Lady Saw Poker Journal

Poker is growing everywhere in the world and its growth is nothing short of phenomenal. Poker has in just a very short while left its bastions of the dark and secluded and come into the light of the internet world wide community. People from all over the world and all walks of life now see and play poker openly as a sport in its own right, to be respected and accepted by all around. Few places is the more apparent than the United Kingdom. Internet Poker Rooms have taken it by storm and the citizens of the UK are dancing in the rain.

To be sure there are online poker rooms in the UK, there are online poker rooms everywhere. That being said let’s talk about the pull back your chair and sit down style of United Kingdom poker. There is a website as ironic as it may be that caters to getting people to sit down and play offline. Basically this is like a dating site for poker players, they let you come on line and reach out to other poker players in hopes of finding and sitting in on a real game. The one where you are not in front of a screen, you can smell the cigar smoke and see the look of fear in the eyes of the man across from you. That type of poker.

UKPokerbuddies.com is where you need to visit; it’s a good start anyway. These people can set you up with small local groups who want to find another player or if you want to try something a bit larger they can set you up with a league. Many of these leagues travel and hold their games in local pubs. Now isn’t that convenient. Point in fact many local pubs have their own poker clubs. Pub poker is a mainstay in The UK with all the online play and tournament news there are still real leagues out there where people can sit down together and enjoy an evening of poker. I think this just goes to show the place poker holds in the hearts of the people of the United Kingdom.

Maybe I can illustrate what I am trying to convey about the game of poker in the UK. On the website of Ukpokerbuddies.com there is a map where they show the locations of all the games and players you can connect with in hopes of getting in a game. There is a marker placed wherever a poker buddy can be found. Seriously, you cannot see the map itself for all the markers.

The United Kingdom is serious about its poker. There are magazines and websites devoted solely to UK poker playing. There are tournaments designed just for the UK players and another was created just recently that combined the UK and Ireland players. Tournament play is not the only game in town; there are amateur leagues for those players who just enjoy a good game with friends. Poker in the United Kingdom has a life of its own and is growing every day.

With poker babe Annie Duke and professional players Jeffery Pollack heading the League, the future of pro poker seems all set to capture global attention from fans like the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) have done so far.

Steadily being considered a regular sport as opposed to the hobby game it was a few decades ago, thanks to corporate sponsorships, huge amounts of tournament winnings and lots of benefits including all expense paid luxury vacations, luxury cars and endorsement deals for poker stars, it was only a matter of time that poker got its own league too. The Las Vegas Sun paper reported a short while back on this latest development in the world of pro poker – that of the new league associated with professional poker games being pitched as the “PGA Of Poker!!”

Poker babe, Annie Duke, heads the FullTilt Pro Poker League as its new Commissioner; it will comprise only pro players who will play according to a strict set of new guidelines if they want to retain their player’s card in the League. These cards will have a fixed membership period of 2, 3 or 5 years. Annie Duke also announced at the time the news report was made up that less than 10 lifetime membership cards would be given out for the poker tour and that these would be applicable for legendary players who have enjoyed unmatched success in the game, like Doyle Brunson.

The formation of the Pro Poker League was done by Federated Sports and Gambling Inc., a privately owned company and Jeffrey Pollack, the erstwhile WSOP Commissioner who is also one of the founders and chairman of this company. Pollack announced to the media that membership in the league formed by his company would mean a certain professional standing being acknowledged for the poker player it was bestowed on and that the league would also apply strict terms for selection.

There would be 200 invites sent out by the League to various professional players, based on a specific formula which would use account finishes for major live poker events as a criterion for judging qualifying players. Other criteria used for selecting qualifying players by the formula would be their money earnings and their recent tourney history.

Pollock also confirmed to the Associated Press representatives that results of cash games and various Full Tilt Poker internet poker game wins would not be used as a measure to judge eligibility of the players for the League.

