The dictionary.com definition of sport is “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature” which looks definitive at first because poker is certainly not an athletic sport. But Sport is also “a diversion, recreation, or pleasant pastime”. Entertainment is, of course, anything one enjoys and many bizarre things can be classed as entertainment if you enjoy doing it so poker is certainly entertaining to most, if not all people who spend their time playing it. The real debate is whether or not it is a sport.

My personal belief is that poker is not a sport but a game that players find very entertaining. For me I must focus closely on the first definition of sport and interpret the athletic element of sport as using cardiovascular endurance with which to participate in it. This allows me to make a clear distinction between games and sports; otherwise the two become very confusing. A game is something that is entertaining but involves more mental combat than physical ability, e.g. chess, backgammon or poker and sport demands mental skills plus endurance e.g. running, football, and tennis. These sports could be classed as games, but the endurance element to them defines them specifically as sports.

That pretty much seals it for dictionary.com, but other dictionaries use the phrase “A specific diversion, usually involving physical exercise and having a set form and body of rules; a game.” Now it gets a little more complicated. The use of the word “usually” means that sport could “sometimes not” use physical elements. Examples of this are Pool, Snooker, Golf and motor racing (yes I know this is hard but you are still just sitting there it is the car that moves quickly!). An interesting debate on its own is golf. Considering you walk between shots to your ball is this part of the game or do you simply play golf when you swing your club because if not you also walk around the pool table before you make a shot although obviously not as far.

Poker is primarily a mental challenge. You are playing pots to try and outwit and outplay weaker opponents to get their chips. In a large poker tournament luck plays a part but overall a good tournament player can perform well given average luck. You could argue that maintaining focus for 90 minutes in a soccer match is hard but poker players do this for twelve hours at a time during large poker tournaments for days on end!

To conclude, whilst I appreciate poker is not a classic sport the mental focus that is required is far in excess of what an endurance athlete is required to maintain. They are therefore very different and challenging in different ways. A poker player may struggle to run a marathon, but a marathon runner may struggle to play poker for five days straight for twelve hours at a time. Perhaps it does not matter if it is a sport, but it is a challenge that offers rewards in excess of the money available in many sports if you are successful. There is no reason why you cannot play poker and other sports and enjoy the challenges of both types of mental and physical engagement.

Now go and break up that debate at the bar because it is still raging!

By Malcolm Clarke

Listen to your Opponents

I do not advocate listening to music or iPods all of the time when you should be listening to your opponents especially in the early part of a poker tournament. Often in table talk key clues are given to the players chosen style, level of poker playing ability and current focus. If you are missing these things because you are listening to your iPod you are missing out on information your opponents are freely offering you. This could cost you chips.

My recommendation is to use your iPod sparingly either when there is little action, you have a big stack and are awaiting premium hands or when you feel a little bored and need some mental stimulation.

Relaxing Music or Ambient Sound

Daniel Negreanu has said that he often has ambient sounds on his iPod like birds singing or the ocean tide. These types of sound are very relaxing and keep his mood chilled out so he is not feeling under pressure at a point of the tournament where this is not required. As you are sitting for consecutive days for long periods if you do well in a poker tournament staying relaxed is important. In my view it is worthwhile having some of these sounds on your iPod for when you are in the mood or require something to relax you. Getting fired up too soon in a poker tournament will be harmful for your chances of winning when your mental fatigue kicks in.

Poker Podcasts

This is my little secret. I enjoy listening to poker podcasts and hearing interviews from good players. I think it is worthwhile having a few hours worth of podcasts to listen to as it is something new to hear rather than listening to a tune over and over again. I normally have over twelve hours of poker related audio to listen to whether that is tuition mp3’s or radio-style podcasts.

Another idea is to record little reminders into an audio file and play them when the tournament gets critical. Things like “Fold to a three bet re-raise when the opponent obviously has Aces” and other strategy snippets are useful for you to refocus the mind at key moments in a potentially life changing poker tournament.

Music?

Have a wide variety of music on your iPod. Heavy metal is fine but it is no use getting fired up when you are only going to sit there for a while. Have mood altering music loaded on your mp3 player that can fire you up and calm you down. Your mood throughout the poker tournament has a big effect on your end result, so think about that before you load your heavy metal music only onto the iPod.

