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The surge in online gaming has sparked an unprecedented demand for live casino dealers, turning the traditional card game into a lucrative and exciting career path. Imagine transforming your love for cards into a flexible and rewarding job that offers not only a substantial income but also ample opportunities for professional growth. In this increasingly popular field, success hinges on certain key skills such as game mastery, customer service expertise, and a keen eye for detail. This article serves as your comprehensive guide to acquiring these abilities and embarking on a fulfilling journey in the world of live casino dealing. We will delve into the nitty-gritty of the profession, from understanding the rules of various games to mastering the art of interaction with diverse players. So, whether you’re seeking a career change or simply intrigued by the dynamic world of online casinos, read on to discover how you can turn cards into a thriving career.
A live casino dealer is a seasoned professional who ensures the seamless operation of live casino games, adhering strictly to the rules. Their duties mirror those of their counterparts in traditional casinos like those in Las Vegas – shuffling cards or spinning the roulette wheel in precise order. The key difference, however, lies in the environment. Live casino games are broadcasted from a specialized studio using high-definition cameras, not from a physical casino floor. While these dealers earn a salary and can even receive tips, they do not physically handle chips or money. In an online setting, all transactions are digitally managed by sophisticated live casino game software, providing a smooth and efficient gaming experience for players.
Embarking on a career as a dealer for a gambling site entails a series of steps similar to any other professional path. This includes gaining knowledge about the game, honing your skills through practice, and conducting a job hunt. Here’s a guide on how to proceed.
Delving into the Skills and Prerequisites for a Dealer Position – Observing a dealer manage a table game, one might not fully grasp the complexity of their role or the path they took to get there.
Dealers are required to have an in-depth understanding of various table games, necessitating comprehensive training. They also need to familiarize themselves with the basic elements of live-dealer game production.
Furthermore, there are essential qualifications such as interpersonal skills, good hand-eye coordination, basic mathematical aptitude, and the readiness to work unconventional hours. The minimum age requirement is typically 18 or 21 years, and applicants usually need at least a high school diploma, a clean drug test result, and in many cases, certification or licensing.
Reflect on the Reasons for Choosing a Career as a Casino Dealer – Taking up the role of a dealer in a gambling establishment is a unique profession that demands both time and financial investments. Geographical proximity to a casino studio might also be a factor to consider when contemplating this career path. The job requires undergoing formal training, even if you’re already familiar with the games from a player’s standpoint. Moreover, similar to other service-oriented roles, it involves direct interaction with customers. Whether you view it as a temporary gig or a stepping stone towards a long-term career in the casino industry, it’s crucial to understand your motivations for pursuing this line of work.
Develop Expertise and Refine Abilities – The initial step towards becoming an online casino dealer involves mastering the craft. Institutions like Ace Academy offer a comprehensive starting point, with other training centers such as Vegas Aces and The Casino College also providing valuable instruction. Additionally, some recruiters offer integrated training within their programs.
These training platforms guide you through understanding the rules of various games, their mechanics, and the importance of practice.
Practice plays a significant role in preparation, ensuring you’re well-equipped to handle any situation that arises. Given the specific equipment involved in this profession (like chutes, roulette wheels, and table layouts), self-practice can be challenging beyond the card shuffling and handling typically performed by a casino dealer. Thus, refining these skills is crucial.
Even though online casinos are not yet widespread across the US, with fewer than 10 states currently hosting such platforms, the industry is on a steady growth trajectory. This is more prevalent in Europe, but opportunities are also emerging in major US cities where live casino jobs are more accessible.
Leading B2B destinations for online casinos, such as Playtech and Evolution, are excellent starting points for job seekers in this field. They offer roles that allow you to showcase your vivacious personality in their 24/7 operating studios. Additionally, job search platforms like ZipRecruiter list numerous Online Casino Dealer vacancies, with competitive salaries ranging from $11-$20/hr. Indeed.com is another valuable resource, listing over 200 Casino Game Dealer Online jobs and nearly 1300 Casino Dealer opportunities.
Furthermore, resources like Zippia provide insightful guides on how to recruit and hire casino dealer candidates, while Resumaker offers free examples of cover letters for aspiring casino dealers.
Online casinos offer a diverse range of live casino games, delivering a real-time gaming experience to players. The most favored live casino games usually comprise Blackjack, Roulette, and Baccarat, which are traditional table games present in most brick-and-mortar and online casinos. For instance, we looked at Spinago, a respected online casino owned and managed by Dama N.V., regulated under Curacao’s laws. Their Live Casino section predominantly features Blackjack, Roulette, and Baccarat games like Blackjack Classic 64, Instant Roulette, and Baccarat Controlled Squeeze. Live Poker games, including variations such as Casino Hold’em and Caribbean Poker, are also quite favored among players. Other in-demand games include Sic Bo, Dragon Tiger, and game show-style games. Some online casinos also offer less common games like Bingo and Lottery, which diversify the live gaming experience. Andar Bahar, a game native to India, can be found on some platforms, although it might not be globally recognized.
Gaining expertise in specific games is a critical step in landing a job as a casino dealer. A detailed understanding of these games is very crucial since these are frequently played in most casinos. Familiarity with the rules, strategies, and effective dealing of these games can significantly boost your chances of securing a casino dealer position. Also, mastering less common games can be advantageous, as versatility in handling various games is highly valued in this field. Besides knowing the game, dealers are also expected to create a fun gaming experience for the players, necessitating exceptional customer service skills alongside technical knowledge.
Serving as a dealer on a casino website indisputably has its benefits and drawbacks. These individuals are the pillar of any live online casino, ensuring smooth operations and enhancing players’ enjoyment.
On the positive side, the online casino industry is expanding with vast potential, providing ample growth opportunities. As a dealer, you get to learn the intricacies of live dealer casinos and gain insight into live casino production and studio operation. Furthermore, since all transactions are digital, there’s no physical handling of money involved, reducing the risk of theft or misplacement.
However, there are also disadvantages to consider. Live dealer studios aren’t ubiquitous, so you may need to relocate or commute long distances for work. Additionally, the nature of the online casino industry might require you to work unconventional hours to cater to players in different time zones, which could disrupt your personal life or sleep schedule.
I visited Iceland for four days, renting a car, driving into the countryside, and staying every night in the capital and largest city on the island, Reykjavik. Though poker in Iceland is not legal, I managed to find a few places where the game is spread. Proprietors of these poker clubs consider poker to be in a grey area of the law – not strictly legal, but not truly illegal either – as poker clubs are generally allowed to operate as long as there are no clearly illegal activities, like drug use or underage drinking.
Iceland is a land of extraordinary scenery. By extraordinary, I mean very different from ordinary. As you get outside the city, you see terrain that looks other-worldly. There are vast stretches of lava fields, covered often in moss and lichens, with few trees or even shrubs. This barren terrain is interrupted by enormous gashes and outcroppings of black rock, and scored with deep crevices, cataracts, streams, inlets, and waterfalls. There are active and inactive volcanos on the island. In certain spots there are also active geysers, as well as pools with superheated water bubbling up. There are huge areas of glaciers and mountains that punctuate the horizon and ask for exploration and hiking. It is the ideal spot for someone who loves to hike and commune with nature.
Iceland is located just south of the Arctic Circle. Accordingly, there are nights with little to no darkness in summer, as well as very long and dark nights in winter. In the fall to spring months it is an ideal place to watch the Northern Lights.
I traveled to Iceland in late August, when the sun rises around 6:15am and sets near 8:30pm. The weather was ideal for me, typically with overcast skies, a slight drizzle for a few hours, and a strong breeze, with a temperature range of 45 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. There was a day-and-a-half of clear skies. You’d want to make sure to bring a waterproof jacket with a hood, and probably a sweater or sweatshirt. There are many used clothing stores if you don’t want to bring your clothes with you.
