Poker Tours and Tournaments

What is the strategy to consistently win poker?

Well to start with we can hear from one of the pros, Gus Hansen.

The video below shows Gus Hansen’s six best beginners tips. Watch and learn from a pro.

One of the most popular poker tours is the Asia pacific poker tour . The  video contains some of highlights of one of the events

What’s  a good game of poker without someone losing their shirt.

Check out the world poker tour celebrity invitational.

The major World Poker Tour events until April 2009

Tournament Name — Hosting Casino/Location — Date

Gulf Coast Poker Championship - Beau Rivage, Biloxi, MS - January 16 – 19, 2009

Borgata Poker Classic - Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ - January 25 – Jan 29, 2009
LA Poker Classic - Commerce Casino, Los Angeles, CA - February 28 – March 5, 2009

WPT Celebrity Invitational - Commerce Casino, Los Angeles, CA - March 7 – 9, 2009

Bay 101 Shooting Star - Bay 101, San Jose, CA - March 16 – Mar. 20, 2009

World Poker Challenge– Grand Sierra Resort Casino, Reno, NV — March 25 – Mar. 28, 2009

Foxwoods Poker Classic - Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT - April 4 – 9, 2009

WPT World Championship — Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV — April 18 – 25, 2009

Looking for world poker tour events? Here’s the the list on when and where they took place from July to December 2008.

Tournament Name - Hosting Casino/Location - Date(s)

Bellagio Cup IV - Bellagio Las Vegas, NV - July 11 - 17, 2008

Legends of Poker - The Bicycle Casino, Bell Gardens, CA — August 23 - 28, 2008

Borgata Poker Open — Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ — September 14 – Sept. 18, 2008

North American Poker Championship - Niagara Fallsview Resort Casino, Niagara Falls, Canada - October 10 – Oct. 16, 2008

Festa al Lago — Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV — October 20 – Oct 25, 2008

Foxwoods World Poker Finals - Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT - November 5 – Nov 11, 2008

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic - Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV - December 13 – Dec 19, 2008

Don’t play poker to escape real life

Poker can be great fun and good for some time out.
Don’t play to avoid dealing with something that is on your mind, when you are in the midst of an argument or when you are really tired. You cannot play a consistent game in any of these states. Further, you will not, and cannot, play your best game when you are preoccupied with something else.

When you play poker, you shouldn’t do it to escape from being depressed or having a really bad day. You start out, poorly focused, undsicplined — playing emotionally, not rationally.

If during a poker game, you lose a big hand or get sucked out on and feel yourself going off focus, stand up & take a break until you feel calm and discipline returning.

If you don’t other players will detect your mood & take advantage of it and take your money.

Remember: Don’t Play When Mad, Sad, or in a Generally Bad Mood. If you must play when preoccupied, do so at a lower limit table so that you can handle the likely swings in your bankroll without too much stress

Don’t Play Drunk or under the influence of any other substance

Many times I have sat across a table from someone & watched them have a few drinks, they get confident, get plastered and eventually throw away their entire stack of chips.

I’ve been there myself- there are nights where you’re just playing with friends for low stakes and it’s more about the fun than the poker – if so kick back enjoy and be prepared to lose.

If you’re in a casino, or playing for real stakes, watch the alcohol. The truth is, while you may feel more relaxed after 2 drinks, it may lead to you playing looser and less disciplined, even if you are not ‘drunk.’

In the long-run you, as a tighter more disciplined player, will be more successful and take down more pots.

Remember: It is very easy to go from calm, to confident, to cocky to bust as it is. Alcohol will not help.

Don’t Play Every Hand / Do Fold More

This is an essential rule starting out and one that should be adhered to if one is to become a successful online poker player.
It is probably the number one mistake beginning poker players make. They play far too many hands. When you’re just getting started at playing poker, you want to play poker, and that means staying in hands that aren’t very good just to be part of the action. However playing more doesn’t mean winning more, in fact, it usually means losing more. If you find you’re staying in half or more the hands you’re dealt, you need to review your starting hand requirements.

If you want to become a successful online poker player avoid getting involved in way to many pots and see way too many flops, mainly with marginal to weak starting hands.

Remember: Concentrate on your table position and strong starting hands, if you have a good hand act accordingly, if you have a bad one, stay out and pay attention to who the hand plays out.

Want to become a better player, fast? Follow this series of tips to boost the consistency of your poker results & profits. While designed for beginner players, these poker tips are fundamental to the game, the basics that everyone in the game should remind themselves from time to time.

Be your own coach, take notes when you play

This is the number one rule to get started. If you are playing online, most sites there is a little “notes” box you can select and jot down small bits of information during a game and after a game.
You will also train your brain to systematically remember information by keeping notes at the start, also by having notes you can keep yourself honest with what you actually did, rather than what you thought you did.

How do you use it?

Think of this as your own ticket to play, like a pilot in an aircraft before take-off.
Running through the checklist you remind yourself of what you want to get out of the game, how you want to play, and what you to watch out for. It will also put you in the state of mind you want.
Keep track of what you’re own hand first, try and record why you make decisions, particularly if you are in two minds. You can review it at a later time and fine-tune your strategy.

Second make notes on what others do. For example keeping a list of hands that particulars player shows down. When playing online, you will notice each particular site, at certain limits and in each room, it is common to see the same players “the usual suspects”, keeping track of their betting patterns and what hands they show down is extremely valuable to learn from.

Once you have this routine established, there are programs out there that auto track lots of information, once you know what information you want to gather it becomes much easier to pick a tool to help. Just be careful not to become dependent on this software and use it strictly to supplement what you are already doing.