I started already few days ago to write my last post to this blog. I had tons of ideas and started putting them up, started to reorganize the chapters and went deeper and deeper into details.

I started to realize that I am writing a book, instead a post to my blog...

So what I learned is to keep it short (if long one just does not come naturally), enjoy the process and blog as often as possible. Thank you JP for your feedback!

What I love is communicating, I am not so clever in writing but I do like interaction. I guess blogging is not about making long and detailed articles, but about expressing yourself.

Blogging is new to me and just today I learnt: enjoy it, have fun and keep it small.

Some people just seem to have a lot of luck. A friend of mine is one of those card players who can almost always draw whatever he needs to win a hand in poker, but loses big time at the races.  I asked him about this once and he replied, "Well ... they won't let me shuffle the horses."

Last Friday has been a rather weird poker night for me as I was playing with my friends. Believe it or not, for approx 80% of the hands I played, I flopped some kind of big draw; open-ended straight draw, nut flush draw, straight flush draw.. and yes, a royal flush draw which finally killed my bankroll.

At the beginning, I tried to avoid fishing too much. Most of the guys played aggressively so I had to be conservative and fold several drawing hands. To my disgust, running cards would have made me a strong hand.

Therefore, as the game progressed, I decided to shift my style and fish more especially against the few tight players. Even more, I tried to bet these draws, trying to confuse the oppenent and make the pot bigger.

Frankly, it didn't work out. I often ended up looking at the river card and realising I am holding J high. Bluffing worked a couple of times, however I had to admit defeat in many big pots because of my failed drawing hand.

Close to the end of the night, I received K(h) J(h). I was on the button, and raised it 4 times after taking a look at one semi-tight and one loose player to play behind me. Unsurprisingly, both called. Flop is Q(h) 10(h) and 8(c). What do you say, a straight/flush/straight flush/royal flush draw to my hand. With so many outs, I made a hard but confident decision to call the all in announced by the big blind after a very aggressive bet from the small blind. The small blind also announced the all-in call, which was approximately 80 times the big blind, showing 2 pairs Q and 10. Big blind had the worst hand, he tried to bluff with A J and needed a K only to win the huge pot.

Long story short, I missed the straight, the flush, the straight and royal flush, and paired the K on the river, which gave the big blind his straight, the pot and my moral.

Yet, I still answer myself the question:
To fish or not to fish?

I'm currently in the middle of a horrific run today.  Including dropping over 3 buy-ins in a single session

The worst thing is, the two beats that did it to me were sick.  In one case, I had AA and 4-bet pre-flop (yes, 4-bet) and the flop comes 4-4-4.  This loose aggressive donkey shoves all-in (he has my 200xBB stack covered) and I have to call with the size of the pot and everything considered.  He turns over Q-4o.  Yes... Q-4o is good enough to call a 4-bet (he called it cold too... since the raises all came in front of me and he acted behind me)

Similar thing happens for 100xBB with KK and A-3, except the flop was 3-3-7 that time.

I'm just so frustrated that I ran so bad.  Of course, I love this guy for being an idiot... and in the long run, if I play with him more, I expect to turn a solid profit.  But it's upsetting to deal with those sorts of hits when you know he's playing horribly.

Some women are crazy ... and that's why we love them :)

Check out this vid

Okay, guys -- and I assume there are more men than women in this forum. Why? Because in poker there still are. I wish it weren't true, but it generally is. That is changing, but slowly.

Women are coming to the game faster than they used to. They see that women are making strides. When Annie Duke won the 2004 Tournament of Champions, she showed gals they could defeat the boys. When Kathy herself won the 2002 Party Poker Millions, she became the first woman to bust through the millionaire boys club. (Sure, she may have made a deal to get there, but...the guys do that do and don't you forget it.)

Barbara Enright was the first lady to make a final table at the World Series of Poker Main Event (1995). She is also the first woman inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame. She was inducted with Phil Hellmuth in 2007.

Jennifer Harman, Cindy Violette, Vanessa Selbst, Annie Duke and Katja Thater are among the few ladies to hold a World Series of Poker bracelet in an open event. Yes, that's a tournament in which both men and women enter. No woman has yet to win the BIG ONE in the US.

However, an 18 year old Norwegian phenom took down the Main Event in the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe last year. Her name is, of course, Annette Obrestad.

No woman has won a World Poker Tour Championship title. Kathy Liebert has made five final tables. Most recently, she finished third at the North American Poker Championships. Gavin Smith KO'd her and lost to the eventual winner, a 67 year old retiree and amateur poker player named Glen Witmer.

Van Nguyen, Men "The Master" Nguyen's missus, has a WPT title. She is the Celebrity Invitational winner. She took that title in March 2008 and is the first WPT open winner. However, we need a lady to crack the glass ceiling at the World Poker tour. JJ Liu came close against Ted Forrest at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars Tourney in 2007. She was heavily preggers and managed to finish as the runner-up.

