Feel like surfing around a bit? I was busy playing online poker last night and there was absolutely no action at any of the tables. I tried four different online poker rooms and just couldn’t find a decent game. When ever this happens, I like to surf the internet and that’s when I found my way over to this Poker Forum at cardschat.com. I can’t believe that I have never come across this online poker site before, it was one of the best poker forums I’ve ever visited.

This online poker forum is VERY active! I spent a couple of hours surfing through the thousands of posts that they had and eventually started looking around the site a bit more. They have one of the most extensive Poker Bonus sections that I’ve seen on the web.

I’ve bookmarked cardschat.com and will be back on a regular basis. When you get a chance, check out this site.

I’ve justed completed the Gambling Articles Directory that I’ve been wanting to put in for some time. The poker community is a large group, but they tend to be a tight group, as well. This directory is my way of giving back to all of the poker webmasters who have helped me throughout the past year. If any of you have ever tried this, then you know, building a website can be very challenging but also rewarding.

Poker30.net started as a hobby, now it’s grown into much more than that. There are several articles already in the Gambling articles section, written by people mabye with a different perspective than us at Poker30. This directory is their chance to show that to you.

Well, after debating and debating, over and over again. Rehashing ideas and brainstoming with my other Poker30 cohorts, we have decided to add PartyPoker to the mix of online poker sites.

I can not believe that it has been this long and we haven’t had them here. Granted, our site hasn’t been online THAT LONG, but still…..come on! This is Partypoker we are talking about. When you think online poker, it’s definitely one of the first sites that you think of. Whether you had the worst beat of your life there or the greatest call, Partypoker is THE BIGGEST POKER SITE on the internet today. Hands down, there is no mistaking it.

In any case, we have added our review of Partypoker, based on years of experience playing there. Through the good and the bad, Partypoker has been there. Oh, and in case you are one of the two people in this world that has not played at party poker, we have a Partypoker Bonus Code. See ya at the tables!

Well, I just found my new favorite European poker room. Everest Poker has been around for some time, but they have mainly been pushing their online casinos. Now, Everest Poker is part of the online poker world and they are entering Poker30 with a BANG! This coming June, they are having the largest freeroll ever! Unfortunatly for me, this freeroll is only open to Europeans (damn!). Maybe it’s time to consider a move (just kidding).

Anyway, you can find out lots more information about their upcoming freeroll at the Everest Poker Blog. My review is coming soon for this new addition to Poker30. I’m really looking forward to this online poker room.

We are announcing a new partnership with a brand new poker room, Pitbull Poker.com. We have added Pitbull Poker to our list of new sites and after completing my Pitbull Poker Review, I’m confident that we will see some big things from Pitbull Poker. There marketing plan is second to none and their introductory offer of $10 FREE, with no deposit, gives players a chance to try this flash based online poker room with no risk to their own wallet.

This is huge! Pokerstars hasn’t had a sign-up bonus since I’ve been promoting them. They’ve always had a top-notch room and I think that’s why they haven’t felt the need to offer a sign-up bonus. Well, that and the fact that the last three WSOP champions have all come from Pokerstars. Many of you know that have already read my extensive Pokerstars Review already know that Pokerstars is a top-notch online poker site.

Anyway, Pokerstars has announced that in celebration of their 5 billionth hand (yes that’s 5,000,000,000 hands) they are offering their biggest bonus ever. 100% first time depost match for a limited time only!

Check out Pokerstars now!

This is an article I wrote a few months ago on Pocket Jacks. I had a few beats with this hand and then a huge win with it and decide it was one of the most underated hands out there. Last night, I was playing at pokerstars and it happened again. I broke off some guy who flopped two pairs, Kings and tens when his slow playing let me turn my trips. I, of course, bet small into him and he raised. I pondered for a moment then re-raised. He went all-in and I quickly called. Now, I know he still had a few outs but I was definitely a huge favorite in the hand. When the river showed up as a joker (no help to anyone), I took the pot and the table respect with it.

