Lucky Dog Poker from Creators Syndicate

Should Home Game Be Tourney-Style? for 01/01/2008

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

No matter how many thousands of players visit poker rooms across the nation, it's a safe bet 10 times that number can be found at any given time playing in home games. That number is about to grow.

Hey LuckyDog: My friends and I would like to start up a friendly Texas hold 'em game. Should we use a tournament format like what's on TV, where players are eliminated, or should we play ...

Updated: Tue Jan 01, 2008

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Foreign Flavor Spices Record-Setting Bahamas Tourney for 01/08/2008

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — I'm going to have to brush up on my Spanish, French, Swedish, Vietnamese and a bunch of other languages if I ever make it back to this island.

The international flavor of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure this week is pervasive — from the Atlantis Resort hallways to the poker tables to the media center. That flavor is enhanced this year now that th ...

Updated: Tue Jan 08, 2008

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Bahamas Poker Action Matches Spectacular Setting for 01/15/2008

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — When you're playing poker in paradise, the action on the felt has to be mighty good to equal the surroundings.

Last week's PokerStars Caribbean Adventure here at the Atlantis Resort featured a huge field, spirited competition and the emergence of talented young players able to successfully shift their considerable online poker skills to live play.

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Updated: Tue Jan 15, 2008

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Tunica Downturn Not Fully Reflected By Main-Event Numbers for 01/22/2008

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

TUNICA, Miss. — The temptation is to cite declining numbers for the coinciding main events of dueling championship poker tournaments here and declare Tunica competition has taken a downturn.

Those numbers, though, don't tell the whole story.

Yes, the main events of the overlapping World Series of Poker Circuit Event at the Grand Casino and the World Poker Open at the nearby ...

Updated: Tue Jan 22, 2008

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Pros Couldn't Wear Down This Insurance Salesman for 01/29/2008

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

TUNICA, Miss. — If the World Poker Open last week had been a wrestling match, Brett Faustman would have won hands-down.

But this was poker at an elite level, and the 28-year-old insurance salesman from Mason, Mich., who captained the Central Michigan University wrestling team his senior year (2003), used his brain instead of his brawn to defeat a table jammed with poker superstars. ...

Updated: Tue Jan 29, 2008

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Readers Ask About Table Image, Online Poker and Shana for 02/05/2008

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

A new player in Los Angeles is becoming quite a student of the game, but has questions about table image, bad breaks and playing monster hands. Let's try to help.

I started playing poker last summer, and I want to learn as much as possible in order to make the correct decisions. What do you do when you catch a monster hand, but your table image is that of an extremely aggressive pla ...

Updated: Tue Feb 05, 2008

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Texas Cash-Game Player Sees Tournaments in His Future for 02/12/2008

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

A Texas player wants to move from cash games to tournament play. What does he need to know?

I look forward to your column in The Dallas Morning News each week. I hope to move up to tournament play someday soon, with a goal of playing in some World Series of Poker satellite events and eventually the main event. Any thoughts? — Paul in Forney, Texas.

I like your sty ...

Updated: Tue Feb 12, 2008

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Online Tourney a Wild (And Short) Ride for Luckydog for 02/18/2008

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Come with me now on a wild ride through a big online tournament. It's a short trip (sadly), so this won't take long.

Friday night's $200 buy-in seven card stud event in the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) drew 565 players seeking the $26,204 first-place prize. I was pumped. Stud is my favorite game.

Each player started with 3,000 chips, and structured betting limits began at ...

Updated: Mon Feb 18, 2008

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Amateur's Move From TV Poker Back to Penny Stakes "Weird" for 02/26/2008

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Thanks to TV reruns and DVRs, a person's "15 minutes of fame" can last a lot longer these days.

Ken Light, a micro-limit online poker player, still savors his moment as the first true amateur to win a seat on NBC's "Poker After Dark." That "Dream Table" show opened PAD's Season 3 in early January and will be rebroadcast in six episodes next week.

&quo ...

Updated: Tue Feb 26, 2008

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Don't Touch My Chips! How to Deal With Rude Players for 03/04/2008

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

New players visiting card rooms across the nation are likely to run into situations they don't quite know how to handle, such as the dilemma this player from Wyoming faced recently.

At a tournament in Las Vegas, the man next to me said he did not like how I was playing. Once, he touched my chips when I was slow posting my blind, but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do that. Wha ...

Updated: Tue Mar 04, 2008

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Don't Be Leery of Heads-Up Action, Just Adjust Your Game for 03/11/2008

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If you play tournament poker, your success ultimately depends on how well you adjust when you get to heads-up.