Thithi "Mimi" Tran has also made a WPT final table. She and Kathy Liebert were both in the mix at the 2006 World Poker Finals at Foxwoods. However, they came up short again.

We need more women in the game. We have a handful of very talented ladies making some serious inroads, but there's just not enough players out there. I write about these women as often as I can so that others will be inspired and know that they are out there. So that others will get out there and go fight. These are the women who keep me ready, willing and able to learn the game.

They are the trailblazers and their successes make me smile. I can't wait to hear about what they'll do next and I hope to add more women to my list.

Did I miss anyone?

Started playing $5/10 on PKR a couple of days ago as I felt the need to up my game to make my time more worthwhile playing poker. I found a strategy that works as my bankroll increased from less than $1k to over $4.5k in less than 1 week. Basically I play TIGHT, choose my battles very carefully as once you're in a hand you must be ready to bet BIG. As I build up my stack I loosen up a bit, play a wider hand range. I always call the SB and button unless there is a raise and if I have a good hand I raise. This mixes my play a little as to confues my opponents. I do NOT slow play a hand on $5/10. If the others wanna play a hand, make them pay for it.

MyPokerAcademy has from the beginning wanted to reward it's best players; hard working and improving performances.

That is why we have earlier launched the VIP Points system, to keep track of all the activities, perfomance and social status of our players.

Infact, this year, Santa has a special extra amount of cash.

The top 10 players in our VIP Points Leaderboard by the 21st of December will be entitled to a seat at the MyPokerAcademy Showdown 2008  with a Guaranteed prizepool of €1000 on Boxing Day.

Don't miss this opportunity; it has never been this easy to get to a showdown!

The better you do in our regular tournaments the higher your score:

Place in a Poker Academy Tournament
Winner (250 Points)
Runner-up (100 Points)
Third Place (50 Points)
Forth Place (20 Points)
Fifth Place (10 Points)

The more active you are in our community the higher your rank will climb:

Be Part of our Poker Community
Academy Registration (10 Points)
Refer a Friend (25 Points)
Create a Forum Topic (5 Points)
Each New Blog Post (5 Point)
Forum Reply or Comments (1 Points)
Register for Freerolls & Tournaments (25 points)

Hi members,

Once again, a terrific 2 hours of playing poker.

We are getting your feedback, and we are loving playing as much as you do.Thankyou for your constant support and participation.

Congratulations to sebas2502 for taking away 1st position and also for being the Bounty Winner by eliminating the 'Wanted' Pokerspokesman, winning a total of $190. Congrats also to sarahbrunson, an academy lady who came in 2nd place. Well done!

Sunday's Exclusive Event at PokerNordica results are:

For those of you who are unaware what the WRGPT is - in a nutshell it is the oldest online email tournament. It predates online software. Standing for World Rec.Gambling Poker Tournament, the WRGPT is in its 18th year. Last year was my first year in the event (I know - late bloomer I am). It was fun and the hardest part was being patient. I am so used to making snap decisions and playing multiple tables at once.

This event is so slow. It can take more than a day to play one hand...and that gives you a lot of time to agonize over a decision. It also gives you a lot of time to think about what to do. The tournament lasts for about nine months to a year. About 1,000 people worldwide enter the event.

There is no money, just bragging rights involved and the competition does get vigorous. It is fun and well, I would urge you to give it a try if you are a poker geek like me.

I will be using the poker handle chickwchips. Hope to "see" you at the tables.

MyPokerAcademy.com Proudly Announces Next Event:

$10 Buy-in Sunset Sunday Tournament @ Poker Nordica.

Date: Sunday 12th October 2008
Time: 20.00 GMT+2 (13:00 EST Server Time)

Venue: Poker Nordica

POKERSPOKESMAN BOUNTY & REWARD
Another exclusive tournament in our Sunset Sundays Event leading to our Showdown next December. The Poker Academy crew love playing poker as much as you do, and just can't get enough. In fact, the next Academy Event has just been announced, this time with a slight change in it's structure; introducing the Bounty.

To be honest with you, the community is jealous at one of the guys because he's been doing so well in each tourney. So, they decided to put him to sleep early this time. A $50 Bounty has be put on the Pokerspokesman's head, and who manages to eliminate our "Wanted" guy will take them away.

Stay on guard! Apart from that, the Academy will also be adding an extra $50 to the prizepool to be distributed at the final table.

Poker Nordica is a USA Friendly poker room.

Please follow these instructions carefully to register for the Next Academy Event.

1. Login in to Mypokeracademy.com

2. Click on poker rooms and download the Poker Nordica software.

3. Register for a player account with with Poker Nordica. Try to use same email address and username that you have used to register for the Poker Academy website.

To succesfully register for the Academy Tournament:

4. Use the special MyPokerAcademy.com bonus code MPA400 and get 200% of $25 up to $500 on your first deposit.

5. Click on Tournaments > Private > Scheduled

6. Look for Mypokeracademy Tourney and Register.

7. The password for this event is "SHOWDOWN"

For more information including the tournament rules & structure please click here!


