PartyPoker have an offer that is pretty hard to ignore. They are offering a ‘Super Sign Up’ Bonus of 100% extra on the first deposit, up to a massive $500 or £250. Naturally, there are rules that apply to collect your bonus, however they are not onerous.

There can be as many as 60,000 players online at Party Poker some evenings so this places them at the top as one of the biggest online poker sites in the world. They offer a variety of play money games, like Omaha Hi/Lo, so they are ideal if you want to learn how to play a different game.

PartyPoker recently introduced their Player’s Club. In the Player’s Club, you can accumulate points based on how many hands you play and how many tournaments you enter. These points can then be exchanged for a variety of Party Poker merchandise. You can also use the points to play in different Player’s Club Freeroll tournaments, some of these give away as much as $5,000.

UK Betting Central provides links to all the quality sportsbooks and casinos.

Poker, particularly Hold’Em, is one of my favourite online games. I can, and have, sat for hours playing through a tournament. The best finish was a final table 5th. I was happy. I have, however, had many runs of either bad luck, or bad play. So what is the best way out?

It can be pretty disheartening having these bad runs. There are many different solutions to a problem like this, my solution is very simple. Walk away! and stay away.

By walking away and staying away for at least a couple of days I find I can clear my head, shake of the negatives and, more importantly, forget some of the bad habits I may have taken up. I know the game, I know how to play, however bad habits do creep in and when they do, you generally wind up losing.

Other people have their ideas. This paragraph comes from an article I read titled; ‘when you have bad runs at hold’em:

You need to take a look at your overall game. An honest look if you feel you are truly running bad. It might just be a few losing sessions and not a long term thing. If that is the case, then your game is ok, if you are losing consistently over a long period of time, then it is probably major leaks in your game.

Poker is a fun game and, while I never expect to win big, if I can stay in a game for a long time then the money invested can be cheap entertainment. If you have a bad run, review what you are doing, kick out any bad habits, and consider taking a break.

When it comes to online poker and other casino games, consider UK Betting Central for all your online casino links.

Online poker is on of the most popular games today, thanks no doubt to the televising of big prize money games. Is there any sure way to win at poker>

The answer is simple – as in life, there are no guarantees. All you can do is play each hand on its merits. Add a little skill, a little luck and mix together the complexities of human nature and you may win.

Before playing any online game, keep in mind these simple suggestions:

• Inspect the site. Make sure that it is authentic.
• Read the terms and conditions of the site. Check the maximum payouts and the minimum bets.
• Allocate a budget for the day. That budget will determine how much you are willing to lose or to win in the game. Stick to the limit.
• Only gamble what you can afford to lose.
• Practice playing the game. Familiarize yourself with the game first before you play for real money.

Once you start playing the following advice is worth remembering:

• If you do make a big win, don’t be greedy, stop.
• In poker, overall winnings are what count most. If you are losing, or have already lost your allotted money for the day, don’t try to win your losses back.
• Drinking alcohol is a big no no at poker time. It can serious affect your judgment.

If you want to succeed at poker, these are tips from the professionals:

• Watch your opponents. Get to better know them and their playing style, particularly how and when they bluff
• Play in silence. Don’t let an opponent distract you – that is their tactic to beat you.
• Base your decisions on what you see in front of you. Never let your emotions take over.
• Think about what your opponents may have. Look at every possible variation.
• Know when to stop. You should know the song, ‘know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away’.
• Play to enjoy. Do not play if you are sad, bored or tired. If you can’t enjoy the game then don’t play – you are bound to lose.

These are all simple straightforward tips that will help you to lose less and perhaps even win more – there are no guarantees in life – but you can put the odds more on your side.

At UK Betting Central you can find links to all the top online casinos playing online poker.

Multi table tournaments can generally be broken down into three separate phases; the opening, the middle and the end games.

In the opening phase, the blinds are small and the pot pot sizes reflect this, therefore there’s little value in risking your chips to win them. The opening phase is generally where you see strange plays made.

Some experienced players go all in during this phase, hoping to build a good size bank for the later phases. This is high risk and often leads to an early elimination. If successful, the following phases are easier due to the much higher bank you hold.

