One of the most common mistakes that beginning poker players make is to call too frequently when out of position.
Even players who know how difficult it is to play out of position will still look at their two cards, convince themselves that they are playable, and call.

Being in position throughout a hand gives you an enormous advantage, so conversely you can imagine what happens when the roles are reversed.

When in position in a Betfair Omaha poker game, it is so much easier to extract value from your made hands, and also to bluff with your weaker hands.

Another critical point concerns pot control and, when you are in position, it is far easier to control what goes into the pot.

The benefit of position allows you to control the price you pay to play your draws and charge your opponent so much more for seeing theirs.

One of the typical scenarios that people find themselves in that results in a pot being played from out of position is when you are in the small or big blind.

Players typically see that they have put some money into the pot and then get attached to it. Instead of thinking in this way, it is better to create the habit of just folding and waiting for a better spot.

Another habit is to think you have great odds to make a call with trash when the pot is multi-way. You look at the amount in the pot, notice you have already invested your blind, and make the call hoping to hit a miracle.

But, once again, I will stress that it is extremely difficult to extract value from out of position if indeed you do hit that miracle flop.

Read more poker news or pick up the latest expert picks on the Betfair website.

The game of Dealers Choice (DC) is fast becoming the most popular form of poker in the live cash game scene, and it could very well be the next big thing to hit the online poker world.

You do not currently see DC games operating on the internet and one assumes it is because of the complexities that having a different undetermined game, each round, brings to the software development team.

But there is a market for it, and so someone will have to find the answer soon. In the meantime there are mixed games available online, but not in the DC format quite yet.

So what is DC? It’s exactly what it says on the tin. When you are seated on the button you have the choice of what game you would like to play. It’s a great form of poker because it affords you the opportunity to play your strongest game from the strongest place on the table – the button.

Any games can be played when you are playing DC, but to preserve the spirit of the game, it makes sense to only play games that other players understand. That being said there is nothing wrong with playing a game that someone doesn’t understand, but is willing to learn, on the contrary this is exactly the spot you want.

The main forms of the game played in the brick and mortar casinos of the UK are Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) four, five or six cards, PLO High-Low, Seven Card Stud and Razz. No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) is rarely played because you will find players sitting down at DC tables to get a rest from playing NLHE, which is deemed by most to be as unexciting a form of poker as there is.

Unbelievable when you consider Doyle Brunson once referred to NLHE as the ‘Cadillac of Poker.’

Catch up with the latest from Betfair Poker Live Prague online at http://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/

The San Antonio Spurs have ended Stephen Jackson’s second spell with the team by releasing the 35-year-old small forward.

The 13-year NBA veteran averaged 6.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 19.5 minutes in 55 games for the Spurs this season but it has not been a happy reunion.

Jackson, who was a member of San Antonio’s 2003 NBA championship team, returned to the Spurs at the beginning of this season after spells with the Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, Charlotte Bobcats, and Milwaukee Bucks.

However, because he was released after 1st March, Jackson is ineligible to feature in the playoffs if he signs for another team.

Spurs coach, Gregg Popovich, told the NBA betting news: “We’re getting ready for the playoffs and putting our team together. We’re deciding what we want to do and who we want to do it with. We thought making this decision with Jackson was best for the group.”

Jackson had become increasingly disillusioned with the diminished role he had been handed in recent weeks and it is believed the Spurs discussed dispensing with his services altogether before the February trade deadline.

He was particularly annoyed when he was left out of the team for the recent trip to Denver.

Guard, Danny Green, did not seem too surprised on hearing the news, saying: “Jack is a player who is used to being the guy on the team, or one of the main guys. Here, his role was a lot different. It’s not easy to adjust to.”

Meanwhile, San Antonio continue to struggle with injuries, much to the distress of fans who bet on NBA. Manu Ginobili is expected to miss the rest of the regular season because of a strained right hamstring, while Boris Diaw will be sidelined for up to four weeks after having surgery to have a cyst removed from his spine.

The beauty of a game of poker is the variety of both skill level and characters, especially in the live game. The online game is somewhat different as the games get tougher and personality struggles to shine through with mere chat box discussion.

If you are in the game to have fun, then selecting the right table is paramount. Poker swings, and the end of each spectrum is wildly different. At one end you have complete and utter boredom, with everyone serious and silent. Then at the other end you have all the fun and frolics in the world.

If you are in the game to make money then guess what? Table selection is equally as paramount. If you want to earn a crust then it makes sense to select the table that has the most noise. In live poker, this loudness generally stems from consumption of alcohol and a lot of money splashing around in the pot. Loudness generally equals gamble, whereas silence usually indicates tightness and seriousness.

You also need to pay attention to each type of player, according to the Betfair WSOP 2013 page. Are they loose, are they tight; are they passive or are they aggressive? You also need to understand your position on the table in relation to these player styles.

You don’t really want to be sat in a seat with a hyper-aggressive player on your left. Sometimes skill alone just cannot make up for the deficiency that playing poker out of position introduces.

Another table dynamic that is vitally important is stack size. This is true whether you are playing cash or tournament poker. Are players getting ready to move all-in, are they seemingly playing with their last few bucks in the world?

