Texas Holdem Guide

Can you imagine what it must be like to play basketball against Shaq?  How do you get past this huge, powerful guy that towers above you and could just use his brute strength to crush you, in one go?  Check out ShaqAttaq.net for info on the big guy, photo gallery and videos of him doing what he does best.

But seriously, my point is actually about not being intimidated at the poker table.  There are many well known poker players out there that have risen to the top through their aggressive poker play.  These sharks cruise the poker rooms and bully their way to bigger bankrolls. Aggressive play can totally freak players out, that they just freeze – which is just what I would do if I bumped into Shaq by mistake… I would watch my whole life play out in a matter of seconds, stammer an apology and run for it!

Don’t get pushed around on the poker table.  If you know you have a good hand with a chance of winning, stand up and fight! – don’t run for the nearest exit.

Did you see the last episode of High Stakes Poker?  Antonio Esfandiari somehow manages to lose $50k… excuse me but how do you lose $50k at the poker table?  Hold on a moment I brought this much with me and and now I only have.. lets see looks like my stack is short… these guys are so casual about money, s’pose because they are playing with such huge sums all the time.. take a look for yourselves

Protecting your bankroll is probably one of the most important poker lessons to learn.  Internet texas holdem has some really good poker guidelines for all levels of player.

Heh Antonio take a look and learn something!

Its good to play texas holdem poker aggressively, but just like anything in life, there is also a tipping point that you should not go over, because once you do, then aggressive poker play will work against you.

Maybe its because of the growth of online poker players or people learning loose play with play money in freerolls.. I dunno but there has definetly been an increase in aggressive play.  Speak to any of the old poker pros who have been around for a while or listen to Doyle Brunson muttering away on High Stakes poker and you will realize just how much more aggressive the play is now.

If you follow the poker play in online casinos and it doesn’t matter whether its texas holdem or omaha, then you will often see players betting on off suited cards.  Waiting to get lucky on the flop, turn or river is one way to play but it is risky.  Then again if you want to stick to something easier like slots online, then don’t play big games with the big boys.

Hi there hope you had a good Easter break.  I met up with my cousin Jimmy on the weekend.

He says to me, “Heh Johnny you got a nice poker bot?”

I says back to him, “Heh steady on kid, watch yourself…”

“No, no… a bot, a robot… a poker android.. you know what I mean?” he blurts out.

“What you been smoking dude?  Can I have some of that good stuff?”

Jimmy is a computer programmer and I have learnt to expect anything from him.  He is crazy about poker and loves every single gadget that there is to do with poker and poker strategy.  Being a programmer he knows all the good software there is out there, the tricks to online poker and how to win at poker.

So I had a look at it, because he said it was good.  All you have to do is download the software and it will tell you what to do.  It takes the fun away for me, I personally would prefer to make the decision myself – but if you are into this sort of thing, then by all means use it.  Just remember you are still not guaranteed to win.

I really enjoy traveling and following poker in different places around the world.  It always amazes me that tou can walk into a casino almost anywhere and there will be a poker game of some kind.

When it comes to traveling in Europe, I have been to most of the big cities, seen the sights.  What I enjoy now are the smaller out of the way places, like the smaller Greek islands.  I enjoy the Mediterranean culture and approach to life, they just seem so laid back and chilled compared to the rest of Europe.  Mediterranean food is great too!

Now here is one question to test your geography and general knowledge – where is Malta?

You can play poker in Malta – What a fantastic place for a holiday, kick back relax, take in some of the local culture and play a little poker… cant think of anything better!

I got dragged off kicking and screaming to watch a symphony concert last night… Beethoven Symphony no. 9.  I was not really in the mood…

I know what you must be thinking… how did you get through it and how did you survive?… and don’t you have a back bone?… stand up for what you want and don’t want in life… I know, I know.

But I figured maybe the bit of culture would do me good, and also what harm could it really do?  I’ll go along with it, keep the peace and learn something about symphony orchestra and Beethoven’s symphony no.9.

It started off a bit slow… there was a full orchestra on stage, quite impressive actually… and a choir to add some vocals… didn’t expect the choir to be there… I’m told that’s a choral symphony, you learn something all the time.  Anyway in the first five minutes I was impressed by the orchestra and all the instruments playing their part… ever heard a trombone on its own?  sounds like an elephant blowing its nose.. but in an orchestra with everything together, its an incredible sound.

