You’ve reached the entry page for King Cobra Poker, an ongoing project dedicated to providing advanced free Texas hold em poker strategy, free winning poker tips, best poker bonus deals, free online poker lessons, best poker software reviews, online poker strategies, and free online poker instructions specifically designed to improve your online poker success.
In spite of the fact that the average play of online poker players improving over the last few years, the fundamental principles of success at Texas holdem online poker remain the same. While there seems to be less crazy loose online poker players as there was at one time, the average player still loses money at poker and their money is still there for the taking by superior poker opponents. Good poker strategy, tips and strategies are even more important now. Using the best poker software available is also critical.
The way to beat them and take their money is the same – outplay them. The principles that are taught here through our selection of free advanced poker tips, poker lessons, and poker strategy are designed to do exactly that. The real key here is to think outside the box if you’re going to stand out from the (losing) poker playing crowd and that’s exactly what we look for you to do. In addition you also want to track your opponents’ play using the very best poker software and we’re here to provide that to you as well.
Playing at the best poker rooms and building your bankroll with the best poker bonus are also both key to poker success, and we also provide to you the best site recommendations in which you will automatically receive the top poker bonus and bonuses for going through our exclusive links without having to remember bonus codes. Poker bonus in particular is very important if you’re looking to build your poker bankroll.
Our methods have been proven time and again over countless online poker players. The fact is that it still isn’t very difficult to be successful at online poker although it does require at least a good idea of what you’re doing and a healthy amount of discipline to execute it.
Success at online poker ultimately come down to using proper poker strategy, and this is certainly the case with Texas Hold em. Whether you’re playing limit, no limit, cash games or a tournament, the right poker tip and tips, poker lessons, poker strategy and strategies, and poker instructions are key to winning at online Texas holdem poker. When you put these tips together with having the right poker software to read your opponents like a book this becomes a powerful strategy indeed. With the top poker bonuses we have your chances get even better.
These free online poker strategies quite often will take you away somewhat from the standard thinking that is going around at any given time which is a good thing for sure since if you don’t play differently from the poker playing masses you won’t stand out from them either. In the end though the best tip here is to get you to think for yourself more and the best way to do that is to encounter ideas which challenge your current way of thinking. This I will do for you to be sure.
As many of our visitors are also interested in other forms of gambling such as online casinos, as a new service I’m going to be providing online casino recommendations as well. It’s even more important to be selective when it comes to online casinos, as the best online casinos are very reputable but there but some are not so trustworthy. In addition to the online casinos, I’ll also be offering some reviews of online backgammon and online bingo as well, including how to get some free bets. I’ll post the link here to the online casino reviews on the home page once this is up.
By the way, as you’re visiting our recommended poker rooms through our review pages or banners there’s no need to remember or enter bonus codes when you get there as clicking our link automatically gets you the best bonuses when you open your account there, even if you go back to their site later to do it.
We’ve also lined up some various special deals for you through some friend’s sites which you’ll see here and there throughout our site. If there’s a sweet deal in the poker business you can bet we’re all over it and will be offering it to you here.
I hope you enjoy the material here which I’ll be looking to add to regularly.
Pulse of Poker: Down Under
It´s hard to believe that it´s been more than three and a half years since Joe Hachem and “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi!” were each introduced to the poker world. The unknown tournament veteran from Melbourne earned a place in history after outlasting 5,618 others to claim the 2005 WSOP Main Event title and $7.5 million, earning superstar status in the process. He may have also triggered a poker avalanche Down Under through the help of the age-old Aussie war cry.
It´s hard to believe that a simple chant could spark a poker revolution, but it seems as if Hachem´s “Aussie!” chant did exactly that in his homeland. Long used as a cheer at Australian sporting events, Hachem rendition of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi!” helped shine a positive light on poker to any doubters Down Under. For years, Australians struggled to find poker socially acceptable. Most times, the game was downright hard to find.