Anyway, here is the article I was talking about:

Pokect Jacks in Texas Hold’em
When I say pocket jacks, I’m referring to two Jacks, pre-flop, in Texas Hold’em. This is the fifth best hand in Texas Hold’em and in general, I would say you should never fold this hand (especially in limit hold’em). But it is definitely one of those hands to be careful with.

Pocket Jacks is especially tricky for one main reason. The most important thing to realize about this hand is that if you raise too big with this hand, normally the only people who will call you are people who can beat you. Therefore, I would suggest a small raise or possibly a reraise preflop with this hand.

Before the flop, successful Texas Hold’em strategy is pretty straightforward using your top ten hand strategy. In general, you should raise every time you have a top ten hand and you should fold the rest of your hands to any raise. It is because of this basic strategy of Texas Hold’em, that this raise with pocket jacks is especially important.

Raise too big and get a caller, then you are starting out way behind. Don’t raise big enough and someone with a lesser hand will catch up with you on the flop and then you will have no choice but to fold.

Consider this scenario. You raise a small amount on the button with pocket jacks and you get two callers. The flop comes and brings an Ace (and no jacks), the person in the first position bets half the pot. How can you consider calling a bet of this size with only an under-pair? The fact is, you can’t.

A larger bet would have scared away someone with say, Ace-Six as their pocket cards.

Probably the best way to avoid misplaying this hand is to have a good read on your opponents. This read will enable you to place an appropriate bet, ensuring successful play of pocket jacks.

Now to pay the bills: As you all know, I am the webmaster of a little website that offers reviews of Online Poker Sites. Probably the best site I have right now (bonus and traffic wise) is Fulltilt Poker

I was just thinking how mainstream poker has become. These days, I hear poker conversations everywhere I go. For my day job, I have been sent to a course (they call it a continuum) on public speaking. In case you’ve never been to one of these types of courses, I’ll give a brief overview of the first day. Everyone spends the first half of the day intoducing themselves. There is usually some sort of format like, what’s your name, how long have you been with the company, how many kids, on and on and on. No one really pays attention during all of this, even though they pretend to.

Anyway, the first guy to speak was the lead facilitator and he immediately starts talking about poker. I don’t know why I was shocked, but I was. This lead to a mass conversation about poker and everyone just sort of informally broke the ice. I guess you could say that in this case, poker saved the day. Instead of listening to boring stories of strangers, suddenly we all had something in common.

This, of course, led to a very open discussion about where everyone likes to play poker, be it at one of the online poker sites or at one of the home town poker games. Myself and the faciliator found that our favorite online poker room to play was pokerstars while others said that they preferred fulltilt poker the best.

I would suggest these two rooms to anyone who loves to play online poker. I rate both of those rooms in my top three. Another, fairly small site with a lot of promise is noblepoker. They do things a bit differently but before you sign up, make sure to check out our Noble Poker Coupon Code - 3163 to get the maximum bonus possible

I would like to welcome ParadisePoker to the Poker30 family of reviews. As you may already know, paradisepoker has already been promoted here for some time and I have had nothing but positive feedback from their program. Paradise poker was just recently host to a $1 Million Freeroll. That’s the largest freeroll in the history of poker, if I’m not mistaken.

Paradisepoker is one of those online poker rooms that is rock solid. They have third party anaylsis done on their shuffling algorithm and payout histories to ensure fair play all around. Not many online poker rooms go to the great lengths that paradisepoker goes to in order to ensure player safety and satisfaction.

Welcome aboard, ParadisePoker.

Read my paradisepoker review here.

Started working on a few more reviews for you guys who check in on this site. I have one lined up to go live at the end of the week on the most popular online poker room out there. I’m sure you all know which room, so there is no reason to mention it. I also have another one for a lesser known site that I’ve been playing at for quite a while, Paradise Poker. I’ve been promoting them on my win a seat in the 2006 WSOP section but now it’s time to do a proper review of them.

Be sure and check back for these online poker reviews.