main Event seat with Ladbrokes.

Ladbrokes is offering €950 prize packages so players can make the Irish Poker Festival Main Event a free poker tournament. The €950 prize packages will include the €550 Main Event entry fee along with €400 left over for hotel accommodations at the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney, Co Kerry, Ireland.

If you’re interested in winning one of the prize packages, you can get started by downloading the Ladbrokes poker software. Once you have successfully completed the poker download, you will have the opportunity to visit the lobby and look for the qualifiers and satellite tournaments available. Most of the satellites are between €3.30 and €5.50 to enter so you should have little trouble affording the buy-in.

For those who are lucky enough to win a €950 prize package for the Festival, they will be starting the Main Event with 15,000 poker chips and will not have the worry of the blinds opening up for 60 minutes. This format will enable you to be able to use some of your poker strategy whilst playing for the wonderful prize packages. On top of this you will also be in with a chance of winning some European ranking points.

Besides the poker tournament, you’ll love the hospitality that the historic city of Killarney offers visitors. So having a chance to experience Killarney along with being able to play in a huge tourney is one of the few things that beats playing online poker, and collecting massive amounts of rakeback money. Of course if you can’t make it to Ireland then enjoy Party poker and PKR poker from the comfort of your own home.

Rio Ferdinand returned to England last week from South Africa. He got injured before the World Cup after a clash with Emile Heskey and will not be participating in the World Cup for England. His place was taken my Michael Dawson who was recalled into the team by Capello. Ferdinand will obviously will be working on getting fit before the premiership season starts in August but what can else can he do in his free time. There are various things he will be able to do such as, play online poker, play Xbox, go for a holiday with his family.

But what will he do this summer?

I did a survey online asking 300 people on what Rio can do over the summer. Some said he should spend time with his family and just rest. Because this is time when they can spend quality time with their family. Some said he should try and get back to full fitness before next season. Some said that time is up for Rio as he gets injured quite often these days.

Some wanted him to stay with the current England’s squad to support them and he is also looked at one of the leader in the squad. I am not sure about that. If one of your work colleague is ill would you really want him or her sat next to you coughing and sneezing. I don’t think so. So having the injured Ferdinand in an around the squad is not a good idea. Some question why is David Beckham there then but he can atleast train with the squad, Rio will just get bored.

My suggestion for Rio Ferdinand is to have some games of absolute poker or Everest poker while resting and watching England play. Poker also helps in sharpening the mind and will keep his mind away from other things.

It seems like only a few days ago that Lacey Jones announced she would be parting ways with Absolute Poker and their 30% rakeback deals. And it didn’t take her long to find a new sponsor since she was just recently signed by Full Tilt Poker.

Full Tilt, which features a 27% rakeback offer, is excited to have Lacey Jones promoting their online poker deals because she is one of the most popular women in poker today. On top of being the old face of poker sites like Absolute Poker, Jones also happens to be the face of the Canadian Poker Tour. She has had some impressive cashes in her career too including two cashes in the WSOP; her most recent one was a 41st place finish in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Ladies Championship.

Before she learned how to play poker, Jones was well known within the modelling industry since she worked with several companies that weren’t related to internet poker. Some of the companies that Lacey worked with include Nike, Sony, Chrysler, and Coors Light. In addition to the modelling work, Jones was also appeared on TV shows like “Entourage” and “The O.C.”

Going back to Jones’ split with Absolute Poker, many saw the move as a mutually agreed upon decision by both the online poker room and her. No ill words were spoken between the two parties, and both the online poker site and Jones are continuing to experience success.

Jones is particularly experiencing huge success now that she stands at no. 1 of the premier holdem poker rooms in the world. Full Tilk currently ranks just behind PokerStars in terms of the amount of people who use their poker software, and then you have Full Tilt which offers the best cyber venue for those players who want to play high stake poker games. Now that Jones is well and truly on their side, Full Tilt Poker is pretty much guaranteed to draw a greater audience into their high stake games.

If you enjoy watching the pros play Texas Holdem on television and want to try your hand at playing poker, then playing seven card stud is a good training ground. Your Texas Holdem strategy will transfer well to stud. As a bonus, the pot odds are much higher in stud. Not only are the fundamentals of building a winning hand the same, there are great techniques that can help you in any game you choose to play. In this article, we’ll show you how to rake in the chips.

The first four cards are the key to winning at seven card stud. If a starting hand develops according to plan, you can be a strong favorite to win. If it doesn’t, then you can get out early and keep your losses to a minimum. The best starting hands include high and low sets (3 of a kind), high and low pairs, high over cards, a high 3 card flush, high three card straights, and any three cards to a straight flush. Fold if four or more of your key straight and flush cards are dead. Slow play and check-fold if you don’t make any four cards to a straight or a four card flush. Good four card hands that are carefully played don’t always win but they win a lot more than the others.