We'll see you at the tables,

// My Poker Academy Team

Academy Merchandise on Cafe Press

Support us, get your very own Poker Academy Gear. Guaranteed to bring you more luck and karma at the table then any other Superstition.

Visit CafePress: Poker Academy t-shirts, polo shirts, and more..

You know you want one!

Altough I did not get organised in noting my results of the tournaments I play, from time to time I like to sit down and take a look at my perfomance over a particular time.

Naturally, this curiosity mostly arises when I suddenly realise that either my bankroll has shrinked almost to nothing or as happened this time, my bankroll grew fatter.

The S&G I like to play are at the majority $5 Buyin 6 seater, however noted down here are some exceptions:

September 1st - 30th (S&G profit = $50)

October 1st - 10th (S&G $95.5)

I was talking to a friend about my current budget and mentioned that my goal was to increase my savings because I was uncomfortable with how low it was.  He asked what I had saved and I told him.

The next words out of his mouth blew me away, "Man, you have more online for poker right now."

The sick part is, he was right.  I talk with him about bankroll management and the games he and I are rolled or not rolled for... so he knows [roughly] how much I am playing with online.  And I currently have almost 3.5 times as much money online for poker than I do in my bank's savings account.

There is something wrong with this picture. 

I am extremely happy and proud about nomination as My Poker Academy spokesman.

I have been lately finishing projects that have been keeping me doing what really matters:

• developing healthy poker community
• playing and getting my poker game to the next level

From now on I will be blogging on My Poker Academy every week and sometimes even more often.

This week has been special week for me in many ways. I have met interesting people, made contacts with poker enthusiasts and chatted with online poker room people. I am really surprised with the positive discussions and feedback.

Yours, Ari - the Spokesman of poker

Hello My Poker Academy Team,

I run a poker-related blog/web site called Tourneyblog. I fell in love with the game when I was a little girl growing up in the East Coast of the United States (near Boston). I had an uncle  - don not we all - who was obsessed with the game. He watched poker, drank beer and taught my younger brother and I five-card draw. We played for pennies and I thought it was amazing. I was hooked.

This was back in the 70s and I did not even think you could do this for a living. I was also in Catholic school and we were not supposed to consider such things. I got my degree from a very good school and had a few difficulties. In my early 20s, I had a young son and a terrible marriage. I got into a car accident and got sick soon afterwards.

As I was recuperating, I discovered poker again. This was around the time of the WPT. I had also moved to Texas by this time and remarried. Life sort of happens when you least expect it and all that. Anyway, I had not played Texas Holdem before and here I was living in the capital of Texas.


I read everything I could get my hands on about the game -- Super/System, Caros Book of Tells, Sklanskys Theorem, etc. However, I lacked patience. I tilted far too easily and I was at least a five to 7 hour drive away from a casino. You cant play live action Texas Holdem in Texas except in two locales...and they are quite a distance.

And online poker in the US is fast becoming harder and harder to do. Hopefully that will change soon.


Anyway, to make a long story short, I am a better writer than a poker player so I began to write about the game. I found ads looking for poker writers and I applied for a gig and got it. I have been working with a great company for four years this month. I started with Chicksnchips.com, but we have mostly moved on from that niche and onto other things. I have honed my writing skills and I have gotten better at this. I have met some great people. I have gone to the World Series and I have made plans for my own future as a player.

Best thing is that I have learned to give poker its proper place in my life and give writing a front seat.

I am here to learn and to grow as a player. I have a lot of questions and I am a good resource, but...I realize that I can gain a lot sometimes from keeping my mouth shut.

Okay...that is enough about me for now.

Like your uncle at a family party, the rumpled Swedish doctor Lennart Green says, "Pick a card, any card." But what he does with those cards is pure magic -- flabbergasting, lightning-fast, how-does-he-do-it? magic.

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The ECOOP III will run between the 24th of November to the 7th of December 2008 - and it's set to be bigger and better than ever before. Don't miss out on your chance for the biggest prizepool this year and a total guaranteed $4,150,000!

Yes! The ECOOP is back on 2008 with its third edition. Exceeding all expectations the series has been extended to 14 events, and the 14 event winners will also receive a special ECOOP III bracelet.

The ECOOP events are played in all poker variants, playing its Main Event in the most famous of all, the No Limit Texas Hold'em. To take part in this exciting contest choose the right tournament and buy-in from $109 to $2,600, or find out how to qualify spending just one dollar in Chilipoker.com!

Find the structure of the 14 most important events for all online poker players below:

How to qualify? You can play on the many ECOOP satellites that Chilipoker offers you in order to avoid the payment of higher buy-ins.

How many seats does each satellites give for the super satellites? All depends on the satellite you play, the number of players and the total buy-in collected.

For example the $25+2.5 satellite stage 1 offers 1 seat to the ECOOP #2 for every $215 collected while the $100+9 satellite stage 1 offers 1 sear to teh ECOOP #5 for every $800 collected.