The first step in devising an appropriate poker training plan is doing a Big-Picture Analysis of your long-term goals and the steps that it will take to reach them. The bigger your goal, the more time it will take. The farther along you are to accomplishing your goal, the less time it will take. The program I am going to suggest today is directed primarily at beginning and intermediate poker players, but many aspects of it are useful for advanced players also.

Step 1: Get an Accurate Assessment of your Current Poker Game

I have two primary suggestions for getting an accurate assessment of your game. One involves using a database of your actual online play, the other involves using our poker IQ test that analyzes different aspects of your game based on objective criteria and a standardized set of hands.

1. Test Your Poker - The original Poker IQ test on our site is a great way to get an accurate assessment of your current skills, broken into a dozen different categories. By seeing which areas, such as knowing the odds, reading opponents, pre-flop, etc., that you are weak in, you can appropriately train in those specific areas using the tools I discuss in Part 2 below. Our membership fee is only $19.97/mo, and that gives you access to unlimited tests including overall analysis, hand-by-hand feedback, replays of a pro playing the same hands you played, and many others. We have tests in full ring, six-max, sit-n-go tourneys, multi-table tourneys, as well as limit holdem. For the purposes of this post, I am primarily discussing tools that can be used for either online or live cash games, not tournaments. But a membership at testyourpoker.com not only gets you the cash game training and assessment, you also get the tournament tests and assessments, which makes it a great opportunity to get an accurate assessment of your game cheaply. This method is the best for reassessment (see Step 3), and also for all players who do not have a big existing database of online poker hands for Hold’em Manager. It’s also a great supplemental assessment method for players who do use HEM because it is based on an objective and varied set of hands and situations.

2. Leak Buster - If you have a big database of real poker hands and use Hold’em Manager (and you should if you are a regular online player), then this is probably the ultimate tool for finding leaks in your game. It is far too complex a program for me to explain in a short article, but let me put it this way - if you have a specific leak in your game, Leak Buster will find it. The developers mined millions and millions of poker hands, analyzed them, and found ranges in a huge variety of statistics where win-rates drop off tremendously. If Leak Buster tells you that you have a leak, you do, and it’s backed up with years of real poker hands from thousands and thousands of poker players. It works as an add-on to Hold’em Manager, so you need to have Hold’em Manager to use it. In a nutshell, this program will identify an average of about 6-16 serious leaks in most player’s games, and by knowing these leaks, you will be able to train specifically to improve these areas. Almost everyone here at Test Your Poker uses Leak Buster personally, and we always recommend it to our students, especially micro-stakes, small-stakes and mid-stakes players. If you have a database of real poker hands, get this program. It will be the best $49-$149 you have ever spent depending on the version you purchase. Leak Buster supports No Limit, PLO, and Limit at all levels.

Step 2: Train in your Specific Areas of Weakness

This sounds obvious, but so few poker training sites do targeted training. If you look at the top several poker training sites, they all involve videos of outstanding players talking through their games. Now, this is fine, but how does it help a player who has known specific weaknesses? Even watching a specific video does not give you the practice you need to become a better player. The other problem is that there is no way to work on most weaknesses through just playing online or live poker. Sure, you’ll get better that way, but you might only encounter the situation that you need to practice once in ten hands at the most, and sometimes much less often than that. That just isn’t efficient. With that in mind, I have two tools that you can use to work on the specific weaknesses identified in Step 1.

1. Advanced Poker Training - This is possibly the most amazing poker software yet developed. It consists of a poker game with ten different levels of artificially intelligent opponents who learn your game and how to beat it. The more you play on it, the better the top level opponents get at beating you, so they push you to improve your game. The game requires no downloads, and you can play hundreds of hands in an hour. But the best part is that you have the ability to 1) pick the specific hands you want to play based on the weaknesses identified in Step 1, 2) receive play by play advice from one of over a dozen artificially intelligent advisors, choosing one that is programmed to play the style you prefer to play, 3) replay hands that the AI engine automatically saves when it detects you making an error. The combination of these features (along with countless other tools such as the ability to see odds and outs at any point in time) make this site the best deal on the web. At only $19.97/mo, this is cheaper than almost all of the other poker training sites out there, and none of the others offer anything like this for targeted poker training. The site has both full ring and six-max versions, and both are outstanding. I personally use this, recommend it to all my friends, and find it to be a very fun and very fast way to sharpen up my game.