A name for the new poker league was not declared but the organizers did go on record to say that they were planning to hold 4 regular season events that would be designed to help qualifying players participate in a Freeroll Championship totaling $1 million. This final event was slated to be held in Las Vegas later in 2011 at the famed Palms Casino Resort.

Annie Duke ended the press conference on a note of positive prediction for the League, voicing her feelings about fans having showed their love for the game over the years for the poker stars by really enjoying watching them on television and making it clear that she thought the players should get some payback for providing entertainment.

Nowadays, poker has become not just a game but more of a culture. This game has grown into wide popularity due to its fun and excitement factors. While some may see it as a simple card game, many regard it as a way of life that has its own sort of etiquettes. If you have been watching poker players on table, you might notice that they seem to follow a set of unknown rules. These are often seen in their way of playing on FullTiltPoker.net and dealing with other players. For starter poker players, it is important that you consider some of the basic etiquettes while on the poker table. These rules may vary depending on the type of casino, the crowd and the skill level of poker players. Here are some of the best tips from an expert poker player.

1. Remember that once you sit on the poker table, other players assume that you will play until the last drop thus you must never call out of turn. This can affect the whole game and the fortunes of other players.

2. You should never reveal your card even after you call off the round. Discard your hand at the lowest level possible so that no one can have the chance to see your cards.

3. Always keep your cards at the table in front of you. Never bring it closer to your body or keep hidden beneath the table. Other players consider these acts as ignorance.

4. In opening the card, simply lift the upper portion with your thumb while the other fingers are laid on its body. This prevents revealing its face to other players.

5. Chips should always be placed in front of you. Never place them on your pocket or elsewhere. You will look ignorant if your chips are scattered around the table or are hidden somewhere.

6. Avoid making any comments about the online poker game and how your peers play. Some players consider it rude and distracting when someone on the table keeps on speaking.

7. Never show untoward behaviors against the dealer. Throwing cards or verbally insulting the dealer is totally unforgivable. Remember that the dealer does not hold your luck.

8. By no means should you raise any disputes or discussions while the game is on. It is irritating to hear discussions on the last hand or other previous hands.

9. If you want to show someone how good a card you had, you must also reveal your cards to all other players. However, it is never recommended to reveal your cards even after the hand because it can make your strategy explicit for all other players.

10. Forget about friendships once the cards are dealt. This is especially true if you are fond slow playing then checks whenever it is your friends turn. Aside from making the field biased, it is also discourteous to make the table run in favor of few people.

These are just some of the common party poker cultures that all newbie players need to go with. By regularly playing this card game, you will soon get by with the poker culture. Even poker champions themselves follow this silent code.

Poker is not just a game. It can even be a lucrative way to earn big. If you know how to effectively manage your bankroll, you’ll definitely head into gaining more, and when I say more money that’s really big. Wonder how? Read through every bit of this article and you’ll surely play poker better. Here are some of the expert tips on how you will big in poker.

1. Set a bankroll limit.

Most PokerStars.com players tend to lose because of poor bankroll management. It is rather common for players to play at different seasons in just single night thinking that they might have the luck if they try for one more time. On the contrary, poker champions would tend to hold back every time they see that the god of luck is not on their side. This allows them to save their bankroll for a new deck. In the end, they find a tempo that favors them. Whether you are playing online poker or at casinos, this strategy proves to work a long way.

2. Know when to fold.

It would be best to know the hierarchy of cards. Of course poker players know every card combination and they even know this better than their friend’s birthdays. However, there are some tricks in the different card decks. If you have at least one ace on hand, you are sure to win big. Ace cards often give you the chance to make convincing bluffs. However, you need to be careful with overdoing the bluff. Don’t let your entire budget roll into the ante as this will cause you big. Once someone, bids higher and your ace does not look good, you need to draw out of the game. This will ensure that you will stay longer in the game.

