Ummm...wild. I don't think I'll be playing much poker online after I continue to read frightening things like this that give everyone the advantage but yourself.
Whatever happened to the idea of playing poker as a personal skill? With increasing talk of the threat of online 'bots and automated collusion one could be forgiven for thinking that some of the character is being bled from a great game by advancing technology.Take the latest product to be launched on the poker playing public - The Poker Advantage. The seller of this new tool, CMM Enterprises openly punts it as gaining an "unfair advantage when playing poker," describing it as a stealth software that makes winning at online poker "a lot more fun and profitable.
"The company claims that its product is a highly sophisticated poker odds calculator, hand strength indicator and learning tool. It automatically reads all visible cards on the table in real time. This enables the user to instantly know their hand strength so that they know when to fold, check, call, raise or re-raise. Using a highly advanced algorithm, the Poker Advantage let's the user know how their opponents are playing; passive, aggressive, profits and losses and errors they have made.
This apparently "... helps players 'read' their opponents."The Poker Advantage additionally keeps track of hand history up to twenty hands for both the player and his or her opponents. It graphs each player, play so that the user can visually see what each player has done for the past 20 hands at a quick glance. One happy customer is quoted as saying, "What I like best is the hand history. It gives me a pretty good idea of what kind of players my opponents are. In my opinion this is a big advantage, especially in online poker play, where you cannot see your adversaries."
What can we say? Well - we tried it and really liked it. The PSP World Series of Poker doesn't seem to have any shortcomings and best of all it's on our PSP now. We covered this two months ago and have patiently waited for a long holiday weekend to play a round or two. The UI is great - the AI even better and we like the graphics and the fact you can take it with you wherever you go. Great Stuff.
World Series of Poker has the feel of the actual tournament, recreating the complete ESPN presentation style to add drama and suspense. All the sanctioned poker various of the World Series of Poker are available, including Texas Hold 'Em, 7 Card Stud, Omaha, and 5 Card Draw. With the flexible character creator, you can create your own poker face, wear Vegas-style threads and upgrade your looks/clothes as you gain money.
I had the pleasure of playing this little wonder yesterday at lunch with it's creator Jordan Pollack. It's fun. It's quick. And it has gambling and fun written all over it. Tired of Texas Hold'em or want to increase your mental math skills at the odds? Then nannon is for you.
This new game feels like Backgammon but plays as quickly as a hand of Hold-em Poker. The rules are simple enough to teach in a minute, but developing skill, especially with the Doubling cube, takes practice. NANNON comes in an Altoids-sized tin that fits in your pocket or purse, and is a high-quality full-size game with heavy checkers, quality dice and a hand-made folding board. Nannon can be played in cafes, airplanes, restaurants, even in pubs with loud background music. It admits all the customs of Backgammon, including tournaments and doubling.
We've been sifting around all of the sites for simply the best we could find. With the holiday week coming up here in the US, we're pretty sure you'll need some ideas not just for conversation but also for the gift giving season. Check out some of these other sites and amaze your relatives with a vast array of coffee knowledge, gps insight, cooking grace, wine snobbery, and of course TV chit chat.
The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, The World's Greatest Poker Player
We haven't read this yet but it's on our Amazon wishlist. The tail of Stuey Ungar is sad and fascinating at the same time.
Begun as an as-told-to by Dalla with Stuey Ungar, this biography tells in painful detail the story of the poker and gin superstar. Ungar is certainly a fascinating subject. He was prodigiously dysfunctional, a manic sports bettor and cocaine addict who won an estimated $30 million during his life, but who, after his death in 1998, needed a collection from his friends to pay for his funeral. Unfortunately, the complexities of Ungar's personality aren't satisfactorily unraveled by the authors. They offer stories from the likes of poker legend Doyle Brunson and Mike Sexton, television's reigning poker guru, of Ungar's fabulous skills as a card player and spectacular need for "action," but few insights into the source of Ungar's self-destructive demons: he died prematurely at age 45 from the ravages of drug abuse. Without any analysis, the repetitious account of years of poker ups and downs, sports gambling losses, manic acts of generosity and descents into drug abuse, as tragic as it is, becomes tedious. Still, without distorting or downplaying Ungar's depredations, this is a heartfelt, respectful and accepting biography.
Here's our advice. The handheld is fun - but skip the Lou Diamond Philips DVD that comes with it. Is this guy desperate to get work or what? I can't watch Lou without becoming sad. Okay - back to the handheld - what can we say it hooks up to your TV, cards are dealt right to the handheld - it's World Poker Tour Magic!
Get dealt in for the next high stakes hand of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em. This great world poker tour game plugs right into your TV with no game console required. Before you can say, "jackpot," you'll be playing with friends or testing your game face on a full season of the World Poker Tour (WPT). Cards are dealt directly to you as you play. Hone your skills with on-screen tutorials and save your player profiles as you go. Includes a bonus DVD: "WPT Poker Primer" hosted by Lou Diamond Phillips.
It's about time. I would play a ton of poker on my phone if I knew I was actually going to win something instead of just practice.
With the advent of cellular phones and their advancing technology, what has been lacking is the content that many would like to have with their mobile phone. Games are always nice, but what some want are specific ringtones or other special content that will individualize the experience. While there has been some poker players that are bringing themselves to the cell phone arena, more are now joining in.
