Here is a hand that turned out really well for me.  My opponent, O1409 picked up aces and decided to min raise instead of making a real raise in this particular online tournament. Basic poker strategy dictates that you never want several players in the pot when you are holding pocket aces. Had my opponent simply made a strong raise I would have easily folded my hand.

Unfortunately, our friend does not understand that concept and I took mosts of his stack teaching him that lesson. Watch and see how the hand plays out below:

We have shown you various sites to visit to stake poker players. Now I am going to show you how to stake another player and the overall setup of a cash or tournament player stake.

First, there are a few different kinds of stakes:

• Tournament
• Cash Game
• Buy a Piece
• Backers

Tournament staking is the most common kind of stake and takes place in various forms. Basically, there are two kinds of ways you can stake in a tournament.

First, you can pay 100% of their buy-in into the tournament with the agreement that you will receive 50% of whatever they earn should they cash. You can alter this kind of deal in whatever way is comfortable for the staker or the stakee making the buy in smaller and return smaller accordingly.

For instance: You could buy someone into the tournament for 50% of the buy-in with only a 25% return on your investment in that player. Again, everything is negotiable on either side as long as you both agree to the terms BEFORE the poker tournament begins.

Second, there is the cash game stake. For cash games it pretty much works in the same manner. The only difference is that you are bankrolling an individual that will likely be playing for a period of time or a pre-determined profit established by the backer.

For instance: Your backer may bankroll the stakee for $5000 and expect 50% of whatever that player earns when he leaves the table. It could be a pre-determined amount like $15,000 in which case they would split $7500 in addition to the original stake given to the player to enter the game.

The last kind of stake / deal that a staker is likely to employ is the buy-a-piece (BAP) deal which is a staple at many online poker staking sites as well as live casino’s. In a BAP stake you may buy 10% or so of a players buy-in expecting a 5% return on whatever they earn should that player cash. Obviously the more players you stake this way the more likely you are to make a profit.

As you have noticed most deals are pretty much 100% / 50% profit deals which is the best in my opion. Ultimately, it’s up to you to negotiate the terms that are best suited and fair to each individual involved.

Lastly, but still extremely important, you need to register with the online statistics sites like www.officialpokerrankings.com , www.bluffmagazine.com , or www.sharkscope.com so that your stats are available and you can show your staker that you are indeed a good risk. These sites tend to keep meticulous records in regards to poker tournaments but are not so good with cash games. So keep that in mind and keep your records squared away for cash games because you will likely be asked for them.

Staking can be a very good thing and can help both individuals accomplish their goals of making money either for their bankroll or strictly for profits sake. Be smart about whom you deal with and play well when given the opportunity. One big win can transform you from a casual player to someone with an opportunity for an even bigger score down the line.

Trust me, I know.

Curtis III

This year’s WSOP has been a lot of fun to watch. We have players like Barry Greenstein, Eric Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu, and Nenad Medic all make final tables and ultimately take down first prize and the bracelet. It looks like the professional players have made the transition and have figured out how to counter the hyper-aggressive style of many of the online qualifiers in these tournaments. They are reclaiming their place amongst the elite in the largest poker tournament in the world.We used to say that the fields are so large that the pro’s would have a difficult time winning at the WSOP. Not anymore. Even last year, with Scotty Nguyens collapse, he was still one stupid move away from making the final table and actually having a great chance to win it all. Scotty lost his damn mind on that hand but I still love him. I’d bet he will never pull that one again no matter how many Michelob’s he drinks.

Over the years much has been written about how we would never see the professional players winning bracelets as frequently as we did in the past but all that seems to have changed this year. Apparently you can teach old dogs new tricks. I know we are only half way done with the 2008 WSOP and still have a ways to go but my money is on the professional players this time around. The game has changed and the pro’s have made the adjustments.

Hold on to your seat belts. I think we are in for a nice ride.

Curtis III

Yes, more changes are coming. In the next few days Do or Die Poker will be upgrading it’s look and feel to provide more content and a cooler look to our site. The changes should be fairly straight forward and not cause our readers any difficulty at all.

So buckle up!

Do or Die Poker is about to go Hyper-Speed.

Curtis III

Barry Greenstein made the worst hand possible more often than not. He just took down the WSOP bracelet and the $158,659 first prize in the Deuce - Seven Razz tournament.

Barry beat out the field of 453 players. Greenstein battled Chris Klodnicki at the final table but took it down eventually after Klodnicki could not hit his hand in a crucial all-in.

