You don’t have to surf too many channels to find some poker coverage on television these days. Here’s a brief look at what’s on the tube this weekend if you feel like watching the pros for awhile. (All times ET.)

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday you can tune into Poker After Dark on NBC at 2:00 am.

The National Heads-Up Poker Championship is on Saturday on CNBC at 9:00 pm and 12:00 am.

2007 WSOP Main Event Coverage can be seen on Saturday at 12:00 am and 1:00 am, and again Sunday at 5:00 am, 1:00 pm, 3:00 pm, 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm.

The 2005 U.S.P.C coverage on ESPN Classics starts at 4:00 am and 5:00 am Friday, then again at 3:00 am and 4:00 am on Saturday.

On Saturday the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker is on at 12:00 pm and the WPT Gold Strike event is on at 9:00 pm and 12:00 am.

Every successful poker player has worked on improving their game. The only way to get better is to learn what you are doing wrong.

If winning on a consistent basis is your goal in poker, then you must plug the leaks in your game. And just in case you think you don’t have any – you’re wrong, we all do. There’s only one way to discover what your leaks are, and that’s by documenting your play and recognizing situations where your usual decisions cause you to lose more often than win.

Once you discover that you lose 60% of the hands you play from the small blind with two or more callers, or whatever, you can stop that behavior in the future. It may not seem like much, but as more and more of these little leaks get plugged, the losing occurs less and less. Before you know it you’re a winning player.

There are lots of poker tools out there today. Most sites provide the basics of your playing stats but the poker tools do so much more.

For free personal stats software there is PokerCharts.com. It’s web-based with no download required. Then you just log in and enter your data. Another good free one is PokerStat at http://www.thsoftware.com/pokerstat/index.htm. It works for hold’em, Omaha Hi and Omaha 8. (You can try those free online poker games for free at Bodog Poker!)

For $55, Poker Tracker keeps track of your play and the play of all your opponents. It calculates all tournament info and allows you to track many different trends and situations. The first 1000 hands are free. Then you can buy the registration code at http://www.pokertracker.com.

An odds calculator is always a part of my sessions. Pokerlistings.com has a good one that’s free to use; just add the page to your favourites for easy access. http://www.pokertournamentmanager.com will make your home game run smooth.

There aren’t really a lot of tells that a person gets from more than one player. Tells are not about eating Oreo cookies when you have the nuts. It’s tough to apply that to every opponent.

It’s more about watching how an opponent plays for awhile, and then recognizing when they’re making a bluff or if they have the goods.

The size of the bet made is the most common tell as to what an opponent may have. If an opponent makes a bet that’s out of character, it’s usually a bluff of some type. Oversize bets are the loose player’s way to steal a pot, and only top-level opponents will bet like this when they have a monster.

You have to take mental notes of how a player acts in a certain situation, and then take advantage of the next time they repeat that behavior in a similar one.

Recognizing when to leave a game of hold’em can take many forms, as numerous factors can make a certain table a bad place to be.

If you’re losing there’s a reason for it, and you had best figure it out or move on. Many times if one table starts out bad, players will start to get into hands with you more often than normal. Once opponents aren’t backing down from your raises anymore, that table is a bad place to be and you should leave.

The other situation where I would advise you to leave a game is when you’ve been playing for more than 8 to 10 hours, and you lose a few hands in a row. Playing tired is not a wise decision for anyone and should only be done when you’re forced to during a long tournament.

You should aim to be at your sharpest if you have the opportunity to come and go. (Test your Texas Holdem skills at Bodog Poker!)

To decide which game is better between Omaha and Texas Hold’em depends on what type of poker you like to play, and how available you want your game to be.

Hold’em is a game that can be played in three different forms; limit, no-limit, and pot-limit hold’em are all good games. Omaha is best played in the pot-limit form because of the drawing odds the game presents. This limits action in Omaha compared to hold’em.

