No country for poker players

A few nights ago, I was rail birding it,
(which means to sit and or stand and
a watch players play poker). It was
really interesting, mainly because the
players in the game were playing
pretty high stakes. It was a $5/$10 blind
table(pot limit). The hands were furious.
$300 or more average pot every hand.
To a novice like myself, I wasn't
intimated as much as I was becoming
frustrated. How could money be
thrown around in such away with out
much care. I say this because the
$10,000.00 that was on the table roughly
could have translated into a small
business to the average guy. I.E. me.
LOL. I know despicable right? Any way
I observed and I chatted at the table.
In a way I was much like these players.
I've risked probably just much as
they were risking and jabbing at them
telling them they were reckless. Hey,
I have been migrating from micro tables
to free rolls, and was now witnessing
complete and utter disasters. Any
normal individual would have thought
the same and maybe held there thoughts in.
I'm sure in some strange way I made some
points that were use full to those folks.
I couldn't have been a complete annoyance.
They could have ignored. They didn't. They
countered back and deservingly so. In a world
were money equals power, they were pretty
understanding and not snotty. I appreciated
that and it was a lesson learned. In the poker
world lessons, hit everyone and it becomes
a building block in your thought process. So
as time elapsed so did players. They disappeared
off the tables, some held strong. It was way into the
night 5:30 am or so. I ditched and went to bed.
Life changing amounts of money on a hand of poker,
seamlessly being dealt as I was dreaming of my big chance
of winning a tournament enough to be them one day.
Moral of the story. Take what you can get. Be who you
are. Respect is shared. Lessons are binding.

The dark side of "War"

I am talking about the card game kids. Not your mommy and daddy fighting in the kitchen about who cooks Christmas dinner and why the grandparents are coming so early.

You want to be a professional poker player or gambling player? To succeed is simple, as far as the gambling aspect, you must be a idiot and at times very compulsive, which usually only works 1 times out of 50. Like for instance if you would have bet on the Tampa Bay rays to make the world series, some Handicappers had the line set 100,000 to 1, so if you would have been extremely stupid and put 100 dollars, on them to win the AL, and just MAKE. the world series. You would now be living on a small island that you owned.

Okay, so here is my story, I consider myself to be as good as anyone at poker, however with a lot of room for improvement, I just mean I have sound fundamentals of the game and usually great timing on when and how to use them . I was playing sit and gos for like 8 hours. I ended up losing like 10 in a row, to weak players. I was just out of it, time to quit, I lost a lot.

So I go to Doyle's room Casino, which is a option always looming in the poker back ground. I look at the table games, and see "War". I started laughing because I played that in 3rd grade. Now just in case, you are well just a idiot, let me explain to you how it works. you get one card face up, they get one card face up. your card has to be bigger than their card(if it is: you win, if it's not: you lose). Okay. If the card ties, you lay 3 cards down on the table, and turn one up. Again your card must be better than their card, and you get all the money plus double the bet, if you tie a second time you win, table rules there.

Seems like a 50/50 game right? the house has a slight advantage of 6% or so, with ties.

Anyway I was lucky with my betting patterns, and ended up making 1100 dollars (going back on a hot steak at first won half that) in one hour. Not bad for a hour's worth of work, and it even surpasses any amount I have made as a poker professional in an hour.

So sometimes being stupid and throwing yourself out there, really pays off. However this was a pretty compulsive stupid thing to do. Now I realize my odds of going broke where very slim, I'd have to bet like a idiot. I do bet on sports from time to time, however, I usually do not play things out of the realm of skill.
Poker 90%, sports betting 10% that's it. Sure you only need to be lucky once if you gamble, but there is just no money involved in luck, because you cannot control it.

Now for those of you that think poker is a game of luck, you are massively retarded which is why, you will work 8 to 5 until death. For those of you that think Betting on sports is luck, you are just somewhat retarded, I'm not talking about mentally slow people, who cannot help it, that I love and respect so much. I mean you aren't legally retarded, as in you are a idiot.

