The main purpose for this change was so that beginners could play on a level field where poker pros could not prey on them, as they do not know who they are playing up against. Moreover, it supposedly gives you the same thrilling atmosphere as playing live poker because the names of all your opponents are unknown.

Although the main idea sounds great and the purpose is noble, it does not always work out as expected when they offered it up to the public. Initially, there had been a lot of issues with the new software. It had a lot of glitches and it crashed periodically. A few days later, there were already rumours going around that the software had already been hacked and that there was a sure way to know the real identity of the players behind the anonymous names appearing on screen.

After that, numerous poker websites confirmed that they have broken through the website’s flimsy security protocols. Some even put up videos giving instructions and showing the steps on how they did it.

Even though Bodog keeps on insisting that their site is safe to play in, the traffic to the Bodog website plummeted as players became aware of this major problem in the server’s security software. Apparently, most customers prefer a safe playing environment and shied away at the first signs of security vulnerability. And who would blame them with the past history of cheating cases at Absolute Poker, UB Poker or even at the big sites like Full Tilt Poker.

With a lot of poker websites offering similar gaming services, most websites try to create something unique to offer the player, but it sometimes has the opposite effect unfortunately. It seems that Bodog might have just overextended themselves and we can only hope that they fix this situation sooner than later.

The poker room is again offering access to real money games to American players (except New York, Kentucky, Washington DC, Maryland, Washington, Missouri and Louisiana), as well as to players from all over the world (except France and Australia).

Since the Black Friday of online poker on April 15^th 2011, when the DOJ and FBI shut down the major online poker rooms (pokerstars, full tilt poker, absolute poker, UB Poker and Doyle’s room a few weeks later), online poker has been on a standstill in America with almost no poker room remaining active.

This is the first time that a poker operator reenters the US market and it is clear that Carbon Poker will become instantly the leader in this open field. As a matter of fact they were the leader until they decided to leave the USA in June to take time to recoup, only allowing existing American players to get involved at the real money tables in the interim.

This new development may create some confusion for the players. Is it legal or not to play online poker in the USA? And how come some rooms were closed while others are moving in?

The short answer is that it is perfectly legal to play online poker in the USA. The recent actions by the Government only targeted the poker operators, not the players. Some of these operators are accused of processing financial transaction related to online gambling in an illegal way, according to the UIGEA, the main law regulating online gambling in the USA.

UIGEA is a controversial and poorly understood law that does not prohibit online gambling itself, only the way operator are allowed or not allowed to execute financial transfers related to such activity. In addition online poker is not legally considered online gambling, and various scholars have proved that poker cannot be characterized as gambling as skill plays an important part. This is one argument used by the defense of some of the people indicted in April.

There are only a handful of online poker rooms left in the USA and most players choose to migrate to Carbon Poker after Black Friday. According to poker specialist Paul T. Martin, “Carbon Poker has the most traffic and this is the main aspect to many players given the rarefied playing field. They also have interesting features, such as a bad beat jackpot which is often in the six figures, a sleek software and the ability to multi-table with resizable tables. The room is safe and trustworthy with no history of payment problems whatsoever. They follow gambling laws as they have not been accused of any wrongdoing. They have a VIP program for the most active players.”

The bottom line is that despite the current crackdown, it is legal to play online poker in the United States and there are still a few options available to US players, the best of which being Carbon Poker. This is not expected to change until 2012 or 2013 as online gambling law reforms will take at least a year before they get started.

Although Kevin makes his living at the poker table, he is not a professional player but a poker dealer. After winning over $62,000 in three weeks, does he dream of going pro? Not really. He and his girlfriend prefer to plan for stability. They dream instead of their children, in a stable home, pursuing a good education. On the other hand, Kevin admits that he would be tempted to try the life of pro poker if he hits a really big tournament win.

Kevin was born in Asia. He immigrated to America in 1988 with his mother, father, and three siblings. The family moved for the promise of a better life. Although even in childhood he enjoyed card games, it is just three years ago that Kevin started to take poker seriously. Working as a table games dealer at the Elbow River Inn, he took the poker course and was hooked. In his words he could not get enough of the game. He dealt poker, played poker, talked about poker, read about poker, and even dreamed about poker.

In a typical week, Kevin will work five shifts at the Elbow River Inn and play as many small tournaments at the Cash Casino. The Cash offers small daily tournaments at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., plus a slightly larger tournament every Saturday afternoon. It is in one of these tournaments that you are more likely to find Kevin. He does not play online. He tried online poker, but the keys to Kevin’s game are focus and discipline. The money online does not seem real. The game is very fast paced. He finds it hard to maintain sufficient focus and discipline to beat the online game consistently. He is not alone. A lot of successful traditional poker player have struggled in the online environment.

