The organisers, BlackBeltPoker, boast that they create the best value deep stack tournament in the United Kingdom and it seems that British poker players agrees as the 400-player capacity for the Main Event was filled way before the event’s official start on Friday 1^st April. The $275-dollar buy-in created a $100,000 prize pool with a guaranteed first prize of $20,000 and a further 20% added to individual prizes and 20 bounties up for grabs.

Players interested in the £1,000 High Roller showdown will be able to buy-in directly at the Grosvenor Victoria casino; registration will be open until 15 minutes before the first hand is dealt at 2pm (GMT).

The Main Event has attracted poker professionals Neil Channing, Jake Cody, David Docherty, Richard Ashby, Surinder Sunar and Irish Open Champion James Mitchell.

Jake Cody, winner of the World Poker Tour (WPT) London event last year, and Neil Channing are also down to participate in the newly-added High Roller event.

The participation set a record for a a European WPT event and forced the organization of two opening days. The buy-in was a hefty €3,500 (around $5,000). The event also made history by being host tournament to the first WPT final table to feature live streaming with hole cards on a 30 minute delay.

Dmitry Gromov

Dmitry Gromov from Russia went into the final table as chip leader. Known for winning the $5,000 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza Main Event last July, Gromov’s demolition skills did not wait long in the wings as he sent local boy Markus Jenisch to the rail with a set of 9s. Jenisch filed his biggest win to date with over €36,000 for 8th place, his best result to date had been a €6,000-cash in the Greek Poker Tour stop also in Vienna, in September of last year.

Gromov went on to end Alessio Isaia’s entertaining appearance at the final table – dressing as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of Vienna’s most famous residents. Isaia is still in the running for a shot at the Bluff Player Of The Year title, with a WPT final table position doing him no harm.

Fellow Russian Maxim Kolosov began to help himself to his countryman’s chips when it started to appear that Gromov was unbeatable – he had amassed well over half the chips remaining in play. Kolosov removed the Romanian Valentin Stroiescu and left the door open for Gromov to set the heads-up by saying goodnight to both Italian Full Tilt Poker pro Mario Adinolfi and Dane Simon Ravnsbaek.

In amazingly stark contrast to the marathon heads-up drawn out to eight-hours long at the WPT Venice, the Vienna equivalent lasted only a few hands. Kelosov, eager to strike an early double-up, left himself vulnerable, moving in against the A10 of Gromov with only 88 and having to sit through an even weaker board.

Gromov took the hand, the first WPT Vienna title, a seat worth $25,000 at the WPT World Championship in May and a healthy wad of €447,840 ($631,000) back to his bank manager. Kolosov had to be content with €241,180 but couldn’t match his partner, Natalya Nikitina’s, achievement of becoming a European WPT winner in Europe.

The next stop on the WPT is in Bratislava, Slovakia for their €2,500 Main Event at the Golden Vegas casino fromn 30^th March 30 through 3^rd April. The WPT hits U.S. Shores again on 9^th April to set up camp at the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

Tim West

Tim West, a player known for his online success, has taken down the 2011 Wynn Classic Championship that was held in Las Vegas last week.

The final table at the  2011 Wynn Classic kept up the tradition of seating a number of big-name stars and, even though it’s not a televised event, competed with recent climaxes in the international circuits such as the World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour.

212 participants paid the $5,000 buy-for a Main Event place and generated a prize pool of $1,028,200.. The final table included a majority showing  of online poker players such as Eric Froehlich, Carter King, Matt Waxman, Annette Obrestad, and Tim West.

West and Obrestad edged out the rest of the field and the other finalists to set up a complex heads-up that followed a long and windy path. The pair took the tournament into a home straight that looked like it might hit the morning sun before West hit two pairs while waiting on a flush draw and scooped up the $318,738 top prize. Obrestad took home $215,922 – her biggest win since turning 21 last spring.

Other top players who got in the money include: Phil Hellmuth, who finished in 19th place, Billy Kopp, who left the tables in 12th and Men “The Master” Nguyen whose run ended just short of the final table when he was eliminated in 11th place.

Obrestad’s leading man, Scott Montgomery won the $1,560 preliminary event worth over $47,000 and placed third in a $1,000 event as well for another $16,000. Chad Brown grabbed a win in one of the two $2,000 buy-in preliminary events to pocket $73,088.

