Poker Links continues to celebrate its new look and features by giving money away to its members through two exclusive freerolls and six new Rake Races for October.

“We value each and every one of our members, and what better way to say “thank you for choosing us as your affiliate site” than to give them more chances to win money? RakeBreak members get the most for their money: on top of the best rakeback deals in the industry, our members can also join in the Rake Races to make some extra cash and have a shot at our exclusive freeroll tournaments.”

This month’s exclusive $20,000 freeroll will take place on Sunday October 12 at Full Tilt Poker. All RakeBreak members who have accumulated 500 FTPs are allowed to join the freeroll 100% free of charge - all they have to do is look up the tournament at Full Tilt’s lobby and click on “Register.”

Players who miss this freeroll can still have a shot at free money on November 15, when RakeBreak.com will be hosting a $5,000 freeroll at Cake Poker.

RakeBreak has a busy Rake Race schedule for October, with six sites awarding over $80,000 to the top raking players. Here is an overview of RakeBreak.com’s October rake races:

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- Absolute Poker will be giving out $20,000 to the top 50 rakers in October.
- Betfair Poker will award $500 to its top raking player, as well as cash prizes for the remaining top 10.
- Cake Poker is also rewarding 50 players with a share of $15,000 - the highest raker will take home $1800.
- The 10 highest rakers at Fortune Poker will earn a share of €2,000 this month.
- Full Tilt is going all out with $20,000 in cash for the 50 leaders of this month’s Rake Race.
- Finally, UltimateBet is also giving $2,000 to October’s highest raker, and splitting $18,000 among the remaining top 50.

“If you are not part of a rakeback program yet, you should really pay us a visit. Besides our excellent rakeback percentages, this month we are giving over $105,000 in prizes at absolutely no cost to our members - not many other affiliates can say that.”

poker games

Daniel Negreanu: Don’t sweat the small stuff at the poker table

I like to peruse the Full Contact Poker online forums to read and comment on posts about interesting poker hands and whether they were played properly. I find that many of the contributors consistently suffer from the same problem: They are far too preoccupied with statistically insignificant aspects of a poker hand.

My point is that the minor details of many poker hands are often unimportant and simply not worthy of in-depth analysis. Worrying about these insignificant details won’t have much effect on your bankroll at the end of the year.

The best way to improve your poker game is to focus on the important aspects of the game, like eliminating big mistakes. Instead, I see too many players fretting about whether they are a 56.2 percent favorite or a 51.8 percent favorite.

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North Versailles Diner Raided For Video Poker

Video poker machines were removed from a North Versailles restaurant Thursday night.

Police officers confiscated the machines from the Great Valley diner in the Great Valley Shopping Center on Lincoln Highway.State and Allegheny County police handled the raid.No arrests were made.

how to win at poker

Poker pros to duke it out

These are serious poker professionals duking it out at one of the biggest events of the year.

It’s going to be intense. The final nine players of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table will meet across the poker table Sunday at the Rio.

The nine will battle for a share of $32.6 million in prize money, bragging rights and the much coveted WSOP gold bracelet.

The event takes place at 10 a.m. inside the Penn & Teller Theater.

The final two players go head-to-head the following day.

Go to www.harrahs.com for more information.

Tao turns 3-years-old

Amy Smart bopped into Tao over at The Venetian this weekend with 10 friends. The group settled next to the restaurant’s 20-foot Buddha and dined on TAO Asian Bistro signature dishes Hong Kong XO Shrimp, Imperial Vegetable Egg Rolls and assorted sushi.

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Comparing Bonus Offers

When you shop around for texas holdem bonus, there are plenty of things to consider. While shopping for the highest initial deposit bonus does have its perks, your goal should always be to read the terms and conditions of the offer. The terms will spell out all the restrictions, obligations and strings that your offer has attached.

In all likelihood, your bonus money will not be available right away. You ll have to fulfill certain play-through requirements in order to claim the full amount. You may have to play in a certain amount of raked hands or wager your total bonus amount multiple times over before your bonus cash is unlocked. There might be restrictions on the games you can play, or a limited window of time for you to complete your bonus requirements. As long as you read the terms and conditions of your bonus offer, you ll know exactly what you need to do to earn your full bonus amount. Reading the fine print is a critical part of the shopping process.

