Crystal Palace Casino
Latest Headlines: Europe's Premier, Everest Casino Announces Big Winners for Week of November 19 - 25The United States Fears Not to Pay Billions to Antigua in WTO Casino UIGEA CaseSpecial offer for slots players - 400% bonus on first depositFrom 96' To Now - Intercasino Celebrates Its Tenth Year Anniversary

Is Poker addictive?

8 August 2007

Two years ago, there were about 800 contestants in the annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Last year there were 2600 and it's estimated that this year there may be more than 5000!

Why the huge upswing? National television coverage of No Limit Hold'em tournaments has caught the fancy of red-blooded Americans in all age groups. Everybody and his brother wants to sit down at a Texas Hold'em table and go "all in" (bet all their chips). High schoolers are having Texas Hold'em tournaments in their basements. Charity Vegas Nights feature gobs of poker tables where there were few or none in the past. Playing poker on the internet has grown exponentially.

All this would be fine if new Hold'em players learned how to play the right way. The Trouble is that what they show you on TV will make you a terrible poker player if you follow what you see.

That's because what constitutes good, solid poker play and what makes dramatic TV viewing are two different things. Solid, winning strategy in Texas Hold'em is to throw away hand after hand and come into a pot only with premium starts such as Q/Q, A/K, Q/J suited -- and a small cluster of others. But to broadcast players continuously folding hands on TV isn't very exciting. So most of that gets edited out.

What you get to see instead is a player who goes "all in" with an 8/6 and hits a "gut-shot" (inside) straight at the river to beat a pair of pocket 10s. Now that's exciting! Poker novices may not even notice, or remember, that the player went all in with a bad hand because he was down to his last few chips anyway. What they do remember, though, is how exhilarating it looked to play an 8/6 and make a straight with it.

So with that, the seed has been planted in the aspiring viewer to over-gamble and play a losing, costly game of poker. Many of these newbies will lose tens of thousands before they learn how to play properly; if they ever do. And many of them will become gambling derelicts in the process.

The selective focus on gut-shot straights and "back door" flushes in high-stakes TV poker misrepresents what winning poker is all about. The players at that final table didn't get there by playing 8/6s or 7/5s. If they're forced into playing a pooch hand like that after they've already locked up a spot in the money and are almost out of chips, that's an entirely different matter.

Highlighting the times those hands get lucky and win a pot sends the wrong message to somebody watching on TV, especially the younger set. Winning, even merely surviving at poker is a diligent, no-nonsense exercise in observation, deduction and dogged self-discipline. It's anything but a devil-may-care fling with Lady Luck.
http://renzey.casinocitytimes.com/articles/19012.html

OPN Staff
All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
Full Tilt Poker
SuperSlots

Club USA Casino

Prime Casino

BetUS Casino

 Poker News...

UIGEA Targets Online Gambling Industry Fast

6 October 2007

Although a restraining order on the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act...

Israeli Ziv Bachar Wins Poker Tournament

5 October 2007

Israeli poker player Ziv Bachar from Tel Aviv survived an initial starter field of 186 players in th...

October Intersting Month in Online Casinos

4 October 2007

It is online appropriate that the Internet gambling sector will usher in the month of October with a...

Video Poker Popularity Soars

3 October 2007

The casinos of America are fast becoming video-poker paradises as video poker machines begin to bump...

UIGEA Rules Implemented

2 October 2007

Although a restraining order on the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act...

Betfair Online Casino Limps Back

1 October 2007

Revenues at the betting exchange Betfair have risen by a third after is succeeded in luring record n...

How to Become a top of the line Poker Player

30 September 2007

When you see the bug poker players on television, you may wonder how it is that they got to be so su...

Playing For Free and Fun at the Online Casinos

29 September 2007

One of the most popular ways to have fun at online casinos is to create a free play money account. T...

Carrie Stroup - Online Casino Hostess Makes May Playboy Spread

28 September 2007

The host of online casino, PlayersOnly.com, Carrie Stroup, is celebrating her Babe of the Month spre...

Is the British Gambling Act a Failure?

27 September 2007

Britain's new gambling law came into force at midnight September 1, legalizing U.K. advertising camp...

Inver Hills Community College Announces Online Casino Cirriculum

26 September 2007

Inver Hills Community College announced today its online Casino Gaming program is now available for ...

Swedish Online Casino Software Provider Net Entertainment Partners with Betsafe.com

25 September 2007

Swedish online gambling software developer and turnkey provider Net Entertainment has announced a de...

Lakewood Community to Build Mini Casinos

24 September 2007

Lakewood’s so-called “gambling moratorium” – which the Lakewood City Council is likely to extend for...

Bodog Changes Domain Name... again...

23 September 2007

Online Casino and Sportsbook and poker room, Bodog.com, has announced yet another domain change foll...

Poker Rooms

Rushmore Casino

Online Poker News - news
from the world of
Online Poker RSS Feed.

One Club Casino

Directory Links

The OPN directory is currently in development and will be available soon. If you are interested in adding a link, just click on the “Add Link” button. Thanks for your patience.

Add Link
One Club Casino
One Club Casino

Join today and receive $777 free welcome bonus to play your favorite slots and classic casino games,...

Cool Cat Casino
Cool Cat Casino

Receive an EXCLUSIVE 300% bonus on all deposits up to $250 (That`s $7500 to play with!) Valid for 6...

SuperSlots
Super Slots

SuperSlots is the online casino that brings Las Vegas-style slot game excitement right into your hom...

 Newsletter

Subscribe
Unsubscribe
E-mail

 Books

 Recommended Poker Books

News Archive

Copyright © 2005 - 2008   •   All rights reserved   •  Online Poker  
Up-to-the-minute News From The World Of Poker   •   Saturday, May 17th 2008