Be Aware of your Battery Life

One of the best investments for a poker tournament specialist is a long-life battery. If you are playing for twelve hour sessions your iPod battery that only lasts for two hours will not go very far. This is a reason for using it sparingly, but having a battery that lasts means when you charge it each night, which you should do, ready for the next days play you get the most use from it. A flat iPod is not much use in your pocket when you want to use it!

By Malcolm Clarke

There are various things you can do to improve your image as a poker player so if an opportunity appears you will be towards the front of the line to take advantage of it.

Win Something

Obvious? Yes. But winning a large poker tournament is THE best way of getting noticed. You will be interviewed by press; people will remember your name and see you as successful. The level of coverage you get depends mainly on the prize you win. So winning freeroll tournaments are good for practising but people do not view these tournaments with the respect of a tournament that offers a larger cash prize. This is why the World Series of Poker Main Event winner gets the most coverage, it is the biggest prize.

Start a Poker Website

Fame or notoriety is being associated with something; this is either a big win or skill. You can highlight your skills by being involved in a poker website or forum. Your posts or articles demonstrate to people your abilities in poker and your name begins to get linked to this ability. We have seen Tiger Woods playing Golf for many years and he has been so successful in earning money and winning tournaments that nearly everyone in the world knows that Tiger Woods is a golfer. The same goes for Roger Federer in Tennis and Stephen Hendry in Snooker. They are known for their ability. Phil Ivey is known for his poker abilities as is Tom Dwan.

You need to show your skills over time and prove them. Forums allow you to post your session graphs and talk strategy. Users then recognise you know what you are talking about and respect you. Being unknown means you could be anything in terms of ability, once people are confident you deliver results and are worth listening to then they make a permanent note of this and you have gained a level of respect within the community.

Be Helpful and Confident

If you are nasty to people, belittle them and do not respect others you will be noticed for the wrong reasons. People will want to interact with you if you are warm, welcoming and helpful. Poker players who are rude are known widely, but as someone to avoid rather than interact with. If you are confident about your own abilities you will instill confidence in others. Do not go too far and appear to have all of the answers for everything, it is important to remain humble, nobody has as yet managed to work everything out and be the fountain of all knowledge in any area of life.

A combination of achievement, writing, interaction with the poker community in forums and being a friendly face at live poker events will get your name known for the right reasons and ensure you are always welcomed whether online at bwin.com or at a live poker tournament. You never know who is looking for a known sponsored player and you want your name to be thought of when these opportunities come about.

By Malcolm Clarke

Let us assume that you are starting with a bankroll of $220 as an amateur player. This is not a massive amount of money and on my blog I recommended that even if you cannot afford this amount you save $55 for four months or $110 for two months and use that time to swot up on poker strategy before you begin to play.

$220 is my minimum poker bankroll for decent stakes. There is always the danger of being trapped at a low limit forever if you get too comfortable or do not put in the required volume to move up. $200 allows you to play $2 SNG’s and to take into account the rake you pay for each tournament. This is very important and explains why my bankroll requirement is not $200 as I like a full one hundred buy-ins.

You should play $2.20 SNG’s four tables at a time using solid SNG poker strategy. Read books and learn about ICM, push fold ranges and all the other SNG specific things you need to be aware of. You should be able to beat these types of SNG over time and when your bankroll increases to $440 you can play two tables at the higher level of $5.50 and two tables at $2.20. If you get to $550 you should move up fully to the four tables of $5.50 SNG’s and hopefully move up permanently with good results. If you fall below $350 in your bankroll go back to $2.20 tournaments only. Slowly moving up in levels until eventually you are playing four $10 SNG’s and have a bankroll of $1100 keeps you firmly within the rules and keeps you in the game. You can play up to eight tables at once if you wish but this depends on your own tolerance.

