You can expect to see some of the following women poker players participating in the Party Poker Womens World Open IV:

• Kara Scott
• Annette Obrestad
• Aisling Collins
• Kim Wooka
• Shelley Rubenstein
• Stefanie Bergener
• Maria Demetriou
• Christine Klecz
• Pippa Flanders

Party Poker has plans to televise the event later this year. Jesse May will provide commentary for the televised tournament. The PartyPoker Women’s World Open IV looks like a good opportunity to watch some expert poker strategy in action.

Texas Hold em play requires a minimum foundation of knowledge of the poker game and involves a few tidbits of technical knowledge and jargon. There are several modes of betting, including small blind bets, big blind bets, and Antes, which are defined as forced contributions by all players at the table. Blind bets are placed by players to the left of the dealer button. In Texas Hold em the dealer button is used to designate the player acting as dealer. The number of blind bets can vary. The small blind bet is posted by the player directly to the left of the dealer and usually equals half of the big bet, posted by the player to the left of the small blind player. Betting structures of Texas Hold em include limit, no limit, and pot limit Hold em.

Each hand in Texas Hold em begins when each player is dealt two cards face down, with the small blind player receiving the first card. The dealer receives the last card. Betting begins with the small blind player and continues until all players fold. This is the pre-flop round. Following the pre-flop round the dealer produces three face up community cards and another round of betting commences. After this flop round another community card is dealt followed by another round of betting. Next, the final community card is dealt, referred to as the river. The next phase is referred to as the showdown. If all players fold and one betting player is left, that player is awarded the pot without having to reveal his hole cards.

Common Texas Hold em poker strategy recommends playing “tight,” meaning restricting the amount of times one bets while raising on few chosen hands. Raising later in the game is recommended as well, since players who bet later have more information about cards than those who bet early.

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Champion: Smokkee

Blog: Adventures on the Poker Felt

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Q: Do you have any pre-poker rituals?

$: None.

Q: Do you have a special place, room, or setup that you prefer to play online? Describe?

$: The “POC” is in our spare bedroom.

Q: What variation of poker do you consider to be your strongest game?

$: NLHE full ring

Q: What variation of poker do you feel needs more work?

$: Every other most def

Q: Why do YOU play The Mookie?

$: I enjoy ten dollar tilt.

Q: Are you a winning player and if so how long did it take you to become a winning player?

$: I haven’t made any new deposits to my poker accounts since 2006 except to take advantage of reload bonus offers from time to time, I started playing in 2004.

Q: What bankroll standards have you setup for yourself?

$: Minimum 20 buy-ins for cash and 50 for MTT’s.

Q: Cash or MTT?

$: I bounce between both.

Q: What was your worst reaction to a bad beat?

$: A few years ago I broke my laptop screen slamming the lid down.

Q: Do you believe ‘Trash Talking’ is a legitimate strategy to be used while playing poker and why?

$: I don’t consider it a legit strategy although it may work against some players who can’t tune it out.  I think its ok in a private game as long as it’s friendly jabber.  Smack talking a stranger in a live game is no bueno unless he’s ruining the game.

Smokkee’s question for the next champ…

Q: What is the biggest purchase you’ve made from your poker winnings?

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Congrats again to Smokkee and thanks for participating in this profile.

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Champion: 1Queens Up1

Blog: Green Fish!

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Q: How did you get into poker?

1QU1: Very slowly actually. The first game I remember playing was 5 card draw for quarters before and after Biology class in 10th grade (1996) which led to some kids setting up a card night where we played this awesome game called “Anaconda”, a 7 card stud variant. I also saw Rounders in the theatre without really knowing/understanding what Texas Holdem was. But I would have to say the biggest influence on me playing poker has to be Magic: The Gathering. Magic and poker are similar in that while there is luck involved (more luck in Magic than Poker) you also need skill to be able to play at a competitive level.

Q: Do you have any poker related goals and if so what are they?

1QU1: At first it was simply “make money”. Then I wanted to at least play in the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods. Then I really wanted to attempt the WSOP (which I am doing this year thanks to Al & the BBT!).   I guess right now my only poker goal is to continually improve to a point where even Chad might consider me an equal. Really is there any higher goal than that?

