It’s not hard to find a chance to win a seat to the WSOP main event. Not only is every online poker room offering them, but most land-based casinos are offering some type of satellite action. Lots of companies are using the WSOP brand to sell their products, and dangling a WSOP package as their prize.

PokerStars has a ridiculous amount of WSOP satellite action. They even have a freeroll promotion where you can win your way to Vegas by winning your way up levels until you win the main event ticket.

BodogLife Poker has satellite qualifiers for $1.50, which are played every day at 2:30 am ET and also at 9:30 pm ET. These cheap satellites are also played every day at 10 am ET, except on Wednesdays.

A good site from which to get your satellite info is  http://www.wsop-satellites.com/. They keep a current list of WSOP satellites.

Much of poker’s appeal is due to the fact that it is primarily a game of skill. Although most of the skills of the game are inherent, many more of the skills are acquired only though experience. As a result, successful poker players will always seek to improve by being critical of their own play.

With both on and off line poker the game has many transferable skills that can benefit to over all emotional and mental and social health.

Poker develops critical evaluative skills that allow you to appraise information and situations realistically, and to anticipate problems and difficulties. The game also develops your numerical skills giving you the ability to handle and interpret numerical and statistical information. This skill can also attribute when micromanaging. Pragmatism skills are also attributed to poker that allows you to make the best of a no ideal situation and to work with your present constraints. Success in almost any job will require a good use of pragmatism.

These are just a few of the many heath contributors of poker. This game also contributes to the development of interpersonal, problem-solving, goal orientated, learning, flexibility and face management/deception skills, which are all important in everyday life. Poker on a personal level develops great self control and self awareness which is again is important to leading a healthy life.

The next time someone tells you that you play too much poker you can now let them know that too much poker is never a bad thing.

What do tennis players do at Wimbledon during those interminable rain delays? Poker, according to Boris Becker.

The three-time Wimbledon champ recently told German newspaper Die Welt that he is  joining the professional poker circuit. Back in November, Becker signed up with Team PokerStars with an eye on playing in the European Poker Tour. Next month, he hopes to get a shot at the Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

It’s all about the psychology of the game for Becker, which fits his personality as one of the more cerebral and emotional tennis players of his or any era. Becker also happens to be the son of an architect, and when he isn’t running one of his successful businesses, Becker sits on the advisory board of German soccer club Bayern Munich.

Given his track record, Becker should thrive on the poker tour – unless the distraction of an Isabelle Mercier or Team Bodog’s own Evelyn Ng leads him astray.

First place at the inaugural Bodog Poker Open Main Event went to Shawn “phatcat” Luman earning him $76,280.

Online poker players came out last night to the $500 buy-in which generated the largest prize pool in Bodog Poker history at just over $280,000. With a 596 entrant field winning wasn’t a cake walk.

At the final table sat Michael “_TheFinisher_” Berra (2nd - $45,768), Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby (3rd - $29,138.96), Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor (4th - 21,358.40), Bodog regular “CK3″ (5th - 16,781.60), up-and-coming online poker player “Anbessa” (6th - $13,730.40), Brian “PSP_addict” Bauer (8th - $7,933.12) and Eric “Eeman2004″ Revak (9th - $5,187.04).

This event was unique and valuable event for online poker players and over the course of the event drew out over 18,000 to join in the fun. High caliber players also came out to participate such as Annette “Annette_15″ Obrestad, Garret “GBecks” Beckman, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, Smith “nevertilt22″ Collins and Kevin “beLOWaBOVe” Saul

The inaugural Bodog Poker Open got underway yesterday with event #1 No-Limit $250+20. This is Bodog’s first big set of online tournaments, which will run for six days from the 3rd of March to the 9th. Bodog will add on $10,000 to each preliminary event, and another $25,000 on the $500 main event slated for the 9th. The winner also receives an engraved $4500 watch from Omega Speed Master as a kick-ass trophy.

The tournaments feature a good mix of holdem action, and Bodog is offering great satellite options for all events. They are giving away 20 seats per night per tournament, and they will run until the 8th.

