Almost every poker player knows about the concept of poker training since there are multiple sites across the Internet offering this service.  Poker training, or coaching, sites have several skilled professional players that teach others winning strategy for the game.  In return for this training, players will pay the site a fee so that they can keep getting more coaching. 

And the whole poker coaching scene has created a mini-industry within poker with lots of people rushing to these sites to learn from the best.  However, things could all change since CardRunners is offering free poker training via the poker room Full Tilt Poker.  Last year, the CardRunners pros signed a deal with Full Tilt where they would represent the room and now Full Tilt has included a deal where people can use their rewards points to get a month of free training at either CardRunners or their newly acquired StoxPoker.

Of course the deal isn’t totally free since players will need to use 2,500 Full Tilt Points to get training from StoxPoker or 4,500 points for training at CardRunners, which is geared towards higher limit players.  But, when you look at how many points everything else costs in the Full Tilt store, this is actually quite a deal.

And with two major poker training websites like CardRunners and StoxPoker offering free poker training via the second largest poker room in the world in Full Tilt, it makes me wonder if other training sites will follow this trend.  I’m sure people will still be paying for poker training services for quite some time, but if the deal that Full Tilt/CardRunners/StoxPoker is offering goes as planned, the other poker coaching sites could set up similar deals with other poker rooms.

The poker world was buzzing after the World Series of Poker released its 2009 schedule with some major changes included.  Among the biggest changes was the fact that there will no longer be any rebuy events in the WSOP since people have argued that such tournaments only judge how big a person’s wallet is rather than their skill level.  Another huge change is that there are two more events added to the WSOP bringing the total amount of tournaments to 57; the biggest addition is definitely the $40,000 buy-in tourney to commemorate the 40th year of the WSOP. 

These changes have already sparked plenty of debate among players since some favor the changes and others dislike them.  Daniel Negreanu is definitely one fan of the $40K event since he has lobbied for more high buy-in events in the WSOP.  He believes the high buy-ins increase the chances of a skilled pro winning the event.  Greg Raymer also thinks that the $40K buy-in tourney should be a success and thinks it will return if this is the case as he said, “If the event is a success, why would Harrah’s not repeat it?

However, Raymer is not a fan of the rebuys being taken out of the WSOP since he stated, “I don’t see any real purpose in eliminating the rebuy tournaments.  To be honest, the people that complain about them the most have a very clueless understanding of what poker is about.  The purpose is not to win a tournament; the purpose is to make money.”

I definitely agree with Raymer in that the rebuy events shouldn’t be taken out of the WSOP.  In my opinion, having a few rebuy events out of the 57 tournaments offered is not such a bad thing since it creates a lot more variety.  And as far as the argument goes about rebuys only showing who has the bigger wallet, I think the $40K and $50K H.O.R.S.E. are only doing the same thing.  The only thing these pricey tournaments do is keep all of the good online pros out of them while giving the top pros a clear shot at winning the gold bracelet.  I guess we’ll see in the next few years whether or not the WSOP will decide to move away from rebuys and keep adding high buy-in tournaments.

The world of underground poker has existed for decades as players from all over the world gather in stores after hours, back alley clubs, and even people’s homes to bet major money each week.  And, while all of this might sound like something out of the fictional movie “Rounders”, underground poker does exist and people are taking risks every time they play in one of these games.

But, unlike Rounders, the biggest risks don’t come from playing against mobsters that might kill you after a big win.  Instead, the main risks come from entirely different threats where people are taking legal and financial risks every day.  With the increased raids on home poker games by authorities, it is as dangerous as ever to hold a poker game in your house where people are playing for big money.  If you’re in attendance at one of these games you might be going to jail (depending on the state), and if you are hosting a game then you could be in even more legal trouble.

People are also at risk of being robbed when they attend these poker games since criminals often target them.  The reason criminals like to rob home poker games is because they know the players won’t tell authorities since they’re already engaging in illegal activities anyways.  And there are thousands of dollars around a home poker game so this just makes it even more attractive for robbers.

Of course, if the government was really concerned about any of this, they could always legalize poker so that people wouldn’t have to deal with these threats.  In legal poker, the government would be getting their tax money and they wouldn’t have to waste time and money raiding illegal poker games.  Plus, the players wouldn’t be at such high risk in terms of being robbed or having to go to jail since they would have a legal place to play. 

When Playboy Poker opened its doors 3 months ago, it seemed like it would be another successful business venture for company icon Hugh Hefner.  The mixture of Playboy bunnies and poker seemed like a perfect combination since there are so many males who enjoy playing online poker.  Plus I noticed that the site had some very unique offers such as the one where a person could get into exclusive Playboy parties if they had earned enough rewards points (called Bunny Money) from the room. 

I don’t think anyone ever earned enough Bunny Money to get into one of these parties though since no one really had time.  That’s because Playboy Poker has closed up shop already and has decided to end their poker venture far earlier than anyone could have imagined. 

The major reason for the premature closure is that Playboy Poker was primarily focused on the European market since the UGIEA scared them out of allowing US players.  The only problem is that Playboy isn’t really a huge brand name in Europe and so they were bound to struggle by only offering poker to Europeans.  And yes, Playboy is known internationally, but not well enough to open a poker room on another continent. 

Plus, even if a European person was able to earn some of the cool rewards such as entry into a Playboy event they would have to cross an ocean to get there and most wouldn’t be able to communicate with others at the party anyways.

If you ask me, I think Playboy Poker was doomed from the beginning and should have waited a little longer to open.  With Barack Obama in office and more favor being shown towards poker, it seems that legal online poker in America could become a reality.  And I think that Playboy Poker definitely could have succeeded in an American market.

The game of poker hasn’t had a whole lot of legal victories over the past few years.  The most crushing blow has been the UIGEA which put some severe restrictions on poker in the United States while causing many poker rooms to pull their services from the US.  In addition to the UIGEA, there have also been countless smaller court battles which have sided with the government instead of with poker.

But poker players can finally rejoice now that a case has went the way of the game in Pennsylvania.  That’s because the judge in the case ruled that poker is a game of skill and can’t be classified as gambling under law since it involves the element of skill.  This is a very interesting ruling considering that the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has been making this same argument since the dawn of time yet they have gotten nowhere with it.

What I’m really wondering is if this ruling will set a precedent where other courts start to make the same determinant about poker since it obviously does involve skill.  After all, how do you explain many of the same players consistently cashing in major events if there isn’t skill involved with poker?  It seems that the judge in this instance asked the same question and answered it with the ruling.

One issue that still has to be answered with regards to poker’s legality is the subject of taxation.  As it stands, poker is a difficult game to keep track of when it comes to taxes since so many rooms are located offshore.  A lot of people who make money with poker can slip under the radar because they’re earning the cash through an avenue which doesn’t send out W-2 forms.  Hopefully, this issue can be solved though so poker can gain some more momentum towards becoming legal.