3. Know your opponent’s cards.

This might sound impossible especially in the way players are seated around the table. However, this does not mean that you need to peep through your opponent’s deck of cards to know exactly what’s on hand. In fact, expert poker players have that knack on knowing what cards have landed on their opponents and what their bets mean. This becomes easier as you get to deeper into the deck and the bets are being played. Remember that there are only 52 cards in the standard Ultimate Bet deck therefore after the cards are spread you are left with around 30 more cards. By this time, guessing is still a challenge. To add more, players will have lots of bluffs and bring you over a disadvantaged edge. Knowing the cards of your opponents can be easily done by comparing their successive bets and how it fairs with the cards on the table. The higher the player bets, the more chances that the cards are better than yours. You can bluff anytime along the game but never overdo with bluffing. It is a devious strategy that poker champions are very wary of using. A great way of playing is to play slowly; you do it by betting small amounts despite a high probability card. This way, other players are lured to bluff higher. In the end you win a large pot.

Poker is a game not just of luck but more of psychological and mathematical prowess, something you will develop with practice. To win big, you need be smart at every turn of the deck.

When people think of poker cheats, I believe the first thing that comes to most people’s minds is a way to count the cards, or have stats calculated for you. This does exist, is cheating and does up your odds. But the most advanced form of poker cheating software is a bot that can play for you instead. It is still being argued whether or not a bot has the advantage over a human player. I believe it does and here is why.

Bots have no emotions. A human player gets nervous, can be intimidated, and can get over confident. Even the professional poker players you see have to work to hide their emotions. If they could do it as well as a computer you wouldn’t see players in sunglasses, sweatshirts with hoods and they’d carry on a conversation with their fellow gamblers. A bot studies your style of play, and can easily manipulate your own emotions against you.

A University of Alberta research group created VexBot in 2003. They tested it against professional expert player Phil Laak. Phil played against VexBot and was successful. Phil beat the bot, though Phil himself does say he had quite a bit of luck on his side that day. The research group went home and tweaked their bot, adding more features and a better program. In 2005 Phil and the bot had a rematch.

Phil Laak, who studied PokerStars Cheats and thought he could win, went up against the savvy bot in a game that ended less then three hours later. Even this professional player, who knew the bot was studying him, eventually gave up a pattern. Once the bot detected it, the bot became quite aggressive in its own style of play. This professional gambler who spent hours studying the bot and knowing that he was playing a bot, still lost. What chance does that give a regular hobbyist player when coming against a bot online? I don’t believe the odds are very good.

Granted, a bot this advanced isn’t available to the online poker player as of yet. However spend just a moment looking online and you will find some bots that promise to be almost as good. Their claims have not been tested yet, and no, you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet. But the fact is, the software is out there, and does exist.

The other thing is, a human player gets better over time. They learn with experience, the more they play, the more hands they see, the more they will learn. Take a lifetime of studying and playing poker, and a bot player can have that kind of knowledge in under a day. They have unlimited time to download hands, to study the odds and then have a one hundred percent accuracy rating at recalling the information.

Be careful when pulling out a credit card to gamble online. If you can look at it as a means of entertainment, and you are okay with loosing the hundred dollars, then by all means have fun. However if this is your source of income, and you are playing for the money to pay your mortgage you may want to think twice about who you are playing. It is very possible another player out there, is simply watching TV, having a shower, or even sleeping, while letting a bot run the program and take your money.

Sexism exists everywhere and it’s not just men. Women can get very sexist too when discussing men, or the best example is the fact that there are women’s only tournaments but no one would dare run a men’s only tournament. However this article is going to be about men being sexist against women playing poker, and the pros and cons of this sexism to women.

Two facts: Women (as a rule) are more emotional then men, women are just biologically engineered that way. Women are also raised that way, its okay to cry and share feelings, while men are taught that it is not. Second fact, men do not multitask as well as women. The stem in the brain that communicates between the left and right hemisphere is just simply smaller in men. These are not sexist statements; they are facts, now onto how to use these facts.

