$800.000 losses represented a bad start for Phil Ivey at the beginning of 2011, but, since he is one of the best poker players in the world, he was able to reverse the downswing in just one day. To be more specific, a few days ago he managed to win $1.5 million at online poker in only 24 hours.

The sums earned so far this year are the result of a relatively small number of hands played online (13 399 more precisely) against online sharks most of the time. Two sharks in particular fell victims to Phil Ivey who left them $1 million poorer and these two sharks were: Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates and Scott “URnotINdanger” Palmer.

According to data available to us, Phil Ivey has gathered approximately $20 million in cash-game winnings since 2007 and another 13.5 $million from tournaments. But these are not his only sources of money. Apart from his passion for poker, Phil Ivey is into sports betting, a gambling domain where he proves just as successful as in poker.

Below you can see Phil Ivey’s poker earnings since 2007:

year 2007 : 1.994.049 $
year 2008 : 7.335.112 $
year 2009 : 6.337.702 $
year 2010 : 2.239.568 $
year 2011 : 1.553.506 $ (in progress)

Another interesting aspect about this successful poker player is that he will soon launch his own website. The first message of his new website, which currently is under construction, is: “Now I’m going to teach the whole world to win at poker”. It remains to be seen if his lessons are for free or paid since no other details were made public about the content of the website. We are all looking forward to it!

A good poker player is aware that position is of vital importance in a game and he must adapt his strategy according to where he is placed at the poker table. Most beginners are not even aware that their place at the table can have such a strong impact on their success or failure.

The position is determined in relation to the button (a small disc that goes around the table to mark the persons that posts the big and small blinds). Consequently, there are 3 types of positions: early, middle and last positions. The early positions are referred to as ‘out of position” while the last positions are called ‘in position’.

Early position (EP)

The early positions are the first 3 places at a standard 10-player table and are the most dangerous. In early positions you are extremely vulnerable so you should play tight and fold when you have a poor hand. This is a situation when you are out of position and you should reduce the time you spend playing out of position.

Among the early positions, the first one, called “Under the Gun”, is the worst because the player in this position has to act first after the blinds. When under the gun, you are the first to act pre-flop and among the first to act after the flop, so you will lack any information about your opponents’ and their hands, information which is available to the players in late positions. This is why the late-position players have control over the game and define the way a hand is played.

Middle position (MP)

The middle position players are situated at the lefts of the early ones (usually starting with the 4th player to the left of the button). The players in the middle position perform the so-called ‘squeeze play’ because they must react to the actions of the early players but are threatened by the actions of last position players. You are squeezed when you get trapped in a difficult situation: for example you want to call a bet by a player in EP, but have a real threat of being raised by another opponent in late position.

Late position (LP)

This is when you ‘play in position’, when your place at the poker table is most favourable to you. Playing in position represents such a great advantage due to the amount of information you have acquired from observing your opponents before your turn comes. Depending on the information you have gathered, you can decide more easily what to do with your hand. In contrast, a player who is out of position is unsure, trying to guess the value of his opponents’ hands.

Playing in position makes poker look so easy and pleasurable to play. When you want to join a table, take a little time to observe the table and then get seated at the left of the weak players. This allows you to be in position and control most of the time, the weaker players not even being aware of your tactic.

To be in position gives a player such an edge that the last position has become known as the “Jesus Seat”. From this place you can control the game, leaving your rivals no other option but to react to your actions in what is called “scared poker”, always uncertain about the outcome of the hand.

Position strategy

When you are out of position don’t despair because there are strategies and techniques that can help you in this case. First, you should play only really good hands consisting of aces, kings and pairs. If you hold pocket aces, pocket kings or pocket queens or ace king you should raise at a tight table and limp in at a loose table.

Second, you can gather information about your opponents by placing “feeler” bets in an early position and observe their reaction to it.

Third, when out of position, you should play extremely tight and only stronger hands. When you are in position, you can even play drawing hands.

“Poker’s a day to learn and a lifetime to master” believes Robert Williamson III, a well-known Omaha player of our times. This may come as an exaggeration since poker is a 52 card-game with 9 strictly hierarchical winning hands. Though it is true that all the books written on poker theory can help you play this game, why does Williamson consider that you need a lifetime to master it?

The answer to this question lies in today’s competition which is so fierce that poker theory is not enough anymore to help you succeed and make a living out of poker like it used to do in the 70′s. Back then, poker was just becoming a professional game and players such as Doyle Brunson, David Sklansky, Chip Reese were more successful then nowadays. Why? Because they knew poker mathematics. Mathematical probabilities represented a huge advantage for them against other players who were either uneducated or perceived poker only as a means of entertainment.

Since nowadays almost every player is familiar to the mathematics of the poker game this becomes less of an important criteria for winning. What is then the key to success in poker nowadays? It is your unique skills and abilities that you bring to the poker table. For example, Tom Dwan uses a combination of smart aggression and no respect for money which works very well for him. Another great player, Daniel Negreanu, is a good reader, being able to distinguish real hands from bluffs most of the time. This is not an easy thing to do, it is a skill obtained after many years of practicing the game and observing your opponents. In my opinion, it is important to ride the weak opponents, neutralize their aggression and then deal with the strong players.