It is an outdoorsman’s paradise.
Strange then, I suppose, that I went in search of an indoor activity – poker. But I did. And I was rewarded for my efforts.
There are two primary poker clubs in Iceland – both in the greater Reykjavik metropolitan area (if you can call a city with 140,000 people a metropolitan area), just over the eastern border of the city, in Kopavogur, about two miles from downtown Reykjavik. I visited and played in both. Given the beautiful weather, and the relatively late sunset, I elected to walk to them. Considering how safe Reykjavik is, I even elected to walk home in the dark. They were just a little over a mile from my hotel. They were pleasant walks. (I also visited a third club that, sadly, did not manage to get a game going on the Wednesday night I was there.)
A word about finding poker in places like Iceland, that don’t have fully legal public poker rooms. There’s a Facebook Page, Global Poker Community, whose members provided invaluable assistance. I posted my request for a game in Reykjavik; and within two hours I had contacts who helped me find something. I recommend it highly.
The first club was Hugar Poker. (The Icelandic name is actually a lot longer; but is unpronounceable for native English speakers.) They’re located on the second floor of a shopping area – right over a sporting goods store. Hugar has five or so tables, a game every night of the week, tournaments nearly every night, and an on-site kitchen. They welcome foreign currency, and gladly changed my Canadian Dollars (left over from my poker trip to Alberta, Canada) into the local currency – at the official rate, with no fee. It was an easy and convenient place to play poker.
The players were all extremely friendly, even offering me some of their menthol flavored, pouched, tobacco chew. I politely refused.
I played in the cash game and the tournament, visiting three of the five nights I was in Reykjavik. It’s an extremely well-run room, with a regular local clientele, and dedicated professional dealers. The room itself is clean, well appointed, with good lighting, new-looking tables with firm felt, comfortable well-padded chairs, and beautiful plastic cards with images slightly different from those I’ve seen elsewhere. There are chess boards set up, a dart board, and comfortable couches. I also sampled the food. I had chicken skewers. They were well prepared, tasty, served very hot and with a wide assortment of dipping sauce. They had sandwiches, hamburgers, salads, and a few Middle Eastern items on the menu. You wouldn’t go here for the food, but from my dish, and what I saw others eating, it was a couple of levels better than adequate. It was also a little cheaper than the typical restaurants in the area.
The game was played in the local currency, Icelandic Kroner. There is only one cash game that is played in this city: 100/200 no limit Texas Hold’em, with a 100 minimum and 500 kroner maximum buy-in. 100 Kroner roughly equal to $.75 US. The rake was 5% with a 4,000 Kroner maximum.
The tournaments featured a 10,000 Kroner buy-in, with a 1,000 Kroner add-on for the staff that got you an additional 10,000 chips to add to the starting stack of 30,000. Everyone elected to purchase it. The house took 10% of the initial buy-in, and nothing from any of the re-entries. They got two tables, with half a dozen people re-entering – for a total of 22 entries. I finished in sixth place, with three places paid.
The crowd seemed to consist of regulars – most of whom were at least fairly skilled – a couple highly skilled. I did not see any completely clueless, new, inebriated, or otherwise hapless players during my eight hours of play. Nor did I see any players who made their living at the game.
I played one night at Poker Express. This, too, is a well-run club, operated by a successful poker player, Isak, who won the Icelandic poker championship a few years ago, and who has had experience playing in Las Vegas. He was present when I visited , played in the game,– and was extremely engaging and positive about the game and his club in particular. I enjoyed sitting next to him when I played in their 100/200 game. They also gladly exchanged my Canadian currency for Icelandic Kroner – for the official bank rate.
The players here were quite a bit younger and seemingly less experience, less skilled, and surely less aggressive than the players at Hugar. The younger demographic seems to be part of the owner’s business model, as he mentioned that he was looking for a different vibe from the other major club in town. Notably, their rake cap was even higher at 5,000 Kroner.
I had a delightful and profitable session at both clubs.
The third club I visited, but did not play at since they didn’t manage to get enough players, was Magma Poker Club, located in a building with a billiard and snooker club. They were welcoming, friendly, and, except for the operator and the dealer and me, completely empty. (A college classmate of mine, seeing my posted picture of the club, told me that it was mis-named – since magma only refers to the molten form of lava, when it is still beneath the surface of the earth. I had to correct him – as all of the clubs in Iceland are, because of their questionable legal status, underground!)
Below is a picture I took inside The Magma Club, Reykjavik, alongside club operator Thorri.
Iceland, isolated as it is as an island in the North Atlantic, at least a two-hour flight from its nearest European neighbors, does not have much competition for players’ poker dollar (or Kroner). Poker, being technically illegal, also adds upward pressure to the cost of the game. Accordingly, it isn’t surprising that the cost of poker is among the highest in the world.
The cash games were raked at 5% with a maximum of between 4,000 and 5,000 Kroner. At the current exchange rate that’s a maximum rake of between $37 -$47 a pot. I’m not sure how that is sustainable, but the two major clubs have been thriving for over a year – and show no signs of slowing down.
Reykjavik is a tourist city. Much of the economy depends on visitors and on the many meals they purchase. It’s no surprise that there are some great seafood restaurants. There are also many bars and pubs, a few of which have a gambling and poker theme.
Here’s one of the more colorful pubs, from the heart of the tourist district. But don’t be fooled; though it seemed like a lovely pub, there is never any poker.
Iceland has great lamb and seafood – especially fish. I had four fantastic fish meals and one dinner of delicious lamb ribs. My first was at Grillmarket, my second at Sumac (the lamb), my third at Messinn, my fourth at Reykjavik Fish, and my last and best meal was at Fish & Company.
But be forewarned: Iceland is quite expensive. Even a modest hotel will run you about $200 a night. Lunches will almost surely be at least $25; and dinners, at even the least fancy of restaurants, will likely run you $50-100, even without alcohol.
Iceland is quite convenient to get to, with non-stop flights from all over Europe and North America. It is a 4.5-hour flight from Boston, and a 3.5-hour flight from London or Paris. Many cross-Atlantic flights on discount airlines like Play and Wow stop in Iceland. If you can, I recommend extending your layover to include at least a night or two in Iceland. This would allow you to tour the amazing countryside during the day, have dinner in the evening, and then catch a cash game or tournament in one of the poker clubs at night. The rooms stay open until the following morning. The rake is quite high, I know, but the experience of playing poker in this beautiful island nation, with these extremely friendly people, is priceless!
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Just under a week ago, longtime poker pro Andrew Lichtenberger issued a press release announcing the arrival of Octopi Poker, a poker training platform set to break the mold. Numerous fellow poker pros were named in the press release and the company has a stated goal of “leveraging cloud computing and artificial intelligence to become a one-stop shop for studying, collaborating, and unraveling the complexities within the game of poker.”
While I normally just skim press releases and then move on, “something extra” happened this time. Shortly after the announcement, Andrew personally reached out to me to ask if I had any questions about his new initiative, if I wanted to interview him about it, or if there was some other way I’d be interested in collaborating. Personal outreach of that sort doesn’t usually happen too often, and Andrew’s passion and genuine investment in the project immediately became clear to me. That aforementioned “something extra” convinced me to take a closer look at and re-read the press release.
Yes, indeed; I certainly do have questions about Octopi Poker, and I want to thank Andrew for his candor in answering all of them. More and more poker players these days are dedicating the time and effort necessary to “get in the lab” and improve their game. It would seem that Octopi Poker’s approach to educating poker players has the potential for tremendous success. I invite you all to learn more about it below.