2. Ace Poker Drills - This tool is an absolute bargain. For only $39.99 you get all three of the Ace Poker Drill packages, including an equity trainer, a pre-flop trainer, and an odds tool. Based on an extensive analysis of all players who have taken the poker IQ test at TestYourPoker.com, we know that knowing the odds is the single greatest weakness for beginning and intermediate players. The Ace Poker Drill software addresses this problem brilliantly. The interface is a very quick and easy download, and it installs two separate programs on your computer. The pre-flop trainer helps mostly beginning players learn the appropriate hand ranges that should be played. Through drills and practice, without having to wait for hands to finish, you can really get better quickly, and most importantly, start to recognize situations and patterns without having to think over the odds as much. The second program, the equity trainer, is my favorite. There is no question that knowing odds and equity is the number one weakness for most beginning and intermediate players. The Ace Poker Drills tool is simple to use, and enables you to start recognizing the odds and the equity in so many common poker situations without having to make the calculations. In my opinion, this is what separates a great player from a merely good one - knowing the odds without having to think about it, putting your opponent on ranges of hands and knowing what your approximate equity is. There really is no other software program out there that offers the value of Ace Poker Drills for the price - and I say this as a user of the software myself.

Step 3: Reassess your Skills

This is where our site, TestYourPoker.com can really come in handy. Our members have the ability to take an unlimited number of tests, so you can regularly reassess your game and see if you are improving in the areas that you have been improving. Using TestYourPoker, along with Advanced Poker Training and Ace Poker Drills has proven to be a great combination of training and re-assessment. Leak Buster is also very useful when you have large databases of hands, but sometimes it is difficult to play enough hands in a short period of time to truly reassess your game accurately.

In closing, take a strategic approach to your poker training. With a combination of the outstanding poker training tools listed above, you can improve your game faster than you ever dreamed possible.

If you have ever thought about joining a poker training program, now would be the perfect time to do it. In fact, to encourage you to join and make this donation to Second Harvest Food Bank, we are going to let you set the amount that you donate. If you would like to donate the full regular monthly membership fee of $19.97, just go to our membership page and sign up. But if you would like to make a smaller donation, that’s fine also. If you would like to donate $10, use offer code OILSPILL10 and if you would like to donate $5, use offer code OILSPILL5 on the offer code page where you’ll be prompted to log in or set up an account if you haven’t done so already. Whatever you choose to do, your first month of poker training comes free with your donation. Second Harvest can feed a meal to a family of four for $1, so every donation makes a big difference.

We know that your donation will serve a great cause and will help people who are in need right now. We also know that you’ll benefit from your poker training membership. On behalf of all of us at TestYourPoker.com, thank you in advance for helping out.

In our last two posts, we discussed the newly pending legislation in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives and the huge boon it could be to the online poker industry. In this post, we will discuss the other side of the coin - the people and organizations who are against online poker and online gambling in general.

In June, 2009, Congressmen Jim Moran (D-VA), Lee Terry (R-NE), and Frank Wolf (R-VA) introduced HR 2906, the Comprehensive Problem Gambling Act, which has 43 co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle and allocates $71 million over five years for problem gambling awareness, research, and treatment, among other things. The bill still sits in Committee, but the support for this bill indicates that there are many who believe more research is needed on problem online gambling.

