Anna Nicole Smith posed naked for Golden Palace Casino

Golden Palace online casino has always been known for outrageous marketing techniques and publicity stunts. Their latest is drawing mixed opinions from every corner of the globe. A nude, gold-painted Anna Nicole Smith.

Anna Nicole Smith was a spokesperson for Golden Palace prior to her untimely death in 2007. She had done a photo shoot with Golden Palace that featured her completely naked with GoldenPalace.com stenciled on her pregnant belly. She was pregnant with her, now, 5 year old daughter (Dannielynn). Right after the photo shoot, Anna Nicole's son died, and the planned release of the photos and a new online Anna Nicole Slot game was shelved.

While the release of the photos has brought as much negative opinion as it has positive, it is definitely bringing about what Golden Palace wanted. Lots of attention and traffic to their brand.

The nude photos are displayed at the Golden Palace Website

Related: Golden Palace Bonus

The New Poker Landscape - 2011 Comes to an End

For USA poker players, 2011 is by far, the worst year ever. Many of us have money still owed to us by Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and UB.com. Even worse, the events of April 15, 2011 and the months following cost many full time poker grinders their livelihood. Some estimate that as a result of the US Dept. of Justice moving against online poker, that over 50,000 professional online poker players were left without a job.

So where is the silver lining? For USA poker players, Bodog has been one of the most popular. They still accept USA players, though they plan to split the USA player base off of their main site at the beginning of 2012. That will likely result in a new USA poker brand. For now, USA players can still take advantage of a free Bodog Poker bankroll. $25 account, no deposit required.

AmericasCardroom (formerly Doyles Room) is another USA friendly site that is growing quickly. They are one of the best when it comes to speedy deposits and cashouts. They have launched some popular promotions to coincide with the time of year. Right now, players can participate in freerolls that award seats into huge guaranteed tourneys. The value of the freerolls come to a total of $45,000. Source: AmericasCardroom Holiday Freerolls

For poker players in other countries that do not have nanny-state governments, there are a host of options. Online poker continues as normal.

As 2011 comes to a close, USA poker players continue to hope for legal and regulated online poker. There is a great chance that 2012 might be the year. Many of the big name brick and mortar casinos are ready and waiting to enter the online poker industry.

So this blogger is crossing his fingers for a better 2012. May we all get our money back from Full Tilt, etc., and all have a nice, safe and regulated place to play cards soon!

USA online poker thoughts for 2011

For anyone remotely involved in online poker, whether playing or affiliating, this has been a horrible year. Poker Stars, Full Tilt, Absolute Poker / UB.com all leaving the USA online poker market was a kick in the nuts. Doyles Room and TruePoker following on their heels, as well as the closure of Quicktender (the last 'good' deposit/withdrawal option for USA players), was equivalent to spitting on us while we were on the ground gasping from the aforementioned ball busting. A few quick thoughts in light of all this, come to mind.

What is our current situation? Not horrible if you are a recreational player. Carbon Poker, Bodog and Cake Poker all still accept USA players. Cake and Carbon (Merge network), all have a ton of skins with competing VIP deals, bonuses and rakeback to choose from.

For those of us with money on Absolute/UB or Full Tilt, we are still waiting and hoping to get our money from the sites. Absolute and UB.com look pretty bleak. They are doing their best to stay afloat, it appears, and can't afford to pay USA balances with what little bit of liquidity they have. Full Tilt is in much better shape, and if one believes "TonyG" (owner of PokerNews.com and one of Full Tilt's biggest affiliates), then we could all be seeing payments arranged within a week or two.

For affiliates, it all depends on how much exposure you had to the 'big three'. In our case, it was a LOT. I'm still working though, and the bills are getting paid, so I should count my blessings.

Where are we going from here? I had a conversation with an affiliate manager within just a day or two after 'black friday' and he said that according to his 'in the know' sources, strings are being pulled behind the scenes that will result in legal regulated online poker very soon. "Months", not "Years". Sure enough, Nevada has passed an online gaming bill that will allow them to be regulators if gambling is legalized on a federal level. A new pro-online gambling bill was introduced on the GOP side of the aisle this month. The brick and mortar casinos have all magically changed their opinions on online gaming to "yes, we think it would be good for our land based businesses". Finally, Jon Kyle himself, the biggest stick in the mud when it comes to online poker, seems to have softened his stance against online poker.