Novices tend to make much of the play during the opening phases with many of the experienced players only gambling with strong hands. This phase generally weeds out most of the inexperienced players. The opening phase is a game of patience, letting the other players knock each other out.

In the middle phase is the character building phase. At this point you can start to become more aggressive. The blinds are increasing and with it the pot sizes. All ins are less frequent and are generally a little more targeted towards survival or strategic. Some all ins during the middle phases are sucker bets, trying to eliminate any remaining weak players.

The best strategy in the middle phase is to aim to win medium size pots whilst avoiding any sucker all in bets. You can often however, often capitalise on survival all ins where a player is trying either survive or go down fighting. If you have built up your bank you can often cover an all in with little pain to your bank should you lose. The middle phase is one of survival and steady bank building.

The end phase is the action phase. Up until now, players have no idea how to read you. You were conservative during the opening phase and mildly aggressive when holding good hands in the middle phase.

The end phase is the final table and here you are probably guaranteed a payout of some sort. Generally the decent payouts go to the top three so this needs to be your first goal. However, you need to play smart poker now, avoiding elimination whilst winning hands that are winnable. Negative play will soon see you out of the game.

The no frills game you played in the first two phases should be maintained until you get to the real payout stage. If you make the top three you can consider yourself a winner of the first part of the game. You now need to complete your goal by winning the tournament.

This is when the real you can come to the fore and you can play to win – the only way to win is by playing aggressively and attempting to eliminate your opposition. Remember, last man (woman) standing takes home the big money.

If you enjoy multi table tournament play then check out the range of online poker links at UK Betting Central. Remember, getting eliminated in the opening round is for novices – make to the final rounds and win with UK Betting Central online poker tips and tricks.

Many people watch the news and see how poker players are winning millions of dollars in tournaments. What many people don’t realise is how well amateurs do in these tournaments.

I remember an Australian winning a big tournament at his first attempt several years ago. He got through to the championship rounds by winning a $2 satellite tournament. When it comes to poker, there are satellite tournaments for a big paying competition being held all the time, it is simply a matter of floating around the various online casinos until you find one.

These satellite tournaments are often very inexpensive to enter an can carry good prizes such as trips and seats to top paying regional tournaments. You never know, at the end of the day you may find yourself playing in the World Poker Tournament with prize money running into the millions.

This years WPT winner walked away with a cool $3.3 million after being on the verge of elimination at one stage. Hone your skills playing in some of the online matches then sign up for a qualifying satellite rounds. You too could be the next small player to make it into the big time.

To find a casino offering qualifying rounds, visit UK Betting Central.

So, you love your online poker. All that bluffing, trying to figure out who’s got what, winning a bit here, losing a bit there, and maybe – just maybe – hitting a big win occasionally to make it all worthwhile.

Poker has a long history. Would you believe one thousand years? Well, it’s about that – more even. This is a game that has its roots way back in the mists of time. I mean the basic game of poker, of course. The online bit is recent. But of course, you knew that.

Emperor Mu-tsung, yes, he was Chinese, played a game not too dissimilar to poker in its basic strategy prior to the year 969 AD. He and his wife played “domino cards” on New Year’s Eve at least once, apparantly.

The Egyptians in the 1100’s and 1200’s had a form of playing cards, which they used for gambling. And in Persia they had cards known as Ganjifa, also used for betting with highest value cards winning.

But it was in the 17th and 18th centuries that something more closely resembling poker emerged. The French and the Germans developed a game known as Poque (French) or Pochen (German), which borrowed much from the earlier Spanish game of Primero played some 100 years before.

“Bluffing, or betting high stakes whilst holding poor cards to deceive opponents, was an integral part of the game. Primero dates back to 1526 and is often referred to as “poker’s mother” as it is the first confirmed version of a game directly related to modern day poker.” www.poker.com

One of the earliest written references to the game of poker comes from the writings of Jonathan H. Green in 1834. He says that “the cheating game” was played on Mississippi riverboats.

“Gamers embraced the new game as it was perceived as a more challenging and ‘honest’ gamble than the notoriously rigged 3-card game. Green took more than a passing interest in the new game and took it upon himself to formally name and document the ‘Cheating Game’ in his book ‘An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling’: Poker was born.” www.poker.com

Today, you don’t have to board a Mississippi riverboat to play. You can log in to any of the excellent poker rooms online. Jonathan H. Green would have loved online poker, and he’s probably have used the services of UK Betting Central too.

