Poker Deals

The Suncoast Poker Room in Summerlin is gearing up for a “$15,000 Sizzlin’ Free Roll Poker Tournament” slated for Dec. 18.
Players qualify for the tournament with 80 rated “live” hours of play from past play from Oct. 4 through Dec. 4. Receive 500 extra tournament chips for every 25 hours over 80 qualifying hours. Get credit for double hours when you play from 1a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily. You can also collect three hours for each initial tournament entry. First place will take home $3,000.
The Suncoast poker room is a non-smoking, 12 table card room open 24 hours a day. The poker room features $2-4, $4-8, and $10-20 limit Texas Hold’em, $1-2, and $2-5 blind No-Limit Texas Hold’em, $4-8 Omaha Hi, $4-8 Omaha Hi-Lo, and $1-5 Seven Card Stud. The room also features 12 plasma TV’s for players’ viewing enjoyment.
As with all Coast poker rooms, players earn comp dollars for playing in live games, which may be used for food, toward room rates, gift shop, etc. Coming soon will be a “bonus hand” promotion where players receive cash when making four of a kind or better, as well as a daily No Limit Hold’em Tournament.
Private poker tournaments and games are also welcome on a space available basis. To schedule a game, contact them at 702-636-7111 or 1-877-636-7111. For more information on Suncoast tournaments and promotions visit:
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Riviera
There are some new changes and additions to the poker room promotions starting this month. As before they are still running the weekly $2,500 Free Roll, mini bad beat jackpots, progressive high hands and aces cracked 24/7. The high hand of the hour has changed from the former 10 a.m.-1 p.m. now to 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and increased the 11 a.m.-noon high hand payout from $100 to $200.
Poker Deals
The Riv has also added a bonus free roll at the end of each month with $5,000 up for grabs.
South Point
South Point Hotel and Casino has a 24 hour, 22 table non-smoking poker room. South Point Poker Room offers all of the most popular poker games and a variety of betting limits. Games featured are $2-4 and $4-8 Limit Texas Hold’em, and $1-2 and $2-5 blind No-Limit. Texas Hold’em games feature full blinds and half-kills, with the exception of No-Limit.
Players earn $1 an hour in comps playing in live games and you’ll find a daily “High Hand” promotion. You can watch your favorite sports event on state of the art plasma television screens. During football season a pro team jersey drawing is held at 10 p.m. on Sunday and Monday nights, awarded to a seated active player.
May the “nuts” be with you.

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The $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop which preceded the World Series of Poker Main Event will return in two years, according to event officials.
The inaugural One Drop raised $10 million for charity including $5.3 million for ONE DROP, an official WSOP charity partner. The event also produced the largest first place prize in poker history ($18.346 million).
“It was an honor to be a part of such a special event that raised a total of $10 million for charity, including $5.3 million for One Drop and shone a positive light on the poker community,” said Caesars Interactive Entertainment CEO Mitch Garber. “By working with the showman - Guy Laliberté, we have learned there was only one choice. An encore.”
“The One Drop will return on a small scale next year with the buy-in at $1,111 instead of the $1 million. The Little One for One Drop plans to offer unlimited re-entry over two starting days, giving it potential to be the biggest event in terms of entrants at the 2013 WSOP.
“It’s amazing what you can achieve when you dream,” said One Drop chairperson Laliberté. “We took the concept of a $1 million poker tournament and turned it into the most successful poker initiative ever held. As a result, over 100,000 people will be positively impacted. Projects in Honduras, El Salvador and West Africa have already put to use the money we raised in the initial event.”
The schedule for the 44th annual World Series of Poker is currently being developed.