When Hachem left the Outback to make history, players had just one option; about a dozen and a half tables to choose from at the Crown Casino. When the Crown introduced the Aussie Millions nearly a decade ago, only four tables showed up to pay the $5,000 buy-in. Poker was put so far on the back burner that travelers had no reason to travel to the bottom of the Earth to play a game with little to no local support.
Skip ahead to 2009. Thanks to a WPT Five-Diamond win in 2006 and a plethora of cashes since, Hachem sits behind only Jamie Gold and Daniel Negreanu in the career tournament earnings list. Impressive turnouts at Asian Pacific Poker Tour stops in or around Australia and New Zealand have triggered PokerStars to give Down Under players their own tournament vehicle, the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT). The Crown Casino is now 60 tables strong and just one of about ten places to play live poker in Australia. And the once feeble Aussie Millions has grown to a 15 tourney series. Its Championship event has become so popular that the Crown was able to guarantee $2 million to this year´s winner. While many were looking outside of the U.S. or Europe to find the next poker hotbed, it seems that maybe those living on the world´s smallest continent have already staked their claim.
In a recent interview with CardPlayer´s Ryan Lucchessi, Hachem likened his effect on Australian poker to the effect Chris Moneymaker in 2003. “Just explosion, not even growth,” said Hachem. “Just absolute explosion; we´re kind of where the U.S. was two years ago. It´s amazing every time I come back, it´s great.”
While the poker boom may be a few years behind Down Under, their legal views on poker may be decades beyond the U.S. They at least see it as a game of skill.
In the fall of 2008, courts in South Australia saw the case of Police v Jones, Police v Ravesi. This case came to be after police had raided the 3rd South Australia Poker Championships (SAPC) in June of 2005, an event organized by the Australian Poker Association (APA). When the cops showed up on Wednesday the 8th, APA members were playing a freeroll with $20 rebuys and one $60 add on. Up for grabs was a seat in the SAPC Main Event, valued at $1,100. Here are the findings, according to a report by Addison´s Commercial Lawyers.
According to Section 51 of the South Australian Lotteries and Gaming Act:
“Any person who in any public place at or with any table or instrument of gaming, or any coin, card, token, or other article used as an instrument or means of wagering or gaming:
(a) plays at any game or pretended game of chance;
(b) bets by way of wagering or gaming on any game of pretended game of chance, shall be guilty of an offence.“
In the end, poker experts wowed the pants of ‘em and ultimately convinced the right people that poker is not just a game of chance. Instead, they found that over time, skill would separate the winners and losers. Duh. So bring on the poker.
Want to play online? Play any of the top sites you want. You´re not getting taxed or hassled here. While you´re on there, qualify for any of the quality live events the Outback has to offer. Start with the Southern Hemisphere´s biggest event, the Aussie Millions.
The Aussie Millions has grown from its humble beginnings as the frumpy “Crown Australian Poker Championship” in the late 90´s to one of the most anticipated poker events on the calendar. Within a few years, the event saw its buy-in balloon from $1,000 to $5,000 AUD, but they were lucky to fill even a dozen tables. By 2005, there was a $10,000 price tag and the world took notice. A total of 263 players showed up that year. When superstar Gus Hansen became the event´s most recognizable champion in 2007, the Dane outshined a field 747 strong to take the largest part of the nearly $7.5 million prize pool, a cool $1.5 million. Moscow´s Alexander Kostritsyn would take home $1.65 million the following year as champ.
The 2009 Aussie Millions wrapped just three weeks ago. The 18 event series was highlighted by the Main Event. There was $2 million guaranteed to the winner by the Crown Casino, and Australian Stewart Scott was able to keep that money at home after outlasting 680 others. If you were able to catch any of the undercard events, they were great as well. In addition to former Aussie David Steicke taking down the insanely priced $100K Challenge, local poker legends Mel Judah and 2006 Aussie Millions champ Lee “Final Table” Nelson were each able to score wins. For nosebleed ring game junkies, Tom “durrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Phil Laak, Chris Ferguson and a few others gave railbirds something to cheer about in the $1 Million Cash Game.