Final thought? Though the words "legal online poker in the USA" gives me an instant surge of excitement, it is immediately followed by a surge of throw up in my mouth at how this country is ran. I'm not usually the paranoid type, but it sure does look like there are a few power brokers in the country who pretty well pull the strings.

There is a thread on twoplustwo forums that prior to April 15th, I wouldn't have given the time of day. Neither would most of the people who have replied in the 18 pages of posts. It's basically investigating who is behind the April 15th shut down of the big three, and why. I've been eating it up of late. It's long and you won't be able to browse naked websites at the same time, but if you have time, it's worth reading and considering: Ceasers and Wynn ties to organized crime.

So bottom line, whoever is running the show (and it dang sure ain't Obama), should have some dirty poker games for us to play very soon. Yay.

Sports Betting - I got smoked

So I was the first to lose my $100. Danno still has ~$50, and same for Bryan. I obviously did not follow my own bankroll management tips. After you get down to say, $50, then playing 5% per game is a whopping $2.50. Blah. I basically did a double or nothing strategy with my last $30 or so and lost.

That being said, I did learn a lot about odds, lines, and the sports betting industry in general. Fun stuff. I ended up loading some more cash on another sports site. (Carib Sports). The reason I didn't reload at Bodog is because they don't post their lines until Tuesday or later, and even then, they don't post lines for many games, no moneylines, etc. - It really bites to see a line that you feel you have a good edge, but you can't bet it because it's not listed. By the time Bodog lists it, the line has moved so that it's no longer a good bet.

The thinking is pretty simple. The sports book's goal is to have equal betting on both teams in the contest. So the opening line is set to do just that... induce betting on both sides. So if the game is a big mismatch in team talent or a very popular team vs an unknown, the line will usually be a bit inflated on the side of giving points to the underdog/unknown. If you can catch that line as soon as it comes out, you can usually take the underdog with points, and have a good shot at a winning bet.

Though sometimes the line can move favorably, in most cases this season, I would find myself annoyed at Bodog because by the time they had posted the game, the line had moved unfavorably, relative to the bet I wanted to make.

Anyway. Sports betting rocks. Maybe I'll get back to poker in 2011.

Sports Betting Race

Bryan (bmetz), myself and Danno (atlantisdan) are going to do a sports betting competition for NFL / College. We will each deposit $100 to say, Bodog, and then bet as many college or NFL games as we want. Whoever has the biggest Sports bankroll at the end of the NFL/College season, wins. The two losers pay the winner $25 each, so another $50 for winning.

So what strategy to use? Obviously, there are the usual sports betting money management systems out there. The only problem is, small bets probably won't keep pace if one of the other two hit some lucky streaks with larger bets. The last thing I want is to be faced with dropping huge bets on any one game to catch up.

This almost reminds me of a blackjack tournament, where your bet size and position are the two main ingredients to success. Position won't matter here, because none of us will really know the games that the others are betting. We'll have to do a weekly bankroll report or something, so we know who is in the lead.

Should be fun. Betting horses, sports or playing craps is so much less stressful than poker. Casino games especially, you know you are behind on every bet and an underdog. You're just hoping to get lucky a few times. Compare that to say, consistently getting money in with a 60%/40% lead and getting sucked out on incessantly. Since you know you are supposed to win the majority of those, it's incredibly frustrating when you hit the run where every flip goes against you.

Moral? Play craps or blackjack at a 1% or less house advantage. You'll lose a buck for every $100 wagered, on average and if you win in a session, it feels great. If you lose, well, you expected to, so no harm done.

I'll get back to poker in the short term. I got top level Iron Man at Full Tilt in August (200+ points per day for the first 25 days), so I'm a bit poker burnt out.

Dinner with the Legend, Doyle Brunson!

No, I didn't get to have dinner with Doyle, but I did think the promotion up, so I get creativity points right? Evidently it made an impression on the OFC guys. I'll make a special place for those creativity points, right beside my sklansky dollars. I've got quite a collection of both!