George and Tom, the Octopi Poker mascots
Octopi Poker is a pretty unique and offbeat name for a new poker training site/initiative. How did you come up with it?
It happened pretty organically! I made an off the cuff comment to Victoria (Livschitz) with no particular meaning about one of our co-founders Johan, being “more of an Octopus than someone else”, and she thought it was hilarious. We tossed the idea around and decided we could run with it! We love the ways we can have fun the idea of Octopi and underwater sea creatures, and we want to keep the branding fun, light, and goofy.
We also love capturing the nature of the Octopus and highlighting what it represents as an advanced creature, in a poker sense. For example, camouflaging and adapting to your circumstances, being able to squeeze and navigate through awkward situations and live to tell the tale, and lastly the amount of hearts(3) and brains(9) that they possess!
What was the impetus for diving into this project to begin with, and at what point did you first begin working on it?
The impetus to dive into this project really came down to a few major criteria:
We began working on the project about 15 months ago.
The press release mentions that you’ve partnered with Victoria Livschitz and Nick Schulman, and that the project has an advisory board of Stephen Chidwick, Nick Petrangelo, Chris Brewer, and Jeff Platt. Please walk us through each of these “selections”. Why did you choose to work with these individuals and in what way do you feel they enhance what Octopi Poker has to offer?
Victoria Livschitz and Nick Schulman are co-founders, and the decision to work together was straightforward on my behalf.
Victoria has proven herself in the tech space, having been very early to cloud computing and AI, eventually taking her former company, Grid Dynamics, public in early 2020.
We are live!!!
After 15 months of development, https://t.co/URZGF0Upem is in public beta.Looking forward to community feedback to guide us as we continutie to build up, grow and evolve the platform. https://t.co/DQJexeHOZO
— Victoria Livschitz (@VictoriaL_64) September 5, 2023
Nick, who needs no introduction, is a world renowned poker player, poker commentator, and has excellent creative insights into how the industry can be changed for the better.
We chose the advisory members based on how much we like them as well as how helpful we thought they would be throughout our journey. Sometimes a small piece of information or a subtle insight goes a long way. We’re super excited to have joined forces with these four to start!
Notably, you’ve partnered with PokerGO, which thereby gives you and people on the Octopi Poker social platform access to a huge archive of poker event footage, set to deliver sport stats and insights. How did that partnership come about and why do you specifically see PokerGO’s database as beneficial to the project?
We had casually thrown around the idea of different ways to celebrate pokers rich history. Since the majority of major tournaments are streamed these days, and many high stakes cash games get promoted this way as well, it seems like a natural way to be able to enhance the player stories, give extra layers of history for the commentary and broadcast teams to paint the picture of what’s going on, as well as increase the enjoyment for the viewer at home.
We see PokerGO’s database as particularly integral in this due to their incredibly high-quality production value. Plus, so many of our team members already play their events and support their brand as is. Nick being a commentator for them makes it a nice fit as well.
You’ve long been an instructor with LearnWPT. In what way, if at all, does your spearheading of the Octopi Poker project affect your collaboration with them?
I stepped down as lead instructor from LearnWPT before the WSOP began earlier this year. I may still do one-off seminars with them but I thought it wise to focus entirely on this and not cross too many wires and create potential confusion, being an employee of one brand and a founder of another.
To take on a project of this magnitude and dedicate the amount of time and effort you have, as well as get all those partners onboard; beyond your passion for the project, clearly making money must come into play at some point. Octopi Poker is currently in Beta, but for the time being can you share what you envision to eventually become the site’s revenue model?
Yes, naturally we want to succeed as a business and make money. We plan to leave beta and enter GA at the end of this year or very early next at the latest. We will charge a monthly fee which is TBD, with the option of additional add-ons for users who want access to premium services.
It would seem that, to a degree, what you’re aiming to do is “disrupt” the existing poker coaching model. Would you agree with that assessment?
I think it’s fair to say we intend to cause some disruption to the existing poker coaching model. We want to offer what we believe to be enhancements to the process, both from the tech side as well as the poker front. I have been a poker coach for a very long time, and working with Victoria as a mentor in her poker journey over the past year has given us both particularly deep insights into what works and what doesn’t.
For example, interactive and engaging learning is somewhat largely left out of modern poker training and courses unless private coaching is pursued. This is one way in which we think we can add value. We certainly want to grow poker overall though, and we believe that by educating people and de-mystifying the game we will achieve just that.
What type of poker player are you targeting? Who is best suited to benefit from what Octopi Poker has to offer?
Our vision is quite simple: we believe that our tools will be beneficial whether it’s your first day playing poker or you’re a long time professional who has studied for ages. We believe that as long as there is a desire from the user and a genuine interest in the game of poker, they will benefit from our platform.
The press release asks that people “please understand that this is our first iteration of the platform! There are still bugs and a myriad of features which will be added that greatly enhance the user experience. Don’t judge too harshly an unfinished product.” Given such a disclaimer, what made you feel that now was specifically the right time to announce the project’s existence to the poker world?
Very fair question. We discussed this and decided that getting feedback early while we are still building out and refining the product, and have lots of room to change and tweak things makes the most sense. It’s also fun to bring in more and more community members to be a part of a creative process in molding our broader ideas, and see where those ideas we have line up with others and where they don’t.
All year round, poker players wait expectantly for the summer, to pack their bags and head out to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. In the world of online poker MTTs, by contrast, players wait for autumn. Rather than chasing glory at the Horseshoe, Paris, the Venetian, or the Wynn, players will attempt the same at their desks, kitchen tables and living room couches. Right now, every major site offering online poker for real money boasts massive guarantees for their MTT championships. PokerStars launches the 2023 edition of their prestigious World Championships of Online Poker or WCOOP this Sunday. This series will run concurrently with the already running WSOP online on GGPoker and OSS XL series on ACRPoker. Plus, the all-new WPT Global Fall Festival will also be running, attempting to claim some market share from the legacy sites.
Across the online poker globe, hundreds of millions of dollars will be awarded to some lucky aliases for their skill, determination, and love of the gamble. In light of that, we’ve put together some of the online MTTs best kept secrets to help you prepare for this special season of tournament poker action.
There is so much opportunity during a series that it’s easy to get lost in the fray. Before you get started on your series journey, first decide what you want to accomplish. Leaderboards? Specific dollar figure? Specific brand of trophy?
If you’re fortunate enough to be able to commit the whole month to playing, you could chase the leaderboards. In this case, you would build your schedule around games that qualify for points. It comes with its own sacrifices as you may have to play games not in your regular wheelhouse, whether including PLO, mixed games or different stakes than you’re used to.
There are few times a year that you’ll have as many chances to score big in online poker as you can in September-October. Are you trying to beat a personal best? Then look at the guarantees of the games you are considering and see if going deep would scratch the itch. If you are dreaming of your first 5+ figure score, you might want to pass on the smaller stuff with lower guarantees.
Or, perhaps, you really want a specific brand of trophy. For example, GGPoker gives badges to its series winners, visible on player profiles and avatars. If you win an online bracelet event, you’ll receive a real WSOP bracelet. PokerStars provides badges but will also send WCOOP winners physical trophies. And you could claim an official WPT Prime title or even a WPT title via the aforementioned WPT Global events. If these are drivers, you may want to focus your volume on one site so to give yourself the most chances.
Now that you know what you are trying to gain and accomplish with your online poker play in the course of this peak autumn season, it’s time to allocate your resources.