The reason poker isn't luck? that can be proved with math, the reason sports betting isn't luck? it's no more luck than the stock market. If you were to bet 100 times on a team that would win 70 times out of 100 against another team, you would win in the long run, if you bet the same and also if you go against the betting public when they bet on a team over 79%, because the betting public loses in the long run to the house 55% of the time you would in in the long run, you see?. Also there is professional poker players, and sports betters, consider that as well.

So yeah, play games like war for fun, slot machines, why not. Sure I have 1100 dollars, and yes it was fun to win. However as a poker professional that was a move in the long run, that I would lose money on, I got very lucky and should be broke. You just can't be like that and expect to have success. Poker a game of skill gets you in enough trouble as in is.

So while it is okay to roll the dice once in awhile, with a marginal amount of money, win big, lose small. Without mental discipline and investing in games of skill, you go from cool poker professional to broke gambling addict pretty quick.
I mean everyone who plays poker seriously is addicted to it, usually for the mental warfare, almost like video games you get paid for but out of passion, not out of winning big that is just a plus.

So in closing don't do what I did at home, if you play emotionally out of anger, frustration ect. That leads to chasing loses, which leads to not being able to set limits, which leads to being a gambling addict.

Just say no, to compulsion and yes to skill.

Even though, I won and most people would be happy, if I ever ever let myself go off on another uncontrolled tilted gambling adventure again, I intend to quit poker for a year, as well as any other form of gambling cause I have a serious problem.

I think that may be why they have the casino link in the poker room. Smart business move to get poker players who go off on tilt, you know a spider catching a fly. Now you can't blame the good people at Doyle's room... you have to blame the flies for being stupid enough to get caught in the web. I won this time, next time......probably won't be so lucky.

Just be smart, like I Wasn't.

Do you think Online Poker is rigged?

Lets take a trip in my time machine, back to a few months ago. 60 minutes runs a special on ONE online poker site "Absolute Poker" and yes it is one of the online sites where I play, well mainly play, trust them 100% and Ubet.
Suddenly at my former security job, people were coming up to me acting like online poker experts...."You said you play online poker right? You going to quit playing now and finally get smart?".

Now normally my response to this would be to call them a idiot and walk off but I decided to try to hold out a intelligent Olive branch and try to have some Peace.
So I told them "Look.... yes there was a online user on Absolute poker who had a super account linked to the company, yes they/he/she stole millions of dollars and could see other players hole cards, yes Russ Hamilton a poker pro was behind it and his fat ass is in Vegas and was never brought to justice."

I usually like to start of agreeing with people, so they get a sense that I completely understand where they are coming from, then I will go ahead and prove my point.

"Did you not catch the part where everyone, who was stolen from got their money back with interest? Yes there were a lot of questions about how they could have handled this whole situation better at first, even denied it was possible at the start. However when the evidence was brought to light, it was handled very impressively, the player's money was given back with interest and Hamilton is now a outcast from poker, and black listed. Which is probably even worse than Jail time."

Usually when you say something that makes sense, people take a long time to search for something to say, really I think they were just trying to throw rocks at my glass house. People tend to label things and believe the first thing they hear when it comes to something they are not a part of. We will use tattoos for a example, when I did not have them and wasn't shaving my head, I got tons of job offers before the poker years, when I was in a band. Why because I blended in I was normal on the surface it was almost like mainstream society came up gave me a huge hug and said welcome to the family.
When I slowly morphed into the person I am today, the gap between them and myself in general became wider and wider.

Then I was accepted by a smaller group of people who were real. People at a few of my jobs, were asking me if I did or sold drugs, there was even a time when I was brought up as a suspect of destroying company machines. (which is all untrue of course no criminal record).

All of this came the more I became my real self, instead of trying to blend in. See none of the people who were putting these labels on me, had any tattoos, were into the music the band played, they had much different goals. Yet they were experts on how people with tattoos do drugs, guys with saved heads and tats have all done prison time,musicians are people who sleep around and cheat. You get the point I hope.