As the Euro Finals of Poker are approaching for the period 1- 16 February, so are the 2010 European Poker Awards. The latter are meant to reward the best European poker players of the year 2010.

A commission comprised of 8 European celebrities will decide on 13 February who are the players that deserve most the awards. To name just a few of the judges forming the commission we mention: Fabrice Soulier, Bruno Benveniste and Lucille Denos.

The selection of the nominees was not based solely on the players’ performances but also on their popularity among online players. As you can see below there is a category especially dedicated to online players.

UK has the biggest number of nominees, followed by Denmark. An interesting thing is that Isildur1 is mentioned on the list of “The best online player of the year”.

Below is the detailed list of nominees:

Player of the year (current title owner: Vitaly Lunkin)

• Theo Jorgensen (Denmark)

• Jake Cody (UK)

• Sam Trickett (UK)

• Vladimir Schemelev (Russia)

Female player of the year (current title owner : Sandra Naujoks)

• Liv Boeree (UK)

• Annette Obrestad (Norway)

Online player of the year (current title owner: Patrick Antonius)

• Chris “moorman1″ Moorman (UK)

• Patrik Antonius (Finland)

• Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen (Denmark)

• Isildur1 (Sweden)

• Andreas “skjervoy” Torbergsen (Norway)

Revelation of the year (current title owner: Antoine Saout)

• Jake Cody (UK)

• David Vamplew (UK)

• Toby Lewis (UK)

• Julian Herold (Germany)

• Fernando Brito (Portugal)

Best performance of the year (current title owner: Jeff Lisandro)

• James Bord (UK)

• Jake Cody (UK)

• Fillipo Candio (Italy)

• Liv Boeree (UK)

• Tobias Reinkemeier (Germany)

• David Vamplew (UK)

Rob Gardner award for the personality of the year:

• Jesse May (Denmark)

• Tony G (Lithuania)

• Anthony Holden (UK)

Besides the ones mentioned above, two other awards will be offered. One will go to the best employee of the poker circuit. The other one, the Lifetime Achievement Award will repay a poker celebrity for his/her entire career and his/her support to the poker circuit.

Professionals of the gambling industry have issued statistics and reports that show Macau’s gradual transformation into the new centre of attraction for rich gamblers from all over the World. It has even surpassed Las Vegas, the classical American gambling destination as well as many other poker hotspots worldwide.

Macau has become renowned for its gigantic blinds cash games which are dedicated to foreign and local businessmen, that is the crème de la crème of the business community that comes to or lives in Macau. Despite their ‘semi-private’ nature, these high-stake poker encounters allow the access of a limited number of famous poker pros. Not too many though, so that they don’t turn Macau cash games into yet another professional poker event.

Three of the major poker players present at the Macau cash-game session were Phil Ivey, Tom “Durrrr” Dwan and John Juanda. According to some, they all left with positive results. After more than a week of play, the Tiger Woods of poker returned straight to US while Dawn remained a little longer in Asia to relax before returning home.

Comments from the 2+2 forum tell us that Tom Dwan has left Macau $8.8million richer after an incredible 15 hour long heads-up with a rich local businessman. A post of Matt Savage on 2+2 adds:

“The game broke last night after a mammoth near 48 hour session where it started 5-6 handed, was HU for a while and then others joined again at the end. The game would have broken today anyway as some of the principals are going out of town for a week, we expect it to resume in a week or so. Phil and Durrrr both ended up overall for the trip and am sure will be looking forward to an invite back. Dwan expected to relax in Asia for a few days before heading back to the US. “

Additional comments of Matt Savage and Tom Hall on the same forum explained that cash games during the past week at Macau have ‘exploded’, with the biggest no-limit game featuring blinds of approximately $6,500/$13,000.

Texas Hold’em is the most popular form of poker worldwide, having a dominant presence not only in official tournaments but also on TV shows and even in private games. The television show Poker After Dark, however, is aiming to change this pattern by filming a Pot Limit Omaha edition of the programmme.

Since professional poker players master other forms of poker as well, showing them on TV would increase the popularity of such poker forms among the less experienced players around the world. Brian Hastings (Stinger885) is one of the poker pros who accepted to appear on the Poker After Dark show as he mentioned in his blog:

“The reason I am flying to Vegas is that I am going to be on Poker After Dark,” he wrote last week. “This will be my first televised poker appearance and I am very excited. Lana (CR marketing director) worked very hard to get me on the show and called me Friday afternoon to let me know about it.”

In addition, according to Hastings’ blog post, the edition will host some of the most notorious characters in high-stakes cash game poker such as Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Phil Galfond. He mentioned also that the blinds will be $300/$600 and a minimum buy-in of $100,000.

Poker After Dark first aired in 2007 and has been active for six seasons. The show has featured both single-table tournaments and high-stakes cash games, hosting some of the world’s most popular poker players. The main sponsor is Full Tilt Poker. Its name derives from the late start time.