There’s no competing in online poker tournaments without the buyins. The fact of the matter is big fields are going to majorly disappoint all but less than 1% of runners. It’s easy to go broke going for the big money, so plan your schedule accordingly. You might feel the urge to re-enter a second, third and fourth time but those re-entries can add up, putting you out of action for the remainder of the series.
It’s tremendously easy to FOMO-register everything on the schedules and have too many tables running to play your best poker. An online poker series is a marathon, not a sprint. Be careful not to overdo it. Pace yourself with your money. Start with exactly how many tables you know can play well and limit your registrations to that capacity. Think about your overall schedule, then break that down by the week and only then by day. Build your dollar spend around your planned schedule to maximize your chances at success.
Full-time professional poker players should prepare for burnout. Even a player who is running well will experience decision fatigue and the impact of being sedentary 10+ hours a day. Find a way to keep active in order to keep your energy levels up. Since variance is brutal in big fields, the downswings that come with the chase of a big score can be emotionally and psychologically draining. Volume is key to getting out of a downer, but bad volume will only exacerbate it. You’ll need to eat and rest well. Make a plan for your hourly 5-minute breaks before your day starts. Plan to take days off. Remember, you need your best self at the end of a tournament, when the biggest money is at stake. Plus, you’ll want to be in top shape coming into the Main Event weekend at the end of a series. Like protecting your bankroll, preserving energy is a huge edge.
Most poker players aren’t full-timers. For the bi-vocational hopeful, the good news is that weekends offer the biggest tournaments and provide the most value. If you are limited with time, protect your Sundays. If you are willing to use time off to play a little more, be specific about which days those are. Look at the schedules beforehand to figure out which midweek events you don’t want to miss and whether you need one or more days to commit to them.
The poker community is one of the most generous in the world. Players come together, putting up big sums of money to make one person rich. We call it a donation because we are going to walk away with nothing very often. We will build up a contending stack and run deep in events with life-changing prizes up top, only to have our hearts ripped out by a cruel dealing of hands, an unlucky runout or worse, our own blunders.
Poker is a game and should be fun. Enjoy the process. Once you have your schedule laid out and know what you’re risking, accept the worst possible outcome before you start. That way anything better than zero feels like a win. Remember, we are not entitled to win. We are entitled to play. And play we will.
Poker is one of the most loved categories in casinos. While luck plays a role in the result, players must have the necessary skills to navigate the game. Players must go through a real learning curve before claiming themselves a “master” in poker, making it an enticing casino game.
If you are a rookie who wants to get good at poker, you can play poker online for a starter. Besides the obvious advantage of playing the game within the comfort of your room, the online poker market has developed rapidly over the past few years. Players get many exciting options to advance their poker skills.
Of hundreds of online poker games available in the market today, the following are great for players exploring this game.
Video Poker Live
Developed by Evolution, this game is a great starting point for novices. It has the key characteristics of traditional poker. Video Poker Live’s main objective is to combine the best possible five-card hand.
Players can get up to 99 extra hands per round to get the rarer card combo, optimizing their winning chance. It means players can play a maximum of 100 hands in a single round.
Five paytables are available within the game — Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Double Double Bonus, Bonus Poker, and Tens or Better. The classic Jacks or Better is the default setting, but players can select their desired paytable at the start of the game.
Video Poker’s unique feature is the option to hold or swap your cards, which may be beneficial in getting the best card combo. Players can choose which five cards to hold and swap once the main hand has been dealt. They get the opportunity to exchange zero to five cards.
Casino Hold’Em Poker
BGaming’s Casino Hold’Em Poker is another friendly option for beginners. It has similar rules as the famous Texas Hold’em Poker. However, in this game, you are only playing against the house. It makes the game simpler to discern for novice players.
Players also win a fixed amount based on their card combinations. Because you are playing with RNG, there is no wait time when you want to play this game. You can immediately start.
However, the dealer must qualify for the game by having at least a Pair of Fours. If the dealer’s hand does not qualify for the round, you can get your wager back, but it does not substitute for a win — this situation is called a “push.”
Players can win more than the standard 1:1 amount if they get a stronger hand. For instance, getting a Royal Flush can earn you 100:1. This rare hand consists of A, K, Q, J, and 10 of the same suit.
Caribbean Stud Poker
This game is a spin-off of the classic poker with added live dealer experience. Like Casino Hold’Em, this game is played against the house instead of other players. It means no bluffing is necessary for the game, making the online poker game suitable for people who are still starting.
The dealer qualifies for the round by having at least an ace or a king. Once you have decided to call, the dealer will reveal its entire hand. The player will win if they have a better hand than the dealer.
Players begin the game by placing an ante bet, a mandatory bet in any poker game. The player and the dealer will get five cards on the poker table. One of the cards on the dealer’s hand faces up, while the others face down.
The dealer will reveal all of its cards once the player decides. Payout amounts depend on the card, with Royal Flush offering the largest amount.
Side Bet City
This Evolution-produced poker game takes players back to the 1980s with its retro design. The game is ideal for players who only have a basic understanding of poker and are still exploring strategies.
Players love Side Bet City for its fast gameplay and opportunities to maximize wins via side bets. In the beginning, players get multiple betting options. They will choose to win with a three-card, five-card, or seven-card hand.
You also get the option to wager on “all lose,” which is also often called the “insurance bet.” An “all lose” bet offers a 0.7:1 payout.
The dealer will deal seven cards once the bet has been placed. It will reveal the three-card combination at first, then add another two cards to make a five-card hand. Lastly, the dealer will reveal the last two cards to make a seven-card hand.
Extreme Texas Hold’Em
This online poker game offers an immersive playing experience like other live games. The main objective of this game is to beat the dealer’s hand with the best card combination possible. However, you do not need to pay attention to other players in the lobby like the traditional Texas Hold’Em.
In this game, understanding the ranking of poker hands is valuable. It helps you decide whether you should raise or when is the right moment to raise. Each round is played with a deck of 52 cards on the table.
The game begins with players placing ante and blind bets. Initially, you also decide to place a side bet, the Trips Bonus Bet. This optional bet is based on the composition of your best hand, whether it will comprise three of the five community cards in addition to your two cards.
Players get two cards at the beginning and three betting windows — the turn, the flop, and the reveal. Throughout the game, players can raise the ante. The dealer qualifies for the game with at least a pair.
Triple Card Poker
This online poker game is suitable for beginners and pro players. Evolution’s live poker game gives players an authentic experience with professional dealers.
A strategy is required to optimize the gaming experience, but it is less demanding than most poker games because players only need to beat the dealer. For each round, the dealer can accommodate unlimited players in the lobby. However, it must have at least the queen high to play.
The main goal is to have a better three-card combination than the dealer. Players can also place several side bets, including pair plus and six-card bonuses, to maximize winning opportunities.
To win the pair plus bonus, players must land at least a pair on their hand. Players can win this bonus regardless of the dealer’s hand. Meanwhile, the six-card bonus is achieved when players make a winning five-card combination of their cards and the dealer’s. The combinations are Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Three of a Kind, Flush, and Straight.
As discussed, poker players cannot rely solely on luck. A good strategy is necessary to optimize the winning chance. As a beginner, you can follow these tips to improve your strategy.
Apply basic mathematics
Poker relies on the player’s understanding of basic concepts and probability. Learn to calculate the odds of your hand, the number of outs you have, and how to compare the data with the wager you are facing. It lets the player make an informed judgment rather than blindly guessing the opponent’s card.
Identify betting patterns
This tip applies if you are up against other players in an online poker game. Try to read your opponent’s poker strategy to guess their cards. It can be done by observing their betting patterns as the rounds go by. Beginners usually have difficulty making this observation, but things will get easier after playing poker for a while.