Then I started to nod off, problem was I up late the night before playing online poker and catching up on online casino news and reviews… as one does… you know the story…

After a sharp elbow in the ribs… a rude awakening…and I had cleared the dribble off my chin… the orchestra really got going and we got into the lively section of Beethoven’s 9th… The “Ode to Joy“…do you know the music?  Well then the choir also woke up and joined in… lifted the roof off!!  Very good!!  and I have to admit that I actually quite enjoyed it…

So I decided to read up a bit on the “Ode to Joy”, because it was quite awesome when they all got going together!  Discovered the music is used for the European national anthem.

I wont really be telling my poker buddies though… dont think they know Beethoven’s 9th…

There is so much poker info online – some websites are excellent places to source poker strategy, without having to buy loads of poker books.  You need to be wary of some online poker information.  Thing with the internet is that there are not enough people checking what goes on there, anyone can pretend to be an expert and put stuff online.

I want to go back to some good, old fashioned reading of poker books to get some poker tips.  Think I’ll have a look on Amazon and see what they have, what I haven’t read, get some new ideas etc – type in poker books and it gives you a long list of poker books, difficult to choose, even after reading the online reviews.

I know what will happen though, I’ll have it next to my bed and read a few pages every evening before falling asleep.  Then next evening I’ll pick it up, not know where I am and read the same pages over again…

There are no so many Texas Holdem resources for strategy – no longer is it sufficient to have a title like, “How to play Texas Holdem poker”.. yawn, everyone knows that!  Now they want, “How to win millions at online Texas Holdem poker tournaments”.

Dunno maybe you wnat to get all deep and meaningful, will something like “The pros and cons of gambling” do as a title?

Some friends are coming over to play poker twice every month or so.  They are a nice bunch of guys, not all of them are into poker like me, but we’re playing mostly for fun anyway, and it’s a lot of fun.

Until lately, my old kitchen table was just fine.  Sometimes I’d throw an old sheet over it (no no no it was clean).  On special occasions I’d even put a bath towel beneath it to create a really soft surface.

Now all of a sudden they’re telling me it’s not good enough.

“We want real poker tables!!” WTF?! It’s an outrage!!

But hey, between us I’m not as outraged as I pretend.  I mean, their demand is sort of a compliment, right? They really like it in my kitchen, so much that they want me to step up the service.

Anyway, I think it would be really cool to have one!  I mean, how many guys have game tables in their kitchens?!  I’m looking around on the internet right now to find one that can be transformed into a regular kitchen table so you can have breakfast on it when you’re not playing poker.

Yes I know you are going to say, how can you have a title like that?  OK OK, jokes aside… For some reason we just can’t get away from the subject of food… oh well… here goes…

Whopper virgins are people who have never tasted a hamburger before, not something else that your wild and vivid imagination has dreamt up.  “The Burger Specialists” go to out of the way places where people have not been exposed to western culture and have never had a hamburger (yes these places do exist, even though there are not many left on planet Earth)

… then they give them a Big Mac and a Whopper burger… the Whopper virgins eat the burgers and then decide which was the best.  But they also study how the people eat the burgers etc etc, most don’t know where to start and because they are on camera, they don’t just pick it up and shove it in their mouth… like most westerners would.

Do Whopper anthropologists have nothing better to do??  Do you see they even fly in a gas cooker to cook the burgers… come-on, can’t they find a local gas cooker that will do??

I’m not sure about all this mixing of cultures stuff, can’t we just leave the people alone and let them eat their traditional food?  I’m sure its much healthier than hamburgers!!  Don’t we have enough problems with obesity – that we don’t really need to be encouraging people in far out places to eat burgers?

Well, I suppose I’m not going to answer those concerns here, and someone has already said they are not sure what salami has to do with Texas Holdem… so we better get back to poker…

By the way my tip of the day is – if you are struggling to find the best online casino bonus listings, then you need look no further, click and compare them to what you are getting already.

We decided to eat out on staurday… our favorite little Italian restaurant “Napoli” is where we went.  To be honest we keep coming back to “Napoli” because everywhere else just seems to disappoint us.  Old man Bernado has set the standard and its hard to beat!

The restuarant itself is nothing much to look at… neither is Bernado, I’m not being horrible its just the truth… but oh boy can he cook!!  When you walk in, there is all this paraphernalia hanging about that he has collected over the years… once you have dodged the salami hanging from the ceiling… Bernado always greets you and makes you feel at home… In fact thats what we like the most, it feels like home from home.

Had a great evening and gorged ourselves on Bernado’s pasta. He even gave me a tip on a poker online site he uses.  Thanks Bernado, now if only I could figure out the poker rules in Italian…

News on my uncle is that he has made a remarkable recovery, but he will have to be monitored in case the tumor grows back.  We are all relieved he is ok for now!  Makes you want to live every minute of your life!