If you guys haven’t heard all new players that signs up through RakeBrain to Full Tilt Poker in September and earn 1 Full Tilt Point will get automatic entry to the $5000 freeroll. RakeBrain happens to be one of the leaders in rakeback providers these days. Rakeback works a lot like a poker bonus, with the important difference that it’s a promotion that never ends; you sign up through a third-party affiliate who receives a commission for recruiting new players to the poker rooms. However, instead of holding on to the commission, the affiliate passes on to you in the form of rakeback.

Most rakeback offers range between 25% and 35%, so it might pay off to look around for the best rakeback promotions. At Full Tilt, however, the maximum allowed rakeback is 27%. Right now the most beneficial place to sign up for rakeback at Full Tilt is Rakebrain.com, since you get access to an exclusive $5,000 freeroll that will be held in mid October. Existing RakeBrain players only need to earn 400 points to qualify. Unfortunately, players who already have a real-money account at Full Tilt are not eligible for this promotion. So just my advice go out there and take advantage of this and maybe you end up the winner of the freeroll.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know a whole lot about the game of video poker.  And the reason being is that I just never had much interest for it because it’s one of those casino games where you’re at a machine playing against the casino.  And most of the time that’s a really bad situation for one’s bankroll.

Now sure I’ve played video poker every now and then when I’ve been in casinos but that was only to pass the time or provide myself with a little entertainment while trying to get some free drinks.  But I never thought that the game of video poker could actually be beaten or that professional video poker players existed.

But the other day I was talking to a friend and he said he heard something about how John Juanda was a professional video poker player in addition to his other exploits in the poker world.  I checked it out and didn’t really find anything about Juanda being a pro video poker player but I did find plenty on what it’s like to be a professional video poker.

And no I’m not talking about the guys who claim they can beat any Vegas game, are banned from every casino, and simply want to share their secrets with you for the low price of their book.  Rather I’m talking about a really fascenating interview I saw with a real Las Vegas video poker pro.

I found it to be extremely interesting as it’s a culture I’ve never really looked into even though it’s a sub-culture of professional poker in general.  Basically this player going by the alias of Johnny Chung (probably wanting to protect his name from view of Vegas casinos) said that he started as a card counter in Blackjack during the 70’s but found it easier to make money off of video poker when it came out in the 80’s since they always shuffled the deck or kicked him out in Blackjack.

Once he got laid off from the aerospace industry in the mid-90’s, he started getting far more serious about video poker and started playing full-time.  With his experience during the 80’s and early 90’s, and the knowledge he gained in video poker he has been playing it full-time ever since the mid-90’s.  Last year, he made $135,000 for the whole year of playing and Chung only plays 40 hours a week.

Now I’m not saying I’m going to drop everything and go for the prospected of riches in video poker but I did find this story amazing since I’ve never thought of video poker in this light. 

There’s no question that poker has become one of the world’s most popular games.  Now I’ll spare you all of the reasons why it is so popular but we’ll just say that it’s a great way to make money if you are good at the game.  However, even with the popularity of poker right now, I never expected anyone to try and declare it a sport.  After all, most people would define sports as having some sort of athletic element to them. 

But some people in the Czech Republic have a different way of thinking with regards to poker and want to have it classified as a sport.  The Czech Association of Poker Clubs is pushing the government to declare poker a sport and have enlisted the help of Ernst & Young to provide legal support for their movement.  So far their actions have had some impact too as this is seriously something that is being considered in the country right now.

The Czech Association for Poker Clubs’ thinking is that, out of the 60,000 people who play poker in the country, only 1,000 of them normally do it in settings that would be deemed legal in the country.  And the Czech laws don’t make allowances for those who choose to play in homes or online with money on the table.  Casinos are the only place where poker betting is actually allowed as of now.  But if poker were a sport the Czech people would be able to play and bet as they choose and the strict regulations on the game would be uplifted. 

The CAPC’s argument for possibly declaring poker a sport is that it is actually a game of skill where people can win money in the long run versus other casino games where probabilities make almost everyone a loser in the end.  I myself have a hard time seeing poker being recognized as a sport though since it seems much more like a game than anything.  I do believe the skill involved does allow good players to win over the long haul but I think that the best that can come out of this for the Czechs is to have the current laws amended.

I just recently saw where two of the bigger poker training websites out there in CardRunner.com and Stoxpoker.com have decided to join forces to make a mega-training site.  Now I’m not sure what the exact numbers of StoxPoker’s membership base is but it has to be somewhat similar to CardRunner’s as their co-founder said it’s over 14,000 members.  This is certainly going to make for a big-time training site that can now compete with some of the giants like PokerPwnage and Real Poker Training.

And this story really got me thinking; Are these poker training sites really worth the money?  I myself have never actually been a member of one nor do I have any immediate plans to join one of these places either.  I really just stick to reading books and strategy articles.  However, the prospect of having players who make millions every year like Nick “Stoxtrader” Grudzien training me is definitely an intriguing prospect. 

I sometimes wonder what the success rate of the players who go through poker training websites like StoxPoker, Real Poker Training and others are like when compared to the rest of the online poker community.  There seems to be a lot of ads from these companies touting their training abilities by saying how they’ve trained so-and-so who just placed really high in a recent tournament.

Now I’m sure that these companies only take those who excel and use them for the little ads and articles they run but poker training is something that always seems to be worth the consideration.  But I’d really like to see what kind of return on their investment these players are getting for joining these training sites as I’ve never really seen any kind of figures.  Until that kind of stuff becomes available, I guess I’ll just stick to the books.

As most of you already know that UK is a huge market for poker. So, if you are looking for some uk poker sites, give PokerSites.co.uk a visit!

Being a low stakes poker player ever since I started with the game, one thing that I’ve never been able to comprehend is the mindset of a high limit player.  That’s because I myself am not a high limit poker player and probably never will be.  And just for the sake of this post, I define high limit as $10/$20 No-Limit Texas Hold’em play and $30/$60 Limit Hold’em play because both are out of my league.

I’ve always wondered how in the world some players can make that jump from $1/$2 and $3/$6 games up to the previously mentioned games and beyond. One obvious thing about these players and their mindset has to be that they are somewhat loose with money.  After all, if someone is afraid to hit up a fast food joint because of the cost, then they probably don’t have the right frame of mind.

But getting more in-depth, there are a few things that I’ve noticed after watching some of these high stakes people play the game.  For one thing, I have seen that these people tend to be far more aggressive than the average player would be.  Anyone who is too conservative seems to either lose their bankroll or luckily jump back down a level or two before than happens.

Another thing that seems to be consistent with these players is that they also know how to pull back the aggressive play when the time is right.  In fact, most high limit players seem to really know how to suck people into pots when they have a huge hand and want to disguise it.

The last element of a high limit player I’ve noticed is that they really have to have some pretty strong nerves and be able to overcome a bad day.  Because, while they’ll often have days where they win thousands of dollars, they will also find themselves down a few thousand some days too.  It’s almost the philosophy that some NBA shooters have where if they miss a shot the next one is going in.

Anyways, recognizing these qualities in high stakes players really makes me question if I’ll ever play at that level.  And the answer for people like me, and others, is probably a resounding “No”!

On a side note, if you are looking to get some poker bonuses at poker rooms that you play on, you should give pokerbonuses.com a visit.