Comparing Rakeback Deals

titan rakeback Rakeback deals are available through third-party affiliate sites. These offers are advertised as a percentage. The average rakeback percentage is around 30 percent. Just like with bonuses, a detailed reading of the terms is the best way to compare different offers.

Visit a few different affiliate sites, and ask yourself some basic questions as you read the terms of every offer. How does the poker room calculate your net rakerebate? If the dealt rakeback method is used, you will receive credit for rake in every hand that you are dealt in. If the contributed rakeback method is used, you will have to contribute to the pot in order to receive rake credit.

If you ve accepted a lucrative bonus offer and shopped around for a great rakeback deal, you need to make sure that you know how each offer will affect the other. Will bonuses be subtracted from your monthly gross revenue (MGR)? Most poker rooms will deduct your bonus earnings from your net rake. This can drastically lower the amount of rakeback that you earn. Another thing to keep in mind is that most poker sites will include your tournament fees in your MGR, but others will not. Again, you need to read the terms to find out what you should expect.

If you want to take full advantage of bonuses and rakeback, don t choose one over the other. Find a way to make bonuses and rakeback work together. There are poker rooms out there that will not deduct your bonuses from your MGR. Signing up for a rakeback plan is smart. Signing for a rakeback plan that gives you credit for tourney fees and leaves your bonus money out of your rakeback calculations is the best way to go.

Bradley (Brad) Booth (born September 20th, 1976 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian professional poker player known for his appearances on the GSN series High Stakes Poker. He is one of the most successful high limit players of the last decade. He was once referred to as a “poker savant” by Phil Laak and is rated as one of the best poker players in the world by Phil Hellmuth and Doyle Brunson.

In 13th episode of the third season of High Stakes Poker, Booth stated that he has been playing poker every day for 14 years – first in Vancouver, then Calgary and then in Yukon hence his nickname “Yukon Brad” – but is now slowing down.

Booth appeared on the second season of NBC’s Poker After Dark on the episode “International Week” and finished in second place to Patrik Antonius.

As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $640,000.

Daniel "Kid poker" Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu (born July 26, 1974 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian professional poker player.
Early life

Daniel Negreanu’s parents, Annie and Constantin, moved to Canada from Romania in 1967. When he was several credits short of graduation, Daniel dropped out of high school and began his life as a rounder playing at the local charity casinos and looking for illegal games around the city. While in Toronto, Daniel met and began dating Evelyn Ng, who would also become a well-known professional poker player. After building up his bankroll, he left for Las Vegas at the age of 21 to pursue his dream of becoming a professional poker player. However, “The Strip” got the better of him and he was forced to move back home to Toronto to rebuild his bankroll.
Poker career

In 1997 his luck began to change when he won two events at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, earning himself $133,600 as well as being named the tournament’s best all-around player. Negreanu followed this triumph in the 1998 World Series of Poker by winning $169,460 at the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event and becoming the youngest WSOP bracelet winner in history — a record he held until 2004.

Over the next few years, he became one of the most successful poker tournament players in history, winning two (WPT) events, another two World Series bracelets, and appearing at 11 final tables. He was also named the World Poker Tour World Series of Poker player of the year in 2004 and World Poker Tour player of the year in 2005.

Upon opening, the Wynn Las Vegas resort recruited him as their “Poker Ambassador” to play for any stake in their poker room. The arrangement lasted until October 2005 when he opted out because it was restricting his ability to play for high stakes outside the Wynn. In December 2005, he started his own online poker cardroom “skin” site on his official site, Full Contact Poker, which also includes his blog and a variety of poker forums. He played at his cardroom under the screen name “KidPoker”. In 2006, he used Full Contact Poker to launch a competition to select a protege, whom Daniel would attempt to mold into a world-class live tournament poker player. In addition, he would pay the protege’s entry fee into four $10,000 buy-in events. Daniel’s first protege was Brian Fidler. In 2007, Daniel ran a second protege promotion, which was won by Anthony Mak.

On June 11, 2007, Negreanu signed with PokerStars, joining Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer and many other professional poker players as a member of Team PokerStars. His Full Contact Poker site has since returned to being a forum and informational site.

