Groupe Bernard Tapie’s deal to buy Full Tilt Poker is dead after the DOJ and GBT failed to agree about the repayment terms of player funds.

There are also unconfirmed reports all over the net and over at 2+2 that hint PokerStars has made a deal with US DoJ to purchase Full Tilt Poker. The deal supposedly includes the repayment of all players. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

I routinely play in a game populated by a fair number of bullies, and I count myself among them. The bully with whom I most enjoy competing is a fellow we can refer to as “R”. My strategy for countering R and players like him follows below.

The defining characteristic of any poker bully is aggressiveness. To qualify as a true bully, a player needs to make the basic error of betting and raising too frequently. Whenever an opposing player commits a misstep of this sort, the key is to figure out how to capitalize on it. To gain the upper hand on the poker bully in your game, concentrate on these steps:

You first want to make a conscious effort to call him with greater frequency. Since bullies necessarily bet a larger number of hands, odds are that they will regularly bet hands that you probably would not. This fact permits you to loosen your standard calling rules a bit while still maintaining the ability to do quite well for yourself. So in short: Call the bully more often.

The next principle to follow is that of not betting as often as you otherwise might. That is right, the fundamental trick to beating poker bullies is to let them defeat themselves. Because the poker bully bets too freely, it is important to give them the leeway they need to keep committing this error time and time again. When they make mistakes you make money. If you are first to act then you ought to check / call fairly often. In position you need to stop yourself from betting every time your bully is checking into you. Bullies tend to check-raise often and might blow you off your hand. So, when the bully passes up a chance to bet aggressively, your suspicions should be raised. At least give some thought to checking behind unless you can stand the possible check raise.

If you follow this pair of simple guidelines, your bully will begin to anticipate losing to you. The bully’s long-term prospects for victory will grow a little dimmer. You may be tempted to try and beat the bully at his or her own game by one-upping them in terms of aggressive play. That would be a mistake. Poker success never comes from simply amplifying another player’s ill-advised decisions. Follow the plan above instead for consistently impressive results.

Good luck to you…
K-REX
Stephen Krex

Psychology may be one of the most important aspects of poker, but it is also one of the least understood elements of the game. Many people pride themselves on their knowledge of poker, especially with respect to their ability to calculate percentages and pot odds. However, this knowledge is useless if you let your emotions get the best of you; there is no faster way to go broke in poker than to go on tilt.

A good poker player must always be a model of equanimity. Of course, this is much easier said than done; while at the table, it can be very hard to remain calm after your pocket aces get cracked on the river by an opponent holding a hand that should have been folded pre-flop. Just like in life, perfect play does not always guarantee rewards at the poker table.

As such, any poker player must accept the inevitability of bad beats. It is called math. For better or for worse, luck is a part of poker, and there is nothing you can do to change that. Instead of getting angry about things over which you have no control, you must continually remind yourself of your strategy and stick with it, even if you are getting awful cards, the player across from you keeps reminding you that he now has half of your stack, or the player next to you keeps telling annoying bad jokes.

Even if you are aware of the consequences, you will eventually go on tilt – it is just a fact of life. My friends tell me I am tilt proof but the fact is I just recognize it for what it is. You need to prepare yourself for the times when you do lose your cool and just let it go. If you don’t, that guy across from you will end up with the other half of your stack in no time at all.

The first step is to recognize when you have gone on tilt. Many players will ignore the symptoms, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have the disease. If you can not let go of a previous hand, it can cloud your judgment in the future. All of a sudden, you are raising indiscriminately in a desperate attempt to get your chips back. Unfortunately, desperation is not a desirable quality in a poker player. Just move on and play the next hand.

When you are on tilt, you must calm yourself and act deliberately. Learn the lessons from the hand that you lost if there is one, but don’t dwell on it. If you played it perfectly and just got unlucky, remind yourself that you are playing good poker, which will be rewarded in the long run. It always is. Your opponent just made a mathematical error and that is profitable for you. If you just can’t let it go, the step away from the table for a few minutes until your emotions abate or maybe think about taking up another game.