Many players don't relish going one-on-one. Even Doyle Brunson, the game's living legend and 10-time World Series bracelet winner, said recently he "never really liked" heads-up poker. But he quickly noted that a player "should be able to handle all situations.&qu ...

Updated: Tue Mar 11, 2008

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Losing Streaks and Unlucky Cards Just Part of the Game for 03/18/2008

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Players in Iowa and Arkansas report tough times at the table and ask if LuckyDog has any advice that will help. Let's take a look.

I'm ahead playing tournaments, and I'm winning at $4-$8 limit hold 'em cash games, but for a while now I've consistently lost $3-$6 hold 'em. What can I do to turn that around? — Brett C. in Davenport, Iowa

Brett, you've already taken th ...

Updated: Tue Mar 18, 2008

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U.S. Army's First Poker Champion Takes Ribbing in Stride for 03/25/2008

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The first U.S. Army hold 'em poker champion has taken a bit of ribbing from his buddies since winning the title a year ago in a worldwide online showdown.

"But it's all in fun," said James Morris, 26, just days before transferring this month to Korea for his next duty assignment.

Morris advanced to the online finals last June by winning a qualifying tournament while stat ...

Updated: Tue Mar 25, 2008

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In This Hold 'em Game, Folding Too Much Is Bad Strategy for 04/01/2008

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Can you fold too often at hold 'em? Yes, if you're playing the casino table game called Texas Hold 'em Bonus Poker, as one LuckyDog reader suspected.

Q: In the hold 'em table game where you only play against the dealer, should you always pay the additional double bet before the flop no matter what your two starting cards are? I was told if you are not willing to see the flop, you shouldn ...

Updated: Tue Apr 01, 2008

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Player Puts His Tournament Victory in Perspective for 04/08/2008

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Battles on the poker tournament felt mingled for a while with the realities of war in the desert Saturday, when 80 players competed for the right to become the 2008 U.S. Army Texas hold 'em champion.

The qualifying event held at the Rock Island Arsenal, located on a Mississippi River island in the Quad-Cities area of Iowa and Illinois, played out against a backdrop of soldiers in uniform ...

Updated: Tue Apr 08, 2008

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How to Deal With Opponents Who Just Won't Fold for 04/15/2008

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Today's new poker players love to gamble, as readers in Texas and Pennsylvania report this week.

Q: I went to the WinStar Casino the other day, just north of Dallas into Oklahoma, and patiently waited out a bunch of cruddy cards in a no-limit cash game. Finally, I got a wired pair of queens. The other guy had A-9 and called my all-in bet! He had nothing until the river gave him an ace fo ...

Updated: Tue Apr 15, 2008

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Retired Texas Oil Man Hangs With Poker's Best for 04/22/2008

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

No one would have blamed Charles "Woody" Moore of Dallas if he felt intimidated when he took his seat recently at the TV final table of the L.A. Poker Classic.

After all, the 59-year-old retired Texas oil and gas exec was up against three of the game's biggest names — Phil Hellmuth, winner of a record 11 World Series bracelets; Phil Ivey, holder of five bracelets among 16 ...

Updated: Tue Apr 22, 2008

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Is This Player's Betting Motion Against the Rules? for 04/29/2008

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

One reader this week thinks a player in his home game may be using an illegal betting motion, and another asks for advice on the best poker books to read. Let's try to help.

Q: In our home games, where most rules are followed, one player has a habit of holding a stack of chips in his hand. When he makes a call, he moves the chips to the center of the table and drops chips off the bottom ...

Updated: Tue Apr 29, 2008

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117-Day Delay for World Series Final Table Causing Fuss for 05/06/2008

Tue, 06 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

This year's World Series of Poker $10,000 main event will have the longest commercial break in television history. The question is, will consumers and fans buy in or drop out?

The WSOP announced late last week that after the final nine contenders are decided on July 14 at the Rio in Las Vegas, the championship will be suspended for 117 days until Nov. 9-10. One day later, ESPN will air f ...

Updated: Tue May 06, 2008

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Reader Raises Legal Issues of WSOP Final-Table Delay for 05/13/2008

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Reaction is mixed so far about the World Series of Poker delaying the final table of this year's main event from July to November, then televising it in almost real time. Let's check out some comments.

Q: The WSOP decision raises some very interesting legal issues. What happens if a player dies or is disabled before the November final? Do a player's heirs obtain his contractual or proper ...

Updated: Tue May 13, 2008

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