Daniel has been a regular at the big game in Bobby’s Room, in the Bellagio casino, Las Vegas, for several years. He is a self-admitted action junkie who always seeks new challenges and sets high goals for himself, not only at the poker table but also on the golf course. Unlike many other players, he is very outspoken about his poker results and regularly posts updates in the forums at the Full Contact Poker website.

Some of Negreanu’s success is attributed to his ability to read opponents. When asked about this skill, Negreanu explained that the most important skill he employs is observing what hands his opponents play and how capable they are of playing them.

He has written over 100 articles for CardPlayer Magazine and contributed to Doyle Brunson’s revised book, Super System II. He has tutored on the web as part of Poker School Online and also personally given lessons to celebrities such as Tobey Maguire. In addition, it was announced in early 2006 that Negreanu had assembled a team of “Superstar Contributors” to write a book called Daniel Negreanu’s Power Hold’em Strategy. Modeled after Brunson’s Super/System, the book delves into every aspect of hold’em, and is due to be released in early 2008.

Negreanu has played poker on various TV shows such as Late Night Poker, Poker After Dark, and High Stakes Poker, as well as serving as a commentator and stand-in host on Ultimate Poker Challenge. He also appeared in the third season of Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. In January 2007, Negreanu appeared in the Fox Reality original series Rob and Amber: Against the Odds in which he mentored reality television personality Rob Mariano in his bid to become a professional poker player.

Negreanu was named “Favorite Poker Player” at Card Player Magazine’s Player of the Year Awards Gala in February 2006.

Negreanu is also featured in the 2006 poker video game Stacked with Daniel Negreanu, providing tips and hints as to how to play effectively.
# On August 19, 2005 Negreanu married Lori Lin Weber. On November 24, 2007 he announced their separation in a blog entry.
# Negreanu’s surname is pronounced “Neg-rah-noo”.
# Negreanu has a blog at Full Contact Poker where he posts his thoughts and feelings about poker and various life topics.
# Negreanu is a vegan.

As of January 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $9,650,000, behind only Jamie Gold and Joseph Hachem. He is the 2nd all-time leading money winner on the WPT circuit, recently passed by Carlos Mortensen in April 2007 at the WPT Championship. With a 2nd place finish at the World Poker Open in Tunica, Mississippi, Negreanu has now cashed in a record 4 consecutive WPT events (which has since been tied by Kirk Morrison), and ties John Juanda in total WPT cashes with 14. He has the highest tournament earnings of any individual who has not won a WSOP Main Event.

Canadian Poker

Part of the Poker Nexus Network, FatBet Poker is a growing poker room that offers a very high 50% rakeback program. Its aggressive programs and marketing such as this that’s driving more and more traffic to this room every day. While the player base is relatively small but growing, the additional rakeback percentage should entice most players to stick around as the traffic picks up.

Cash game availability here is decent for micro-limit to low-limit but anything above that is a virtual ghost town at the moment. Games spread include Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, and a few unusual games like 32 Card Poker, Amerikana, and Telesina. The good news is that the lower limit games usually offer full tables at most hours.

Tournaments at Fat Bet are standard fare with the occasional guarantee but for the most part expect to find standard low entry fee events. You can expect the same for the Sit and Go tables as the lower limit games are the most frequently visited tables.

The software at Fat Bet works with no known bugs or issues and game play is fluid. The colors are monochrome so if you like pastels and neons, this may not be your first choice to play. The lobby is easy to understand with the tabbed game selection easy to navigate. Cashier options and help are also a few clicks away and will guide you through each process with relative ease.

The loyalty program at Fat Bet is essentially the aggressive 50% Rake Deal. At 50%, who needs free t-shirts and hats? If the traffic picks up Fat Bet Poker will become a great site to call home.

Support issues are handled via email, telephone, or the player FAQ that can be accessed from the lobby.

Overall Fat Bet has a novel approach to the game: Offer industry leading rakeback percentages and populate the best games with plenty of players. If they’re able to generate the traffic necessary to support the needs of high volume rakeback players then they have a legitimate shot at being a player in the online poker world.

The high card initiates the “bring in” per third street strategy in seven card stud and if there is going to be a tie; suit ranking is going to be used to break the tie.

