PokerListings Blog

Poker Gym is a straightforward poker-training app that caught our eye earlier this year. 

We played around with the software (which is entirely in-browser, btw) for a few hours this week and really liked what the Poker Gym team was bringing to the table.

Poker Gym emphasizes fundamentals and gives players a chance to practice their newfound knowledge on a simulated table.

The training program is broken down into six major components: Counting Odds, Break-even Pot Size, Hand Equity Concept, Combos, Preflop Hand Equity Values and Flop Statistics.

Counting Odds and Break-even Pot Size are free while the other four components cost from $.99 to $2.99 a piece. We tried out the two free components as well as the $2.99 Hand Equity Concept in our review. 

Each component has a learning session, which explains concepts and a practice session where you put the concepts into use at the poker table by completing a quiz. A Poker Gym, so to speak.

To say Viktor “Isildur1” Blom vs. Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene has captured the interest of high-stakes poker fans would be a bit of an understatement.

Tollerene and Blom, two of the biggest winners in the nosebleeds on Full Tilt this year, have been locked in an epic heads-up battle for the last month and it seems like the match will only end when one of them is busto.

It makes the durrrr Challenge look like a senior citizen’s game that occurs once every couple months.

Bttech86 vs. Isildur1 features multi-million dollar swings at some of the highest stakes ever played online. It’s the must-see TV of the online world.

Although it doesn’t seem like Bttech86 will stop playing Isildur1 anytime soon, we thought it would be a good time to look at the numbers between both players this year in a special ThingLink graph below.

Online poker players have been able to take advanced notes for years but new Android App Poker Notes Live attempts to bring that functionality to live poker.

It’s common to see the occasional poker player jotting down notes using a piece of paper or even making quick audio notes using a tape recorder but Poker Notes Live streamlines the process with a graphical representation of your table.

Similar to online poker, you can click an opponent and write down notes about them. Those notes stay around for as long as you want them. You can also assign players names and chip counts.

Taking up just 2.4mb, Poker Notes Live also offers some self-tracking functionality including win-loss ratio per session, buy-in and tips given. You can then email your notes to your desktop computer.

We had a quick whirl with the app and liked how it was implemented but you definitely need some discipline to keep entering meticulous notes, which is how the Poker Notes Live app becomes really useful.

Poker bots. The very mention of poker-playing computer programs usually makes serious grinders cringe.

In the past there have been black-hat programmers that developed teams of poker bots that would torment players in lower-stakes online poker games (especially in limit) and ultimately produce a significant profit for their creators.

Online poker site security is a lot better these days and can usually spot rogue bots but it has still left a very bad taste in some poker players' mouths.

Fortunately Neo Poker Laboratory has developed an A.I. they have no intention of ever using in real-money online poker games.

Instead the recently-launched Neo Bot Poker is a free-to-play online poker site where poker fans can test their skills against an advanced opponent.

It’s an interesting project and provides a glimpse into how an elite bot would act.

Tired of losing to the house? Poker players will finally get a chance to BE the house in upcoming video game CasinoRPG.

James Simpson, an avid poker fan, and his company GoldFire Studios is trying to kick-start the ambitious game that will combine role-playing, social gaming and gambling games in a massively multiplayer format.

CasinoRPG has elements that may remind players of classic PC games like Railroad Tycoon and Rollercoaster Tycoon. 

“This isn't Farmville with casinos, it is truly an MMORPG with a focus on poker and other casino games,” said Simpson.

“The game is played in real-time with friends and strangers alike, even away from the poker tables. Whether you are a poker, tycoon, city-builder, or RPG fan, there is something for you in CasinoRPG.”

The game is currently featured on Kickstarter and has already raised nearly $10,000 towards production.

These days it’s rare to see anything truly unique when it comes to poker equipment but that's exactly what David Goldklang has created with his Polaris cards.

A graphic designer, David has been around cards his entire life and always wanted to take a stab at making his own. Earlier this year he finally made it happen.

David collaborated with brother Jordan Goldklang to create a series of cards called Vända. The project, which was funded through Kickstarter, was wildly successful and easily raised enough money to produce the cards.

Not content to rest on their laurels, the pair launched a new Kickstarter project late last month.

The new custom deck, called Polaris, has a celestial theme with both solar and lunar editions. In addition the cards feature four colors, which makes spotting flushes easier for poker players.

Polaris is off to a hot start on Kickstarter and has already raised over $10,000 of its $15,000 goal.

PokerListings had the chance to chat with Goldklang and find out what it was like designing his own set of playing cards:

There’s no denying that PokerStars makes one of the best online poker clients available with plenty of customization but there are always going to be people who want to take it one step farther. 

Fortunately there are some extra steps you can take to give yourself a truly unique playing experience.

The easiest way to completely overhaul the look of PokerStars is to just pick up a theme. Generally they cost money and they will change table, cards, card backs, chips and fonts.

They are simple to use, as you just have to click the installation file. We won’t really be covering themes in this guide but there are great communities at tiltbuster.com and pokermods.eu where you can find themes for sale. Beware that the majority are Windows-only.

This thread on TwoPlusTwo poker forum also offers a lot of information on modding PokerStars, provided you can get through the 500+ pages.

If you’re willing to put in a bit of time and effort you can modify individual aspects of the PokerStars client such as backgrounds, chips and the front and back of cards.

Check below for a breakdown of how to modify various features of PokerStars.