In all seriousness, I just wanted to give a thumbs up and welcome home to Mike (MJCACE), who took down our Dinner with Doyle promotion and won a weekend in Vegas and dinner with the legend himself. Besides Doyle, there were other pros there, including Todd Brunson, Pam Brunson, and some Brunson 10 legends. Mike even came back with more money than he took. Who leaves Vegas "up"? Impressive!

You can read all about it on MJCACE's Blog. The Vegas Trip report is just south of the Summer Trip Report. Ahh, the life of a guy who earns his bill money fishing at Full Tilt, Cake and Absolute Poker!

Congrats again Mike and hope to see you in our next poker promo!

Paradise Poker - Bonus Bump

It's interesting to think back to 2002 when I first checked out online poker and Paradise Poker was the king. They and Pacific Poker were the sites I first downloaded and played the 'play money' tables. Over the years, Paradise really eroded as they didn't bother updating their software to include things like tournaments. Can you imagine a poker room not offering tournaments now?? That feet dragging plus events like the UIGEA really hurt their player base.

At any rate, Paradise is doing their best to reclaim market share. They joined the International Poker Network (IPN)a couple of years ago. This network is also referred to as the BOSS network by old timers. It's not open to USA players, but for non-USA players it's a good player population with loose games.

Their affiliate backend is undergoing some changes, and that is resulting in positive changes for the players. Paradise now offers our members and visitors a 200% up to €1000 plus 30% rakeback. That's a hard deal to beat on a network with such loose games.

If you haven't checked out IPN/Boss network rooms in awhile, they are growing. Start with the best bonus code: Paradise Poker Bonus Code

Bad Bankroll Management

Oops. So I took my meager $700 roll to the $5/$10 7 card stud hi and hi/lo games at Full Tilt, simply because they were too good to pass up. Not to mention, bonus clears really well at that level, and I had $400 courtesy of a Full Tilt promotion.

Eh, well, donked through all $700 before the weekend was over and am playing on 'company money' right now. (We tend to always have a nice balance in our poker accounts to do rakeback prepayments and such). So bad bankroll management cost me.

I think Poker Stars $5/$10 game would better suit me because of the ante structure rewarding tight play. I'm a nit. The $5/$10 game at FTP has a $1 ante and $1.50 bringin. As you can imagine, if you can limp in and nobody completes, you can literally limp with just about any hand. This kills me in hi/lo because I'm still weak in that game, so limping with marginal hands end up costing me more money.

Good news is, I've got less than $100 left of bonus to clear and 2 weeks to clear it. Here's hoping I don't drop another $700 clearing that $100 bonus. :)

I've gotta say, it's interesting to play at the same tables as Keith Sexton, Cindy Violette, etc. - It also tells me that they obviously find something profitable in those tables. Maybe it's my bankroll? Hmm... I wonder if Keith and Cindy have FTP execs call them anytime I sit down at $5/$10. After last weekend, I could hardly blame them. Dinner was on me, for a LOT of players!

New "exclusive" bonuses at Poker-Strategy.org

We picked up a couple of new exclusive bonus codes in the past month that I would like to share here. Both are non-USA sites, unfortunately, but these are good options for the rest of the world.

The first one is a PokerTime Promo Code. The bonus code gives you a $10 no deposit bonus. $10 cash, no deposit needed, free cash to check out the tables. Then if you decide to deposit, they will follow that up with a 150% up to $600 matching deposit bonus. That smokes the 100% up to $500 default code advertised on PokerTime.Com

Next up is a new site - Winner.Com. This is a new site that features a full casino as well as poker room, with plans for lots of other gaming action in the future. This is a great domain name to include all kinds of things including sports betting and skill games, bingo etc. Our Winner Poker Coupon Code awards a 100% up to $500 bonus, compared to the default 100% up to $200 that you get by going through their default bonus.

For more details on either, click the links above. These are straightforward bonuses. They're just much better than the default offers by the poker rooms. It's amazing the extra value one can get just by browsing a bit, eh?

The ol' poker bug bites me again!