Unless you are playing with a strong starting hand, it’s usually best to fold if your complete hand is beaten on the board by an opponent’s up cards. To minimize potential losses, look for reasons to fold your starting hand and those that develop on the later streets. Look for a dead card in the denomination that you need and for two or three dead cards in the suit that you are drawing to. Look for too much strong competition developing for the winning hand. When you can’t find reasons to fold, then you can then proceed aggressively. Keep an eye out for multiple “check-around” plays on the seventh street. Straight and flush draws often hit on the last card and there is usually so little in the pot that your last card pair is not a very good bet. Bluffing is one of the most popular and effective tools used by poker players. If you become a really good bluffer, players will never know what to expect. Some players hide behind props like cigars to help them with their bluffing. If you are going to bluff, make sure that it will work to your benefit. Semi bluffing in stud is usually best done in the early streets of the game. By betting and raising aggressively, you can eliminate the more timid players. In a pure bluff, you’ll convince other players that you have a great hand even when you have nothing.

Being thorough about developing your skills and using common sense is key to winning seven card stud. Be disciplined by folding a shoddy starting hand and don’t take unnecessary chances. Don’t get overly involved in planning a strategy because watching what your opponents are doing is essential. Pay attention to their hand selection and possible “tells” they give. This may be a good time to bluff! Finally, stud is not for the weak of heart. Don’t be afraid to be aggressive if you believe you have the best hand. That’s how you’re going to rake in all the chips.

Over the past fifteen years poker has become very popular.  It has moved from a back room casino game into the homes of many who invite their friends over once a week or twice a month for a poker party.  As with many leisure pursuits, some people are content with the temporary set up; a card table in the living room, a fresh stock of cold adult beverages and plenty of pretzels, chips, dip and cheese doodles.  On the other hand, there are the die-hards.  These are the guys who have that innate need to have and be the best.  No wimpy, portable set-up will be satisfactory.  These guys turn the basement into a Man Cave!  During boys night out in the basement there will be grunting, growling, scratching, drinking, eating, cursing and snarling all in the name of good clean fun.

Today’s Man Cave is not the dark, dank place that the name implies.  Most men of means will remodel and supply the basement with the best they can afford.  It’s their place, the secret hide out.  No girl’s allowed!  With the rise in the popularity of poker parties many man caves have become the ultimate poker room.  It’s the place where men gather to wager money on cards and their own skill.  Competition is the real name of the game and not only will guys try to outdo each other with the cards; they’ll also compete to have a better man cave/poker room than their buddies. Here is a short checklist to help you beat out the other cave men and have the ultimate poker room.

For brevity’s sake let’s assume you already have a dry, well lit basement area.  The first step to building your poker room is to section off an area, preferably away from laundry equipment, sump pumps, water meters and other distracting equipment normally found in the basement.  Serious poker players hate distractions.  The ultimate poker room will need the following equipment  a refrigerator, a bar, a wet sink, a downstairs bathroom, a comfortable sofa or a couple of recliners, billiard supplies like predator p3 pool cues, a background music system with wall mounted speakers and of course a top notch poker table with comfortable seating.

Cold beer is a staple of boys’ night out.  It is tough to constantly run upstairs for a cold one so, a man cave refrigerator is definitely a necessity.  The large, $3000 Refrigi-Kelvinator is not necessary.  The ultimate man cave only needs one large enough to keep the beer cold.  Just remember, no girley colors!
Near the refrigerator should be a bar and wet sink.  In the past these would normally be built-in but recently portable wet bars have become available at very reasonable prices  Check in the various recreation room furnishing stores in your area to find one the fits your space requirements.

In every poker game one or two guys will get knocked out or simply want to take a break.  In these instances you’ll need comfortable furniture away from the table.  A couple of recliners and a sofa where guys can sit, relax and brag to each other about what would have happened if they’d have drawn the right card.

Most poker centered man caves will not have a TV- however, a stereo system playing background music is almost a necessity.  No heavy metal music and the volume should be low enough to allow normal conversations without having raised voices.

To have the ultimate poker room you’ll need the ultimate poker table.  Don’t cheap out here!  No folding card table will do.  A solid, sturdy table is required for the ultimate poker room.  Get a table made from wood, preferably oak. You will want a felt table top, padded sides, built in chip trays and drink holders.  Spare no expense on the table.  It will be the centerpiece of the poker room and in the completion for the ultimate poker room, the man with the best table wins!

I am somebody who loves to play online poker. It is more about the enjoyment and the relaxation than about attempting to gain financially. It goes without saying that it is always good to win and if you can make some money from playing a game that you enjoy then it’s a massive bonus. I personally like to play on a table where there are only a total of five players with the first two players receiving a pay out. My aim is to reach the “heads up” stage by playing as “tight” as I can. If I can get into the final two I feel that I have a seventy percent chance of winning the tournament as I then change my poker strategy from playing tight to playing aggressively.