Play in ranges
A range refers to the entire scale of the player’s poker hands in each round. An advanced poker player usually anticipates that their opponent will display the entire range of poker hands. Instead of focusing on winning a single hand, a pro will determine which hand is the best. On the other hand, beginners typically put out a specific hand without much thought. Their main concern is to snatch a win.
Select the starting hand deliberately
A pro poker player usually passes on a mediocre hand and pounces on the so-called winning hand. Select a few premium cards to raise in the late position and fold most of your preflop holdings. Players can raise their A-A and K-K in an early position. Meanwhile, play small pairs, such as 2-2 and 3-3, only to gain value on the flop.
Fold when unsure
Keep in mind that poker is a mental game. Most of the time, players are so focused on securing a win that they do not read the table situation. It can result in further losses for the player. When you are unsure about the need to play the hand or fold, opt for the latter. There are other chances to win in the following rounds.
All novices are recommended to begin with a small stake as they are exploring the most suitable strategy. When it comes to playing online poker, always remember to choose a reputable casino that has been licensed by gaming authorities in your country.
These reputable casinos implement measures to make the gaming experience seamless and safe for players. It includes implementing responsible gaming policies. They also offer more payment options, from fiat money to cryptocurrency.
The evolution of online gaming is a journey through digital entertainment. Its history shows the power of technology to entertain people. Like movies and music, it offers a variety of genres to choose from, one of which is card games.
The fusion between social casinos and poker has redefined how people play card games online. What used to be a solitary, luck-based pursuit has evolved into a social and strategic experience. Its growing popularity is also one of the reasons why it has generated billions of U.S. dollars in revenue.
Keep reading to explore the merging of social casinos and poker and how it reshapes online card gaming.
Image credit: Voice of Muscatine
Social casinos are a unique subgenre within online gaming. Unlike its traditional counterpart, these casinos do not involve real money gambling. Platforms like funrize, for example, offer a variety of casino games using virtual currency or tokens. Some of these games include slots, roulette, blackjack, and poker.
There are main differences between social casinos with traditional casinos. They add a layer of enjoyment for players and influence the success of social casinos. These factors are:
Poker is often seen as a game of skill, where players’ strategic thinking and decision-making abilities come into play. This differentiates it from games of chance found in traditional casinos. As a classic card game, it has transformed in the digital age.
Online poker rooms have grown in popularity, allowing players from around the world to compete in a virtual setting. These rooms attract casual and professional players with prizes, making the game competitive.
Among the various games offered by social casinos, poker has emerged as a main attraction. Social poker apps have gained immense popularity among players. With a range of variants, from Texas Hold’em to Omaha, the apps provide a realistic poker experience. The social experience includes features like virtual tables, customizable avatars, and player communities.
With vibrant graphics and user-friendly interfaces, social casinos have also created virtual poker tournaments. Players can test their skills, win virtual currency or other rewards, and connect with fellow poker fans. Some apps provide real-time multiplayer features to support this, further improving the strategic elements of poker. Players can chat with opponents and engage in banter during a hand. The feature replicates the social dynamics of a physical poker table, where camaraderie and competition coexist.
The social experience does not stop there. Social poker apps often offer leaderboards, missions, and achievements. These elements foster a sense of progression to keep players engaged in the game. Some social casinos also support cross-platform play. This feature encourages a varying and dynamic player community.
The merging of social casinos and poker has significantly affected player engagement. Back then, players competed against computer-generated opponents. With the added social features in social casinos and social poker apps, there are more opportunities to connect and make new friends.
The social experience also attracts a younger audience, many of whom have yet to play the game. The absence of real money reduces the pressure to learn, making poker more accessible. Familiar features like leaderboards, virtual rewards, avatars, and tournaments also encourage continued gameplay. The long-lasting engagement is a win for both players and social casinos.
While social casinos and poker apps offer free gameplay, they have strategies to maintain revenue streams. These platforms take on various monetization strategies to maintain an enjoyable gameplay experience.
One common strategy is selling virtual currency, chips, or tokens. Players can purchase these to continue playing or participate in high-stakes games. Sales of virtual items, such as customized avatars or premium themes, can also contribute to revenue. These in-app purchases make up almost 70% of the revenue stream.
Another strategy is through in-app advertising and partnerships. Social poker apps cooperate with brands to promote products or services within the game. This way, the platforms remain profitable while offering a free gameplay experience for users.
As social casinos and poker reshape online card gaming, it also raises ethical considerations. The fascinating nature of these platforms, encouraged by the gamification elements, can lead to addictive behaviors.
With the growing interest from the younger audience, a risk of underage players also exists. The social aspects can blur the line between entertainment and gambling. Some players may chase virtual rewards to maintain their in-game status.
Dopamine plays a role in these addiction tendencies. When players engage in social casinos, the anticipation of potential rewards triggers dopamine release. This type of neurotransmitter is associated with pleasure and motivation. The release creates a sense of excitement, which can be addictive.
The brain’s reward system may become desensitized to this over time, leading to a need for more experience to achieve the same dopamine high. This may lead to the development of problematic gambling habits.
It is the platforms’ responsibility to prioritize responsible gaming. Strict age verification can prevent underage access. Transparency for in-app purchases and odds also ensures fair play and informed decision-making.
It is a challenge for platforms to implement responsible gaming measures. Not only to protect vulnerable players, but the measures are the ethical foundations for platform development and operations.
The blend of social casinos and poker represents a shift in the world of online gaming. It has attracted a more diverse and engaged player base. Social interaction, skill-based gaming, and innovative features have redefined how we approach online card games. It is important to remember that responsible gaming is necessary to ensure continued enjoyment.
Even though the future of merging social casinos and poker remains uncertain, it has redefined how we experience online card games. It promises a dynamic and thrilling gaming experience for enthusiasts worldwide. The two platforms will likely continue shaping the landscape of online card gaming.
Whether you’re a seasoned poker player or a newcomer exploring the world of card games, the fusion of social casinos and poker has something exciting to offer for everyone.
In the gambling realm, it is common for you to encounter several winners and unlucky participants. While some games, like poker, rely on strategy and skill, most are based on luck, meaning they are out of your control.
Winning is not an uncommon occurrence in the casino world. However, there have been some exceptional performances. This article will review some of the most unexpected casino-winning stories. Dig in to gain more insights.
A common phrase you’ll encounter when dealing with casinos is the house always wins. The MIT Blackjack Team, however, tells a different story. This collection of students and alumni of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology employed their mathematical skills to beat the house at blackjack.
The team exploits enabled them to travel to several casinos from the city of lights, Las Vegas, to Atlantic City, racking millions of dollars due to proper bankroll management and their well-honed card counting technique.
Card counting involves tracking the ratio of high-value to low-value cards remaining in the deck during a game. This strategy effectively tipped the odds in their favour, allowing them to win severally.
Elmer Sherwin has to be considered the luckiest man in gambling history. He won two megabuck jackpots in Las Vegas within a decade. In 1989, at 76, Elmer won his first jackpot worth $4.6 million, instantly placing him on the radar in the gambling niche.
In 2005, he decided to make that trip to Las Vegas to try his luck again and at 92, he won again, amassing over $21 million. Most of his winnings were donated to charitable causes. Luckily, in the modern era, players can also take chances at casino games and win without physically visiting these establishments on online sites. Australian residents interested can begin by browsing https://www.gambleonlineaustralia.com/casino/reviews/ to find suitable avenues.
Anargyros Karabourniotis, popularly known as Archie Karas, is a legend in the gambling realm. Born in Greece in 1950, this man came to the United States, where he started his wagering career as a pool shark.