Q: What are key improvements that you’ve seen in your game over the last six months, and what is one priority you have for improving? (Submitted by CC)

1QU1: Patience, patience, patience. A lot of players panic or give up when they lose a lot of chips early on in a tourney. Pick your spots and go with your reads.
2 areas I’d like to improve upon is my blinds play, and getting away from Phil Gordon’s theory of never being the first to enter the pot without a raise. I need to learn to limp a little more as odd as that sounds.

Q: How would you describe your poker style?

1QU1: I feel about 99% of players classify me as a rock-type player but that’s great, please continue to play me that way. I just try to feel for spots where I may get folds if I raise or paid off when I have a hand.

Q: What would be your first piece of advice for someone wanting to learn to play poker? (Submitted by Maudie)

1QU1:Read and Play. I’m more of a “learn by doing” type of person so I read a brief introductory of Texas Hold’em in Poker For Dummies then I went out to Foxwoods and tried it out.

Q: What level of static do you get over your poker habit? (Submitted by Drewspop)

1QU1: My gf is awesome about it, she has supported me through good and bad times. She’s stayed up late when I’ve gone deep in tourneys online and watched me live when I am going for 10k seats into the Foxwoods World Poker Finals, she’s absolutely the best with regards to me playing. My mom and her parents are all supportive of me and playing, while my dad basically calls it “your silly poker thing”.

Q: What was the first poker blog you read?

1QU1: Its a toss up between my buddy Unimpressed “Live By The River-Die By the River” blog or Hoy. I initially started my blog because the first blogger tournament I played back in June 07 was also my first blogger win at Hoy’s MATH and I felt like I should have a blog to be playing with you guys!

Q: Who would be at your 6-handed SNG?

1QU1: I’m going to take the route as a friendly SNG because I love to hear stories. I’d take Doyle to listen to all his Texas Road stories, Jennifer Harmon to hear about her experiences as an up and coming female player surviving in a “man’s” game, Scotty for his drunken stories, Mike Sexton for his Stuey stories, and Moneymaker because I really am curious to see what kind of stories he has since winning the 03 Main Event, I wouldn’t be surprised if he writes a pretty honest book in the future about it.

Q: Between Nihilism and Masochism, which do you think better describes why you play poker? (Submitted by Iakaris)

1QU1: I’m going to say Masochism, just because when you finally win, all the pain and mental anguish you put yourself through makes the win that much more satisfying and rewarding. A little known fact is that poker was a form of self-flagellation for the Opus Dei secret society. I read that on Wikipedia, so it must be true.

Q: What’s the last book you have read?

1QU1:I’ve been on a Poker book non-strategy kick lately, the last book I finished was Mike Matusow’s autobiography Check-Raising the Devil. Excellent book and it really does give me a new perspective on “The Mouth”.

Q: Tell us a little known fact about yourself.

1QU1: I went to Catholic school as a kid and to receive the sacrament of Confirmation you must choose a name to be anointed with and prepare an essay on who the person is, what works he did, and why you chose him. So I got this really cool idea to make up a saint to use as my Confirmation name, this is how “Saint Hector, Protector of the Burros” came to be.

I did my essay and as you would expect I was called into the principal’s office (a nun) and was bombarded with questions regarding who this person is. I stuck to my story of him being a little-known Mexican saint who happened upon a pack of burros that were being viciously beaten by a mean farmer. Hector, spoke to the farmer in a calm voice asking him to think about what he was doing and remember “do unto others as you would do unto them” and he realized he was in the wrong and changed his mean ways.

The principal still protested my choice but eventually allowed it. So officially my name is Brian Thomas-Hector S.  It must have been destiny that I chose someone who protected burros, as clearly he could also be the Patron Saint of poker players everywhere.

1Queens Up1’s question for the next champ…

Q: What was the single best poker moment you have ever experienced?

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Congrats again to DrPauly and thanks for participating in this profile.

5/20/09 - Smokkee

5/27/09 - 1Queens Up1

6/3/09 – VBPro7

I’ll be posting their profiles over the next few days and hope to be posting on a more regular basis as well.  One of these days I’ll carve out some time to explain what’s been going on in my life.  Lots of changes but all good stuff.

Top 25 (5/27/09)

Provided by WillWonka.

1. ShipFaced12
2. sellthekids
3. Cmitch
4. Irongirl01
5. Joanne1111
6. APOSEC72
7. BamBamCan
8. Lightning36
9. blaargh86

Tournament: The Mookie
When: Wednesday at 22:00ET
Game: NLHE
Buyin: $10+1
Password: vegas1

Provided by WillWonka.