From what we've read we're not exactly sure they've gotten this new game for Xbox totally right but it's also not totally wrong. Team XBOX thinks it's pretty darn good and we have to think if Crave put it out - it's going to be at least decent.
Did the poker season start and no one told me again? The last time I checked the world of sports contained no real “poker season” and yet it’s this time of year that the videogame industry has designated to unleash their latest card-baring games to the public. Enough of my ranting, on to the review! - Team XBOX
XBOX World Championship Poker 2 features:
More poker - 14 different varieties of poker, ranging from Texas Hold 'em and Five-Card Stud to Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw and Razz: Ace to Five.
More gameplay -- Active tell and bluff system, RPG-like upgradeable skill system and character outfitting
Play with the pros- In-game character likenesses, play styles and iconic signature personality traits of eight of the worlds best professional poker professionals, including Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Greg Raymer, Amir Vahedi, Paul Darden, Clonie Gowen, Robert Williamson III and featuring announcing by Matt Savage.
Hip new look- More Rat Pack era themed shell and HUD, more realistic looking characters and advanced animation system with something moving on the screen at all times
Broader audience appeal- With the choice of Real Deal simulation or Power Play arcade modes, WCP2 appeals to experience poker players as well as casual console gamers
We'll be adding this to our Gamefly queue and should have our thoughts soon.
The Spoof - Poker thieves nab 273 quadrillion chips
Pure comic genius.
PokerBlokes.net, a popular online poker site, was robbed of 273 quadrillion chips in a daring heist over the weekend. Investigators are describing it as the largest theft of play money in history.According to a police report, two men showed up at PokerBlokes headquarters on Saturday morning, posing as florists. One man distracted an employee while the other man set a large potted plant in the lobby. The pot was large enough to hide a wireless router attached to a car battery. The men spent the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday downloading chips. The theft was discovered on Monday morning when players couldn't access the play money in their accounts.
This portable automatic shuffler accommodates up to two standard decks of playing cards (included). Just press the lever and watch through the viewing window as the cards are shuffled fairly and with professional thoroughness.
It looks amazing but isn't your typical poker game. Much like web games in the past that utilized phone, email, fax, and instant messaging, this creepy poker game interacts with you however it can. We'll be checking out this new game and should have our thoughts soon.
Author Sean Stewart told SCI FI Wire that his new game Web site, Last Call Poker, looks like any other poker site. But it's not. "You'll notice quickly that [the players] are ostensibly dead," said Stewart, who created the game with help from fellow writers Walter Jon Williams and Maureen McHugh. "This interactive game [is] plotted just as carefully as any other novel."
Last Call Poker is actually an "alternate reality game," along the lines of the Web-based games such as "The Beast," used to promote the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and "I Love Bees," which was a viral marketing tool for the video game Halo 2. In this case, the game is the story. "The story does not care about the platform," Stewart said. "It comes at you over a Web site and calls your phone, faxes your machine, sends you e-mail. You pass another piece of the story on the billboard, and there's a bit on the radio. All the way that information comes to you now becomes a co-opted channel for another kind of fiction."
We're pretty sure we could beat Phil Gordon at a final table but it probably wouldn't hurt to watch this DVD to ensure a win.
Do you have what it takes to play at the final table? Have you ever watched a televised poker tournament and wondered what the players were thinking? Why they made a certain play? Why they bluffed? If so this is the perfect video for you. FINAL TABLE POKER brings you inside the mind of Poker Pro, Phil Gordon. Listen in on Phil's every thought as he plays at the final table of a high stakes No-Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament. Learn Phil's secrets on pot odds, dominated hands, selective aggression, bluffing, tells and much, much more! Then watch your game improve! This disc also includes 2 viewing modes: Choose between Advanced and Beginner, Phil Gordon's starting hand guide, and the rule of 4 and 2 odds and outs chart. 100 minutes, plays in all regions.
Stealth Online Poker Tool
Ummm...wild. I don't think I'll be playing much poker online after I continue to read frightening things like this that give everyone the advantage but yourself.
What can we say? Well - we tried it and really liked it. The PSP World Series of Poker doesn't seem to have any shortcomings and best of all it's on our PSP now. We covered this two months ago and have patiently waited for a long holiday weekend to play a round or two. The UI is great - the AI even better and we like the graphics and the fact you can take it with you wherever you go. Great Stuff.
We haven't read this yet but it's on our Amazon wishlist. The tail of Stuey Ungar is sad and fascinating at the same time.
Here's our advice. The handheld is fun - but skip the Lou Diamond Philips DVD that comes with it. Is this guy desperate to get work or what? I can't watch Lou without becoming sad. Okay - back to the handheld - what can we say it hooks up to your TV, cards are dealt right to the handheld - it's World Poker Tour Magic!
From what we've read we're not exactly sure they've gotten this new game for Xbox totally right but it's also not totally wrong. Team XBOX thinks it's pretty darn good and we have to think if Crave put it out - it's going to be at least decent.
This portable automatic shuffler accommodates up to two standard decks of playing cards (included). Just press the lever and watch through the viewing window as the cards are shuffled fairly and with professional thoroughness.
We're pretty sure we could beat Phil Gordon at a final table but it probably wouldn't hurt to watch this 
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