The latest developments in online poker tools include player profilers and analyzers. The profiling tools will take the playing information of your opponents and provide you with a profile of their play.

I don’t know about this tool; these profiling skills are something that a player should develop themselves without technological assistance. Becoming dependent on this tool will adversely affect your live game, I’m sure.

The analyzer tools examine the poker situation you’re in at any given time and recommend the best move for you to make. They run from $35 to $50 and are worth the cost. Once again it’s a tool you don’t want to be dependent on, but this one will teach you a lot about the game while you use it. If you keep notes on your results, and learn to recognize where you’re making mistakes, analyzers can help you plug lots of leaks in your game.

Daniel Negreanu is having a good WSOP 2008. He has four cashes, including two final tables and his fourth WSOP bracelet. He’s made over $375,000 so far, and there are lots of events left. It appears that Kid Poker is back in the saddle again, making final tables and cashing big checks.

Many people think that Daniel Negreanu has been in a slump, but that’s not true. In 2004 his tournament results were insane. He won everywhere and looked like he would be the dominant force in the game. But that doesn’t happen in poker.

Daniel has still been winning his share of checks since 2004. He won over $700,000 in 2007, nearly $2M in 2006 and $460,000 in 2005. His skill level keeps him winning every year but when the cards are running for him as well, he’s unstoppable. Kid Poker is not back; he’s just on a roll again. He was never away.

Polaris 2, a poker playing machine, is plugged in and ready to go heads-up against some of the best poker pros in the world. Developed by the University of Alberta’s Computer Poker Research Group, Polaris is a series of computer programs created to beat amateur and pros alike. The new poker machine will be set up at this year’s Gaming Life Expo in Las Vegas this July.

The names of the poker pros enlisted to participate in this Man vs. Machine poker tournament have not yet been released, but last year’s participants included Phil Laak and Ali Eslami. Both pros managed to beat Polaris, but not by much.

“Against the current AI in Polaris 2, the average poker player would be completely dominated,” said Bryce Paradis, lead poker coach with Stoxpoker.com, the team representing Polaris. “The Polaris 2 team has made incredible improvements since the match last year. The most powerful change is that the AI will now learn from and adapt to its opponents’ play as the match progresses. This year’s Man vs. Machine match is going to push our team to their limit.”

The Man vs. Machine match is set to take place on July 3-6th at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Some think that the Ladies event at the WSOP has some kind of sexist stigma attached to it. Personally, I don’t know what’s wrong with women having their own event. Yes, there are women that are as good as men at poker, and yes, many of the top female players don’t play in the Ladies event because there’s usually a bigger tournament going on at the same time.

But the Ladies event continues to serve its original purpose – to increase female interest in poker. The fact that the best female players don’t play in it means nothing; it’s a choice they make. It gives new female players a chance to win a bracelet without having to compete against the best players in the world, male or female. When there are as many female poker players as male players, then maybe we could think about getting rid of it. Until then it should be played.

Just as it appeared that the Absolute Poker scandal was going to fade away, UltimateBet has admitted that their security has been breached by an employee using a super account; one where they were able to view opponent’s cards. That’s two breaches that the Kahnawake Gaming Commission has allowed to occur in eight months. This latest breach could be in excess of a million dollars once all hand histories are studied.

The Gaming Commission is trying to sweep this under the rug, but something must be done before public opinion swells that online poker is unsafe to play. How was this permitted to happen again? Is the Kahnawake Gaming Commission going to take steps beyond the fines it issued last time this happened?

That move was shady enough, let alone doing it twice. If the Commission gives another $500K fine this time, someone will have made a cool $500k profit.

Re-buy tournaments can be a great deal for your buy-in dollar. With players re-buying and adding to the prize pool, the ratio of buy-in to prize pool will be better than a regular tournament. These tournaments play a little differently, especially in the early going. Play is aggressive as players try to double up and build a chip stack. They know they can buy-in again, so they throw caution to the wind.

You should bring at least three-buy-ins with you when you play one of these tournaments. A good trick is to stay out of the action until you’ve been in the big blind once. As soon as that hand is over you can re-buy, giving you an instant chip lead and twice as any chips as the other players (minus the big blind of course). And don’t be shy about raising big pairs pre-flop; you’ll get action on them.

Looking for poker tournaments? Check these out!

You have to give them credit for at least trying, but for now the first-ever “green” poker table will simply be a display model. The eco-friendly tournament poker table is made from 98% sustainable materials and will be on display in the exhibit area at the Rio during this year’s World Series of Poker. Some of the table’s eco-friendly manufacturing include:

- All wood is FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certified,
- All paints and stains used in the table are formaldehyde free,
- The table is assembled with water based adhesives.

Maybe they can still use the eco-friendly poker table for the Final Table at the Main Event, which won’t play out until November.

There have been a couple of high-profile incidents of online poker cheating. One of online poker’s best players, Sorel Mizzi “Imper1um”, was caught last year buying an account from the former managing editor of Bluff Magazine, Chris Vaughn. Vaughn had made the final table of a tournament, and sold the account to Mizzi, who went on to win the event and almost $200,000. They were caught and Mizzi was banned from playing online.

But now BetFair.com has not only allowed Mizzi to play there, but they have made him a member of team BetFair. Why is a company hiring a known cheater when there is plenty of young online talent out there? Especially a company called ‘BetFair’. Are you kidding me? Mizzi is the exact opposite of someone that bets fair – he cheats. And cheaters never prosper.

Well if this don’t beat all… Members of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) will be trading in their saddles for a pair of pocket aces when they go up against the National Rugby League (NRL) North Queensland Cowboys in the charity Texas Hold ‘Em Poker tournament.

This inaugural charity event takes place on Thursday, May 22 at 7:30pm in the Casino at Jupiters Townsville, which is donating the $5,000 prize pool. The prize pool will be split with the winner taking home $4,000 and the runner-up walking away with $1,000. All prize money won at the event will benefit local charities.

General Manager of Jupiters Townsville, Sean Knights, said that the event was a fantastic opportunity to welcome the Australian and international riders of the PBR to Townsville as they go head to head against the home favorites, the NQ Cowboys.

“As a major sponsor of both the NQ Cowboys and the PBR Troy Dunn International, it gives me great pleasure to be able to host the first Cowboys vs Cowboys Charity Poker Challenge,” Knights said. “This charity match not only gives us the opportunity to support the high-end events that are being hosted in Townsville, such as the PBR, but also to provide much needed funds to support organisations in our local region.”

Poker players for PBR Australia include legendary bull rider Troy Dunn, Brendon Clark, Luke Snyder and Pistol Robinson. And playing for the NQ Cowboys are Travis Burns, vice-captain Aaron Payne, David Faiumu and Ray Cashmere.

North Queensland Cowboys Chief Executive Officer Peter Parr added: “The Cowboys have always taken great pride in our work with the community and various charities. This event is no different and we look forward to contributing to the charities involved.”

The Asian Poker Tour kicks off this month on the 27th of May in Manila, with the $1M Guaranteed main event. Buy-in is $2500, and satellites are already running. Matt Savage has signed on as tournament director, so the event should be big success. The rest of the Asian Poker Tour will take place in Seoul, Macau and Singapore.

The dates for the other events have not been announced yet. It appears that Manila will be the litmus test for the tour, so a lot is depending on how much action enters. I don’t think that there’s anything to worry about; the region is ready for its own tour, even if the game isn’t baccarat.

There is sure to be some big-name Asian players who will make the trip and help promote the tour over there. There’s no shortage of gaming money in the region, so the tour should continue to grow.