The Nevada resident, Michael Binger, is reported to have been the second best player of the year so far, according to Card Player’s latest rankings.

His winning at event 13 of the Five-Star World Poker Classic has helped him to move from the 11th to the second spot. He has managed to do it through regular final table appearances in medium-sized events. So far, his tactics has helped him to earn the second least amount of money this year.

Having scored 3,040, Binger is still far away from being the first – Erik Seidel has scored 3,700. At the same time, Binger cannot feel safe, as Canadian Michael McDonald is just 20 points behind.

Seven players from Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom will represent Titan Poker at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in San Remo, Italy, this month. Daniel Walker, winner from the U.K, and Kenneth Tomming, from Denmark, are among them.

All the players were rewarded with the $10,000 package including $2,500 for flights, accommodations, spending and the free entry to the Main Event.

Titan Poker awards its players with seats at the world’s most famous poker tournaments on the regular basis.

Thus, its players will also be taking part in the WSOP in Las Vegas and the World Poker Showdown in the Dominican Republic later this year.

PaddyPower.com, the Irish site is offering a series of events for the WSOP. The events will be held at Harrah’s Casino in Las Vegas in summer (in June and July).

Unless a player is able to qualify for as little as $7, he she may participate in the Main Event with the prize package worth $14,000that includes the $10,000 buy-in, ten nights’ accommodation, the $350 registration fee and $3,650 for flights, accommodation and other spending.

To qualify for the Main Event, players can take part in sit-and-go satellites – entry into the weekly Saturday super satellites – until June 15. The buy-in there totals to $535. Winners will qualify to play in the tournament with the $3,500 package that includes play in the main event of the Irish Winter Festival.

Those players who wish to draw attention to their skills may participate in the Side Event Package. Lucky winners will enter $1,500 no limit Hold’em tournament events on June 13 and 20. Players can qualify via sit-and-go satellites to take part in weekly Saturday super satellites with a buy-in of $215 until May 31.

The winners of four consecutive $24 sit-and-go events with a $20,000 prize will be awarded with the final promotion – the Executive Package including the $10,000 buy-in for the main event, two weeks at the Palazzo Suites of the Venetian hotel for two worth $3,200, tickets to see the Blue Man Group, dinner at the Wynn Hotel, registration fees of $350, return limousine transport from the airport and spending money of up to $5,450.

Canadian Poker Championships will be held May 5 to 13 at the River Rock Casino Resort in British Columbia.

Lots of poker players that might generate a prize pool around $2.4 million are expected to take part in the Championships featuring high stakes poker action in an east versus west format.

The Championships will feature 7 events such as no limit Hold’em, pot limit Hold’em and Omaha high-low alongside special events such as a bounty tournament and a Mother’s Day team tournament.

The Championships to be aired nationally in Canada will turn out to be the first stop for the WPT of Canada.

In No-Limit Texas Holdem games any player may bet how much and whenever he wants. It is very inspiring.

The most important thing here is to find balance between betting too much on the flop and intimidating your opponents, and betting too little and getting many people drawing on you.

On the flop if you have a good hand, it is usually better to bet half of the full pot. When you bet a third part of the pot you may run the risk of other players drawing out on you in No-Limit.

Of course, if your opponent has a flush draw or an open-ended draw, he will get nothing else but poor pot odds with your third of the pot to call. But he may also hold two draws, like a gut-shot draw and a flush draw, and it will be right for him to call as the pot odds aren’t high enough to make him out.

In No-Limit Texas Holdem poker games you are free to decide when you should bet and what the amount. It’s pointless to describe a huge number of situations appropriate for that in this single article. But you may find some pointers below which will be useful to build your strategy on the flop.

Pot-Sized Bets

If you suspect an opponent drawing out on you and exposing your hand to danger, that’s just the right time to bet a pot-sized amount. In this situation you will be ready to bet even more than the pot. As No-Limit Texas Holdem is about implied odds, it is better to be mistaken on the side of caution when betting too big as opposed to betting too small. Giving your opponent poor odds to call for a flush draw, you may be giving him correct implied odds.