Count Keith Whyte, quoted above, as one with serious academic concerns about the effect of legalizing online poker. In an interview for Poker News Daily, Mr. Whyte indicated that, "When we think about online players, one of the ways I try to break it down is to look at the risk factors for gambling problems: high speed of play, social isolation, use of credit cards, higher limits, and easy access. Those can all be found in the online arena." Thus, he believes that much more research is necessary to determine the true effect on society of legalizing online poker in the U.S. Many supporters of online gambling legislation argue that a regulated gambling industry offers problem gamblers more opportunity to get help. It is hard to get help when the activity you need help with is illegal. However, Mr. Whyte states that there isn’t any research to actually show that regulation would help. It all depends on the regulation.

Sporting groups, such as the National Football League, are also strongly against legalizing online gambling in the U.S. Jeff Miller, a lobbyist for the NFL went so far as to say, "If this were, in fact, legalized, fan interest could be less focused on the outcome of the game than on whether the point spread is covered.” Cynically, you could argue whether that should matter. If fans are most interested in the point spread, then so be it. But Mr. Miller argues that this would hurt the integrity of the game. The same argument is made by lobbying voices for many professional and amateur sports.

Of course, religious groups are also lobbying against legalized online poker. Focus on the Family, a Colorado evangelical group made famous by football player Tim Tebow’s Super Bowl commercial, has a strong lobbying effort against legalizing online gambling. Chad Hills, the group’s gambling expert, argues that online betting is devastating to people prone to addiction. ”It is probably the most dangerous, most invasive form of gambling ever developed." It is easy to see how the increased access of online poker can potentially cause problems for people with gambling additions. As Keith Whyte stated, all the risk factors are present.

So although there have been significant progress in the push for officially legalizing and regulating online poker in the U.S., there are still many organizations with legitimate arguments against online poker, and more generally online gambling. As this all plays out, we will keep you informed of new developments.

In our last post, we discussed the newly pending legislation in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. In this post, we would like to discuss the lobbying activities of organizations interested in legalizing online poker in the U.S.

No discussion of lobbying efforts on behalf of online poker can be started without a mention of the Poker Player’s Alliance (PPA). For years, the PPA has fought for the rights of poker players to participate in this game of skill. You can find out more about the PPA at their website, pokerplayersalliance.org. Just for clarification, we have no relationship with the PPA, we just agree with their stance and support their activities.

The PPA is not the only organization supporting the rights of U.S. poker players to participate in online poker. Harrah’s, which happens to be the largest casino operator in the world, spent over $3 Million last year lobbying for online gaming. The Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) also put in over $2 Million to lobbying efforts. The big guns of online poker are also enlisting help from well-known people. PokerStars indirectly paid former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt approximately $300,000 for his lobbying efforts last year.

So what does this all mean for online gambling? For one, if any act passes, the competition will be very stiff, which is great for online poker players. Harrah’s stands to be the big winner, with their dominant brand, the World Series of Poker. Imagine what would happen if suddenly wsop.com had online poker. A name like that would immediately send shockwaves through the online poker world. It would not be at all surprising to see Harrah’s ready to go as soon as it happens. With the WSOP brand and the largest gambling mailing list in the world, they would have a chance to dominate online poker. The same could be said for other large corporations like Bally’s, although they lack the poker brand recognition that Harrah’s possesses.

Legalization in the U.S. would also ramp up competition and as a result reduce rake rates. Economically speaking, there just isn’t any way the increased competition couldn’t lead to reduced costs for players. This would of be especially true for non-U.S. players who would be able to avoid any taxes levied on U.S. players. It is less clear how a 2% tax on deposits would affect long-run win rates. Even if the gambling entities pass the tax through to players, you could argue that the tax would mostly affect losing players who have to make additional deposits. That’s probably not what Congress has in mind, but that’s likely the reality of it.

Beyond the increased competition from the online poker sites, official legalization of online poker in the U.S. would bring a new wave of players into the mix. This would be fantastic for experienced players, poker training sites, and almost all companies that earn money from the online poker industry. Although online poker is still huge, it is down significantly from the levels in 2006. Given that the number of people using the Internet (and comfortable with it) has increased substantially since then, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that a 10-25% increase in online poker activity would be possible.