He goes down in gambling history due to his massive streak of winnings. In the early 1990s, Karas had only $50 and managed to flip it into millions by playing poker, craps and baccarat. He was a high-stakes player and loved the thrill of the scene. One of his most iconic victories was defeating Johnny Chan, a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion.
Throughout his career, Karas earned a total of $40 million. This figure makes him one of the most prominent gamblers ever. However, he suffered several losses after his streak.
Cynthia Jay-Brennan is a respectable name in the gambling world due to her achievements. During the 2000s, she received massive attention for perfectly aligning the symbols on a slot machine in Las Vegas, winning the $35 million jackpot.
Being intelligent enough, she decided to receive her winnings in instalments over the next 25 years. However, after her big win, she and her sister were involved in a ghastly road accident. She faced several injuries, unlike her sister, who sadly lost her life.
She spent years in legal battles with the driver who caused the accident and in rehabilitation. Furthermore, she decided to issue some proceeds to charitable organizations.
Charlie Wells has to make the list when talking about notable figures in the casino industry. He came into the light after having a long winning streak at the Monte Carlo casino in the 19th century.
In the summer of 1981, the British gambler and trickster made a substantial fortune from his initial bankroll of 4,000 pounds. Initially, he fancied indulging in roulette, the even money bets. These include red or black and even or odd.
He employed the Martingale wagering strategy, which doubles your next wager in the event of a loss to give you a chance to recover. His most significant winnings were so massive that he “broke the bank”, a term commonly used in the gambling scene to site when a player makes a big win, the casino can’t pay immediately.
Casinos revolve around risk-taking and strategic thinking in some games. Regarding the risk factor, Ashley Revell didn’t miss any classes. He is famous for making one of the most outrageous single bets in wagering history.
In 2004, at 32, Revell sold all his possessions to raise his bankroll for a single roulette spin in Las Vegas. With around $135,300, he went to the Plaza Hotel & Casino with one goal: to place all the money on a roulette bet and let the wheel determine his fate.
With a group of spectators gathered round the table, television cameras broadcasting the occurrences live, Revell placed his whole bankroll on red. The wheel was spun, and the ball landed in a red slot. Everyone present was shocked at how he doubled his money to $270,600 in seconds.
The gambling niche is a rollercoaster driven by luck. Most of the stories here were based on chance. These participants took a risk and reaped big. Sometimes, however, like in the case of the MIT Blackjack Team, you have to tip the odds in your favour to win.
We’ve known for a while now that the 2023 WPT World Championship festival will be happening at the Wynn Las Vegas this December. However, until just recently, there were no additional details as to the schedule and guarantees. All that has changed, as the WPT has released a full schedule for the series, including their mind-blowing plans for the Main Event.
The World Poker Tour and the Wynn will apparently be going all out on the Main Event, as the tournament will feature the largest single-event guarantee in poker history: a whopping $40,000,000. For comparison, the guarantee for last year’s (inaugural) WPT World Championship was $15,000,000 and, when first announced, there were serious concerns about a potential overlay.
What ended up happening came as a shock to the organizers and the general poker public alike, as the event almost doubled the initial promise, awarding a prize pool of $29,008,000. This year, the WPT has decided to go even bigger, throwing caution to the wind and giving the Main Event an astonishing guarantee of $40 million!
This is by far the biggest guarantee for any live poker tournament, and calling it ambitious would be an understatement. Since this is a $10,400 event, it will need to attract at least 4,000 runners to hit the target, and that’s no small feat for a five-figure buy-in event.
Even so, it’s this publication’s opinion that the World Poker Tour will once again see massive success, and that they’ll not just hit, but also beat the guarantee. We’ve thought of seven reasons why.
The WPT knows that putting together an event like this and offering such a massive guarantee is a very ambitious thing to do, to say the least. They know the market and what to expect, so they’re not taking this lightly.
Last year’s inaugural festival was a tremendous success, and the WPT World Championship Main Event was the crown jewel. Now, they want to take things to the next level, and they’re putting everything they have into it.
Tons of resources are going towards marketing the event. All of the company’s ambassadors have already started promoting the Championship, and the organization will be sure to tackle this thing from every possible angle to ensure it is a success. Given the fact we’re talking about one of the biggest poker tours in the world that employs some of the best and most experienced people in the industry, we wouldn’t bet against them.
For the 2023 event, WPT Global will play an important role in helping prop up the player numbers and send many players from outside of the US to Las Vegas for the Main Event.
The operator has already started running regular satellites for the WPT World Championship, and players can start their journey towards the big one for as little as $5. So, it’s safe to assume that there will be at least a few players at the Wynn living their poker fairytale.
On top of this, the room has boosted its already generous welcome bonus to include WPT World Championship satellite tickets, with those making bigger deposits receiving tickets for direct qualifiers. With well over three months to go before the kickoff, it’s a safe bet that WPT Global will be awarding seats to at least a few hundred players, if not more.
Last year, the WPT saw a lot of success with the unique milestone satellite format. These tournaments feature a structure where a player needs to reach a certain predetermined chip count to win the seat. Once they do, their stack is removed, and the rest of the field continues to play following the same format until all seats are given away. This format, quite different from regular poker tournament satellites, proved to be wildly popular with players, who will undoubtedly be eager to give it a go again this year to try and claim their main event seats on the cheap.
For the 2023 Main Event, Milestone Satellites are set to award at least 300 seats, but this number could end up being significantly higher if there is enough interest, of which we have no doubts whatsoever.
Milestone Satellites feature a buy-in of $1,100, but there are also Double Play Milestone events with a more affordable buy-in of $400 that award two $1,100 tickets to each winner, which can be used to enter Main Event qualifiers.
So, these live satellites will ensure at least 300 seats, but we believe the final number will probably be even higher, as many of those present at the Wynn will be looking to take a shot at a seat in the tournament with the largest guarantee in poker history.
Live poker has been through a rough period, but it’s back with a vengeance! If there were any doubts about it before, the 2023 WSOP Main Event blew those out of the water, becoming the largest-ever in the history of the Series, finally breaking the elusive 2006 record.
The Main Event attracted 10,043 players, and it featured the same buy-in. Granted, it’s hard to compare the WSOP Main Event to any other tournament, as that’s the one everyone wants to play, but plenty of other live poker events have been breaking attendance records left and right, too.
All of this indicates that players are hungry for action, and live poker is booming once again. It could be the influence of numerous vloggers and quality live streams driving this trend, or it could be something else, but bottom line: we’re confident that the WPT will reach its goal come December.
This may seem like a bit of random reason, but the fact of the matter is that paying $10,000 to play in a poker tournament in 2023 just isn’t the same thing it was 10 or 20 years ago. To be sure, it’s still a substantial amount, but $10,000 is much more “affordable” than it used to be.
What this means for the WPT Main Event is that more players who don’t usually play as high will be likely to take a shot and go a bit outside of their comfort zone to join the battle at the felt. After all, last year saw almost 3,000 entries with a much smaller guarantee and the event being completely new. So, in a way, it’s not really that big of a leap.
The $10k Main Event is far from being the only tournament on the December schedule. Leading up and around it, there are quite a few more affordable events, including a $600 NLHE tournament with $1,000,000 guaranteed and a $1,600 Mystery Bounty with a $2,000,000 guarantee attached to it.
Creating a big schedule consisting of a mix of affordable tournaments on one side and high roller events on the other (including a $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop) will go a long way towards filling those Main Event seats.
