The Guest Blog

So last time I talked about how to properly set up your HUD and the importance of good table selection. And before that I discussed the overall mental approach necessary for success in poker.

If you've ever been in the market for a poker table, you're well aware the cost for even a basic set-up can run you $1,500+.

For something customized to your home/space or something truly show-stopping, you're looking at twice that or more.

It doesn't have to be that way though.

Guest blogger Jeff Kuronen has put together exclusively for PokerListings.com a full step-by-step guide to building your own poker table including images for every step and detailed CAD plans.

We think it's the perfect Do-It-Yourself solution to building a great poker table for under $300 - and in a reasonable amount of time.

Once you're done, you're all set to host the weekly card game you've always wanted to.

For tips on running the perfect home game, check our complete 14-part guide here.

Having the right HUD (heads up display) setup and exercising good table selection are two of the most fundamental keys to success in online poker regardless of the stakes.

Poker has long been a favored diversion for those serving in the military, particularly during times of war when the game provides a much needed escape from the steeper life-or-death stakes of battle. 

It’s only fitting, then, that the popular TV show M*A*S*H -- a comedy set against the backdrop of the Korean War -- would feature America’s favorite card game so prominently.

Editor's note: Nathan "Blackrain79" Williams has played over 6 million hands of online poker at the microstakes and boasts some of the most impressive winrates in the game.

In his new series on PokerListings.com Williams will be giving you the benefit of that experience, reporting from the microstakes on everything from the latest strategy trends to who's been winning the most money.

Today he kicks things off with the first in a beginner series on how to beat microstakes cash games.

There’s been a lot of speculation about the psychology behind the folks who’ve been indicted in the Full Tilt Poker debacle.

A lot of the recent talk has been about the purported actions of Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer, two of poker’s more respected long-time players.

Lederer is often referred to as “The Professor” because of his thoughtful manner and penchant for deep analysis and insightful questions. Chris is actually closer to this role in real life since he holds a Ph.D. and has spent more than a few hours in front of college classrooms.

Until now few have had anything but admiration and respect for them both.

Of course, we’re still in the classic “innocent until proven guilty” mode. I have no idea what the outcome will be. They may be found guilty; they may be exonerated. I am only interested here in the psychological issues.

The question raised most often is: How could these very smart dudes with position, money and prestige do the things they are accused of? It is a good question. It is also one that gets asked every time an odd-ball crime gets committed.

In September, PokerListings contacted me about possibly doing some work for them on their site. I was the first person filmed for The Circuit during the WSOP in Las Vegas in July, and had received a lot of positive responses. Considering the fact that I had plenty of free time, I jumped at the opportunity.

The jury’s still out on what happens next for online poker players in the United States.

Some, like Phil Galfond, have already left for Canada to keep playing. Some have started the transition to live poker.

Most are still in limbo though. And despite a more optimistic outlook for legislation lately, there’s still no definite timeline for online poker’s mass return to the US.

Elaine Forshee is starting a blog right here on PokerListings.com.

She’ll be keeping us updated on her progress grinding live cash games and tournaments, as well as giving us an inside look at Las Vegas events and her lifestyle as a model and poker player.

Check back for more posts, photos and video from Elaine at the 2011 World Series of Poker.

Introducing Elaine Forshee, aka Playboy Cyber Girl Nicolette Shea.

Vitals: Poker player, model, $2/$5 live grinder, insider informant

Poker is as much a game of emotion as it is of money. Poker is also more a game of emotional control than anything else. It isn't just the emotions that get stirred up during the course of a hand, a session, a year of play, it's the way in which you grasp those emotions, experience them, react to them.

I maintain that more money is lost at poker because of poor management of emotional highs and lows than any other factor, more than stupidity, more than bad game selection, more than bad luck.

We began this discussion with some history on the unsavory elements of poker.

Today, some case studies of "marginal" situations where these elements present themselves. Cases like these make nice "intuition pumps" - they get you thinking.

A couple of months back we did a psychological analysis of Phil Ivey and his approach to poker. I want to do another one because several recent comments from Phil got me to thinking about the depth of his analysis of the game.

In fact he's taken it so far he's become an implicit psychologist. By implicit here I mean unaware, not conscious.

Phil's game has a number of elements to it that make it remarkably sophisticated from a psychological point of view, although I suspect Phil is unaware of these psychological factors. Indeed, I would have been pleased to have thought of them myself.

If you read carefully, you will see intriguing strategic elements in them.

Blogs have many uses. One is to treat them like the classic soapboxes of the British parks, where you just stand up and start talking, talking about what you're thinking, why you're thinking it and why everyone else ought to start thinking about it too.

So, this will begin an off-and-on soapbox series looking at the "fine lines" in poker. The ones that we cross, sometimes because we didn't even know there was a line there in the first place.

Today's line is the one that divides the tricksters, the masters of deception and geniuses of artifice from the con artists, the scammers and the cheats. But this line isn't a clean one. It moves about and it's not always clear when it's been crossed.

Many choose to ignore this topic, claiming it isn't of any real importance. They are wrong.

There's a lot of chatter about the astronomical amounts of money (some) people are playing poker for these days. This interest began a couple of years ago with TV shows like High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark.

These shows began with the "usual suspects" (Doyle, Barry, Jennifer, Sammy, Daniel ...), gradually brought in lesser known but capable recreational players, WSOP winners and, more recently, the newer online phenoms.

These folks have crossed swords with serious cash on the line and it has only escalated over time.

But the focus on the "nosebleed" level games has long began in earnest among the online community, especially those on Full Tilt, and it has captured the imagination of poker junkies everywhere.