The third street strategy in seven card stud is different for beginners, intermediate and advanced players. The third street strategy in seven card stud also varies with reference to table position from the person who initiates the bet. The approach at the first “bring-in” round is a matrix decision based on your “position in betting” your “skill level in the game” and the “nature of the hand” you have.

In case of the forced bet or the “bring-in” and you happen to have a playable hand, the amount of money you are ready to bet should be based on several factors. Unless you have a trip, hidden big pair or split big pair, you should not call raises and re-raises in this round.

If someone is going to call a bring-in followed by raise, such a third street strategy in seven card stud is adopted by those people who may have a strong hand. There are even those who have some better low cards who do the call, but they do not do the raise in the bring-in. Collecting the most of the information per every player’s third street strategy in seven card stud is is very crucial for getting to your true opponent.

In short, any player who is betting very big stakes as a part of his third street strategy in seven card stud is likely to have strong hands and he must be trying his greatest to make the pot costly for others towards the next round. Repeated raises may also mean that they have a hand with a strong chance of improvement in the next round and they may be trying to pay that extra to have the pot grow and have others fold.

The third street strategy in seven card stud of every player will just give a 40% clue to what they hold. However, you can at least make out a 50:50 speculation of their hand. Based on their approach in the next round you can choose the best of your decision to proceed any further about them being your true opponent.

Beginner tight players do not raise and re-raise unless they have very strong hands. Intermediate and advanced players try some raise and re-raise with medium hands too!

Never judge tells based on just the betting style in the third street strategy in seven card stud of each player, but “correlate each bet” based on the open card, your estimate about their playing style, and finalize the scope of the raise and re-raise targeted towards a chase based on how many others fold.

Read more about 7 hand poker strategies, poker ranking of hands and texas hold em poker online game.

If you play online poker and have no idea what "rakeback" is then you're losing out on a hefty sum each month. In other words, each month you could be increasing your bankroll by hundreds, if not thousands of dollars which for even an amateur player is something that can't be ignored and it's all down to the "rake" that poker rooms take from each pot.

So, what's rake all about then?

Online poker rooms aren't allowing you to play for free, out of every pot they take what is known as a "rake". This is a charge of up to $3, it's where their massive yearly profits come from.

For example: Take a 2-player game of poker, the pot reaches $50 — you've both contributed $25. Lets say the poker room takes $2 rake from this pot, it's now $48. Both players have paid $1 to the "house" for playing this single hand.

If this occurs 1000 times (which can be accomplished in a single day) you've paid the poker room a whopping $1000 in rake for the privilege of playing those hands.

OK, so tell me some more about "Carbon Poker Rakeback".

What if, of that $1000 in the above example you could legitimately get back $333 of it? 33% of the poker room's table charge paid directly into your player account - dream come true?

Rakeback is where you join an online poker room via a third party, an affiliate, who has negotiated a deal with the poker room to pay you back a percentage of the vast sums of rake you pay.

You can even view how much rakeback you have earned within the software of the poker room, it's like a monthly bonus with no strings attached!

Get 33% Carbon Poker rakeback and a whopping 150% bonus up to $1500 dollars

When Cake Poker Bonus Codes uses the tag line "get a piece of the action," they're not exaggerating. With thousands of players in their online poker rooms at any given time, you can always find an exciting table or tournament. Whether your game of choice is Texas Hold'Em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Stud or Stud Hi-Lo, Cake Poker offers them all.

In addition to their wide variety of poker choices, this poker offers a lot of prize money for you to win. Every month, they pay out over fifteen million dollars in tournament awards. When it comes to online poker, you can't ask for a better deal than that!

Because Cake Poker values every one of its members, regardless of their experience level, they offer a lot of great promotions and rewards to anyone that plays poker on their website. Although they keep things interesting by changing them every month, Cake's promotions range from 25% reload bonuses to a million dollar free roll series to giving away a seat in the World Series of Poker's Main Event. When it comes to rewards, Cake has a $100 referral program, new depositor bonuses and a loyalty program that allows you to earn Player Points & Gold Chips, which can be redeemed for different prizes or access to exclusive tournaments.

Instead of wasting any more of your time trying to decide what poker website you should join, you should dive-in and start enjoying all of the secure, reliable online poker action that Cake Poker has to offer!

Try playing at Cake Poker and get yourself an unbeatable Cake Rakeback deal.