What is attributed to Texas, but did not originate in Texas? Well, lots of things actually, including a certain president. But the thing I am referring to is of course, Texas Hold’em, arguably the most popular of all the poker variations played online, and offline, today.

“There’s a lot of different stories about how it started out, but surprisingly the story doesn’t begin in Texas as you would think. There seems to be a story from Life Magazine back in 1960’s or so about a game called ‘Hold Me Darling’ that was becoming a big poker variant, which later became ‘Hold Me’ and then lastly Hold’em as the final name. No clue as to the inventor, but this seems to be the origins of the name.” www.tightpoker.com

So, why exactly is Texas Hold’em so popular? Well, it just is! An estimated 74 million or more people play the game on a regular basis all over the world. That’s popular!

Add up all the daily Internet searches for the term, “Texas Hold’em” and it comes in at something like 10 million. That’s more than the population of many small countries, for goodness sakes! Scotland has only half that many people living there, for example.

There’s no doubt that the World Series of Poker, televised in many countries, has added considerably to the interest, and even generated much of the interest currently being shown worldwide in online poker in general. If you’d like to know more, take a look at the UK Betting Central online poker page.

“There are dozens of poker rooms on the internet currently available for play with many more becoming available every day. The choice of which room to play poker at can be very confusing…” www.reviewpokerrooms.com

Poker is popular. There’s no denying that. There’s something about the game that conjures up the image of a suave man (sorry, it’s rarely a woman) playing poker with total control, and winning again and again. Maybe James Bond springs to mind…

But unfortunately, it isn’t always like that:

“In regular online poker games, you are constantly being asked to make very difficult decisions. Whether it is passing on a bet or raising your hand. These decisions involve various skill factors that should be taken into account, other that luck. However, most players are not aware of these rules and continue to play on how they are handed at the deal.” www.thepokoerinfo.com

In short – you need to gain some skill in the game before you splash out and possibly make a fool of yourself. Poker can be, and often is, a great deal of fun. Enjoy it. You should! But treat the game seriously as everyone you encounter will also be treating it seriously. This is less a game, and more a measure of how skillful you are. Check out UK Betting Central to see what have to day about online poker.

It’s a game that’s often seen in old western movies. The cowboys lounge in chairs in a smoke-filled saloon, eyeing each other carefully and making calculated bets slowly. But of course, there’s more to poker than just that. Although the cinema image does illustrate the game’s abiding popularity if nothing else.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has this to say about the game:

Poker is a popular type of card game in which players bet on the value of the card combination (“hand”) in their possession, by placing a bet into a central pot. The winner is the one who holds the hand with the highest value according to an established hand rankings hierarchy, or otherwise the player who remains “in the hand” after all others have folded (the player who makes an un-called bet).

The thing to realise about poker if you’re not a player is that there is no single version of the game. There are many variations. Texas hold’em is arguably the most popular variation of poker, at least at the time of writing, but stud poker, draw poker, community card poker, and other versions, all have their place in the over game that is poker.

The origins of the game are unclear. It resembles a game played in Persia called as nas. Persian sailors were known to play it, and possible teach it to others, in New Orleans. However, an Irish game called Poca is the most likely source. It has much in common with the French game, brelan, from which the English game, brag, is descended.

Whatever the history of the game, poker is definitely here to stay. Check out this resource for some of the finest opportunities to play the game we all love.

If you are confident of your online poker“>online poker skills, a great way to put them to the test is to play single table tournaments. I prefer STTs to MTTs (multi-table tournaments) for the simple reason that it is much easier to take control of the game. Beginners tend to bet big early on in tournaments and if they get lucky, they can destroy you in a multi-table game. In an STT there are less variables and the chances of taking home the money from the online poker tournament are much higher.

The advantages of STTs as I see them are here:

I typically end an STT in under fifteen minutes, whether or not I win. An MTT may take several hours, which can be tough for some people to play. If you want a short session with very reasonable rewards, try a single table tournament in any of your favorite online poker rooms. If you are interested in learning more about online poker, please feel free to visit our website, UK Betting Central.