Omaha is an action-packed game that can create huge pots. Most hold’em pots are small and short with the occasional big one. Omaha hands usually present numerous outs for opponents to draw to the best hand, so players remain in after bets more often. Most players learn to play Omaha after they’ve played a lot of hold’em. Personally, if I had to choose just one, it would be hold’em because of the player’s ability to bluff at pots easier than in Omaha.

After a day of playing tournament Texas Holdem, you’ve still got time to explore London

If you find some extra time on your hands at the WSOP Europe, there are some things to do other than the three events lined up for the second week in September. Satellites for the main event have been going on since early last May, and will continue until the 5th of September.

All three casinos hosting the event – The Casino Empire, Casino Fifty and The Sportsman Casino – are world-class gaming facilities that will fill any action desire you may have throughout the week. If you want to take a break from the gaming, London is one of the most exciting cities in the world.

There’s Buckingham Palace, City Tours, The London Zoo, Madame Tussauds and The Tower of London. One can take a cruise on the Thames or tour St. Paul’s Cathedral and the London Dungeon. Whatever your taste, London has something for everyone.

Another new innovation in poker was announced last week by mobile entertainment company I-play. Starting this month, I-play will be launching ‘Win at Texas Hold’em’ presented by Daniel Negreanu.

‘Win at Texas Hold’em’ is a series of 2-3 minute clips in which Negreanu divulges secrets and tips for playing winning poker. The videos are divided into five categories and include Beginner, Advanced, Bluffs & Tells, Tournament Tips and Winning Secrets. The videos will also include specials video blogs shot by Negreanu at the Venetian Hotel & Resort in Las Vegas, that will run through a vast array of poker tips from basic fundamentals to more advanced topics such as tournament play, tells and bluffs.

The videos are already live on the Sprint and Cingular networks and will be available throughout North America over the next couple of months.

A recent survey showed that most gamers still prefer roulette over other forms of gambling. This makes sense because the majority of gamers are relatively new to gaming. New players play easier games when they start out, and roulette is as simple as it gets. It’s essentially a mini-lottery where all one has to do is pick their numbers by putting their individual colored chips on the number on the table.

Beyond the simplicity of the game, the anticipation as the ball spins prolongs the player’s anticipation more than other games. The excitement of hitting your bet and making as much as 35-1 keeps players coming back again and again.

It’s also easier to leave a roulette game when you’re up a few bets because a couple of wins in a row can earn the player a large gain in short time, making it easier to recognize that you’re ahead.

If you’ve never played in a huge poker event you probably don’t know how necessary listening to an iPod can be while playing poker. If you’ve ever played in a World Series of Poker event you know how insanely annoying it is when a 1,000 people in one room are riffling their chips. So if you are heading to the WSOP next year or get into a WPT main event, invest in an iPod beforehand.

Now that you’ve got your iPod to distract you from incessant chip noise and maybe even some annoying fellow players, what are you going to listen to? You could put together a mix of gambling-related songs like Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler”, and “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead. But going from Kenny to Motorhead is more than a little disjointed, and how geeky will you look with your super gambling music mix anyway.

When you’re loading up your iPod with poker tourney music, try and go as eclectic as you possibly can. Try and load up some different music for all the moods you might go through during the tourney. If you expect to last into the early hours, put in some tunes with some drive to them to help keep you awake. Something with some kick to it like old-school Metallica or AC/DC.

On the other hand, try and find something soothing and relaxing for those times when you suffer a bad beat and you need to quickly mellow out to avoid going on tilt. Even if you have to throw on some instrumental muzak that’s fine, as long as it does its job.

Also make sure you load on a bunch of tunes you actually like. Keep your spirits up and keep your confidence booming by listening to some tunes that really get you going. Whether it’s new pop, classic rock, punk, grunge, country or whatever, get some tunes that are easy to listen to, but also easy to drown out when you need to focus on the cards.

Whatever you end up putting on your iPod, just make sure you don’t start singing along.