Whatever you do, don’t allow one or two bad hands to be the excuse that causes you to lose more money with poor play. Players who routinely go on tilt might as well hand their money to me and the other players at the table.

Always remember that success in poker comes from discipline, patience, and others on tilt.

Tight Poker is reporting it may be happening March 1st:
http://www.tightpoker.com/news/full-tilt-poker-to-be-resurrected-soon-3203/

But what about our money?????

On Friday December 23rd the USDOJ revised its legal opinion on the Wire Act, 18U.S.C. § 1084, stating that “interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a ‘sporting event of contest’ fall outside the reach of the Wire Act.”

This is certainly very good news for poker and internet gaming in general. More to follow…

Full Tilt Boogie: The UIGEA and You
My friend and the author of Positively Fifth Street and Cowboys Full joins Grantland for a look into the online scandal. Don’t miss this read…

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7333093/uigea-you

As of Wednesday, October 13th at 12:01AM Server Time CarbonPoker will be accepting new players worldwide. If you have been waiting for them to open up again to new US and worldwide players now is your chance. They are currently offering a 100% matching bonus of up to $600 and 14 days of $500 Freerolls. Check out the link below for more info.

UPDATE: It looks like it is all Merge skins that are reopening. CarbonPoker is one of the largest.

There are poker players that have never even heard the term Set Mining. If that’s the case, or you want to do a little better, continue reading and you just may find yourself having more profitable sessions.

Set Mining refers to playing pocket pairs to hit a set on the flop – regardless of the raise before you providing the odds make sense. To put it bluntly, the reason you want to play all of your pairs is because it’s your best chance to take all of an opponent’s chips.

In many Cash Games, the initial raise is 2.5 to maybe 10 big blinds. Most people think it’s right to fold when you’re holding a small pair and you just know your opponent is holding a high pocket pair. This might look correct on the surface, but you’re actually in an excellent position to call. If you believe your opponent holds a high pocket pair, you know they’re not likely to fold regardless of what hits the flop. If you hit your set, you’re going to have a chance to take all of your opponent’s chips or double up. Often you will have the added benefit of putting him on tilt after he sees you called a raise with a small pocket pair. Then it will only be a matter of time before all his money is gone.

You will flop a set roughly one in 8 times (actually 1:7.5). My simple rule of thumb is if I am getting more than 20-to-1 preflop, I will call with any pair. If I’m reasonably certain the opponent has a high pair and will give me his stack if I hit, then I require lower odds. If you stick to the game plan of getting away from misses, especially with small pairs, and trying to get all-in when you hit on the flop, you will improve your net return. Every once in a while you will lose with a set. It happens, and if you don’t lose a lot, you played it wrong. FYI set-over-set happens about 1% of the time in a pair vs pair situation or once in about 4400 deals at a 10-handed table, which is well worth the risk.

Good luck to you,
K-REX

Full Tilt Poker just had their gaming license by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission revoked this past Thursday and now they say a deal is done to sell the inactive site to a French investment group.

PokerStrategy.com broke the news from Full Tilt. Full Tilt Poker said that the French investment company Groupe Bernard Tapie signed “an exclusive agreement” to purchase the company. The deal will potentially allow the company to pay off players worldwide. There are however a few problems.

Number one is a settlement in the United States with the U. S. Department of Justice to close the current legal case. Number two is Bernard Tapie’s checkered past. In 1995 he was sentenced to 2 years in prison for fixing a major soccer match. He was also in tax trouble in 1993 and prosecuted for tax evasion.

It seems like we get a little good news peppered with bad…

Manhattan’s U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara claimed on Tuesday that Full Tilt Poker and its board of directors operated the company “as a massive Ponzi scheme against its own players.”

I expect more indictments are on the way and I should say goodbye to my FT bankroll….

Read more on Forbes.com:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2011/09/20/feds-call-full-tilt-poker-a-massive-ponzi-scheme/