The last month I played poker was the last month I updated this blog. Surprise, surprise, surprise as old Gomer Pyle would say. I've been getting that gambling itch though, and have got in a few hands the past 2 nights. A few quick observations...

1. The 7 card stud games have really died at Absolute Poker. When I left, there were always several $1/$2 tables going and $2/$4 and at times $3/$6 during the prime hours. I have had to START full $1/$2 ring games both times I have played. Sheesh. If I had more time, I would contact Absolute about propping.

2. Though I had to start the tables, they did seem to fill fairly quickly. I recognized hardly any of the players. These are both positives. Once the tables filled, the pot averages were always 6 or 7 times the big bet, and 35% to 40% of players seeing 4th street. Ripe statistics!

3. The 7cs hi lo tables were massively profitable! Both the $2/$4 and $1/$2 tables were chock full of fishies. The $2/$4 hi lo table stayed at 40% or better fourth street percentage pretty much all night.

I made about $80 at the heads up table. The vast majority of that on one donkey who came in and pissed away ~70 bucks in under 15 minutes. Most of my other profit came from hi lo. I might start focusing more on hi lo stud. The more I play it, the more I am able to stay away from hands like 257 rainbow and just wait on the premium hands that have potential for the scoop. With almost half the players seeing 4th street each hand, and paying my premium hands off, it makes the tighty tight style even more attractive.

The only thing I was annoyed to see was the fact that Absolute seems to have fixed the stud tables so that we don't get credit for a raked hand unless we see 4th street. Used to the rule was that you just had to contribute to the pot, and since ante games you contribute every hand, we stud players got a nice shake when it came to the VIP program and rakeback earnings. No more gravy on that train though.

Maybe this will drive me to check out Poker Stars new VIP rewards program. That or those rush tables at Full Tilt. :)

oooo - the rake!

For the few folks who read this now and again, you probably know my best game is heads up 7 card stud heads up. I recently had session that just shows you how the house just kills our bottom line.

I played a gent named "easymoney" with a few numbers at the end of his name. He played very solid hand values and would have been a very profitable full ring player I think. His only real weakness was he played a bit too tightly heads up.

By going with a loose aggro style, not only do I rob him blind, but he also pays off when I do have split aces and he calls down with a lesser pair since I'm an obvious donk bluffer.

The dealer, however, refused to cooperate. Combine that with my own frustrations and tilt and the numbers were not pretty.

He brought $40 to the table. I ended up bringing $150. When the smoke cleared, he was broke, and I had roughly $95.

That means our results were:

EasyMoney = negative $40
Donkey PSORG = negative $55
The house = +95 in rake.

Sick, sick, sick.

This just illustrates how important it is to bust 'em quick in heads up. Otherwise nobody wins but the house in those long drawn out battles where you are just see-sawing back and forth. I had this gent down under $20 about 5 times before he finally dropped the rest of his chips.

I'd play the guy again, because honestly, full ring TAGs are some of the easiest guys to beat heads up if they don't adjust. Hopefully I don't see more hands like AxA vs. his 222... blah.

Obligatory 'Every other month' post...

So here we are, trying to make sure google doesn't kill my blog's value. I really like the juice we get for phrases like poker strategy, since that site is my full time job. :)

I think I've turned the corner on 7cs hi lo. My post a month and a half ago, my BB/hour rate was negative about 9. It's climbed to negative 2.62 and if I just run the numbers since June 1st, I'm actually a +2.42 BB/hour winner. Woohoo!

Expanding to 7 card stud hi lo is a very good thing, since it seems the stud games at Absolute and Ultimate bet are just getting tighter and tighter.

Heads up is still by far my best $$ maker at 2.78 BB/hour. My only problem playing heads up stud is that once I get locked in on an opponent I have a tough time quitting. It's not a pride thing. It just that as you play him, you are constantly feeling him out, learning his style and tendencies, etc. After investing 30 minutes and getting to a point where I feel I've got a great line on how to clean him out, it's just hard as heck to sit out and go change a diaper or grab a juice for my toddler. 90% of the time when I sit out, the guy is gone, especially if he's down to me. Blah.