I am by no means a professional poker player; in my business life I run a web promotion agency and I also help people who offer business cost cutting. As a side line to these main business interests I am also involved in the stuttering therapy sector.

I used to be a very poor “heads up” player as I would often get bullied out of the majority of the hands. I realised that I had to learn a new way of playing in the final stage of a poker tournament as what I was currently doing was not working.

I soon learned that I needed to be the aggressor, the poker bully if you like. Instead of folding the majority of hands I now play, on average, ninety-five percent of them. I raise the pot with any ace, king, queen or Jack and raise all in with any two picture cards or when I am dealt an ace with a picture card.

By doing this I win a lot of the pots by default and if the other player chooses to call I believe I have a great chance of winning the hand. You should never show any form of weakness by only putting a small amount of chips in as this could lead to a multitude of problems. Make it easy on yourself and your brain by being decisive early on. There is nothing fool proof about this strategy, you will not win each and every time but this method has proven to be very successful for me over the last few months. I hope these tips work as well for you as they have for me.

Las Vegas has put resort hotels and casinos on the map as far as some of the world’s best vacation spots. You can get into one of these resorts and never have to leave there for the whole time you are there. And you will never run out of anything to do. There are countless activities going on in a resort casino that it would take several weeks just to take it all in. Resorts have moved away from Las Vegas in the last few years as casino laws have lessened. Places like Michigan, Mississippi, California, and the Mohegan Sun, Connecticut resorts have given people all over the country an opportunity to try their hand at the casinos and see what resorts are all about.

The main draw to these places is the chance to gamble the night away at the many different gaming rooms located within the resorts. These casinos are very high tech marvels that have thousands of slot machines, roulette wheels, blackjack tables, craps lanes, keno rooms, and several other gaming, and betting, opportunities. Poker, however, is the king of the casino games. A place like the Mohegan Sun Casino, Connecticut has several different rooms, with 50 to 100 tables each, for poker players themselves. These poker rooms each have different types of games going on. Omaha, Texas Hold ‘Em, and Seven-Card Stud are all available in different areas.

Many casinos even give professional players, and amateurs alike, the chance to earn even more money by having daily tournaments, and yearly major tournaments where people get to show off their skills. Playing poker is more than a game of chance and hoping for the right card. Playing at casinos is really the only way to enjoy this game. The excitement, sounds, adrenaline, and characters you need are well worth the investment and time. Keeping track of all the tables would make someone go crazy, but sitting down at one and checking into your own games gives players intense periods of joy.

For instance, Mohegan Sun Casino has several opportunities for poker players to give their best and risk it all for the chances to win thousands, or even millions, in winnings. Many different rooms let you also scout out the competition. If you don’t feel comfortable playing in one room, because of the level of the people there, you can find another game going on at another table in another room.

What is a lazy week end without a game of backgammon or scrabble? But that was before. Nowadays, you could want to update the game table to include air hockey and suchlike.

To enjoy a great game, the first thing you should acquire is a good, well equipped game table. Here we can let you know about different kinds of new game table assortments, so that when you go to pick up one for weekend retreat, one shall be prepared exactly what to choose and why.

Room for improvement

Do you have a game room, or is there a corner of your living room that you would like to convert into a game area? If the former, then there are several options. For starters, you could have more than one game table, one for a large game, and another for some smaller games like air hockey, foosball, shuffleboard etc. A bigger table can be for pool. You could have a proper oak or cherry ping-pong table too. And then, naturally you will need to consider lighting, and storage as well. 

Different age, different games

Air hockey and shuffleboard are games invented in recent times, as so too have their accessories. Consequently, the tables designed for modern games can be fairly complex. The markets have good 3-in-1 game tables combining foosball, air hockey and pool in one table. And these tables have admirable designs so that you can change the functions by rotating or switching. So that the tables can be space savers and allow you to play multiple games in one space.

Board rules

Shelti and Playcraft are  common makers of of game tables for air hockey. These tables are usually made of the best quality wood, such as oak, cedar, cypress. But a lot of table builders make customizations too. However, you can’t try out your new video game on these tables. That diversity is still in the future! The vast majority of game tables stil come with either 4 legs or a central pedestal. Tables designed for games like air hockey are usually rectangular, with a few having green felt on tops, like secretariat tables. The usual ones are three feet or so high, and some have chairs attached. Since foosball and air hockey are both games with complicated parts and pieces, it is assumed that these tables would come with the associated bits. And that’s such a relief, isn’t it? You don’t have to exhort separate efforts to buy the table and the games.

Build yourself one

This is an option for those with a creative bent of mind. Several sites on the web will offer you directions to build or assemble your own game table, for a price. Air hockey and foosball being rather complex games, it is imperative that you understand the games like the back of your hand. You could also incorporate your own improvisations of the game into the table that you make. Now here’s a sure way to win accolades from friends and neighbors the next time you have a game party at home.