I recently wrote an article called How to get a Winning Result in a Rake Race and have received some great comments so I thought I would share with you all my online poker tips.

Spurred by the sheer number of Poker Rake promotions avaialable to online poker players I felt the need to give poker novices or those players who have not taken part in a poker rake race before some small competitive edge.

First Poker Rake Races work by collecting the rake an online poker player generates and putting the rake amount into a leaderboard format.

There are several things poker players can do to increase their rake generation:

1. Limit /Level Selection

2. Table Selection

3. Site Specific Issues

4. Multi tabling

Read the full poker strategy guide at LTDPoker

If this has spurred you on to enter a rake race challenge and turn the rake you earn into $55,000 then enter the Ultimate Poker Rake Race Challenge Now!

Online poker Giants get involved with The Asian Poker Tour (APT)

The Asian Poker Tour (APT) has announced that some of the world’s largest online poker rooms have pledged their support by agreeing to send players for its events next year.

The APT stated that the iPoker Network (paddy power poker, Mansion Poker, CD Poker) along with PartyPoker.com and EverestPoker.com, have agreed to send their best players to some of its events next season. They have joined other top online poker rooms such as PKR.com, JBetPoker.com, PokerTrillion.com, World3DPoker.com and 888.com alongside the Microgaming Network and the National Poker League in agreeing to collaborate with the Manila-based organisation.

“With so many players coming in through our online partners, we are looking to exceed the number of players who participated in last year’s Manila event,” said Chris Parker, Chief Executive Officer for the APT."

The Asian Poker Tour recently announced that its first event for 2009 would be held from January 27 to February 1 at the Dusit Thani Manila Hotel in Makati City with a buy-in of $2,700.

With the success of its two events this year alongside an expanded schedule on the horizon for 2009, the firm stated that it is optimistic about its growing strength due to the large number of players expected to qualify through its online poker room partners.

“The support of all of these online poker rooms is a testament to the growth of poker in Asia, especially the Asian Poker Tour.”

If you want to get invloved early doors at these sites do miss top poker bonus codes at LTDPoker:

• Download Paddy Power Poker
• Download Mansion Poker
• Download Partypoker
• Download PKR

An age old question asked in the poker community is: 

"How much of a bankroll do I need to play such and such a limit, or game? "

A bankroll is the amount of money you have allocated strictly for playing poker. It is not meant to buy groceries, to pay the electric bill, or to go out for drinks with friends. Your bankroll is meant only for dealing with the downswings in poker.

It would be difficult for a carpenter to get any work done without tools or for a fisherman to catch anything without with out a boat and fishing rods. For a serious player to play poker, you need money. If you take the analogy a step further; Imagine, a fisherman who has his boat and his rods but only has enough money for 2 days worth of bait. What is going to happen if he doesn’t catch enough in those 2 days to buy more bait? Quite simply, he’ll be out of work. He didn’t allow himself enough leeway to compensate for a couple of bad days. A smart fisherman on the other hand will leave himself enough money for several weeks of bait and supplies to insure success.

A Recreational Bankroll
A recreational bankroll can be replaced fairly easily. For example, if you earn $1,000 a week at your job and lose the $100 you had set aside for poker, it wouldn’t be too difficult or inconvenient to replace it (as long as your significant other does find out about it.) Someone who plays poker “just for fun” can use a recreational bankroll and just replace their losses as they occur.

A Professional Bankroll
A professional bankroll is difficult to replace. Again, if you made $1000 a week but you had set aside $10,000 for poker, it would take quite a bit of time for you to replace the $10,000, and your significant other would more than likely find out about it! A good poker player keeps a professional bankroll.

If you are a winning player you should never have to replenish your bankroll from an outside source. Your bankroll should be large enough to withstand any downswings which will leave you with enough money to recoup those losses when the downswing ends.

If you are a losing player no bankroll will ever keep you from going broke, it will only prolong this inevitable outcome.

Poker Sponsorship is a way of mitigating the risk of playing poker. By siging up to a poker sponsorship program a poker player can be assured that their bankroll is covered and can just get on with playing poker. LivetheDreamPoker has a risk free poker sponsorship program for livethedreampoker community members.

 Read more about Poker Sponsorship

Hi everyone

Most online coverage is a about online poker events, however if you are a fan of live poker events,

Here are a few ways to keep updated with all the live poker events running in London.

PokerMeetup - has hundreds of cash and tournament poker games for the poker community in the UK.

LivetheDreamPoker has a full list of the current Live Poker events going on in London,

If you know of any events or would like to promote your own event let me know.

Get Involved - Live the Dream!

Two poker communities collided in 2003 when chris Money Maker, won the World Series of Poker after qualifying online . Players suddenly signed up for online accounts and became a part of the online poker community.

The poker community was beginning to get riled with the unpredictable characters rising up the ranks through online poker. Players began to be classed as ‘live’ or ‘online’ poker players, each type of player was lumped into a style based on their preferred method of gaming. Live players were steadier, less aggressive players who made plays based on ‘reads’ of other players betting patterns and physical tells whereas Online players were hyper-aggressive youngsters who fired away at every pot without regard to what their opponents might have.

Whilst these steretypes may once have been trues now, in order to be a good poker player, you have to be well rounded, and most skilled players play BOTH types of poker well.

Online players watch enough poker on TV and put in enough time playing live to understand the skill of live poker. And, because of the MASSIVE number of hands online players can see (online players average twice as many hands per hour as live tables, and often play many tables at once: therefore, a young internet pro like Tom ‘durr’ Dwan has likely played more hands in four years than Doyle Brunson has in 70 years), online pros have an excellent grasp of the math and odds of the game.

