2005 November 05 Poker News, Events and Happenings

WEST PALM BEACH - Two years ago, Chris Moneymaker was an unknown Nashville accountant. Around the same time, card-room operators at the Palm Beach Kennel Club feared they would have to give up on poker. On Friday, Moneymaker sat in the recently expanded Kennel Club poker room surrounded by flashbulbs and autograph seekers and sent a few Texas Hold ‘em tournament participants home short $45 but happy. Moneymaker eventually joined those who left empty-handed, finishing 85th in a 150-player tournament …

During televised poker tournaments, you’ll often here the commentators talk about stealing blinds.What they are referring to is when a player who is holding a junk hand raises before the flop, in the hopes of winning the blinds and antes without a fight. It’s a very effective and profitable strategy when handled properly. In fact, one of the key elements that differentiate a great tournament player from an average one is the way he utilizes blind stealing. If you want to be a great player too, you …

The young studs of poker no longer play very much stud. The five-card and seven-card versions of that game are played with predetermined bet sizes; along with five-card draw, they were the most popular forms of poker until 20 or 30 years ago. Today the flop games have taken over: pot-limit Omaha; limit, pot-limit and no-limit hold’em; and, most of all, no-limit hold’em tournaments.Who’s winning the long green these days? In tournaments, at least, about 100 men and half a dozen women have been …