So it is fairly clear that the official legalization of online poker would have a dramatic impact on the online poker world. With all the good things about it, most notably freedom to do what you want with your own money, why would anyone oppose this? As it turns out, some very intelligent people are on the other side of the argument. That’s what we will discuss next time.

Congressman Frank summarizes the feelings of many Americans with his support of Internet gambling in the United States. He has been a staunch supporter of officially legalizing, regulating, and taxing Internet gambling, and he has recently received support from many very big power names in the worlds of gambling and politics. Over the next several posts, we are going to provide an update on the state of Internet gambling in the U.S., what attempts are being made in Congress to regulate and tax Internet gambling, what these efforts might mean to online poker, and what you can do to help out the cause.

First, many players in the U.S. continue to play online poker. Several sites, including FullTiltPoker and PokerStars, continue to allow deposits from U.S. players. Many players report that it is simple to deposit and cash out in the U.S. and the risk seems minimal, except in the state of Washington where Internet gambling is a felony. In fact, with the enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) pushed back by Congress until June 1, there really is not much teeth to any prohibitions of online poker in the U.S.

However, many players who would otherwise participate stay away, and competition among online poker sites is certainly minimized as a result of fear arising from the UIGEA.

Recent developments in Congress give U.S. poker players a reason to have some hope. On February 22, 2010, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) introduced S 3018, the Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act. The bill establishes a framework to tax and regulate internet gambling in the United States, along with many other topics. The clause related to Internet gambling is what some call a "pay-for" clause, a tax increase to help cover the tax decreases in the other portions of the act. The act contains a 2% tax on gambling deposits and sponsors estimate it would generate $42 Billion of revenue for the U.S. government. On the serious down side, that’s one heck of a rake that U.S. poker players would have to overcome. Although it is directed at the gambling sites, it is easy to see how this could be passed on to the player.

Although this specific piece of legislation is unlikely to pass, it represents an effort in the Senate to match Representative Frank’s efforts in the House. Congressman Frank’s HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, which has 66 co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle, was discussed in the House Financial Services Committee in December. Congressman Frank thinks he can move this bill forward before the UIGEA reaches the enforcement date of June 1.

There is certainly plenty of uncertainty about where this all will lead. It is an election year and many Senators and Congressmen will be more focused on preserving their jobs and dealing with the economy than worrying about online poker. In the meantime, if you feel strongly about online poker in the U.S., join up with the Poker Player’s Alliance (pokerplayersalliance.org) and make sure your voice is heard.

In our next two posts, we will discuss what some of the major players in offline gambling in the U.S. are doing to get prepared for a potential new wave of online poker, and we’ll also discuss more about why some people are against online poker.

These are some of my comments about the WSOP final table. The heads up part won’t be played until tomorrow night, and then it will be on ESPN on Tuesday. If you don’t want to know anything until you see it on TV, read no further.

Bring-Your-Own-Posse

The four month break gave everyone a chance to take some poker lessons. More than that, it gave them a chance to round up a posse. Several of the November Nine had large, very vocal cheering sections. Fights were even breaking out, and spectators were being ejected. I’m not making this up! But the rest of the audience – I mean everybody – was for Phil Ivey. Even when Ivey just took down the blinds, the crowd would roar with approval. But it wasn’t meant to be…

Phil Ivey

At one point Ivey lost a key coin flip to Joe Cada (who went on to make the final two). Then, there was a short break around 8PM, and upon the resumption of the game, Ivey went out on (I believe it was) the first hand. It was the dreaded AQ, but this time Ivey didn’t have it, he had AK. Darvin Moon had AQ. The crowd went wild, everybody was going absolutely crazy. Then, a queen came on the flop, and with no help on the turn or river…it was over. A lot of the crowd started to leave shortly after that. Phil Ivey takes home a lousy $1.4 million.  J