Instead of hanging around and taking it all in Barry rushed off to play in another tournament he had already been entered in for the past couple of hours or so getting blinded off.

Congratulations Barry!

Are you a big Phil Ivey fan? If so then you will want to check out The Life of Ivey on Pokerroad. The Life of Ivey is a video documentary about the every day life of professional poker player Phil Ivey.

You will see Ivey with his friends and family away from the poker table. You will also see him playing online poker and talking about the ups and downs of his life in cash games and poker tournaments.

You do not want to miss The Life of Ivey!

Curtis III

Just got through busting out of the PokerStars $4.40 tournament. I cashed again but got knocked out fifteenth. I went card dead and had to push with QJs. Not that bad of a hand and I was only a 3 - 2 dog to A8s but he flopped an Ace and hit his flush and off to the rail I went.

I am starting to get frustrated again. I have re-adjusted my game again and it is helping me cash even more. Last year I cashed 17% in online tournaments playing in over 500 tournaments. This year I have played almost 200 poker tournaments and I have cashed in over 20% with several Final Tables but no wins yet. In actuality I shouldn’t be too frustrated at all. When I am getting busted I have my chips in good over 90% of the time. That’s exellent play and you would think I would be happy with that. Well, I am. The problem is that I know that I will have to play a much more riskier style of play to win more low stakes tournaments. That’s just not my style of play and I am not a big fan of taking draws when you can clearly out play your opponent.

On the other hand I clearly can see why some of these guys do so well and have more wins in this format because they play a high risk style of tournament. They do not cash nearly as much as I do, around 8 - 12%, but when they get there they have a truck load of chips giving them a chance to win the big one. I am going to have to re-think my play and make some kind of decision. Otherwise, I am afraid I will continue to toil in no mans land barely making the Final Table in these things. Either that or go back to playing Deep Stacks tournaments where I have a clear advantage over this kind of player.

I will let you know how it turns out.

Curtis III

Make way for Vanessa Selbst. She is the first lady to win the Pot Limit Omaha poker tournament and the twelth to win a bracelet at the WSOP. Vanessa led the event from start to finish which is very rare.

Vanessa had a three to one chip lead going into the final table over the next closest competitor and closed out the deal to take down $227,933 and her first bracelet.

Well done Vanessa!

Dan Negreanu has a new video training site called PokerVT. PokerVT features poker strategy, poker professionals, poker analysis and poker videos. Each of these features are used to help players with various poker strategy and how to implement it while at the table.

So who are the pros that are giving you all of this great information?

Here is the lineup of poker professionals:

• Dan Negreanu
• Paul Wasicka
• Boosted J
• Annette Orbrestad
• Professor Charles Swayne

PokerVT gives you all the information you need to be effective in both online and cash games from poker players that have actually done it!

You will be getting training in the following areas:

• Beginning poker strategy
• Playing small pots
• General poker tips
• Real hand analysis from live games
• Classic hands from TV
• Professionally edited training modules
• VT pros giving you details on how they won multi-table tournaments
• Learn the math and how to use it to your benefit

So how much does all this cost?

You can sign up with PokerVT for $29.99 mo. or a one time fee of $119.99

Once you’re signed up you’ll get:

• Unrestricted access to all available training content inside
• Invites to forum discussions with Daniel Negreanu and VT Pros
• Promo opportunities to meet Daniel Negreanu and VT Pros

Check it out! PokerVT

Some events at the World Series of Poker draw plenty of amateurs. These events are usually no-limit hold’em events with relatively modest buy-in requirements. These events can draw thousands of players and the pros are often lost in the parade of novices, who usually play poker online, but want to take a shot at a WSOP bracelet.Other events draw relatively few amateurs. These events feature games that are less popular among the viewing public, with buy-ins that may be prohibitively high for casual poker players. These events are very appealing to pros, as it gives them a real chance to test their skills against other strong players. One of these events at the 2008 WSOP was the $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball with Rebuys event, which was just won by seasoned veteran Mike “The Mouth” Matusow.

While a $5,000 event in itself may seem rather steep, this is a rebuy event, which means many players who want to be competitive will have to fork over $20,000 or more. Furthermore, the type of poker played, deuce to seven lowball, is one played almost exclusively in high stakes private games, so this truly is a professionals-only event.

2-7 Lowball is a five-card draw game, and your objective is to make the worst hand. Unlike other forms of low or high low split poker, deuce to seven requires that you truly make the worst hand. An ace is a high card and a straight or a flush counts, so the lowest hand is 7 5 4 3 2, hence the name deuce to seven.