So, when you next take a seat at the table in a Betfair Poker Live Prague event, instead of playing with your iPhone, pay attention to the table dynamics and learn how to gain your advantage.

“I’ll only play in the game if it’s good.”

When you hear a poker player saying that sentence, you know they are at the very least semi-professional. Game selection ranks alongside bankroll management as the two key principles for an aspiring WSOP poker player.

But what is the definition of ‘good?” The answer, as is always the case in poker, is ‘it depends.’

Every player is unique, and will have different reasons why they find a game good. There are some players who have great technical ability only when the stacks are deep enough for them to use it. For these players, a shallow stacked game against many rank amateurs might not classify as good.

Finding a game full of competent regular players does not fit into the definition of good, while a table full of weak players does. Maybe, you play higher stakes and there is a whale in the game. That game may be defined as good.
Another reason games may be good, or not, could be a result of your emotional state. Maybe you are on a long downswing.

Normally, you have an edge over your regular opponents, but the downswing has affected your momentum. This game is no longer good. You need to drop down in stakes to find a game where your B or C game operates like an A game.

Playing and losing because a game is not good is a crime. It’s difficult to just walk away, especially when you are mentally ready to play, but this is what the professional players do.

If there is not a good game online then why not take a walk to the casino and vice versa. There is always a good game going on somewhere – you just have to find it.

Love poker? Why not try your hand at Backgammon online?

Roulette is the one of the most famous casino games in the world and it has its origins in 18^th century France. What makes the game so alluring is that the timeless classic has hardly undergone any changes during all those years. When the Internet gaming industry was born in the late 1990s, the game of roulette was an obvious choice for the transition from smoky felt to virtual felt.

One change that has been introduced into online Roulette is the introduction of ‘Live Roulette.’ This version of Little Wheel was initially created as a hybrid between the brick and mortar casino and the virtual world, by introducing a croupier who is linked to you via a video feed and is a living and breathing human being. Maybe the initial reasoning behind the humanisation of roulette was to quell any suspicions new punters had when it came to playing for real money on the Internet. Either way, the creation of live roulette has been a successful one and you even see electronic roulette machines in brick and mortar casinos that are managed by a croupier who is streamed to you via a live feed – a clever cost cutting scheme for the land based casinos.

Another attraction to this type of roulette is the aesthetics factor. The croupiers chosen to manage the tables are often very beautiful women. Given that the largest population of online gamblers is male, it is a nice distraction when playing one of the greatest table games in the world.

This article written by Jordan, who loves playing online poker and roulette with Smart Live Casino.

Poker mirrors life and therefore should make an easy transition to the silver screen. But, for some unknown reason (probably terrible writing and lack of innovation) the poker community seem to be stuck with Rounders as their only source of a half-decent poker movie.

All-In: The Poker Movie, released by 4th Row films and directed by Douglas Tirola, is the latest attempt to create the perfect poker movie. Despite the awful title the early reviews have been positive. The movie has been called informative and enlightening as it strives to find the answers to why poker is so popular the world over?

The movie is a 109-minute feast for die-hard poker fans. It searches the annals of poker history and brings the information to you in a clear, concise and interesting way. Although it is true that poker has a long and illustrious past, the age of the Internet, must be ranked of one of it’s most prominent changes in the game and All-In focuses a lot of attention on this era.

The innovative leaps such as the hole camera coverage for the World Poker Tour (WPT), television exposure of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and of course the Moneymaker effect are all examined, prodded and probed in Tirola’s movie.

All-In: The Poker Movie, covers hot potatoes such as Black Friday and contains some amazingly frank interviews with poker and sport personalities including Chris Moneymaker and Frank Deford.

Will All-In: The Poker Movie be a hit or miss? The only way we will tell is to go out and watch it, let it digest and then head to the 2+2 forums for the critique.

To see just how closely All-in matches the thrill of real tournaments it would be worth checking out the  Betfair WSOP 2012 poker tournaments.

A paired flop is any flop that contains a pair and a random third card. When a player check-calls a continuation bet on a paired flop then their range is heavily weighted to pocket pairs. The power of position will play a principle role in their decision. Think about it for a second. What types of hands would you check-call with when playing out of position yourself?

There are some competent players who may check-call with ace high, but the presence of the paired board removes the likelihood of potential draws and people making a Betfair download should remember this. The lack of draws means that your opponents’ check-call line is quite easy to pin down to pocket pairs. If your opponent was bluffing then he would more than likely check-raise. If you do come across the check- raise on a paired board you need to realise that he is representing a very polarised range of hands. The player simply has it or he doesn’t, so understanding your opponent is vitally important and fans of Betfair need to bear this in mind.

Understanding this information means you need to be prepared to double barrel a very high percentage of the time. In fact, unless you have a specific read, it will make sense to double barrel 100% of the time. If you find yourself facing a raise on the turn then you can safely fold, as this will hardly ever be a bluff.

Some paired boards are more connected than others. Example 665 is more connected than KK4. In these instances your opponent’s raises are going to be heavily weighted towards some sort of draw