While there are some men out there, who view it as everyone is equal; there are those that get quite aggressive when they get the FullTiltPoker.net download and start playing. These men assume that a woman will get emotional easily. That they will cry or be scared if intimidated. These men do not want to lose to a woman in anything, especially not anything that was once viewed as a man’s sport. These players are called ego players. The ego player will attack everything you do. You can not bluff against him; he will certainly call you on it. No matter your hand, he’s going to try to win. However, the advantage is, no matter his hand, he’s going to try to win. Even with a losing hand, he’s going to try to intimidate you into folding. Play your good hands out for a high winning round, and be sure not to play with hands you can not win.

Simply, chatting while playing is also an advantage. The assumption is that you are obviously a weaker player. If you were serious, you would be concentrating. They assume this, because men as a rule can talk and concentrate. This is a great benefit, because in assuming you are weak, they will try to either take advantage of you, or cheat you. You can study their style of play easier then if they assumed you knew what you were doing. Just keep chatting away, about anything you like to increase your chances of winning.

Of course there are women like Vanessa Rousso who dress seductively just to have the advantage, and whether or not you agree with that strategy it does work but men do it too. There is a style play called the flirt player. This player just likes that there is something prettier to look at then the usual guys. Maybe he thinks he can distract you by his charm, but more often, this guy actually wants your phone number or a night up in the hotel suite with you. He is very busy charming you, but make no mistake he is playing poker as well. This style of player probably won’t raise your bet. He probably won’t even call your bet; you can have some fun bluffing (carefully of course) with this player. However, if he does raise your bet, fold. He has a winning hand for sure.

Be careful though, that men knowing these stereotypes don’t use reverse psychology to try to gain the upper hand. Sexism goes both ways ladies.

Lady Saw born as Marion Hall, is a Jamaican reggae singer born in Saint Marie, Jamaica. The daughter of a farmer/fisherman and a domestic house worker is the middle child out of nine children. The whole family lived with her grandma in a one room house. The family was very poor and struggling to survive, with even the children doing whatever they could to help get money for food. The whole family picked various nuts and fruits to sell at the local market, and Marion would work as a domestic worker, as did her mother, in trade for food and clothing.

As female reggae artist trying to make it in a male dominated world, Marion Hall was not dissuaded. First taking the name Lady Saw as a tribute to the well known deejay Tenor Saw, and then writing lyrics as full as sexual innuendos as any man could (called Slack), Lady Saw caught the attention of both fans and critics. The controversy that has followed the once mistaken for a boy, choir girl has been quite extensive. The reggae star feels the judgment is unfair. Lady Saw has been quoted dismissively saying “A lot of men do it, and nothing comes of it.

Her second album titled “Give me a Reason” includes a song titled “What is Slackness?” firing back at those who throw stones at her. This bad girl accused political lies and corruption to be much more “slack” then she is. The controversy continued into 1994 being banned from many Jamaican parishes and newspapers and onto eventually criminal charges. In 2001 along with Rodney Price (also known as Bounty Killer) she was sentenced to 240 hours of public service after being charged and found guilty of breaking the laws governing public lewdness.

Lady Saw has said she has tried to calm down the lyrics and performances, but her fans demand what they have come to know and love about her. They want Lady Saw to be what she has created. She knows her fans are why she even exists and she says she will continue to please them. So far her theory has worked; in 2003 she became the first female reggae artist to ever win a Grammy. She won the Grammy for Best Group or Duo for her performance on No Doubt’s single “Underneath it All.” She is also the first woman to headline shows outside of Jamaica. She seems to have her career just taking off, with an award recently in 2011 for Video of the Year from Youth View Awards.

She quickly will proclaim Lady Saw and Marion Hall are not the same person. The girl that she is offstage has been reported as homely and loving, a far cry from the sexual blatant woman that is Lady Saw. After watching Lady Saw’s videos though, I find them no worse then many of our North American pop stars, the difference being only that Lady Saw isn’t twenty years old living in Canada or the United States. Obviously her critics have never seen Lady Gaga.