Soooo.. google, if you are listening. I love you. I promise more posts. I am your slave.

Alive and well...

It's been a busy month. It seems like I never play much early in the year. Maybe I'm a "summer time" player. I played less than 40 hours combined between February, March and April. I got a few more hands in this month, but not many.

I have GOT to stay away from 7 card stud hi lo, or do some boning up on my strategy. I'm a solid 1.5 BB per hour winner at hi, and that's been my bread and butter since 2003. Heads up 7 card stud hi, I do quite well. Almost 2 BB per hour.

7 card stud hi lo? -9 BB per hour. That's with only ~2000 hands in, but still, pretty sick. I think I have several obvious leaks:

1. I don't know what the $%^& I am doing in 7 card stud hi lo.
2. I play a hi lo table or two while playing a hi table or two. Multi-tabling stud isn't easy since a lot of your edge comes from reading cards on other players' porches. Trying to keep track of both hi/lo strategy and basic hi strategy makes my brain hurt.
3. The main reason I'm playing the hi/lo tables is to rack up FAME points faster. Meanwhile I'm losing more $$ from sucking than I'll ever make in extra FAME credits and rakeback.

I've gotta find me a good 7cs hi/lo book. Paying 9 big bets per hour for lessons, stinks.

Haha - Obama got your money!

My wife linked me this and I just had to post it. I can't believe I went all of February with no posts. That does mirror my time at the tables though. I didn't even keep "Gold" status at Absolute Poker last month and that just takes a measley 500 FAME points.

Without further ado:

We got your money! Gonna print some more money! Gonna spend some more of your money!



While this is not a political blog, I think we can all agree that current money printing, spending spree going on in D.C. is getting a bit out of control.

Free Poker Tracking Tool

Tracking your results is the ONLY way to know if you are a poker winner or loser. I can't tell you how many players I've met who are in denial. Even online players who should be able to do the math to figure out that deposits are greater than withdrawals. They just... don't do the math.

I digress. Here's a free poker tracking tool. I'm not 100% sure which poker sites it works with, and will update as I get more details. For now, you can just click the link below and check it out for yourself. :)

Poker Score

PPA Action Alert

Stop browsing poker blogs and forums for a whopping 30 seconds and stick in a plug for online poker.

Click This Link to the PPA Action letter

No need to edit or even add to the letter unless you're just feeling wordy. In email campaigns, it's volume that counts more than substance of each individual message.

Fill in your name and address and click submit. It'll automatically ship your email to your legislators. If it takes you more than 30 seconds, it's because you are still a "hunt and peck" typer!

Online Poker has won a number of victories already in 2009. In the case of the Kentucky Governor attempting to steal 140+ online gaming domains, an appeals court has reversed the original hick Judge Windbag's decision, and made it clear that he is to not have more hearings on this matter. *Slap*

Three different court cases in three different states have resulted in positive results for the poker as a game of skill argument.

We are making headway, but that won't continue if we start laying down on the job. If you're reading this, it would have taken less time to send the email than it did to read my chatting about. :)

4 bucks might be dumb, but $2.50 for crappy coffee is dumber-er

McDonalds had the nads to erect this sign within sight of the Starbucks headquarters. Nice. It makes me chuckle, but let's look at the facts.

I'm not a coffee snob. I drink coffee out of a plain ol' drip coffee maker most mornings with powdered creamer and sugar.

It was early a.m. a day or two back and I needed some coffee to keep me alert while doing the email inbox grind. I wanted something with a bit more flavor, and Starbucks closes at 10 p.m., so I hit McDonalds for some of their gourmet coffee. I ordered caramel flavored cappuccino. Simple right? Expresso, steamed milk, cream on top, and some caramel drizzle in there for flavor, all neatly placed in a coffee cup with a sippy lid.

What did I get? Coffee in a coffee cup, a frappuchino lid (the ones with domed tops and large hole for a straw) with whipped cream piled up to the top of the cone so high it was peeping out the straw hole. Errr - have you ever drank hot coffee through a regular straw? They'll be treating you for 3rd degree burns on your tonsils. We all know the stories of how hot McDonalds coffee is after all.