After being absent from the poker world for over 16 months, Full Tilt Poker is scheduled to re-open in non-U.S. jurisdictions tomorrow.

In the time since Full Tilt went offline we’ve seen the rise and fall of the Epic Poker Tour, Phil Hellmuth finish second in the WSOP POY race in back-to-back years and the migration of U.S. online poker players to countries where they can still play.

In short: a lot has happened.

It’s been so long and there’s been so much controversy it’s easy to forget what made Full Tilt Poker great in the first place..

Obviously the best thing about Full Tilt Poker’s return is that players (at least European ones) will finally be getting access to their account balances.

Outside of that here are the seven items that have us excited about the Full Tilt Poker revival.

Since the dawn of the computer era man has developed video games of progressively less-pixelated women playing poker and removing their clothing.

In our brand new poker infographic we break down every major advancement in strip-poker gaming technology, from the Commodore 64 to the XBox 360.

Brush up on your strip poker history so you can properly appreciate this proud digital tradition.

Click here or the image below for the full-sized infographic.

Head to the bottom of the page for the code to embed this inforaphic on your site!

Embed This Infographic On Your Site!

Fans of poker know that finding good apps for Android or iPhone can be difficult.

There are literally thousands of poker related apps available and it can be a challenge sifting through a sea of sub-par games.

Fortunately we’ve handpicked five apps that are actually worth the space they take up on your phone or tablet.

We’re looking at less traditional poker apps (sorry Zynga Poker and real-money poker apps) that will appeal to poker enthusiasts.

Most of these apps are free but there are a couple ones that cost a few bucks.

There have never been more ways to play poker and this week’s Positively Nerd Street takes a look at three new ways to get your fix.

Feel free to give us suggestions for future nerdy pieces in the comments.

In today’s Positively Nerd Street we’re going to review three separate poker video games that represent a shift from the traditional online poker model popularized by the likes of PokerStars and PartyPoker.

We’ve got one of the first reviews of the official World Series of Poker app by EA games (one of the first reviews of the newly launched game), Zynga Poker-competitor Pokerist and finally the casual-style Full House Poker on Xbox 360.

How to Host the Perfect Poker Home Game is a 13-part series on how to run the superlative poker night for your friends and coworkers.

We’ll cover everything from what game of poker is easiest to play, what hand beats what and even what drinks and food to serve.

Follow this guide and people will be reserving their seat at your table weeks in advance.

For our first article we’re going to take a look at the basic equipment needed to run a poker game.

Do you like poker? Do you like wasting time on your iPad? Do you have thumbs? If you answered yes to all three of those questions, or just the last one, Poker Drop might be for you.

Launched by Granville Games for iOS devices, Poker Drop takes poker hands and slams them into the age-old Tetris drop down game format. By arranging cards into five card hands both horizontally and vertically the player battles his way through ten levels of increasing speed and difficulty.

Most online poker players know the ins and outs of keeping their online accounts secure.

For new players just getting started in online poker, there are a few basics everyone should know before depositing or transferring money online.

The infographic below goes over the basics of securing your online accounts including your poker account.

Tired of playing with the same old chips? Boy have we got the poker chip set for you.

Famed designer STAHL is auctioning off a special “Meteorite” chip set on November 29 that includes diamond-encrusted chips filled with fragments from an actual ancient asteroid.

Each individual chip is cased in 18-karat white gold and topped off with the aforementioned diamonds, Burmese rubies and Sri Lankan sapphires.

The chips come in a luxurious handmade leather briefcase with Swedish calf skin and a reindeer calf suede inside.

So what does it cost for 120 gem-studded poker chips, five ivory dice and a deck of playing cards in a custom leather briefcase?

If you’re a true PNS reader you’ll know that we’ve rigged online poker to be played using voice-control and Rock Band guitars and drums. Since then Microsoft released the XBOX Kinect and the second we saw it, we knew it would make the greatest poker controller ever.

While the Kinect truly is an impressive piece of technology, the games made for it are childish at best. Luckily many hackers around the world have spent the time to create drivers and applications allowing you to use the Kinect hardware to interface with a windows PC.

From there it was just a short jump to all-out gesture-controlled online poker!

This is one of those ideas that's really cool and makes you wonder, "Why didn't I think of that?"

For a relatively low price you can now buy a DIY kit that will turn your home poker table into a super-teched out RFID-powered poker show set!

Using RFID-equipped cards and chips, sensors embedded below the felt on the table, and a few simple webcams, you can turn your home game into a poker TV show complete with real-time graphics, odds and hole cards.

Check out the video above but like we said, it's devilishly simple.

By now chances are you’ve heard about the new Home Games feature on PokerStars.com.

Today we’re going to lay it out for you in detail and tell you everything you need to know to get started.

Some people will tell you that playing online poker is about as lethargic an activity as you can get. You're sitting down and the only real movement needed is a few clicks of the mouse and the occassional keyboard tap.

We're here to tell you those people are dead wrong.

In this Poker Gimmick of the Week we look at the Wireless Poker Controller App for the iPhone and iPad and how it can make online poker even easier to play.

No other form of poker has quite the “broad audience” of strip poker.

This, of course, makes perfect sense. After all, procreation is fundamental. Even more so than money.

Essentially as soon as man invented the binary number system, he started drawing digital nude pictures.

Early console-based strip poker games may seem awfully pixelated and unsophisticated but they were all necessary steps in the evolution of this important technology.

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