The winner of the World Poker Tour Finals at Foxwoods is Jeff Forrest, a 22-year old player who has just become famous after this event. The $10,000 buy-in tournament hosted a field of 242 players and had the following configuration of the final table:

Thomas Marchese – 3.022.000
Jeff Forrest – 1.949.000
Mohsin Charania – 1.024.000
Nikolai Yakovenko – 624.000
Dave Inselberg – 344.000
Keven Stammen – 341.000

Therefore, the final table started with Marchese as chip leader while Jeff Forrest was second in chips. However, Forrest succeeded in eliminating Marchese in 3^rd position, which left the title to be disputed between Forrest and Inselberg.

When the heads-up began, Forrest had a substantial chip lead over his opponent and only ten hands later the defining moment came to seal the outcome of the Foxwoods World Poker Tour Finals. It was when Forrest was dealt Qd-Qh to Inselberg’s 9h-6s.

Forrest mini-raised and Iselberg called and then check-raised Forrest all-in on a 9d-8s-5c flop. A Qs on the turn and an Ac on the river brought Forrest the WPT title and Inselberg the 2^nd place worth $325,608.

This victory was Forrest’s first major win. In just over a year of play, Forrest had had some promising results already such as cashing twice in World Series of Poker events, and finishing 2^nd in a $1,500 buy-in event at this year’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure tournament series. After winning at Foxwoods, his earnings now reach $740,000.

The final table cash outs at the World Poker Tour Finals at Foxwoods are:

1: Jeff Forrest – 548.752$
2: Dave Inselberg – 325.608$
3: Thomas Marchese – 211.759$
4: Nikolai Yakovenko – 170.773$
5: Keven Stammen – 128.650$
6: Mohsin Charania – 104.741$

The producers of TV series ‘Weeds’, Jenji Kohan and Matthew Salsberg, are preparing a new show to be aired on the American channel Showtime. It will be called ‘Whales’, it will focus on poker and will be located din Las Vegas.

Currently in development, ‘Whales’ will be a sort of comedy featuring a group of young poker players, more or less endowed, and prepared to do their best at prestigious poker tournaments. The launch date is unknown yet but what we know is that ‘Whales’ will have a 30 minute format similar to ‘Weeds’.

The marijuana-themed ‘Weeds’ is a real TV hit, now at its sixth season on Showtime and producers hope ‘Whales’ will enjoy similar success. Speaking of ‘Weeds’, there will take place the “National Weeds Awareness Week” starting October 17th during which back-to-back episodes of the popular will air on the network every day from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am.

So far, poker-related TV shows have not enjoyed so much popularity among TV viewers. For instance, ‘Tilt’ that starred Micheal Madsen was aired on ESPN only one season in 2005. Another example is the NBC series about the poker pro Annie Duke that never appeared on TV.

We will just have to wait and see if ‘Whales’ will become as popular as other ‘Showtime’ series such as ‘Dexter’ or ‘Californication’.

The most popular ways to fund online casino accounts are credit cards and e-wallets. A third and safer option gaining more and more ground is prepaid vouchers. There are some features that make them safer in comparison with credit cards and e-wallets.

Credit cards allow players to use borrowed money for wagering. This means that the player can wager until he reaches the limit of the sum that the credit card company has borrowed him and usually that sum is larger than what the player can afford to.

As for the e-wallets, they can be funded from a credit card or from a bank account. Either way, it allows players to wager until they reach the limit of the amounts borrowed or possessed, therefore leaving them with nothing or in serious indebtedness.

Here comes into play the prepaid voucher. It is a small amount voucher that can be purchased for cash from a retail outlet. This voucher has a code printed on it that allows you entrance at online casinos that accept the voucher. As the voucher has to be paid beforehand in cash and it is usually a relatively small sum of money, it avoids borrowing and excessive wagering. Therefore, individual transactions are limited in value. Once the money is used at the online casino, the player has to buy a new prepaid voucher.

The success of the prepaid vouchers has been enhanced by two factors. The first one is the software technology that connects the buyer, the seller and the online casino through only one code number and that ensures a secure online environment. The second factor is the presence of retail outlets spread out in almost all localities. Suppliers of prepaid vouchers sign partnership contracts with different retail outlets in different countries depending on how popular this technology is in the respective country.

Making use of his advanced poker and golf skills, Daniel Negreanu has won the PokerStars EPT Vilamoura, a tournament that combined golf and poker in an exciting and innovative competition, not to mention the luxurious sea-side resort of Vilamoura where it has taken place.

The tournament was held on the golf fairways on Day 1 at the end of which all competitors had their score converted into equivalent chips to use on Day 2 for playing poker.

Daniel Negreanu, who had gathered experience in golfing related wagers along the years, has finally had an official occasion to prove his golf talent and after Day 1 at EPT Vilamoura his chips stack rose by $2,500.

The ‘Kid poker’ (Negreanu’s nickname) put on a good show on Day 2 as he lasted until the final table where he went heads up against Pieter De Korver whom he eliminated, with Negreanu holding Q-J to his opponent’s J-2

Though the prize money is not so important given his previous winnings, Negreanu has surely enjoyed this tournament. His passion for golf and poker surely complemented the modest €8,000 that he received for his victory.