It’s safe to assume that many players will head to Vegas to play in some of these cheaper events, and some of them will end up parlaying some success into the Main after deep runs. After all, they’ll already be there and will have a chance to “freeroll” a shot at big bucks.
We’ll wrap the list up with an exclusive quote from Matt Savage, the Executive Tour Director for the World Poker Tour:
“I believe we will hit the guarantee because the Wynn did such an incredible job last year from top to bottom, and it was the most talked about event I’ve ever been a part of.”
Those who have been around poker even a little bit know that Matt Savage enjoys a reputation as one of the best and most respected tournament directors in the business. He’s been around for years, and he’s the go-to guy whenever someone has a question about tournament rules or policies. Once he makes a decision or shares an opinion on these matters, it is rarely questioned.
All this is to say that he’s the kind of man who wouldn’t give such an endorsement if he didn’t truly believe it to be true. If Savage is confident the Main Event will make its guarantee, he probably has a very good reason for it.
As long as everything goes according to plan, we’re confident the WPT will achieve its ambitious goal in December, beating their $40 million guarantee and host yet another epic Main Event. As poker fans, we can’t help but root for them to succeed, as it is events such as these that help keep that flame burning and the poker dream alive!
Tournament poker returns to PokerGO in September with the two longest-running PokerGO-owned and operated series returning. The 10-event Poker Masters will kick off the high-roller action in mid-September before it is followed by the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl VIII. High Stakes Poker and No Gamble, No Future will continue as well, with new lineups around the corner.
The highest-stakes session in the 11-season history of High Stakes Poker continues in September with two more episodes of $1,000/$2,000 No-Limit Hold’em. The lineup of Eric Persson, Charles Yu, Jean-Robert Bellande, Ferdinand Putra, Rob Yong, Andrew Robl, and Rick Salomon remain with Robl continuing his hot run of cards.
Following the final two episodes from that lineup, a new set of players will take a seat to play $200/$400 No-Limit Hold’em. Robl, Bellande, and Yong return, while making their season debut are Jennifer Tilly, Stanley Tang, Bob Bright, and William Tjokro.
Watch Season 11 episodes of High Stakes Poker every Monday at 8 p.m. ET.
The Cash of the Titans will come to an end this month on No Gamble, No Future, with the $600,000 side bet to be settled among the final five players. Eric Persson was eliminated on the final episode of the month after being on the losing end of the largest American televised poker cash game hand to Patrik Antonius.
The final episode of the month will see the stakes drop to $50/$100 No-Limit Hold’em with Phil Hellmuth headlining the table that includes Arden Cho, Lawford Edwards, Justin Young, Matt Steinberg, Shawn Madden, and Lynne Ji.
Watch Season 3 episodes of No Gamble, No Future every Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
The eighth installment of the Poker Masters will take center stage inside the PokerGO Studio from September 14-26 with 10 events on the schedule. Buy-ins start at $10,000 and climb to the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em finale with every final table airing exclusively on PokerGO.com.
Every event is No-Limit Hold’em, and for the player that can accumulate the most PGT points throughout the 10-event series, they will be awarded the Poker Masters Purple Jacket and receive the $50,000 championship bonus. Previous winners include Steffen Sontheimer, Ali Imsirovic, Sam Soverel, Michael Addamo, and Sean Winter.
Watch Poker Masters final tables from September 15 – 26, at 4 p.m. ET.
After beginning in 2015, the Super High Roller Bowl is now up to its eighth installment in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Super High Roller Bowl VIII set to crown one of the PGT’s biggest first-place prizes in 2023.
In 2022, Daniel Negreanu topped a field of 24 entrants and defeated Justin Bonomo, Andrew Lichtenberger, and Nick Petrangelo at the final table to capture the $3,312,000 first-place prize. It was also Negreanu’s second-largest career score behind his second-place finish in the 2014 WSOP The Big One for One Drop.
The three-day event will see elite high-roller players from around the world play this $300,000 buy-in freezeout to see who will be crowned the next Super High Roller Bowl winner. Every minute of action will be streamed exclusively on PokerGO.com from Day 1 until the winner is awarded the Super High Roller Bowl championship ring.
Watch Super High Roller Bowl VIII action from September 28-30, at 4 p.m. ET.
The month of August would see the return to episodic content on PokerGO with new seasons of High Stakes Poker and No Gamble, No Future. August also see the resumption of High Stakes Duel 4 with Daniel Negreanu in the winner’s chair.
Season 11 of High Stakes Poker debuted with the biggest stakes the show has ever seen with a $1,000/$2,000 No-Limit Hold’em cash game that featured a $500,000 minimum buy-in. The lineup included Eric Persson, Charles Yu, Jean-Robert Bellande, Ferdinand Putra, Rob Yong, Andrew Robl, and Rick Salomon.
Season 3 of No Gamble, No Future kicked off with the iconic Cash of the Titans livestream cut into episodes Andrew Robl, Markus Gonsalves, Rob Yong, Matthew Gonzales, Eric Persson, and Patrik Antonius played escalating stakes that begin at $500/$500 and rise to $1,000/$2,000. There wasn’t just $5 million on the table, but also a $100,000 per player side bet that would be scooped up by the biggest winner over the course of three days.
After defeating Eric Persson in May in Round 1 of High Stakes Duel 4, Daniel Negreanu’s next opponent would be Doug Polk. Negreanu emerged victorious in his rematch with Polk and captured the $200,000 prize pool before deciding to cash out and lock up the High Stakes Duel championship belt.
To close out the month, PokerGO hosted the Enclave Celebrity Invitational $50,000 freeroll. The field of 70 players included celebrities, athletes, and poker players, and it would be chess streamer Nemo Zhou securing her first-ever live tournament victory for $20,000 in prize money.
Connect with PokerGO on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Watch daily poker clips on the PokerGO YouTube channel. Join the conversation on the PokerGO Discord server.
Do you collect poker swag? Perhaps you’ve spent just a bit too much time playing at live and online casinos and have amassed just too large of a poker swag collection? Some of you may be “poker hoarders” and not realize it. Recently, I began going through my office and realized that I am indeed suffering from a poker hoarding affliction. No, I am not about to become the next featured home A&E’s Hoarders, but it was clearly time to get rid of some stuff.
So, how do you know if you’re a poker hoarder? Come with me and take a journey through some of my former poker junk. Here are some signs that you may be a poker hoarder.
Who doesn’t love free stuff? If you play enough poker in live poker rooms, odds are you have picked up SWAG (Stuff We All Get) from various online poker rooms. The first bit of poker swag I ever received was an installation disk from the late, great John Bonetti for UltimateBet. Little did I know that it would start a mini collection of poker swag.
I came across a couple of boxes (yes, I said boxes) of swag from various poker trips. The majority of the items were from now-defunct online poker rooms. Here is a sampling of some of the things I found:
And that’s not including the ball hats, beanies, poker chips, and items from poker rooms still in operation! For a while, I had a wardrobe of poker shirts that I wore. Going through the recent finds was a trip down poker memory lane. In some cases, it is a sad reminder of what we’ve lost in the United States in terms of online poker. You can still play poker online in the United States, of course, but you can’t make a wardrobe out of poker swag from those sites.
It’s safe to say that most poker players and fans have a small library of poker books. That’s not uncommon. However, how many of you also have a library of poker magazines? Whenever I went to a casino, I generally picked up a copy of whatever poker publications were available for free.
I had countless copies of Card Player Magazine, Poker Player Newspaper, Bluff Magazine, and All-In Magazine. Not only did I pick up the magazines at the casino, but I also had a subscription for quite a while to Card Player Magazine. At one point, I had three or four banker’s boxes full of them. I purged those magazines a couple of years ago, thinking I had cleared out my “library.”
