There are lots of up-and-comers in poker. Young players are winning WSOP bracelets every year. The up-and-comer who’s getting the most attention is Annette Obrestad. She has only been able to be play poker for a year now and she already has five cashes, including her recent WSOP circuit win for $1.8m in September. We’ll have to wait a couple more years before she hits Vegas, considering she just turned 19 years old.

Another young player of note is Bertrand Grospellier. He is a high-limit online player and has eight cashes in live events since 2005. He’s known for playing up to 14 games at once and is already a member of Team Pokerstars.

Eric Froehlich has already won two WSOP bracelets and plays in most of the top tournaments online. At only 23, he has the potential to win enough bracelets to cover his entire arm someday.

The expansion of gaming in South Florida is in full swing. This part of America has beautiful weather and people with lots of money. The wintering baby-boomers from Canada and the northern States can support a huge gaming industry by all be themselves. The three Seminole Casino resorts attract more than just gamers, and they all have nightclubs and restaurants that can stand up to anything that Vegas has to offer.

The “Gulfstream Park Racing Casino” and the “Mardi Gras Track and Gaming Center” have both opened “racinos”, and continue to offer horse and greyhound action. The “Isle Casino and Racing” opened their $150m casino last April, and even “Dania Jai Alai” is adding on a $200m multiplex in 2008. All these places offer poker action and lots of slots.

This expansion comes after the gaming laws were recently loosened and the hours of operation and number of machines were allowed to increase.

Texas Holdem is addictive for lots of reasons. The first and foremost is because of the human ego. For some reason most people believe they are good holdem players once they learn the game.

Poker is such an attitude sport that confidence is required to be successful with any consistency. If the people playing the game all believe they should win, the game will certainly become addictive for those who do not understand that the game involves a lot of losing too, for everyone who plays.

The other factor is the dream of winning it big. We all dream of the good life where we make it big by winning easy money and having freedoms enjoyed by only the rich and famous. With millions of dollars being won by everyday Joes all the time, it’s not tough to see why many become obsessive with the game, to an unsafe level.

Charity poker is all the rage these days. The love of the game brings more people out to these events than most other charity functions. There’s always some type of charity tournament running; here’s a look at a couple that are scheduled for the near future.

In London, the “City Charity Poker Tournament” is set to be played on November 22, 2007. Entry cost is £250, with unlimited re-buys of £150 for the first 90 minutes of play. This includes a luxury buffet meal, and participants can choose the charity they wish to donate their winnings.

The First Annual “All-In For A Cure Poker Tournament” will be played in Altamonte Springs, Florida, on November 17, 2007. Proceeds from the event will go to PanCan, one of America’s leading pancreatic cancer charity organizations. Buy-in is $100 at the door, or $85 pre-registration. Unlimited re-buys will be allowed for the first hour of play.

To ask if the house always wins seems a bit silly to me. One needs only to look at the growth of the gaming industry over the last 50 years to know that the house wins in the long run.

The only time it might seem that the house doesn’t win is if someone finds a way to beat a particular game. When this rare situation occurs it’s only a matter of time before the house discovers it and shuts it down. But they still benefit from these situations because the publicity that follows the news of a big winner increases the popularity of the casino.

All games and machines are mathematically guaranteed to show a profit over time. No games are set against the house, and all provide an edge for the casino. All you are hoping for is to be part of the payout instead of the intake, giving you a chance of exiting with your wallet bulging with newfound money.

There are lots of places to find poker action on the Vegas Strip. But the days of heading downtown to Binions or another old-time poker room are long gone.

The best poker rooms are in the best casinos these days. The Wynn has one of the newest and fanciest rooms in town with great staff that will spread just about any game you ask for. Caesars has a giant room that separates tournament action from cash action, and low limits for no limit holdem and lots of Omaha Hi/Low action.

The king of Vegas poker action is still the Bellagio. It’s where the biggest games are played and the best in the world can be seen on a daily basis. Modern poker rooms are designed to be like the Bellagio, which provides limit action as high as you can imagine, and no-limit games are spread on many levels.

1. Drawing to the low end of a straight. If your card comes, you’re still easily beat.
2. Letting your emotions get the best of you. Stay calm or leave the game.
3. Raising with the second-best hand. Sometimes it’s wiser to call than raise.
4. Playing too many hands in poor positions. The worse your position, the better your hand must be.
5. Calling too much. Poker is about folding and betting, calls should be rare.
6. Staying in a game that you can’t beat. Don’t take it personal, find a better game.
7. Chasing draws when the bet is too big. Keep your drawing odds in your favour.
8. Playing outside your level. Play in a game where you have 200 times the big blind.
9. Bluffing at multi-player pots. It’s not a high percentage move with three or more players.
10. Playing tight at a short table. Get aggressive at a short table.