The rest of the events are:

March 4th     #2 NL 6-Handed $300+25 $10,000
March 5th     #3 Rebuy (NL) $100+10 $10,000
March 6th     #4 Pot-Limit $200+15 $10,000
March 7th      #5 Limit $150+10 $10,000
March 8th        — various satellites —
March 9th     #6 NL Main Event $470+30 $25,000

The Executive Poker Tour is a new tour that takes a different approach to the usual competitive tournament structure. With a portion of the prize pool going to The Project Lifesaver Foundation, the events mix charity poker with competitive poker. The cost of entry into the events is lower than the average tour events; as low as $500 in preliminary events and $2,500 for the main event. This makes it more accessible to amateur players and business executives.

The events will all be televised so the executives can display their brands if they make it deep into the tournament. There will be a few poker celebrities at these events. They come for the high-stakes cash game that has a $100,000 buy-in and lots of camera coverage. Expected at the next event at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City are Steve Dannenmann, Rhett Butler, Victor Ramdin and Lee Charles.

Buddhism is described as a body of philosophies influenced by the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, known as Gautama Buddha.

Some important teachings of this practice are what is known as the middle way, often described as the practice of non-extremism and a path of moderation. Another teaching is mindfulness, to stay present and be aware of your thoughts and the happenings around you. So how do these teachings contribute to poker? Let’s take a look.

The main goal, like in anything we do is to make the best decisions. Being mindful allows you pay attention to your gut feelings and listen to them. It’s often said that your first thought is usually the right one and being mindful allows you to actually hear that thought. When your actions aren’t in accordance to how things are, you suffer.

Being mindful also grants you the gift of allowing letting things go. Yes you should learn from and pay attention the past, but obsessing over past moves and plays to no end it will get you nowhere. Being fully present allows you to question what you are doing and realize if it’s actually working or not.

The middle way in poker is something we all can learn from. In any game extremism won’t keep you around for the long haul. Of course in poker you have to want to win but you can’t allow that desire to fog your judgment of what’s going on in the game. Always being the aggressor or the pacifist in any game will soon become predictable to other players so balance is something that is important to find.

The more the popularity of poker grows the more people are starting to realize that it’s not only just a game but it’s also a tool to help you learn about life and about yourself.

The British newspaper Metro, which has readership in 13 U.K. cities, has launched a new poker and online bingo site. The paper has over 2.8 million readers online and in distribution, and hopes to tap into this following in the online poker market. The paper has signed a deal with St. Minver for online bingo and poker facilities, and the poker software will be Boss Media’s. The site will join the International Poker Network of sites along with Liberty Poker, bet-at-home.com, Casino Club Poker and PokerHour.com.

The popularity of poker in the U.K. has big media players all competing for the gaming dollar. Now that the game is regulated in the U.K., different types of companies are putting resources into profiting from the game. Metro is the fourth largest paper in the U.K. and should make a splash in the U.K. gaming market, if their marketing approach properly reaches the public.

1. Annette Obrestad wins WSOP Europe at the age of 18. She is already an online star and has earned over $2.5 million. She will be an anticipated addition to Vegas when she’s old enough.

2. Tom Schneider wins two WSOP bracelets at the 2007 WSOP in Omaha and Stud Hi/Low and the 7-card Stud Hi/Low $1000 event. He won over $800,000 combined this year and was named WSOP 2007 player of the year.

3. Rep. Barney Frank enters bill to legalize online gaming. Frank’s bill H.R. 2046 was introduced in April and seeks to legalize and regulate internet gaming.

4. David “The Dragon” Pham wins the Cardplayer Player of The Year award for the second time after Jonathan Little was unable to catch him at the last event of the year.

5. Legendary player Chip Reese dies at home at the age of 56 after having pneumonia symptoms.

I think we’ve all had that moment one time or another where someone has told us that we look like so and so. Here’s a list of some of some poker pros and their secret twins. Could they have been separated at birth?

Andy Black and Paul Giammati

Chad Brown and Bill Paxton

Jerry Buss and Pip Taylor

Mike Caro and Steven Wright

Adam Schoefeld and Cameron Frye