When she handed me the drink, she kinda shook it and said "hmm...that just don't feel right. Don't feel like theys 'nuff coffee in thar fo' a large"... I should've been tipped off then that she left the steamed milk out.

I got home and dumped it into a large coffee mug, took a sip and about choked on the sickly sweet caramel flavoring. With no milk to mellow it down, it was just a bitter black coffee flavor with caramel drizzle.

I drank it all. I needs mah caffeine.

Moral? If you want gourmet coffee, go to Starbucks. Go to McDonalds if you want a farkin' hamburger.

(Since this is a poker blog, let me toss in a bankroll update. Well over my $2000 goal, and still have a couple of weeks to pad it (or lose it!) before 2008 is finished. I'm happy. Small stakes hobby that entertains and gives me a year end cash balance. Sure beats stamp collecting.)

'Tis the season of giving...

This wouldn't fit under the tree, but it's my gift!



2008 Honday Pilot SE 4wd

Our Blazer has ~180k miles on it, and it was becoming increasingly unreliable. After spending another $1500 this month to keep it on the road, we figured enough was enough.

FYI - if you're watching the news about steep cuts in car prices, they're not joking. We got between $7000 and $8000 off MSRP. Granted, we told them our next stop was Carmax for a 2006 Pilot if we couldn't get a great deal on a new one.

It was the perfect time to buy a 2008 Pilot for sure. Besides the troubles the car industry is facing, this is the time of year they're trying to clear the 2008 models off the lot to make more room for their 2009's.

I've never bought a new vehicle, since you lose a ton of the value as soon as you drive it off the lot. This deal was just too hard to turn down though, and it was kinda nice seeing "40" on the odometer.

Lest this post seem "selfish" rest assured that I don't normally ask for much or get much on Christmas. I really get a kick out of giving. We're making 3 Angel Tree kids very happy this year, and even bailed my mother in law out a bankruptcy fix. Maybe I'll post about that later...

November has come and gone...

....without a single blog post. I kept meaning to swing over, but just never did find the time.

CEREUS rocks. CEREUS network was formed at the end of November, joining the player bases of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. They also added heads up 7 card stud tables, which is wonderful.

On the webmaster end of things though, it was a huge headache. For over a week our rakeback stats were not able to be updated, while all the nickname changes, retracking of players, so on and so forth was muddled through.

With rakeback earnings from November, and barring a crappy run in the next few days, I'll have hit my $2000 goal for the year. It ain't much boys, but I don't play much either.

When I first went full time in poker marketing with our poker strategy site, I was able to play hours of poker each day "working from home". That's no longer the case. I barely have time to blog about, much less play poker. This is a good thing though. I'll have plenty of time to play after I retire. :)

I'm a 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. FISH!!

I was playing around with my poker tracker stud stats, and pulled up my big bet per hour earnings based on days of the week and time of day. Turns out I'm horrible in early morning hours.

Between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., I'm a 2.7 BB/hour loser.

Between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., I'm an astounding 13.57 BB/hour loser. EEK!

This tells me two things. First, I suck horribly when I'm tired. Second, if I'm playing in the early a.m. hours, it's probably because I'm down, pissed off and tilting away more money trying to "get back to even".

I'll bet if I dug deeper I'd find that most of the $$ I've lost on downswings have come during those hours. I know for a fact that the only reason I'm up playing poker at those hours is when I've had a bad night and I'm just locked in, staring at the screen incredulously, waiting on another bad beat. Don't snicker... you've all been there.

I wonder if I could self exclude between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.? I know some sites like Full Tilt and Stars allow you to self exclude and lock you out of the site for a set time period that you request.... hmm.

This is just another example of how Poker Tracker is worth a lot more than the sticker price. Sadly, I think most players just use it to track their bankroll, or to see which "symbol" they are. (I'm the taz devil, Loose Aggressive/Aggressive btw, mainly due to playing a lot of heads up).

Quicky plug: If you want, I can get you Poker Tracker 3 Free. Click that link and read the blurb, then contact me. At the very least I can pass along my discount and get it for $72 for you instead of the $90 sticker price.