Online poker is the same deal, one bad example and suddenly everyone who doesn't play poker, or isn't a good poker is united that it is rigged. Or everyone who plays is a gambling addict (addicted to poker for sure).
You can search online, just search "(enter the poker site here) is rigged" you will find countless people complaining about how,THEY ARE ALL rigged, they lost to a bigger full house,lost with a straight flush to a royal flush, some stories are so utterly fantastic it is like listening to your drunk friend at the bar impressing a chick about his many years as a dolphin therapist.

All this can do is fuel the US congress ignorance even further, the only reason they are against this in the first place is they can't figure out a way to make decent money of it. Full tilt poker alone makes 40 billion dollars a year, combine the top sites together, it would most likely surpass 100 billion dollars.
Right now they have banished online poker players to the far ends of cyberspace with some states having harsh penalties that rival drug crimes....idiotic and all from playing a game.
For the cry babies who post all over the net about these sites are rigged, you need to realize you are either on a long bad run that happens, or you just plain suck.

In Vegas players get drunk and blame a dealer for the bad run of cards, I have heard these players call dealers assholes and cunts. Makes me sick, they should be knocked out. Online the "sites are rigged". I will give you a example of how a bad player thinks online poker is rigged, I will probably lose you non poker people out there because you probably barely know what hands beat what. So I will try to make this simple.

A player who has won a few cash games, against friends gets online and thinks he can really play poker, that he is really really good (all poker players think they are better than they really are, even the great ones).
From first position (meaning first person to act) they have K J of clubs this player raises it up, one person in late position calls. The flop comes 10 Q A the bad, house game player thinks "Oh yeah baby hit a straight" So he bets the person in late position calls, the turn card is a 10. So the person with K J is betting big time, the person in late position goes all in K J calls, person in late position has AA giving him a full house Aces full of 10's the river is a dud because K J is drawing dead. He complains how online poker is rigged blah blah blah how it is a set up hand.

Lets break this down, K J, played a average hand in horrible position, he simply should have folded the hand, so what do we have him doing wrong already? Him over valuing cards. He hits the flop gets very lucky suck out against AA, he keeps betting not even taking into consideration what the other player likely has. Turn card is a 10, the best hand before the flop AA won. Again the player who played a average hand in early position not thinking about what the other player has bets out and the player with the full house makes the money off the weaker player. That is how poker works over time, if the donkey would have laid down the average hand like he was suppose to, never would have occurred but then again Pros and better players do not want him too.

Just a example really, or guys who lose with AA, who go all in pre flop which just how it works sometimes. AA doesn't mean it can't be beat, it just means you will probably win between 75% to 90% of the time depending on the hand match up of course.

So in closing anything over time, is going to have some bad things happen, no matter if it is your job or online poker and someone who isn't good at something or is unlucky is going to try and blame anything rather than accepting they are either unlucky or dare to accept the fact...they aren't as good as they think they are.
While there are some smaller sites out there, like any business that simply cannot be trusted and will screw you over, like any business good and bad ones.

The large and medium big name online poker sites are not rigged or set up, if you think so you are only 1 of 3 kinds of people. 1. you believe whatever you see on T.V or read. You are a dumb ass who doesn't play poker or you are just conservative and or your mommy and daddy had a gambling addiction. 2. You are a complete idiot who doesn't realize you are just being unlucky so you should quit poker and take the time to be a chess professional where no luck is involved 3. You are a bad poker player, a donkey, a fish. You need to believe your poker game is great because your life sucks, and you are in a dead end job. You need to quit and do what you can to better your life or tell me online where you play so I can take your money. Don't worry I'll spend it wisely : )

Oh and I wanted to set the record straight about Absolute poker, because I have read if you are in America it is really hard to get customer service here, and never by phone. You are all full of shit.
My first deposit which was only 100 dollars to test out, was mainly to check out the site, play some poker, black jack to pass the time, then invest thousands in my account. I am happy with the results and here is why.
My first deposit Absolute poker called me about 5 seconds later and I talked to Tom, he wanted to make sure all my information was correct, my credit card and everything was legit, he was like a long lost buddy on the phone and wished me a lot of luck. I know for a fact that Poker Stars and Full Tilt do not do this, and if they did sure would not do it for someone who deposited 100 dollars.