Tara Rice - Stud Poker Player

Variety might well be the spice of life (maybe not married life) so take a look at some of the other games out there in the big bad world of Poker, and Five Card Stud is a great place to start. The grand old man of poker originated during the American Civil War, and it’s still a pleasure to play (even if you’re not tired of Texas Holdem Poker). Although it’s nowhere near as popular as Hold’Em which is clear from its conspicuous absence from the World Series of Poker it’s still a great game. Oddly enough this game tends to be more popular over in Europe, for some reason it’s a popular game in Finland where a variant called Sökö can often be found being played (quite possibly in saunas).

The basics first off; the round begins with each player being dealt one card (face down), followed by one card (face up). If the game is being played with a bring-in, the player with the lowest-ranking visible card must pay the bring in, before betting proceeds from his action.  After the first betting round, played like any normal poker round, a second face-up card is dealt to each player  (you know have 2 cards face up and 1 face down). Betting begins again with the player who has the best poker hand (on his two up cards). This second round of betting is followed by another (third) upcard to each player and a third betting round. In subsequent rounds the player who has to open the round changes to whoever now has the best hand (based on his upcards). Finally, a fourth face-up card and fourth betting round, and now you (and everyone else) has five cards one face down, four face up. Therefore you can have a really good idea what someone might have, yet still is agonizingly illusive. Then you have a showdown, it’s not usually necessary as most 5 Card Stud games end before the showdown as players tend to fold earlier on.

On the pro side it’s a much faster game than most poker variants as so few games go down to a showdown, playing stud online you can manage dozens of hands an hour, if you find a decent site. This rapid turn means that you can wait for quality starting hands, and when you don’t get them there’s not that long to wait for the next hand. The next big plus is that it’s a simple game to learn and you don’t have a chance to get confused with communal cards, or excessive rules. Finally it’ a game where a little skill goes along way, so you can make plenty of cash if you find yourself at a table with people who are more used to Hold ‘Em.

The best way to play Five Card Stud is to have quite a quiet strategy, remember that Five Card Stud is mostly a game of HIGH CARDS and PAIRS. I wouldn’t recommend starting with anything less than a pair or at least one lively card. As a general rule; don’t go chasing straights and flushes, also Aces in the hole are never as cool as they sound. Fold if you’ve not made at least a pair in your first three cards and (almost) always fold if you’re beat on the board (the board rarely lies). As you’ve only got one down card, it’s a lot easier than most poker games to work out opponents’ hands. Pay close attention to how they each play.

Sometimes a change is as good as rest – poker should be as varied as life.

Buy-ins for the events will begin from an economical $120 and steadily rise to $550 for the No Limit Hold’em Championship event which will commence on 3 February. There are two special events in the new series: the Oklahoma Johnny Hale Seniors Event on 29 January which will send its winner to 2011 World Series of Poker Seniors Championship Event as well as please him or her with a large cash prize; and, the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship – a $230 buy-in tournament that is open to everyone in a traditional multi-table tournament for its first day but will convert to a play-off heads-up freezeout format once the number of players left in the competition reaches 16. The overall winner will receive a $20,000 seat for the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship in March; essentially the opportunity to play on national television against poker’s biggest names for a look in at taking home the $500,000 top prize that was won last year by Annie Duke.

The enormous Poker Room at Caesars Palace’s offers 24-hour poker action in both its main room and adjoining side room. There are numerous tournaments organized at different hours on a daily basis and cash games of all stakes. The new Winter Classic Poker Tournament is like a sister event to the Caesars Classic Tournament that is celebrated every autumn.

Online Stud Poker Strategy

Stud, like its name suggests is a real “mans’ game” where men are men and virgins are nervous (if you’ll excuse the comparison).

Seven Card Stud is strategy heavy game, involving plenty of skill and discipline it’s more tricky to analyze than Texas Holdem Poker because it has five betting rounds compared to Hold ‘em’s four.

To play and win stud poker online there are some basic rules, tips and tricks that should allow you to clear a tidy profit at the online table.

The first thing to remember is that Stud is a HIGH card game and (especially in Seven Card Stud) winning hands are often decided by the highest pair rather than by straights, flushes and the big hands you see in the movies.

With that in mind if you get dealt the start of a straight or flush, don’t get overly excited unless you have at least two high cards or one card that is higher than anything up on the board.
If you have a low pair as your starting hand, it has to improve or turn a high pair quickly to justify staying in the hand (you’ll still be “in game” if you fold, and you should use this down time to study the players still sitting in on the hand).

Now (what should be an obvious warning) as soon as you see your high hand beaten on the board, fold, repeat FOLD it’s unlikely that you’ll still have the best draw hand, unless say you have the nuts.