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In our daily lives, psychological stress is how our bodies react to tensions, pressures, and sudden changes. In engineering, we refer to stress as the internal distribution of a force exerted on a material body, resulting in strain or deformation; too much stress can fracture the object.
Likewise, psychological stress can make it harder for us to deal with challenges, to make proper decisions, even to function. This can happen at the poker table.
The brain plays a critical role in the body’s perception of stress and our response. During a stress response, the hypothalamus secretes various hormones that stimulate the body’s pituitary gland and initiates a heavily regulated stress response pathway.
The amygdala is believed to play a role in the processing of emotions, in modulating stress response mechanisms, particularly when feelings of anxiety or fear are involved.
During stress, the hippocampus is particularly important, in that cognitive processes such as prior memories can have a great influence on enhancing, suppressing, or even independently generating a stress response. The hippocampus is also an area in the brain that is susceptible to damage brought upon by chronic stress.
When you feel stressed, your muscles become tense, often leading to pain and fatigue, and limiting your physical and mental abilities. That is often very depressing. You may sense a faster heartbeat, increased muscle tension, higher blood pressure, and find it harder to breathe.
Studying stress
A small amount of stress actually can work to your advantage by helping you to be more alert, and thereby make better decisions at the poker table. But too much stress will cause you to make mistakes – even go on tilt. People have different tolerance levels. It’s best to be prepared.
Like it or not, during a typical game, there are many opportunities to induce stress.
• A misdeal by the dealer when you had a big pocket pair.
• Losing a few hands in a row starting with hole cards you expected would take the pot.
• Your nut flush losing to a concealed full-house.
• Getting rivered constantly.
• Suffering a bad beat on the river.
• After waiting patiently for a long time, your dinner being served lukewarm.
• Just focusing on the game (the players, betting and raising).
Solutions
As the hours pass at the table and you tire, your ability to cope with stress is bound to diminish. Yet, if you allow stress to overwhelm your skills, you are almost certain to go home a loser.
Toward that end, suggestions from the Arthritis Foundation (Reference: Managing Your Stress at www.arthritis.org) can be applied to the game of poker. (I have added a few of my own suggestions.)
Muscle relaxation – “Close your eyes; take a deep breath and hold it a few seconds. Breathe out, letting your stress flow out with the air.”
Guided imagery – As above, but now relax your muscles as you breathe out. Then think about something that pleases you; imagine it in as much detail as possible. Do it slowly, enjoying each detail.
Distraction – Avoid mentally dwelling on your stress.
Some suggested actions – Go to the restroom; do some stretching or exercising; drink a soothing cup of tea; make yourself as comfortable as possible – uncross your legs and ankles; sit out a round of play; write a note to yourself about your thoughts and feelings; take a break and go for a brisk walk, while deeply breathing the fresh air.
Most important, whatever you do, don’t continue to play while you feel stressed out. The consequences are bound to be dire.

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Caesars Palace poker

Hail, Caesars! The poker room at Caesars Palace is one of the biggest and most exciting in Las Vegas.
The beautifully laid out 8,500-square-foot area features an adjacent 6,000-square-foot Tournament Room. With 62 tables, Caesars Palace offers 24-hour poker action both with cash games of all stakes and a full tournament schedule.
Caesars Palace poker
Caesars Palace is the home of the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship, and the only Las Vegas site for a World Series of Poker Circuit Event. They also host the Caesars Classic tournament series every autumn, in addition to a year-round tournament schedule and cash game poker action.
The line-up of current promotions include:
• $20,000 Guarantee on Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m. The weekend 2 p.m. tournaments’ guaranteed prize pool has been recently been increased to $20,000 for the Saturday and Sunday 2 p.m. events featuring No-Limit Hold’em with a $235 buy-in, 15,000 chips and 30-minute levels. With even more guaranteed money, one of the best tournaments in Vegas is now even better.
• $3 Max Rake on Limit Hold’em Games: All limit games offer a maximum rake of $3. Play $3-6, $4-8 or higher limit games with a reduced rake.
• High Hand Jackpots: All quads, straight flushes and royal flushes win cash all day. Quads win $100, straight flushes win $200, and royal flushes win $500. Both hole cards must play, and the pot must contain $10 to qualify.
• Earn While You Play: Players can amass tier credits and cash toward comps for live game play, including 34 tier credits and $2 an hour in comps for all $2-5 no-limit Hold’em games. Players earn 17 credits and $1 an hour in $1-3 no-limit and $3-6 limit cash games.
For more information contact the poker room at 702-785-6566.
Golden Nugget
The downtown poker room hosts 13 smoke-free tables, comfortable seats and plush decor. Various levels of live cash poker games are always available from beginner low limits to No Limit action as seen on TV.
As the host hotel for the late night Poker After Dark on NBC, High Stakes Poker on GSN and head-to-head battles of Face the Ace on NBC, you never know who may be playing at your table.
Tables can be reserved for your own private cash games, tournaments or functions, large or small. They offer high hand bonuses and four hours play of cash game poker will earn you a generous $10 dining credit.
Free poker lessons are offered daily at 10 a.m. and there is always a special promotion or cash giveaway just for poker players. A few current promotions include:
2 to 2 x 2 High Hand Promotion: Make a high hand in any cash poker game between the hours of 2 a.m. and 2 p.m. and win 2x the jackpot for that high hand.
Sunday Morning Showdown: Win your share of the Guaranteed $5,000 Prize Pool in this weekly No Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament.
For more details on GN promotions stop by the poker room, or call 702-386-8383. You call also e-mail them at: poker@goldennugget.com.
May the “nuts” be with you!