Continue to move up to the $20 SNG’s if you wish and by this time your bankroll should be above the $2200 point. In fact you should only play $20 SNG’s if you reach this point. If you choose to go professional you can use the SNG at high volume if you are successful to grind out good poker profits. At a 10% ROI your earnings playing 1000 sit and go poker tournaments per month would be $2000 per month profit. A 15% ROI (attainable for a good player) would be worth $3000 per month. Many players grind out up to 3000 SNGs in one month which is a hard grind but they earn $9000 or more each month. To reach this level you would need to be 12 – 15 tabling the SNG’s for many hours which personally for me is something I could not mentally handle for that long everyday. The swings can also be pretty fierce.

If you have a good job there is no reason that with two hours per night at $10 SNG’s you could not make an extra $250 – $500 per month for yourself this way. It is important you have a good bankroll strategy so you can always stay in the game and not risking going bust.

By Malcolm Clarke

Biggest Winners

The biggest winner is the online poker Industry. If you are unsure that you can make money playing online poker then just look at what these great players have made this year alone. Beware, however, these are the players you will need to beat and they know their poker! Here are the top three winners.

Phil Ivey is tracked as the biggest winner in 2009 so far in Texas Hold ‘em. He has 19,000 tracked hands for a $3.3 million profit. This equates to an 8.5BB/100 win rate which is quite something. Phil Ivey is a terrifying presence online. He is reported to make $1 million or more from his online poker sponsorship and share deal with Full Tilt, so even if he loses this poker phenom is a feared player by all and is constantly well bankrolled.

Isildur1 has been the talk of high stakes poker for the last month. His current stats show him in profit of between $2.5 million and $3.1 million but he has been as high as $5 million this month. He had a huge losing streak to show a profit of a mere $100,000 compared to his highest point but has won his way back to a large profit. Undoubtedly he will continue to swing wildly in regards to his bankroll.

Scubba is in third place winning $1.6 million this year. He plays predominantly capped No Limit Texas Hold ‘em and has had great success at the limits of $500/$1000 and $25/$50. He has worked his way up to challenge the best poker players and after a year of showing relatively small losses in 2008 he has blasted his way to the top of the rankings with a great second half of 2009, profiting almost all of his $1.6 million projected online poker profits in that time.

The Biggest Losers

Unfortunately for Tom Dwan he is the biggest loser of 2009 losing $3.2 million. Most of these losses have come against nemesis Isildur1 who Durrrr was so keen to meet he offered him a place at his live poker challenge which took place earlier this month. Isildur1 turned this down. Durrrr was as much as $4 million down on the year but has clawed some back. He has a long way to go however to turn around what was a good year for his online poker until Isildur1 decimated his online poker bankroll. Tom has, however, won $750,000 from his live poker challenge and has a Team Pro status with Full Tilt, so it is not time to worry for Durrrr fans just yet.

Martonas is second on the biggest losers of 2009. He pre-empted Isildur1 by being the first big story of 2009 coming to the high stakes poker tables as an unknown and building a $1 million profit very quickly. He lost that, however, and currently has a $2.4 million loss to his name. It is thought that he is rebuilding his poker bankroll after busting at the high stakes tables. He will be doing this under a different username possibly at a different site to avoid being mocked. He joins a growing list of players who has taken a shot at the high stakes tables and missed.

Well-known player Cole South has been having a tough year losing a reputed $1.6 million at the online poker tables. $300/$600 Pot Limit Omaha has been his biggest leak and his stats show he beats the lower stakes tables but continues to shoot and miss at the highest stakes tables. With a bit of adjusting Cole is talented enough to game select better and show better numbers.

Whilst these numbers are broadly accurate, they are only a guide and players real profits depend on all of their games played both live and online and also their poker tournament play. Players should keep their own accurate records to track your own online poker progress.

By Malcolm Clarke

You may have heard that “history is written by the winners” and I am sure that in the world of professional poker this is also the case. Recently I turned up the volume of my poker playing and for the first time I am suffering the dreaded downswing. Like our forum poster, my pocket pairs are being outdrawn and opponents are hitting their gutshot straight draws and flush draws with alarming regularity. This type of occurrence goes against every logical principle we learned growing up as we were told by well-meaning teachers at school that if you work hard you get rewarded. As we grow up we learn something else; that effort does not mean effectiveness. I heard this quote from a lecturer in Economics in my first term at University and I have remembered it ever since. It most certainly applies to your poker game and is worth bearing in mind.