Last year´s Aussie Millions Championship saw 780 players show up, 99 more than this year. But before jumping all over the drop in attendance, consider this. Over the last three years, the Aussie Main Event has averaged 736 entries per. Outside of the WSOP, the only events other than the Aussie Millions to consistently top the 700 player mark are the monstrosity that is the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Respect.
PokerStars took notice. When they fired up their Asian Pacific Poker Tour in 2007, Sydney played host to the Grand Final. It was a hit. The following season, the final was back in Sydney, plus an Auckland, NZ, stop was on the schedule. More than 1,300 entries between the three stops must have impressed somebody. Cue the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT).
As of Feb. 7th, the first-ever ANZPT event is in the books. Melbourne´s Karl Krautshneider bested the field 205 strong at the SkyCity Adelaide to claim the $170,215 AUD prize. At least two more events are on the Season I schedule; one to hit Sydney´s Star City Casino at the end of April, and one for the Kiwis in July, at the SkyCity Queenstown in New Zealand. According to www.anzpt.com, they are leaving the option open to add more events.
But just 205 entries? Should PokerStars be worried about the turnout?
Apparently, they were capped at 240 players anyways. And while the Sydney event has a 50 table capacity, the event in Adelaide can only accommodate 150 entries. They´re obviously not expecting miracles, so seeing 20 of the 24 tables filled up at a time when most non-locals are experiencing the dead of winter seems very respectable. Of the 205 Adelaide entries, just 14 didn´t hail from Australia or New Zealand.
Looking at the numbers, the APPT saw 561 players show up for the Season 1 Grand Final in Sydney. In Season II, the newly added New Zealand stop in Auckland saw 305 entries, while 477 played in the second Grand Final. The market is definitely there. Although, it does raise the question as to what PokerStars plans to do with the Season III APPT schedule, which hasn´t been announced.
Will they continue to hold events Down Under, running the risk of flooding the tournament market? Will they swap out AU/NZ stops for other Asian stops, or eliminate them altogether, leaving the Outback for the ANZPT? It seems like a simple adoption of the APPT´s Auckland event and maybe even the additional Sydney event would make for a nice five-stop ANZPT season. It could also utilize an added perk of the ANZPT, the Overall Champion race.
PokerStars has ponied up an extra $85,000 AUD worth of prize to the top three finishers in the race to be the ANZPT Season I Overall Champion. To the winner, a sponsorship into each main event on the APPT Season IV schedule (worth $50K AUD). Runner-up will get seats in each stop on the ANZPT on the next go around ($25K AUD). Third-place on the leaderboard is worth $10K AUD in assorted PokerStars events. A fairly clever marketing idea to keep ANZPT cashers coming back for more. Something I wouldn´t be surprised to see Stars implement on their other tours in the future.
Just entering an ANZPT event gets you 10 pts. Krautshneider is out in front with 70 pts, thanks to his win. Tournament pro Tony “Bond18″ Dunst is right on his heels with 64 pts. Two-time bracelet winner Mel Judah finished 16th, but still bagged 40 pts. Each of the 22 who cashed at Adelaide earned 35 pts, or more, so you have to figure this points race is going to assure strong turnouts at each of the ANZPT´s remaining stops.
Aussie and American fans alike still crowd the rail to partake in the famous chant anytime the former champ Joe Hachem takes down a pot. I also think there is some sort of law which forces all Aussie players to use “pass the sugah!” anytime the cards fall their way in any game. We have Hachem to thank for both of those things. Australia has Hachem to thank for becoming a celebrated poker destination. That and the fact that many desperate online pros are dying for the chance to swap their Winter weather for a Summer vacation in January.
SmokingTyre – Finding the best motoring items and bargains on Ebay