It is these two skills that he mentions over and over again when you speak to him: focus and discipline. First, he recommends that a player have sufficient focus to always concentrate on the game. Second, he points out that no amount of concentration will matter if you do not have the discipline to back your play. The main reason that many players lose instead of win is that they go on tilt and lose control. Many players know how to win, but they do not have the discipline to follow their own advice.

What has Kevin done in the past three years to develop his game? What steps does he take to sharpen his skills? He started out playing in home games. It helped him with his skills and gave him the confidence to move up. Once he developed discipline, things started to fall into place. Away from the table, he reads Card Player magazine. And, he plays practice hands with his girlfriend. If he can’t practice with cards, he practices by thinking about the game. Just playing hands over and over again in his head.

His favorite game is no-limit hold’em as he likes the power of the phrase all-in! And, having played with Kevin during the no-limit event he won at Casino Regina, I can confirm that he is not afraid to put his chips into action. He plays a disciplined, aggressive game with just enough zigzag to throw off the competition, a dangerous player indeed.

What Mike says is that poker will also manage to get out of the so called ‘grey area’. This will be because of the legislation bought about that will help in determining what the game of the future holds for the internet. Mike also goes on to say that if there were no federal changes happening on that front then there would be some US States changing their gambling laws like California that would work towards moving the legal regulatory norms in favor of online poker on a State basis.

This year he says was a controversial year for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This should be got about with the acceptance of Rep.Barney Franks new alternative laws which is also looking at legalizing the online gambling and poker scene on a federal level. Even though Frank Barney has said that he is retiring and will not be candidate for a new term, it is expected that he will remain involved with gambling laws, possibly as a lobbyist.

Sexton has also seen poker on a global level and says that the global poker scene will continue to increase in its popularity, and this will be because of the world wide audience that TV can get. He even mentioned that more countries on the global front will regulate online poker such as Belgium, Germany and the UK, just like what Spain and France did recently. This also means that online poker players will now be able to play poker in their own markets and according to Sexton this could prove to be a role model for the United States.

Mike really sees a bit change in the USA regarding online poker legislation as this issue is not currently bringing any tax income despite the federal deficit, and it is also wasting a lot of time on Capital Hill in partisan debates that could be better used to focus on real issues to help the country instead of the current bigot movement against online gaming.

Visa  Mastercard  Dinersclub

Most people nowadays have a credit card and it is one of the easiest ways to deposit money into your poker account. Also it is a very safe way to use, all transactions are always encrypted and safe. But be aware that when you want to withdrawal winnings, some poker rooms cannot withdraw back to your credit card, so you have to have an alternative payment method to receive your winnings and deposit back to your bank account from there.

Moneybookers

Moneybookers is one the most popular payments methods at every poker room. You sign up with Moneybookers and after this you have to verify your bank account. When this is done, you can deposit money into your account by credit card or bank transfer. When your money is in your Moneybookers account you simply deposit where you want. Also every poker room let you make withdrawals back to your Moneybookers account. From there you can withdraw back to your bank or credit card. Also you can instantly transfer funds to friends and family that also have a Moneybookers account.

Neteller

Neteller used to be the number one in online payments and is still one of the biggest and most trusted ones. But they do not accept any American customers anymore. As before, you open an account, verify your bank account and after this just deposit and withdraw whatever you like. All very easy and fast. And you can also transfer money to other Neteller’s customers instantly.

Click2pay

Click2Pay is another very popular payment method. Just open an account, verify your bank details and after this you are set to deposit money to any poker room that offers this payment method (and most of them do). Also poker rooms let you withdraw money back into your Click2Pay account.

Clickandbuy

ClickandBuy is also a popular payment method. Just open an account, verify your bank details and after this you are set to deposit money to any poker room that offers this payment method (and most of them do). Also you can often make withdrawals of money back into your ClickandBuy account. ClickandBuy also offers many promotions from other shops like Apple.

Paysafecard

PaySafeCard is nothing more than a prepaid card. You buy this card in a shop and you receive a card with a 16 digits pin code. Enter this when paying at the poker room and the money will be added to your account. No registration needed. Remember that you cannot withdraw to your PaySafeCard, so another payment method is needed to receive your winnings.

Instadebit

Instadebit is just the same as Moneybookers or Neteller. Open an account, verify it and you can add money to your Instadebit account. Then use this to make a deposit and to receive your withdrawals.

Ideal

Ideal is a payment method that is only available in The Netherlands and Belgium. When you choose Ideal you are redirected to your internet banking account and you can deposit money directly from your bank. Again poker rooms do not let you make a withdrawal back to your bank, you have to open another method to receive your winnings.

I focused again on the multi-tabling sit and goes, but it did nothing. Besides, I could finish the month in negative at this level. I’m a little stressed but there are good and bad days. I’m not stable at NL10 because sometimes it makes me swell to play against the LAGs and I play off, big mistake. I left out the MTT $ 2, $ 3 and $ 5 because you know if we cannot afford them, might as well pass.