 Stamina

It’s one thing to talk about the stamina needed to win a major tournament. But the human body just isn’t meant to sit in a chair for 17 hours, with the cameras and lights and the knowledge that any misstep could cost you millions in real money. Playing until 5AM just gives a huge advantage to the younger players, or the players who just happen to be night owls. (Hey, I’m one of them, so I’m not complaining for my sake). Anyway, the winner should be determined by skill, not who can pop more no-doze. I suspect we might see a change next year, perhaps we’ll play down to 6, then to 2 the next day, and then play the heads up the following day. Either that, or just have a time limit – after 10 hours we call it a day and pick it up the next morning.

So what are we left with?

Joe Cada came from nearly being out, to doubling up time after time and now going into heads up play with $135 million chips. Darvin Moon started the day as the chip leader, and finished the day with almost exactly the same number of chips, roughly $60 million. He had some very strange plays along the way, and I can’t wait to see if they show these hands on ESPN to see what the heck he was holding. By the way, Cada is only 21 years old. If he wins he’ll claim the title of youngest World Champion ever (Peter Eastgate was 22). 

1. Commerce Casino (Commerce, CA) – Commerce is home to two cavernous poker rooms — a sprawling low-limit area and a high-limit room that hosts some of the biggest games on the west coast. They also host the L.A. poker classic.

2. Trump Taj Mahal (Atlantic City, NJ) - The Trump Taj Mahal has a massive poker room, with well over 80 tables. They have the most diverse selection of games & limits anywhere in Atlantic City. The link here is to their daily poker tournaments.

3. The Borgata (Atlantic City, NJ) – The new 85-table Borgata poker room is a completely different experience than the Trump Taj Mahal – it is like a Las Vegas poker room in New Jersey.
The Borgata hosts a $500,000 Deep Stacks tournament.

4. The Tropicana (Las Vegas, NV) - The Tropicana, or “trop” to its regulars, is another super poker room on the boardwalk. It’s really well-run and they have a great variety of games at their 43 tables, including their unique “pink chip” game, which uses special $2.50 pink chips in a $7.50/$15 hold’em game. We’ve linked to their poker tournament schedule.

5. Peppermill Casino (Reno, NV) - The Peppermill features Reno’s most comfortable and exciting poker room. Their dealers are trained to assist new players, in addition to offering private and group lessons upon request. They host several tournaments a day, with a wide range of stakes.

6. Grand Sierra Resort & Casino (Reno, NV) – With over 115,000 square-feet, the casino at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino is easily northern Nevada’s largest. Grand Sierra is known for their structured poker tournaments with high payouts. They play all kinds of games here, including HORSE. They comp their regulars well, and it’s a great place for vacationers.

7. Caesars Atlantic City (Atlantic City, NJ) - Most people have heard of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, and they also have a huge poker room that is newly remodeled in the past couple years. But this is the Atlantic City counterpart. Their poker room is open 24 hours a day for live cash games. With structured games starting at $2-4, $3-6 and $4-8, this is the place to play. Higher limit games are also available based on demand. They have a schedule of deep stacks poker tournaments that are listed at the link we provide.

8. Gold Strike Casino and Resort (Tunica, MS) – With two levels of poker play, the Gold Strike Casino is the hottest non-stop poker action in Tunica. Match wits with players of all skill levels in Texas Hold ‘Em, 7-Card Stud, etc., as well as a daily slew of tournaments.

9. The Wynn Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV) – The Wynn offers a twenty-six poker table room with a variety of games and limits to suite all levels of play. Game limits generally range from $4/$8 up to $100/$200. Their tournaments run daily at 2pm and 7pm currently, with buy-ins of $100 and up. The page we linked takes a while to load, I guess the Wynn does everything to the max.

10. Bicycle Casino (Los Angeles, CA) - The Bicycle Casino ranks as one of the world’s largest Card Casinos and is renowned for its World Class Poker Tournaments. They have 3 tournaments most days, and it is packed with players from all over. If you’ve never played at The Bike, you owe yourself a trip.