Meanwhile, live players have moved onto the internet. Why? Because they can play a lot more in a shorter period of time. Players like David Benyamine, who used to spend years grinding out the biggest cash games in the casinos, can now make MILLIONS in a single month online. And because of the popularity of online poker the big names in the live poker community have made businesses out of the growing online poker community - "Devilfish" and Doyle Brunso have their own poker rooms.

So, what’s better? Well, it’s really up to you as a player. But remember this: if you want to be the next Chris Moneymaker, eventually you’re going to have to sit down at a table with nine other players and beat them. Besides, it’s FAR more fun to turn over those pocket aces when you can see your opponent’s face...

The APT has big plans for 2009 according to Chris Parker, CEO of the APT. The Asian Poker Tour (APT), Asia’s biggest and original poker tour will be even bigger in 2009 with at least 4 major events to be scheduled.

The Asian Poker Tour (APT) is Asia’s biggest and original poker tour . The Tour was acquired by AsianLogic (AIM:ALOG) in early 2008 and has held two successful events: one in the Philippines and the other in Macau. The APT plans to hold at least four major events in 2009 where each tournament is set to attract live players as well as Internet players who will qualify via online satellites on the ipoker network. The Online poker communitywill be able to qualify for the APT on popular online poker sites such as Paddy Power Poker and Mansion Poker.

Find out how to qualify for the APT at the UK's fastest growing online poker community - LivetheDreamPoker

Get Involved - Live The Dream!

So getting in the Irish Spirit (no not whisky, Although here at LTD towers a friday afternoon tipple is always welcome!) We have listed some of Ireland's Top Poker Players!

Many have found success in the Irish Open, WSOP, EPT and other high profile online Poker Tournaments.

Andy Black, 43, is One of the most unique characters of all the Irish Poker Players.
Read Andy Black's Poker Player Profile

Colette Doherty is the Winner of the very first Irish Open
Read Colette Doherty's Poker Player Profile

Liam "The Gentleman" Flood has been at the forefront of Irish poker since the 1970s.
Read Liam Flood's Poker Player Profile

Padraig Parkinson is amongst the most popular players on the international poker
Read Padraig Parkinson's Poker Player Profile

"The Don" has been one of Ireland’s most successful poker players for over two decades
Read Donnacha O'Dea's Poker Player Profile

Marty Smyth From Northern Ireland is the reigning Irish Open Poker champion
Read Marty Smyth Poker Player Profile

Noel Furlong has one of the most enviable tournament records of any player in the world.
Read Noel Furlong's Poker Player Profile

LTDPoker are celebrating their 3rd Birthday this month and to mark the event we are hosting a number of weekly freeroll tournaments with our platinum Partners.

LivetheDreamPoker will have all the information on the following Freerolls

Gala  Poker Birthday Bash $250 Freeroll - 26th October

LTD Birthday Bonanza $100 Freeroll at Mansion Poker - TBC

Trick or Treat with Mansion Poker - Freeroll at Mansion Poker Prize pool plus added bonus - Wednesday 29th October

B-In it to Bwin it! $500 Freeroll - 2nd November

Firework Frenzy Freeroll - Paddy Power - 9th November

For more information about weekly online freeroll tournaments Livethedreampoker has a dedicated section

Download Gala Poker

Download Mansion Poker

Download Bwin Poker

Online Poker Deposit Bonus

 

For the Best online Poekr Sign up Bonuses go to LTDPoker.com for all the top rated poker rooms.

Here are a couple of our favourite sites right now.

Betfair Poker Exclusive $1000 Bonus Download
Gala Poker 100% Sign up Bonus Download
Bwin Poker $100 No Minimum Deposit Download
William Hill $500 Monthly Bonus Download
Vulcan Poker $200
Mansion $500 Download

Whether you are a housewife or unemployed city worker, Online Poker is a great way to make money on the internet from the comfort of your own home.

Unlike most get rich quick schemes, online poker can give you instant success. Take advantage of the many freeroll tournaments, No deposit Sign up Bonuses and large guaranteed prize online poker tournaments. One fact you can be certain of is that in online poker some people make money on the internet consistently and some people do not.

In fact it has become such a sure thing for many players that many of them have packed in their 9-5 jobs and now making money playing online poker on a full time basis.

However lucrative online poker can be, the fact is that most people will lose money in the early stages simply because they do not spend enough time getting to know the ins and outs of the game.

The good news is that if you have the patience and determination to play and learn the game, then you can take advantage of the players who are not as skilled, it does take time to develop as a talent

This would be the same advice that you would get before taking up a sport for money - you wouldn't become a professional tennis player if you didn't really enjoy tennis - why, well because you would not improve at the same rate as someone who genuinely loved the game. Similarly you would only get bored after some time and time is what you need to get good.

So firstly learn the Game. Sounds obvious but there are several game variations of poker, the most popular online poker variation is Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and some 7 card stud games. You will also find some Draw games but these are mainly social games or used in Movies!

Secondly sign up for Free No Deposit Bonuses. Most sites such as LTDPoker.com offer some incentives to new players. This is a great way to build up free bankroll and essentially practice your online poker skills with little risk.

Now you are feeling confident it is important to manage your bankroll properly. It is better to build up your bankroll in small prize and freeroll tournaments rather than burn out on no limit sit n go’s.

Once you have played online poker for a while start to note down your hand history and other players hand histories (LTD Poker list all online poker rooms which have this feature). This will encourage you to be more analytical about your other player’s behavior and your own. These are referred to as Poker Tells.