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Gameshock TV is making a comeback in Europe.  The show is back for a second series, and will premier this week in the UK at 00:30am on Info TV (Sky 231), the show is also available in 30 countries across Europe via the Poker Channel.

The show will not just be looking at poker, though – there are lots of other games to enjoy out there too, and Gameshock TV will look at them all, including the launch of Sony’s new handheld, the PlayStation Vita, along with the new RPG from Kurt Schilling’s dream team: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning; the show will also welcome the return of fighters with UFC Undisputed 3 (a game that even poker fans should be familiar with – remember Bruce Buffer announcing a walk-in at the WSOP a couple of years ago), and more.

As ever, Steve Hill and Chris Hewitt will be in attendance.  If you missed season one, be sure to tune in to the Poker Channel to see what it’s about.

UK Schedule (GMT)
20^th 12.30am
23^rd 11pm
29^th 1am
2^nd March 11.30pm

EU Schedule (CET)
20^th 23.30
22^nd 17.00, 01.00
26^th 19.00

One common mistake that intermediate level poker players make is to move up the ranks too quickly.  A common progression path is to start out in the freerolls / play money rooms, and then move up to microstakes tables, staying there only for a short time before making the leap to higher stakes rooms.

Sadly, the stay in the “big boys’” rooms doesn’t usually last long.  Even if the player has the skills to support their time there, they go in far too early, and lack the bankroll to survive.

If you’re winning in the microstakes rooms, even if you’re suffering from the occasional bad beat due to the unpredictability of lesser-skilled players, stay there and build up a bankroll that’s a couple of hundred times the size of the blinds in the next room up.  Resist the urge to move on to the bigger rooms until you have that bankroll. If you’re playing no-limit poker, you’ll need a bigger bankroll than you would for limit rooms.

The reason for this is simple – a couple of bad beats in a low stakes room won’t do you any harm.  You can just keep playing and earn back what you lost.  If you only have enough to support a few dozen hands at the higher stakes table, then you’ll be bullied out of the action in no time if you show weakness.

Don’t rush to move up just because you want the chance at bigger wins – doing so puts you at the wrong end of the risk/reward equation.  Don’t move up because you want the prestige of the bigger tables, either.    If you’re playing poker for the profits, treat it like a business, and make the moves that show good business sense.

Wikipedia is a useful tool for people who want to learn about almost any element of popular culture, science, or politics, but it isn’t so great if you’re a poker fan.  That’s why PKR has launched The Poker Wiki – a free online encyclopedia that offers information about poker stars, casinos, and poker websites.

ThePokerWiki.com is a free to use, and user-editable project.  The wiki has been populated with a decent amount of information so far, but users are welcome to edit articles, add new ones, and expand on the existing base of information.

How the project will turn out in the long term remains to be seen – there’s always the risk of user-editable projects getting spammed or twisted by a handful of users, but hopefully, as with Wikipedia, the best contributions will rise to the top, and the wiki will become a good place for online poker fans to  check old results, learn new poker skills, and compare stats.

If you watch beginners playing poker, some of the moves can be pretty off-the wall.  In beginner’s poker, bluffing is commonplace.  Even when the board reads pretty clearly, they’ll try to use psychology to push the other players to respond in a different way.

That can work with beginners, sometimes, but only if you’re pretty overt in the “tells” you give away.  If you’re not obvious, they may miss the subtle signs and do something completely illogical.  If you’re too obvious, then they’ll know they’re being played.

Versus more experienced players, bluffing won’t get you far.  TV shows may focus on the masterful psychology and the fancy plays, but what they don’t tell you is that there are dozens of boring hands played in between.  A good percentage of hands played by a professional poker player are folded immediately.  If they showed those hands on TV, then poker wouldn’t survive as a spectator sport for long!

If you want to play poker at a higher level, then you’ll need to hone your strategy and probability skills.  Bluffing is a useful part of the poker skillset, but it’s just one part.  Don’t rely on it to the expense of the rest of the game.

Later this month, Iowa State Senator Jeff Danielson will be proposing a bill which will regulate poker in the state.  His proposal comes in the wake of the U.S. Department of Justice’s memorandum clarifying the nature and intention of the 1961 Wire Act, which is intended to apply only to sports betting, and not to online gaming.

Since the clarification of the ruling, many states have  moved to consider relaxing their online poker rules.  Those states include New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, and California. It’s likely that many other states will follow suit.

Danielson said of the proposal “We believe by the end of this year you will see a handful of states continue to authorize it.  Because of the DoJ’s opinion, we believe you’ll see very quickly multi-state compacts”.

The clarification of the bill hasn’t changed everyone’s minds, though.  There are still many senators that are against gambling, and will fight any expansion of it.  It’s going to be an interesting time for our poker playing friends in the states.