Play your early high hands FAST this could have you winning without improvement (and all these wins add up soon enough).

If you have good draw hands play em SLOW to draw in the other players, and let the pot swell.
Stud allows you to plump your bankroll by stealing the antes. A good excuse to bay (aka steal) the ante is when you get dealt a scare card (usually an Ace or a King) face up, which happens (odds say about 11% of the time) bet as if you’ve got the big pair and watch your opponent (hopefully) fold their hands against your “mighty” hole cards.
But beware; take the time to figure out the skill level of your opponents before you bluff. Bad players are often incapable of grasping the simple concept of the bluff, especially if they just don’t know whether or not they’re holding a decent hand.

Even the greats remember being beat by a rube who didn’t have the sense to get out before he rivered a winning hand against the odds.

The Gods of poker have a wicked sense of humour.

Next tip – become a card pathologist, that means know when your hand is alive and when it has “passed on”. Most pairs, straight draws, flush draws can e played when your cards are live (that means when there are still cards to dealt) know what you need to make that winning hand, know what cards are left out there, think about the odds and do the maths. As the great Dan Reed said, “You will show your poker greatness by the hands you fold, not the hands you play.”

Online Stud favours aggressive play but don’t play every hand as if you’ve been on the angry pills.

A great way to keep your mind fresh and improve your overall poker skills is to learn a completely new variant. If you usually play online poker games like Hold’em or Omaha then a great game to look at would be Seven Card Stud.

Seven Card Stud is completely different from games like Hold’em and Omaha as there are no community cards on display. Instead you have to make your decisions based on the visible cards in your opponents’ hands. The first thing this will do is vastly improve your short-term memory because you will need to remember the cards folded in the previous betting rounds.

Your hand reading skills should also improve as you try to decipher the possible made hands and draws each of your opponents may have based on what you can see, their betting actions and the cards you know have already been folded. This in turn will aid your overall concentration and observation, two vital attributes for any winning poker player.

Once you have played enough hands you will almost certainly find your new skills come in handy when playing your usual game. Having the ability to play another form of poker is a great tool should you find yourself losing at your usual game. Instead of trying to chase your losses simply load up another game you know and give that a try instead.

Jeff Lisandro - The King of Stud Poker

Over the past ten years, stud had been in danger of becoming poker’s forgotten game. The rise in popularity of games such as Texas Hold’em and Pot-limit Omaha threatened to force one of poker’s oldest variants to take a backseat but one man could have reignited the seven-card stud flame and that is Jeff Lisandro.

Born in Australia but now residing in Salerno, Italy, Lisandro is a highly respected cash game specialist, making his living by grinding out hundreds of hands, day after day. He is also a well-known face on the tournament circuit and his first recognised cash was back in 1995 when he came 5th out of 113 entrants at the Festival of Poker in London for a £1,200 score.

Despite being proficient in most pokers disciplines, he certainly knows his Omaha poker strategy, Lisandro’s real strength is in seven-card stud variants, a point he proven time and time again. In fact the first of his 31 cashes at the World Series of Poker came in a $1,500 Seven-card stud event at the 1997 WSOP where he finished 12th from 160 players, winning $2,800 for his efforts.

Over the next few years, Lisandro started to build on his reputation as one of the best stud players in the world and in 2007 he won his first WSOP bracelet after besting a field of 213 in the $2,000 Seven-card stud event to get his hands on the coveted piece of poker jewellery and $118,426.

Just two years later and Lisandro would have a WSOP to remember – one that would put him in the record books and plant stud back on the poker playing map. On June 6th, 2009 Lisandro won the $1,500 seven-card stud event, then 12 days later he took down the $10,000 World Championship seven-card stud hi/low event for over $430,000.

Remarkably Lisandro’s winning streak continued and he won a $2,500 Razz event on June 22 to become only the fourth player in history to win three bracelets in one year and the first player to win a bracelet in each of the stud disciplines.

While the popularity of stud had fallen in recent times, Lisandro’s amazing performance at the 2009 World Series of Poker put the game back in the public eye and probably guaranteed it will be around for many years to come.

One major difference is that position at the table is not determined as it is in Holdem. In this game, the player who “brings in” can change from one round to the next. For example, in 7-card games where the high hand must bring in, the player who has the highest card face up on the first round and the highest hand on subsequent rounds is forced to bet the set amount.