I know cause the last year I have put thousands of dollars on full tilt and poker stars.
You might be thinking Hey big deal, so what? Just a used car salesmen line.
I won a Pot limit Omaha tournament my second night on there, finished first out of 31.
I get a email from Absolute Poker saying I need to contact their security department by phone (toll free number). They wanted to make sure I was legit, went over the details of my account one more time, and it was great to see a company that would go in detail like that. So that is two personal phone calls in a matter of days.
I can promise you full tilt and poker stars does not do that.

There were two players, being overly rude on full tilt, and working together on a cash game Omaha table. I sent a email to support, pasted the logs, told them I thought it might be a team game. Another player did as well I was not alone.
Well 4 weeks later I still haven't heard anything back I know they got my email as well, amazingly the cashier department was right there to make sure my money got in and out okay, through email no hands on voice customer service.
I'm not saying Full Tilt is a bad place to play, In fact I think if you are a high roller that is the only place to play online mainly based on the Omaha 2000/4000 blinds. Honestly I get the feeling they are almost too busy to get back to medium and low level players.

So yeah Absolute is a great place to play, the people are great, the players are much nicer and respectful on there, then on the bigger two. They have cleaned the pest who was the insider and now they provide one of the best experiences online, along with Ubet. When it comes to online Poker. Be sure to click on our links and sign up for these great sites today.
People who post to complain on the net are just losing players(I would say 9 out of 10 times).

Thanks for reading kids.

A random poker insight

Online poker schools, damn them to hell.....

Full Tilt poker, got this idea to open up a free online poker school, all you have to do is have a account and sign up for free.
Cool, they don't care because they get rake anyway. If you are new to online poker, or have alot of leaks, I will be the first to tell you...this school will make you a better player. There is the problem right there, us lower level internet pros get screwed.

3 months ago, the games on full tilt were really lose, at the lower limits, very very easy to beat. Sit and gos, heck no problem. Once in awhile you would find yourself heads up for first place against another decent player, it made it fun.

Then about a month ago, I started to see, the games start to tighten up....slowly but surely, I found myself grinding it more, burning myself out. Waiting 4 hours of stealing pots, to hit a decent hand to make my money and leave.

I thought probably just at the lower levels, let me go to micros. Even though those games are easy to beat, the micro fish on full tilt started to tighten up as well.

I am talking penny games, 9/9 people, with a flop rate of 21% a hour. I mean it was very sick, then the light came on, if the micro fish are getting better, damn they all are. Just makes my job harder and the hours longer. Not hard as in, I can't beat them, more like hard as in, I really don't want to spend 12 hours at low stakes making money and that is if there isn't any suck outs. Rocks and calling stations folks.

Thank the poker schools, poker stars is now doing the same thing. Back in the good old days people would watch poker on tv, watch D nag making some rousing speech how, poker is like hockey, if you practice you can win at poker stars. All these chumps came online, there was this nice influx of horrible, to semi horrible players. (I like playing the semi horrible players much better, they are just stupid enough not to annoy me).

Not as many fish now, they all at least know something about poker. Thanks to online poker school....that's right. Another reason for the sudden tightness and the rock like players? We have lost that new influx of poker players, because of all the UIGA, that 60 minute special, also the economy slightly.

There is money to be made on those big sites do not get me wrong, it is just a little bit harder and time consuming now.