Two-Thirds Pot-Sized Bets

Betting is not limited by certain rules in No-Limit Texas Holdem. However, many professional players indicate that they prefer to mostly bet two-thirds of the total pot size. It is the best way to bet when you think a player is on a draw and your hand seems to be a little exposed. Playing such a bet will prevent your opponent from trying to draw on you.

Half Pot-Sized Bets

Betting half the pot is also very popular between pros, especially when they hit trips, two pair or any other strong hand on the flop. It will be just so cheap for your opponents to try for the draw in this situation. The longer they’ll keep trying and playing more money, the more attractive pot will become for you in the long run.

HollywoodPoker.com, the Kahnawake-licensed site, is now offering members of its free VIP club 14 bonuses that can be earned by exchanging points. It is a new clubHOLLYWOODpoker Player VIP Program. The program ensures that players won’t worry about not having a bonus.

To say more, now, players have a choice: they can reload bonus requiring a modest deposit to be made into the player’s account or no load – reload bonus “where players use their current bankroll and select the points for a bonus offer that suits them”.

Besides, the members will also get invitations to monthly freerolls – the so kind of option to exchange the points for tournament tickets.

Successful poker players, Gavin Griffin and Chad Brown, have been recently added to Team Poker Stars Pro.

The list of their accomplishments is really long. Thus, e. g., Gavin Griffin has become the first player to win the coveted “Triple Crown” of poker, and this happened after his winning at the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Classic. He also celebrated his victory at the PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo in 2007 and the World Series of Poker in 2004. Moreover, Griffin has claimed a title in EPT, WSOP and WPT – the world’s three major poker tournaments.

By the way, Gavin appeared to be the youngest ever player to win a World Series of Poker bracelet. He was 22 at that time.

Gavin’s biggest win is $2.4 million at the PokerStars EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo where he became a favorite when it was revealed that he had been involved in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer charity.

Griffin is very proud to have become the part of the Team PokerStars Pro.

Chad Brown, Gavin’s fellow, is no less excited to have become the part of the Team. He is absolutely ready to make his contributions to the Team.

Other big names in the Team are Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Barry Greenstein, Isabelle Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso, Bertrand Grospellier, Humberto Brenes and 14 other top pros from around the world.

Passing pre-tournament guarantees, FullTiltPoker.com, PokerStars.com and PartyPoker.com managed to attract a large numbers of players last weekend.

Thus, there were 7,520 entrants in PokerStars.com’s Sunday Million event where the prize pool was as high as $1.5 million. With 1,080 players the winners prize totaled to $212,000.

One Million Dollar Guaranteed tournament run at FullTiltPoker.com saw a filed of 2,252 players who generated the prize pool of $1.126 million. 351 players got cash. The winner’s prize amounted to $206,564.

1,735 players took part in PartyPoker.com’s $300,000 Guaranteed on Sunday. The number of participants generated the prize pool of $347,600 and the first prize of $67,665.

A $2,000,000 Guaranteed Tournament will be hosted by Bet365 on March 2, 2008.

Players will be able to buy-in either straight into the main event or they can get into the tournament participating in satellite events that suite all players and methods. “Sit & Go” and Multi-table formats are included into the satellite structure.

Entry to the satellites has just begun. A lot of players are expected to participate in them, as al of them despite their experience will get “a shot at winning big”.

Another monthly final with a total of $100,000 up for grabs in the Million Dollar Freeroll Tournament hosted by PlayersOnly.com is said to take place this Sunday. $400,000 have already been awarded in the ten month long series. Players can expect $600,000 more to win.

Both experienced and new player participate in the event. It is surprising, but lots of players who have hardly participated in tournaments before get the prize money.

Freeroll tournaments at PlayersOnly.com are very popular with the players, as they are considered to be fun and there is nothing to lose there. You don’t play with real money. All you can lose is the entry fee.

To participate in this Sunday’s tournament, a player should finish top in one of the qualifying freeroll events throughout this week. Sunday’s winner will walk away being $75,000 richer.