Poker rake and rake back is a phrase many serious online poker players are quite versatile with. The rake in a poker rake and rake back is basically the method of making money by best poker bonus. When playing a game of poker with real money, the house generally takes a percentage of each hand for itself; this is poker rake. Different online poker sites earn different poker rakes; but it is usually 5% of the pot amount.

Now about rake backs. Poker sites generally find out how much a player spends on online poker every month. If the player had signed up to the poker site through an affiliate, then the affiliate is paid a commission for having brought the player to the site. And in a bid to gain an advantage against competitors, the affiliates offer a larger percentage of this money to players and this is called a rake back. It is usually the poker rake and rake back that interests a player to sign up to the particular site or affiliate. This is because they charge a reasonable poker rake and a considerable rake back.

When playing online poker, both the poker rake and the rakeback bonus are important points to be considered when choosing the online poker site. Usually the poker rake is charged automatically where the person is not aware that they are being charged. When playing online poker, it is important that the player not only beat other players on the table, but also beat the poker rake. This is because winning money with no rake only ends up in the player ending up a loser.

However, when the rake back comes into the picture, players who were once losers become poker players who win with a profit. So a player who is winning in the game of poker automatically ends up with a fat bonus with the rake back. So when signing up in an online poker site, it is important that you first consider the poker rake and rake back of the site.

You have to make a rough calculation of how much you stand to lose through the poker rake and the amount of money you stand to win with rake back. You are paid a percentage of the money that the house charged as a poker rake in a rake back. In addition to this, the number of hands that the player plays and the stakes that are paid also determines the size of the rake back. So considering the poker rake and rake back of an online poker site, a casual and low limit player can earn about a few hundred dollars a month while professionals can rope in about $3,000.

So it can be seen that it is of no use to sign up to a site where there is no rake back. All poker players should be sure to receive a rake back when playing online poker; otherwise tons of money will be lost on the poker table. It is only with a rake back that a poker player can optimize his or her profits.

Cake Poker is one of our most popular Rakeback Bonus and is one of the fast growing poker rooms. They have excellent customer service and some of the weakest competition on the internet. The combination of 33% rakeback at Cake Poker and the dealt method, along with their other promotions makes Cake Poker incredibly lucrative.

Percentage of MGR Returned:

This is one of the most important variables to consider when comparing a rakeback deal. The Cake Poker 33% Rakeback Deal is one of the most generous offers in the industry. In fact, they offer the highest rakeback rate in the industry for their size room and up. This means a greater percentage of your MGR will be returned to you in the form of rakeback.

Method of MGR Calculation:

This is a very important for anyone who plays ring games, and Cake Poker has great ring games. There are three different methods. For more information on the different Rakeback Bonus calculating methods, check out our rakeback strategy section. Cake Poker is one of the few poker rooms that uses the dealt method. This is the best type of rakeback for winning players who play a tight aggressive style. Tighter than average players will be credited with more MGR and earn more rakeback at a poker room that uses this method. Future articles will discuss how to estimate how much of an impact this will have on you.

Rakeback Stat Updates:

Rakeback Stats are updated daily for all Cake Poker players. This is very nice for tracking how much you are playing and if you are reaching your goals. .

Method of Deducting Bonuses from MGR

Each poker room deducts different items from MGR. At Cake Poker they deduct Bonuses from MGR. This means if you earn $500 in bonuses, your first $500 of rake contributed you get 100% of it back and after the first $500, you earn 33%. If you were at a poker room that offered 33% Rakeback and a 100% bonus with no deduction, you would earn 133% rakeback for the bonus period. However, very few poker rooms offer MGR without bonuses deducted.

Method of Calculating Bonuses Earned

Remember to consider that Cake Poker’s generous 100% first deposit bonus of up to $500, is also credited using the dealt method. Which means you will earn your bonus atCake Poker faster than other poker rooms that uses the contributed method.

Sit-n-Gos (SNGs) and Tournament Fees Included in MGR

Some rooms don’t add SNG and tourney fees into your MGR. This can be a substantial loss for some players. Cake Poker includes these fees into MGR calculations, which is a good thing, because the majority of their SNGs and MTTs are incredibly soft. For every $1 in fees that you pay, you will be getting back $0.33, this has a great impact on your ROI.