Does the perfect Texas Hold’em strategy exist? I guess it does, but only to a degree. There’s no such thing as a strategy that will make you a winner every time you play. There’s too much luck involved in poker to make someone a consistently dominant force on the poker tables. If you play poker with any seriousness, you know that you can do everything right in this game and still lose.

The perfect strategy in Texas holdem takes years to learn. It’s a personal journey that one gains with experience; along with the help of whatever one can learn in poker strategy books along the way. The best strategy is being able to recognize how every opponent plays, and then being able to adjust your game to beat them at what their habitual weaknesses. That strategy can be studied, but will take tens of thousands of hands to learn to execute.

A very hot Annie Duke, poker pro

This year’s WSOP started out as one of the best in years for female players. With three women making four final tables in the first 25 events, it looked like it would be the best year ever.

Kathy Liebert was the first to advance to a final table, finishing third in the $10,000 world championship Pot Limit Holdem Event #1. Next was Vanessa Selbst winning the $1500 Pot-Limit Omaha event #19; she followed that up by finishing third in the $10,000 World Championship Heads-Up event #25. Jennifer Harman then made the final table of the $3000 HORSE event # 22.

It has slowed down for the women since then. There has only been one other woman to make a final table over the next 15 events. Annie Duke finished fifth in the $5,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better event #33, almost winning the second WSOP bracelet of her career.

According to witnesses who took in Event 28 at the World Series of Poker, today’s action produced some of best Omaha ever played at the WSOP, with two online players going head-to-head for the first place prize. When all was said and done Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond beat out Adam Hourani — along with a number of big-name pros — for the gold bracelet and $817,781. Hourani takes home $493,748 for being the runner-up. One can only imagine what it must have been like to go up against such pros as David Benyamine, John Juanda, Johnny Chan and Daniel Negreanu. (This just goes to show that online poker players are a force to be reckoned with, especially at the bigger tournaments!)

Here were the chip counts heading into the final table for Event 28 - $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha:
Phil Galfond - 1,393,000
Brian Rast - 1,176,000
David Benyamine - 1,041,000
John Juanda - 694,000
Johnny Chan - 624,000
Kirill Gerasimov - 558,000
Daniel Negreanu - 460,000
Adam Hourani - 300,000
Phil Hellmuth - 119,000

Women have made a big splash at the 2008 WSOP and nobody has made a bigger splash so far than poker professional Vanessa Selbst, who won the $1500 pot limit Omaha event #18 ($227,933). Vanessa didn’t stop there, either; she finished third in the $10,000 Heads Up Championship, winning $108,288 three days later. Selbst has won over $600,000 in the last two years, and has had her coming out party at this year’s WSOP as one of the best female players in the world.

Kathy Liebert just missed wining her second WSOP bracelet when she came in third in event #1, winning $306,000 in the process. She already has four cashes this year. Jennifer Harman finished eighth in event #22, $3000 HORSE. She earned $30,851, and would have won her third bracelet if she could have prevailed. Svetlana “Glum Girl” Gromenkova won the $1000 Ladies event #15. She took home $244,702 and her first WSOP bracelet.

Jose Canseco is hoping to pick up a WSOP bracelet this year.

The main event at the World Series of Poker attracts more and more celebrities every year. Some have already made their mark on the poker scene, so BodogLife.com is offering action on which celebrity will go the deepest in the main event this year. There are 18 different celebrities, both actors and sports figures, from which to choose.

Getting the best odds at 5/1 are James Woods, Shannon Elizabeth, Jennifer Tilly and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. They spend more time on tour than other celebrities, and have had notable cashes in the past. Boris Becker, Ben Affleck, Norm MacDonald and Don Cheadle come in at 9/1.

Others come in at 14/1, and long shots like Jose Canseco, Lennox Lewis, Penn Gillette and Hank Azaria are only getting 30/1. James Woods and Jennifer Tilly are probably the best bets out of the entire list. They would likely boast the most playing experience over the last few years.

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Frankly, the idea of a woman winning the WSOP main event is simply a far-fetched notion. There are a handful of women that are certainly good enough to win it, but the overall percentage of women compared to men is very small. You can get WSOP odds for a woman to make the final table, or you can bet on one particular woman going deeper than the others, but I haven’t found much action on a woman actually winning it.

If I had to pick one worthy candidate it would be Jennifer Harman. She is the best female poker player overall, and she would be able to handle the pressure of the final table. She plays in the biggest cash games in the world. I think she would handle the late stages better than other woman.

If I had to pick another dark horse it would be the experienced Kathy Liebert. She has the ability to win it all as well.