The typical online poker strategy is to either multi-table, or keep quiet and focus on one table at a time.  Players limit banter for fear of giving things away, and just want to earn as much money as possible in as short a time as possible.  Is that strategy going to sustain the glamour of the game?

Daniel Negreanu has spoken out about the future of the game of poker, and it seems that his version of the future isn’t all that bright.  He believes that the way that the Internet generation is dominating the game today means that poker is in danger of becoming too serious, and perhaps even boring.

When Negreanu speaks, the poker world should listen.  Negreanu has lifetime earnings of more than $14 million, and he’s in the top 3 on the all time money list.  He’s been playing poker since 1997, and there are few people that have managed to keep up with the ever changing and evolving game as well as he has.

Today, Negreanu feels that the game lacks the interesting characters that made it rise to prominence.  He said “When poker became popular you had people like Devilfish, Sammy Farha, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Ivey.  Today, the story is ‘I dropped out of college and I grinded 20 tables to build my bankroll’.  The story isn’t sexy.  People won’t care about them, because they are not interesting”.

Negreanu also added that the most recent World Series of Poker was less fun to play in than previous years, let alone watch on TV.  While it’s true that poker as a spectator sport is a matter of debate at the best of times, silent, cut-throat online players are far less interesting to watch than the old-school players with their banter and personality.

You can’t make people change their personality, and you can’t select poker players for tournaments based on marketability rather than skill – but there is certainly the possibility that brands may start selecting only marketable players to sponsor and promote.  Hopefully that will re-build the interest of the masses.

Two big brands, Caesars Interactive Entertainment and 888 Holdings, have teamed up to get ready for the United States poker market.  The partnership comes in anticipation of a change in American gambling laws, which would open the door for certain, limited, forms of online gambling.

888 Chairman Brian Mattingley, said “888 has taken a prudent approach to regulation, which culminated in the successful review conducted by the NGC, putting 888 and Dragonfish in pole position for the US market.  This gives us a strong platform to roll out our cutting edge, turnkey solution to other potential partners as the market opens.”

In recent years, 888 has been a driving force for the World Series of Poker brand in other countries, such as the United Kingdom.  It will be interesting to see how the US market evolves when online gambling opportunities open up over there.  Those who were in a position to move swiftly when the law changed (such as Caesars), should have definite advantage in the early days.

Oliver Speidel took a big chance when he left his job – in risk management, no less – and decided to try his hand at professional poker.  Speidel, from Clifton Hill, managed to win $1.6 million in a five hour Main Event game at the Aussie Millions.

He celebrated his win by diving on to the poker table and swimming in the cash.  He said of his stunt that “It felt like the right thing to do.   I was so emotional in that moment.  I feel amazing.  I still can’t believe it happened.”

Speidel said that his experience in risk management helped him to defeat the other 659 entrants.  He started playing poker five years ago, and fell in love with the strategic nature of the game, although he does admit that “It helps to be really lucky.”

He has not yet decided what he will do with his winnings.  He is considering buying an inner city apartment, and he might also enter some bigger tournaments.  He feels that the win is “life changing.”

Watch out for Speidel at bigger tournaments over the next year.

Lewis Hunter, a poker pro from Scotland, has made his first successful raid on the UK poker scene, taking away a prize of £49,600 after his victory in the Grosvenor United Kingdom Poker Tour.

The tournament, which took place in Manchester, saw Hunter best 170 other players to take the first place prize.  In second place was Kevin Steel, of England, who left with £34,630 for his efforts.

Hunter said that he felt “very good” about his performance, especially considering that the “trophy is going back to Scotland”.  He did say that he was disappointed as he had lost a lot of bluffing, but he was glad to have succeeded in the tournament in general.

Steele said that he was fairly happy with his runner up spot, feeling that it was not a bad start to the new year.  He believes that he can move on from second place to enjoy bigger and better things later in the year.

If you’ve ever missed a freeroll, or gotten confused about the dates of a forthcoming tournament, then you’ll love this mobile application. On-Mobi has released a new Poker Planner application on the Apple App Store.  The application acts as an online tournament reminder.  Poker players can purchase notification bundles for a small fee (20 notifications for $0.99, US dollars or 200 for $4.99).  They will then be informed about tournaments ahead of time, ensuring that they don’t miss out.

You can set up the app to inform you about tournaments based on a range of criteria – including real money or play money play, your preferred sites, buy-in, tournament name, and the time that the tournament will start.   This will allow you to stay on top of the poker calendar, making sure that you don’t lose track of all the tournaments that are going on during peak season.

The app is free to download, but the notifications will cost money.  For the small fee, however, it’s worth at least buying one pack of notifications to see whether it’s useful to you or not.