Stud games are known for the mystery that surrounds the hole cards each player has face down. Player’s have the opportunity to use this information to bluff and build pots since the others don’t know what he is holding.
In the last few years, 7-card in several variations has become a regular part of many tournaments. However, this version of the game has taken a back seat to Holdem and Omaha because of television coverage and the celebrity status of many pros. The World Series of Poker has long included a couple of versions of stud, including the low-hand game of Razz. Most players will not see a five-card game unless they are at home or in one of the rare poker rooms that still offer it.

Bets are determined by the limits set from the start. For example, if you sit down in a $2/$5 game players must bet $2 in the first two rounds and $5 minimum for the rest of the rounds in that hand. Poker rooms sometimes play spread limit games, in which the players bet $2 or another minimum amount and any amount up to the high limit – $2/$10 for example. Tip: Make sure you understand how the betting structured before you start.
You will probably hear veteran players call the third card third-street, and so on. The final card is often called the river, just as it is in Holdem and a few other games.

Over the years, stud players have created a wide variety of games based on the foundation of seven cards with some cards hidden from view. A popular home game is “roll your own.” In this version, players are dealt three down cards to start and choose one to turn face up. This is repeated throughout the hand, allowing each player more choice in what he wants to hide from his opponents.

This wrinkle adds some excitement and danger to the game, especially if a particular card or cards is determined to be “wild” before the hand starts. For example, if deuces are wild, a player should probably keep these in the hole, unless he wants to expose one of the wild cards for effect.

Legendary poker player Doyle Brunson has called Holdem the “Cadillac” of card games. In comparison, stud poker might be a reliable old Chevrolet that many people still enjoy.

Stud poker is also available on most of online poker sites.

Ladbrokes Poker, an established bookmaker in Britain, with several offline gambling offices, has now made a name for itself in the field of online betting too. Having started as a small self-sufficient online poker room, Ladbrokes has opened its doors to a wider audience after having merged with the MicroGaming network. It has a lot to offer in terms of juicy games, a generous bonus, wonderful promotions and a great opportunity for players to earn a good deal of money at the tables.

Software

Ladbrokes Poker has switched over from its own stand-alone software to the widespread MicroGaming network, which has brought in an influx of poker enthusiasts to the website. MicroGaming powers many of the online poker sites. The software is easy to maneuver and has an extremely brilliant interface. The graphics are great and you have access to all the useful data at the click of your mouse. You can get your current hand statistics plus past hand history along with a list of games that you have won. You can observe the strategies that you used in those games as well learn from your mistakes in the games that you have lost.

There are three different table options available on the poker site and you get all the required table stats straightaway from the lobby. Also available is a calendar that helps players organize for upcoming events so that they do not miss anything of importance. Players also have access to Sportsbook for wagers they might like to make on major Sporting events.

Games

The games available on this poker site include, Texas Holdem in fixed limit, no limit and pot limit versions, Omaha, Omaha High/Low, 5 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud. The most sought after game is the shorthanded No Limit Texas Holdem. Games are easy; proceed at a fast rate with loose and juicy games bringing on a great deal of action at the tables. Bets start as low as $0.25/$0.40 and can go up as high as $300/$600 in the fixed limit versions.

Casino games such as Blackjack, roulette, slot games and video slots are also available for players to indulge in. So, players can enjoy poker as well as casino games from a single web client.

Tournaments

Like all other poker sites, it too has a high rate of player traffic at the tournaments. There are numerous tournaments to choose from such as single table and multi-table tournaments, sit and go tournaments, free rolls and guaranteed tournaments. The most popular are the buy-in tournaments and guaranteed tournaments with a cash prize of $30,000.

Single table tournaments include fixed limit and no limit Texas Holdem and the pot limit version in Omaha. Bets start at $5 and can exceed to $10,000. Multi-table tournaments include fixed limit as well as no limit Texas Holdem and bets start as low as $1 and can go up as high as $2,500.

Bonus

It offers a 100% welcome bonus to new players who sign up and make their first deposit. This bonus can be up to $500 but in order to get this bonus players have to play enough raked hands and tournaments. They have to wager for this bonus within 30 days if they wish to receive it. A piece of advice is deposit only the amount that you know you can wager for in the given period because if you fail to equal the amount, you will not get any bonus.

Ladbrokes Poker Bonus Code:

Promotions

The most exciting and popular promotion is the LeaderBoard tournament, which is a monthly event called the ‘rake race’ wherein 3,000 foremost players on the LeaderBoard get cash rewards. The monthly give away in this tournament is $1,000,000. The leader or the top player can receive up to $20,000 while the last on the rank gets about $50. Players earn points for every cash game that they player which are then added towards their ranking on the leaderboard, which is updated on a day to day bases.