Euro players lower level, tend to be better omaha players than americans, worst vs worst players, but holdem, the oposite is true. Now I am not saying all Euros can't play holdem, I AM SAYING, a horrible player over there, is worse than a horrible player over here, 70% of the time at holdem. Make sense?

To find that easy easy easy money, you will have to drift away from the bigger poker sides, play the medium ones that don't have poker schools. You'd be suprised at the lower levels how easier it is to be on Absolute Poker, and UB. Especially after playing on tilt and stars at that level, you will smile see the holes and tell yourself "Now there is the fish I remember."

The lower you go the more fish,Carbon poker family sites and the cake networks, Doyle's room, Sportsbook poker, US bet, Players Only. All have very very weak players. I mean the 0.5/0.10 players on full tilt are better than some of the 1/2 players on those networks on average. Easy easy money. Also you will have to become a vampire, it is a euro donk fest in these smaller sites at these levels. Holdem is just the second game over there, Omaha is the number one game. I was in london last year, trust me I know. They give away their money, as do the late night horrible america players. (Again not saying euros can't play, saying the fish over there are easier to catch) also keep in mind with the cake networks, Another great advantage is their fair game policy, which means they do not allow any third party software while playing. Great advantage right there for you, why? They are flying blind!

Why grind it on the bigger sites, where everyone at least knows something, when you make easy money on the other ones. In tourneys I want to play against the worlds best! In cash games, my favorite game is whatever I am better at than the others at the table. So untill america decided what they want to do with internet poker, and the poker sites you see alot of tv, keep teaching these fish a thing or two. It might be best to pull some vampire poker sessions, and look for easier money, unless you like a good grind for money that is sometimes not worth it.

You want play cash level poker talent. Raider poker, and Gohard poker, have to be the worst cash game players I have ever seen. If you are a average player, or even below average player, you will play the role of phil ivey over there. The tournaments usually have under 100 people on the vampire shifts and are easy to beat. the traffic is around 300 to 150 people at night here in the states. Even during the day you may see 1,000 people on these sites. the buy in tournaments 10 dollars and over, sometimes get under 50 people in them, for 4,000 dollar tournaments. I seen a 10,000 dollar tourney played the other night 50 dollar buy in. That had 36 people in it. Players at any level have to realize, this is a goldmine. If you spend any amount of decent time on tilt or poker stars. You can beat these games.

So in closing, go the the mid, lower mid, and lower, traffic sites, the players aren't as educated on average, aren't as good, and better yet, you will make more money per hour in cash games, beat sit and gos more than seem normal, and have a good chance to pull in a decent cash.
Get a decent bank roll cash out, go back to the bigger sites, and grind it out on levels, that are worth your time.

Be sure, if you don't have a account, to use our links to sign up for these sites. I promise you there is dead money on these sites, and if you don't think so, you need to work on your game and go back. The dead money isn't leaving them.


El Donko

Welcome to Feltfanatics

Why did we build this site? Simple the love of poker and wanting to embrace those who share the same passion.Everything on the site wasn't paid for be a poker room, a dying family member, or a poker magazine. Management put this together out of thier own pockets, because they wanted to create a fun, unique online poker community.If you think "oh rich guys have to have a hobby" you are competely wrong. Just regular people who work hard, who put this idea together to create the most rich, friendly, informative poker forum online. I am not going to mention names of any other forums, but many times(Not all) there are really only two options out there. For you new players out there. If you are new to the game and a forum here is option A.) get a few anwsers and every other post, have some guy who has posted over 1,000 times call you a idiot newbie donk and leave. the last option: you are someone who knows the in and outs of the game, yet have a question, about a hand, poker problem, poker room ect, Option B.) Get a few more anwsers, followed by people who post way to much and say how horrible you played a hand, or how you are a donk. The good news? Hey! you posted a hand history so you might not be labeled as a newbie.You won't find that in this forum, what you are going to find here is a very intelligent honest people, great freerolls, interesting chat, and sharing advanced poker tips for free. The reward? making you a better player, plain and simple.