This list is by no means comprehensive, and there are some really good live poker tournaments out there that we haven’t listed, especially in Europe (which we’ll cover separately) or related to the World Series of Poker (which we figure everyone knows about). But, the above casinos are offering some of the best daily tournaments in 2009. Why not check them out and report back to us!

1. Tao of Poker by Pauly – This blog deals with the social aspects of poker, by providing weekly posts for readers to follow and comment on. Always entertaining, and gives you a good picture of what’s going on in the world of poker. This is not a blog for someone looking to become a much better poker player - there isn’t all that much serious poker content. But several of us follow Pauly’s blog, and it’s one of the most widely read poker blogs on the net for a good reason - it’s entertaining.
2. Full Contact Poker – This is Daniel Negreanu’s blog. He keeps his fans informed about how he’s doing, and also gives a bunch of insight into the way he thinks. Posts are made 4-5 a week, so there is always something to comment about. This is an absolute must for fans of Daniel’s.
3. Hard Boiled Poker – This blog deals with the serious nuts and bolts discussion of poker. The blog posts a discussion daily, so this is a great blog to bookmark and check out to learn the ins and outs poker. This is the place to go if you want to read a serious blog for serious players.
4. Pokerati - This is another great blog that deals with the social aspects of poker, as well as the tournament scene. Posts are daily, so you are never left without something to read about. This is one that will keep you entertained, as well as informed.
5. Neverwin Poker Blogs – This is not really a single blog, it’s a compilation of blogs. But it’s great for keeping up to date with what’s going on in the poker world, and it is a very highly followed website.
6. Las Vegas Vegas - This blog deals with everything going on in the world of poker, mostly in Las Vegas. Posts are made 4-5 a week, mainly about tournament news and results. One of our favorite parts of this blog are the pictures. They make you want to be there in the action.
7. Melted Felt - This blog deals with the social aspects of poker, by providing posts 3-4 a week for readers to follow and comment on. Most of the posts will make you laugh. As an example, they recently had a post titled, "Credit Crunch Hits Poker World as Matusow Auctions Lucky Underpants".
8. Noted Poker Authority - This blog deals with the serious nuts and bolts discussion of poker from acclaimed author, Ed Miller. Ed posts 2-3 times a week, by providing poker advise to people’s questions. Ed has very strong opinions on a variety of poker topics, and gives advice that is bound to make a thinking player take some time to assess it. This is not a blog to read for pleasure, this is for serious players who want to improve.
9. Guinness and Poker – This blog deals with the social aspects of poker, providing recent news briefs relating to gambling and poker. Posts are made 1-2 a week, and there is a great archive section set up for you to review. This is a great blog to follow to learn about the politics behind the U.S. ban on internet gambling, and the efforts to get it overturned.
10. Wicked Chops Poker – The self-proclaimed "Daily Dose of All Things Poker + GIRLS", this blog deals with the social aspects of poker, with daily posts ranging from tournament updates, to mug shots, to centerfold pictures. You are sure to find something here to talk about. This is definitely an entertaining blog with plenty of information to keep you up to date.

This list is by no means comprehensive, and there are some really good blogs left off of this list. But you could spend your life reading through blogs only to waste precious time you could be spending training or playing. Instead, this list will provide you something to do when you are waiting for opponents to join you at the online poker table.

The test comes complete with a professional replay, conducted by noted online fixed limit player and coach BigBadBabar.  His expert advice was also used in preparing the hand-by-hand personal replayer and analyzer that our members also get to use with this test.  It’s just like having one of the top limit coaches spot you for 50 difficult hands, with most of them playable.

To take the test, sign into your account and click the fixed limit test link on the left side of your member page.  If you are not already a member, click the “Train Now” link above or just sign up at this link to start your personalized poker training program, including all our tests, training plans, professional replays, and personalized hand-by-hand replay analysis.