Nope. During my recent cleanout, I still found another box full of them, many of which go back to 2008-2010. If you’ve got magazines that go back to before the rise of the Seiborg, it’s time to let them go.
How many of you have multiple sets of poker chips of varying quality just in case you need one for a poker game? You’ve probably got the “good set” of chips for serious games, the “OK” set for games with your buddies, and then a few cheesy sets you use to play with kids or when you don’t want to mess up the better quality sets.
Some of you probably have dozens of decks of cards, most of which are from various casinos and poker rooms. That’s not including the dozen decks of cards you picked up at Walmart or a random dollar store.
We don’t really need all those decks of cards and poker sets. It’s time to go through and cull that excess. Donate some of those sets to a fellow player in need, or give them to some kids to play with.
I covered the 2008 World Series of Poker for PokerNews and was covering the last day of the $10k Stud World Championship. Phil Ivey was on the last two tables, and there was a small group of people railing from a distance.
Ivey busted in 9th place. Directly after leaving the table, the floor person took a couple of napkins from the cup holder and put them on top of a speaker. A guy went over to the speaker and had the following conversation with me:
He then took the napkin and carefully folded it up before putting it into his pocket. That interaction made me feel much better about keeping the base from a bracelet holder for a WSOP bracelet. At least it wasn’t a napkin.
I was one of those people that had to buy at least one thing from every casino I played at. That’s in addition to keeping at least a $1 chip. I still have many of the chips in a display holder, but recently, I discovered I still had a lot of items purchased or received as poker swag from casinos.
If you’re like me, you probably have everything from playing cards to poker chips and shot glasses to baseball caps. I like to wear caps, so my collection of casino hats at one point was impressive. However, recently, I found several hats that are unused. A couple came from the now-defunct Grand Casino Tunica (Robinsonville, MS). There were hats from Los Angeles, Atlantic City, Mississippi, and Minnesota. If I choose to keep them, I should have enough hats to last me 20 years.
Back in the mid to late Naughties, Parth Data, a.k.a., Spiderman, was considered one of the better players in the Los Angeles region. He was once considered one of the bright up-and-coming players of the area. However, like many promising players from that time, he never quite panned out.
I remember quite a few people who collected autographs from players like Spiderman and other promising players in hopes that one day they would be famous. Are you one of those people? Do you have dozens and dozens of autographs from popular and lesser-known players? While I didn’t have any Spiderman autographs, I did find a random autograph from Robert Williamson III, which, of course does not have the same significance today as it did in 2006 when I got it.
Autographs are a fun hobby, but for the poker world, most of them are random scraps of paper that will never be worth anything. I’m not saying get rid of your Daniel Negreanu or Phil Hellmuth autographs. However, the Spidermans of the world can hit the rubbish bin.
Are you the type of person who likes to hold onto a receipt or a ticket from an event as a memory? Unless you’re a scrapbooker, what ultimately happens to these receipts is that they get stuck in a box (or random boxes) and just take up space.
Here are some random receipts and tickets that I recently came across
If you’re a scrapbooker, please put your memories in a book. Otherwise, do as I did and dump the boxes in the trash, especially if you’re married or dating and have brothel receipts. You don’t want to have THAT conversation.
How do you know you’re obsessed with poker? When you play poker video games. No, I am not talking about playing online poker. I mean you bought World Championship Poker 2 for Playstion, Pure Hold’em for Xbox One, or World Series of Poker for the PC. Heck, you probably have Reel Deal Poker for the PC. Robbie probably has an autographed copy of Stacked with Daniel Negreanu.
While poker video games seem like a no-brainer, the reality is that most games are predictable and easily beaten. They can still be fun but often don’t help you improve your game. However, many of the games on your shelf are probably outdated and may not even be playable. If you have games that ran on Windows 95 or 98, odds are they won’t run correctly on Windows 10 or 11.
You don’t necessarily have to throw these games out. Check to see if they have any resale value. If so, list them on Ebay or other selling platforms. You can also donate them to a fellow poker junkie. Whatever you do, it’s time to clear some shelf space.
Let’s skip the cliché reasons that you should declutter. Ultimately, if the stuff is just taking up space and will never be useful, it’s time to get rid of it. There’s nothing wrong with keeping a few trophies, posters, or even a couple of autographs. However, once it starts becoming boxes of stuff you haven’t touched since 2006, it is time to get rid of it.
Taking a final stroll through poker memory lane has been fun for me the last few days, but most of the stuff I went through is now out of the house. Now, I can use the space for its intended purpose — the mountains of other junk I sell on Ebay.
Throughout its colorful history, Hollywood has been tasked with bringing certain areas of life and art to the big screen. It’s often a trick they don’t entirely succeed in, invariably looking to glamorize rather than simulate what certain pastimes and activities actually revolve around.
In the field of poker, it’s something they’ve been trying for decades and only occasionally getting away with. The pastime, or should we say sport, of poker has become a massive industry in recent decades, and it’s an activity millions upon millions of us enjoy.
Of all the poker scenes put to celluloid, here are our three favorites, not necessarily due to their realistic nature but more for their iconic impact. By the way, if you are an avid poker fan out of Pennsylvania, you may want to check out this helpful list of the best PA online poker sites around.
This classic comedy caper from George Roy Hill sees Paul Newman and Robert Redford deliver a masterclass in suave elegance as they grift their way to a killing. Robert Shaw, best known for his performance as Quint in Jaws, is the ‘Mark’ for their big con, and that’s because the tyrannical gangster was behind the killing of their friend in Illinois during the Great Depression.
In order to set the scene and lure in Shaw, Newman constructs a con that involves a high-stakes poker game that takes place on board a train. It’s an iconic scene and one that lives long in the memory.
Newman plays an obnoxious drunk who riles up Shaw and his fellow players, giving them a sense of false expectations, only to then beat him in a way that clearly shows his opponent that he’s cheated. However, it’s not a claim Shaw can make, given he, too, has been cheating.
It lays the groundwork for the ultimate con that takes place in the final act and is beautifully crafted from both a cinematic perspective as well as a nod to poker lovers out there, who no doubt know the scene back to front.
This 90s favorite, starring Matt Damon and Ed Norton as the leads, is pretty much the poker equivalent to The Color of Money. Mike McDermott (Damon) is studying law while making a few extra bucks on the side as a poker player. He’s a happy-go-lucky type of guy whose best friend happens to be something of a risk-taker, leading him down all sorts of roads he’d rather not have traveled.
Throughout the film, McDermott is effectively playing in order to keep his friend, Worm (Norton), out of jail or the hands of the mobsters, and it all comes down to a final card game against the hilarious “Teddy KGB,” a riotous over the top portrayal of a Russian gangster from John Malkovich, which effectively steals the film.
By the end of the film, Mike has worked out KGB’s ‘tell’ and subsequently lures him in and wins back all that he is owed, resulting in his friend escaping the clutches of the mob and a tidy little nest egg for himself.
Throughout the movie, we are given an education into poker rooms, both big and small, and while it’s all a little bit ‘on the nose,’ it’s nonetheless entertaining, and the movie played its part in making poker very cool again.
Daniel Craig successfully brought James Bond back to life following Pierce Brosnan’s slightly over-the-top run as 007, and in his first outing during 2006’s Casino Royale, he partakes in a big money poker game in Monte Carlo.
Unsurprisingly he’s going up against an ingenious madman who wants to destroy the world, as is traditional, but first, there’s the important matter of a card game played in a very opulent setting.
Of course, Bond wins after a poor start and pockets $100 million, further irritating La Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) when he gets a straight flush, beating his opponent’s full house.