To any player suffering losses that you cannot explain you must look carefully at what happened to cause the loss. Did you misplay the hand? Most likely at some level you did make a mistake. Look for leaks in your game and you identify those leaks by analysing hand histories with blunt objectivity. My biggest weakness in my poker game is that I just play poker. What I mean is I often forget to take notes and I just play my cards. Faced with the all-in re-raise in the third level of the poker tournament I suddenly realise my error, I have no idea what my opponent playing tendencies are. The mistake is already made. Observations are critical and you can improve your poker game immediately by intensifying your concentration towards your opponents.

What volume do you play? Poker players can suffer long runs of bad luck and some graphs I have seen show talented and profitable poker players suffering runs of 100,000 hands where luck has not been balanced for them. This can happen both positively and negatively. You will know whether 100,000 is a monthly amount of poker for you or a yearly amount, perhaps more! But be aware that luck is fickle and never balanced so only over the long term can you know with reasonable certainty that assumptions over your skill level are correct. It is vital you analyse your game so the only thing contributing to bad runs of form is luck itself.

It can be difficult to keep encountering players who have had a big win. Every time I switch on the television I listen to someone discussing their $500,000 score from their big poker tournament win. This is also not balanced. Would you go on TV to discuss how you lost $250,000 or more on the tournament circuit? Most people do not openly discuss their losses. Unfortunately only hearing from winning poker players can make you feel like you are the only player in the world who cannot beat the game. This is not true, there will always be players who win and there will always be losing players.

The important thing is to keep believing, keep working hard and keep improving. Eventually you will learn to beat the game if you stay positive and motivated to succeed. No-one ever said playing poker was easy; certainly no-one says that winning poker is easy either! Fortunately there are enough players out there succeeding so it is definitely achievable.

By Malcolm Clarke

Many poker players are pressured into stopping playing because they have lost some money. We poker enthusiasts know all too well the negative stigma that goes with gambling. When I mention to family that I write about poker regularly, even that gets a negative reaction. They assume that underneath my writing lies an addict who loses money playing poker every day. Well meaning family members do not consider that maybe, just maybe we might be regular winning players, they assume the worst. But they do it out of love, so we cannot be too harsh on them.

But if you show your worried spouse that you can win money playing for free can that be so bad? They may still worry you are secretly demolishing the debit card but time will prove you are playing poker responsibly and this is something that I have written thousands of words about, believing passionately that we need to remove poker from the image of being a route to ruin when in fact it is a game where the normal player has a genuine opportunity, with a bit of skill, to turning no money into potentially a lot of it. The players attitude to playing and their work ethic, like many other things, are the determining factor to whether or not they succeed.

Freeroll poker tournaments allow you to learn poker in a low risk environment. Whilst you should always play poker thinking of the play in terms of chips rather than money in the beginning it will be only normal for you to think in terms of money that you may be able to win. Try to suppress this urge to think of the money and focus on the poker. If you get that right, then money usually follows. You need not worry about losing; however, as the tournament was free to enter.

The challenge of playing freeroll poker tournaments is that you must slowly but surely increase your bankroll; you must learn to be patient! Once the donkeys have been eliminated and the tiresome people who register and then vanish are eliminated you will see a big improvement in the standard of poker play. This will allow you to play more standard poker and use your skills to win. Look out for freeroll tournaments that have big prizes. Most sites are now offering big monthly Freerolls sometimes having prize pools over $1000. This can be a great bankroll booster if you do take one down.

When you win a freeroll you will be amazed at how careful you are with these few yet precious dollars. You will appreciate how hard you had to work for them and this is the basis for good bankroll management. Bankroll management and financial planning are two things that poker can teach you that has a long term benefit to all aspects of life. There is no reason why you cannot play ten to twenty freeroll tournaments and profit to the tune of $20 and use that as a starting bankroll to bigger and better things. Having no money should be seen as an opportunity in poker rather than an obstacle. You can still take part and enjoy the fun of online poker.

By Malcolm Clarke