But as I love MTTs and that the level of MTT players mentioned above is really awful, I tried again the steps, you know the formula step of William Hill Poker. I tried the step 2 (10 players sng turbo). I managed to get pass this and tried the step 3 (10 players sng normal mode). The first time I finished third. Finally, I have not lost everything because this place gives me the right to retry the same step. One evening, I entrusted myself and I picked up my pass 4 worth $100.

Cool given the time I was waiting for this. I can finally try a $100 MTT and confront myself with players of a good standard throughout. And the fact of playing for a large prize pool adds a dose of excitement and is fun to play. In short, despite the status of my bankroll, I am happy to have scraped the sesame which is a high achievement for my poor means. Now I had to make a choice. Which $100 MTT to choose? Three options are opened to me:

A MTT  deepstack. This event offers several packs worth $3.5k depending on the number of participants to play in a side event in Vegas for the WSOP or a European event. If the winners do not want to pack, they can cash in cash value. Or a $10k guaranteed MTT deepstack. 3000 chips, 15 min + level. Or a 30k MTT guaranteed deepstack. The same structure but a huge prize pool. Here was my reasoning about it:

The MTT pack cash’ somewhat interested me to the extent that even if I get the cash offer, it is set up for players who want to get a pack. It is not my case now.  For the 10k MTT it is interesting because there is one every night, the field is generally small and the prize pool is more than correct. Regarding the $30k MTT it is interesting mainly for its prize pool. But the field is typically 300 players. I admit that attracted me a lot. $30k is greedy, is it not? I should at least consider that the tournament can last six hours, so it means until 4am minimum if I am in the money.

So, it seems that the $10k was the best one for my schedule!  Last Saturday, a poker party was planned for me. Unfortunately due to lack of players, we had to cancel.

I will go back to mainly playing sit and go’s and a few MTT’s. I will start at the $30 level and sometimes a $50. I must at least play 100 sit and goes a month to get on an average of 1K a month.

I am aiming on at least 45% ITM with an ROI of 30%. I know for myself this is a target I can reach. I will be playing on Party Poker and on Pokerstars and I will report my results regularly. I a got a job for 80% in which I work 3 days on and 3 days off the whole year. On my off days I allow myself to play one MTT, any money I make on these I will use on family purposes ( baby coming and all).

I hope one of you will make a comment sometimes in order to give me some support. I will also play $25 NL but that is only in the hour when I come back from work before I hit the sack. Vegas here I come.

I played some no limit hands today where I lost some money and called a big bet when I knew I was behind. QQ raise from 2nd and min raised by late position. At the flop come the ten of hearts, the eight of clubs and the ten of hearts, I bet pot and player calls. The turn is the two of clubs, I bet $8 player all in $15 I know he has KK or AA and still I call.

He has KK that $15 I could have saved. Earlier on I did fold QQ in almost exact situation. I am gonna play the $11 rebuy at pokerstars now and some SNGs. Hope I play better.

Despite a new husband and new Las Vegas condo, Pamela Anderson is still just a soccer mom at heart.

Different people have come to know Pamela Anderson for different reasons. There’s actress Pamela, who stole most of the world’s breath playing a lifeguard for the ages on Baywatch. There’s writer Pamela and her novel Stark Struck, which was inspired by her own life, activist Pamela and her tireless work with PETA, and of course, bombshell Pamela; her 11 Playboy covers can attest to that. But with a little help from Doyle Brunson and her poker-playing kids, you’ll soon be introduced to soccer mom/poker player Pamela.

Pamela Anderson: “It seems like it’s been kind of floating around for the past ten years. It just seemed to makes sense to do something fun like that. Doyle obviously is the best. My dad’s a big fan of Doyle’s. When they came to me, he said, “Doyle Brunson? You just have to do it.” My mom told me to do Playboy and my dad told me to do poker, so I’m just listening to my parents.”

So Pam, you’re getting good advice from your parents. Pam”Yeah. My dad plays poker and my grandpa played poker; my kids even play poker. I’m the last one on board in the family to play. I remember by dad playing since I was little. But I didn’t really pay much attention or take any notes, so I’m learning. It’s a good thing to know, it’s a game of skill. It’s obviously really popular now and I’m always looking for new things to do online because I have the popularity online. I like interactive things, so this was really a fun next thing to do. It’s sexy, it’s cool, I think it’s really hot.”

How is your poker learning experience going? Pam “Doyle is teaching me, so I’m learning no bad habits. I’ve got a really good teacher. We’ve got to get together soon because I’ve been gone running around the whole world. I don’t know if I’ve got to go to Texas or if he’s going to come here to California. He was mad, he wanted me to play in the World Series of Poker but I was getting married at the time. He said that was a good excuse. He wants me to play next year, so I’ve got to get it together…more”