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Good timing and the right combination of skill and luck are two of the key elements of winning contests, whether at sports or poker. But the third element – strategy – may be the most important.
The vast majority of the hundreds of poker books now on the market are devoted to how-to-win strategies: how to win tournaments, how to win no-limit hold’em cash games, even how to win the battle of the brains called “poker psychology.”
Last time we looked at how timing, skill and luck influence winning on two popular game shows, Wheel of Fortune and The Price is Right. But nowhere on the game show circuit is strategy more important than in the showdown round of Jeopardy.
While the insidiously memorable theme melody of Jeopardy sing-songed in the background, Ted, Dick, and Jane (the names I’ve given the three contestants) tackled the eliminator Final Jeopardy question.
After a sluggish start, top-dog Ted had accumulated $8,600, making big inroads in the semi-final round by wagering his entire fortune on a daily-double question, a strategy that put him in the lead. Dick had amassed $8,400, over $5,500 of it in the early stages followed by a dry spell in the second half. And Jane, bright with the answers but slow on the button, had chalked up $5,200.
As in no-limit poker, part of a winning Jeopardy strategy depends on the amount you bet on the elimination question. You can bet only as much money as you have in front of you, and your opponents’ wagers are not visible to you. If you win, you keep the money; second prize usually is a trip; and third best takes home an electronic gadget. So how much should top-dog Ted, second-place Dick, and underdog Jane wager?
A major part of your betting strategy at this stage of the game depends upon what you think your opponents will bet, and how much money you think they think you will wager (the third-level thinking employed by the masters of tournament poker). Another strategic factor is whether your bet will win second place if you miss the final question.
Jane missed, but it didn’t cost her anything because she cleverly wagered zero, probably hoping to slide into second place if either Ted or Dick bet all-in and missed, or maybe win it all if they both missed. Believing he’d have to “double-up or get up,” second-best Dick bet $8,399, making a $1.00 “save” to ensure a second-place finish in the event that either Jane or Ted bet their entire stacks and missed.
Now, how much should Ted wager? Assuming that both Ted and Dick answered correctly, Dick would have no chance to beat Ted if both men wagered the amount of Dick’s “stack” (result: Dick, $16,800 and Ted, $17,000). Ted needed to bet at least $8,201 to be assured of a win over Dick’s probable all-in bet.
So what did Ted do? He went all in! And he missed the final question. Host Alex Trebek then awarded winner Dick $16,799 for his correct answer; runner-up Jane, a Caribbean cruise for her wrong response; and loser Ted, a Sony camcorder for his betting gaff.
Higher-level thinking, performance under pressure, making saves, timing, the skill/luck blend, and strategic gamesmanship are not unique to tournament poker – they are important weapons anytime you find yourself in jeopardy.

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In Poker Hold’em

A smart poker player makes decisions that will earn lots of money (chips). Recently a friend sent me an anecdote about a lawyer and an elderly retiree.
If he was already a poker player, this retiree surely would have been a big winner. He knew how to use the odds to his own best advantage. That’s what good poker players do. The poor lawyer just didn’t know what he was up against.
The Anecdote
In Poker Hold’em
“A lawyer and a senior citizen are sitting next to each other on a long flight. The lawyer is thinking that seniors are so dumb he could get one over on them easily.
“So, the lawyer asks if the senior would like to play a fun game. The senior is tired and just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and tries to catch a few winks.
“The lawyer persists, saying the game is a lot of fun. ‘I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me only $5. Then you ask me one, and if I don’t know the answer, I will pay you $500,’ he says.
“This catches the senior’s attention and, to keep the lawyer quiet, he agrees to play the game. The lawyer asks the first question: ‘What’s the distance from the Earth to the Moon?’
“The senior doesn’t say a word, but reaches into his pocket, pulls out a $5 bill and hands it to the lawyer.
“Now, it’s the senior’s turn. He asks the lawyer, ‘What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?’
“The lawyer uses his laptop to search all references he can find on the Internet. He sends e-mails to all the smart friends he knows; all to no avail. After an hour of searching, he finally gives up. He wakes the senior and hands him $500.
The senior pockets the $500 and goes right back to sleep. The lawyer is going nuts not knowing the answer. He wakes the senior up and asks, ‘Well, so what goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?’
“The senior reaches into his pocket, hands the lawyer $5.00 and goes back to sleep.”
In this anecdote, not only did the senior get a big edge on the odds, but he knew how to use them to his best advantage. The poor lawyer should learn to play winning poker. For the sake of his clients, I hope he is much more astute when he pleads their cases in a court of law.
Favorable Odds
Everyone knows that, preflop, pocket Aces are an odds-on favorite over each of your opponents. But, believe it or not, your A-A becomes an underdog if more than four opponents stay to see the flop. To keep the odds in your favor, bet or raise to reduce the size of the playing field (RSPF).
Since your objective is to win as many chips as possible (not just win hands), it would be best to play against three, perhaps four, opponents – but no more.
Any time when the poker odds are in your favor (pot odds higher than the card odds), try to get as much money (chips) as possible into the pot. That’s betting for value! Toward that end, knowing your opponents’ playing traits can help.
For example, a Calling-Station will call your bets, no matter how big, all the way to the showdown. Tight or timid players are likely to fold if you raise – unless they have a very strong hand. In that case, make sure your hand is strong enough so that the odds are, in fact, well in your favor. (Do you have the Nuts?)
A loose-aggressive player is ideal to slow-play. With the odds heavily in your favor, a check-raise is a great strategy to get more chips into the pot. Like the senior in the anecdote, consider money-making strategies that take advantage of the odds-in-you-favor situations.

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