Risk Oriented | Written by bigsaje

Poker is a game of skill, just like baseball. Unless you're really good, you wouldn't expect to be able to strike out any major league batter, even the bad ones, would you? Unlike baseball, you can be good at poker even if you're not a genetic superman or a steroid junkie.

First, make sure you're playing the right game. It's not obvious. You should not necessarily play what you're best at. Instead, you should play the game your opponents are worst at.

Second, make sure you're playing the right limits. As you start playing bigger games, competition increases fiercely. Stick to games with a buyin under $25 until you're very confident.

Third, make sure to study up on poker strategy. My favorite website for strategy is: Risk Oriented by bigsaje. I think it's at riskoriented dot com.

If I could give you one piece of advice to make you a better player, it would be "Play tighter." No matter what you're doing, you could probably avoid some of your biggest mistakes if your hand was a little stronger on average. So, be disciplined and fold your weak hands and you will lose money less frequently.

We'd like to expand our readership. We'd also like for you to get better at poker. So, here's our offer. If you have more than 100 Facebook friends, and you click "Like this." on Facebook, we'll give you a free hand history review (up to 30 hands). If you have more than 300 friends, and you "Like this" on Facebook, we'll give you a strategy video. If you have more than 600 friends, and you "Like this" on Facebook, we'll sweat you in a game and offer commentary.

Cereus has implemented snooping code into their software. According to this thread over at twoplustwo, a user has reported that his antivirus detected suspicious activity from the Ultimate Bet application.

He writes, "I found out because yesterday after the update from UB, Kaspersky has been reporting keylogger four times, every time after starting the UB client. This is the first time I've seen Kaspersly report a keylogger after months of using the UB client."

Fortunately, Hold'em Manager and Poker Tracker are on the list of allowed applications.

Today, Turning Stone's legal battle with the New York State legal system resulted in a win for the casino. This should end the long legal battle about whether or not Turning Stone will be allowed to operate in New York State.

If you're interested in playing online poker, you should pick one of these websites at which you don't currently have an account. If you use this link, you'll sign up through the poker site with "rake back", which is a form of compensation from the online poker room. They give you bonus money in your account weekly. You should be careful to follow the instructions to the letter, because sites are notorious for denying rakeback claims if you don't follow the instructions. This is just like putting money in the trash. My personal preference for sites is 1) Full Tilt Poker, 2) Ultimate Bet, 3) PokerStars.

As poker players, we're conditioned to deal with losses of different sizes. We have to lose pots without tilting. We have to lose games without tilting. We have to lose ten games or twenty games in a row without tilting. If, ten years down the road, my house were to burn down, I think I would just be like "whatever, that's just bad luck" and move on with my life. However, I get the feeling that a loss of this size would make many people very distraught. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments.

Crazy Pineapple is like a second cousin to No Limit Hold'em. In Crazy Pineapple, players get three hole cards instead of two. The players must discard one of the hole cards after the flop. Typically, Crazy Pineapple is played as a Hi-Lo game, with the best hand and the "lo" hand splitting half the pot. To begin the hand, three cards are dealt to each player. Players play the preflop round like in Texas Hold'em. Then, a card is burned and the flop is dealt. Play continues like NLHE until time for the turn card. At this time, players must burn one of their hole cards. Then, the turn is dealt and play continues according to the rules of No Limit Hold'em. At the showdown, if a qualifying Lo hand exists, it will win half the pot, with the best Hi hand winning the other half.

You can play Crazy Pineapple at UltimateBet.

Yes! There are a few options available.

First, PartyGaming is featured on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PRTY.L. It's primary holding is the poker room PartyPoker. PartyGaming also operates one of the few cash game backgammon websites. They do not allow any customers in the United States. PartyGaming is headquartered in and operates under the laws of Gibraltar. PartyGaming's net income in 2008 was $67 million.

Second, the British gambling giant 888 is on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol 888.L. 888 operates Casino-on-Net, which is one of the largest online casinos. They also operate the Pacific Poker network. They do not allow any customers in the United States. It is headquartered in and operates under the laws of Gibraltar. 888's net income in 2008 was $37 million.

The UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) caused both of these stocks to drop nearly 80%. If gambling were ever legalized in America, it is very likely that these stocks would skyrocket.

US Players: Sign Up for an Account at UltimateBet

Tom "durrrr" Dwan signed with Team Full Tilt after more than a year of negotiations today. While Full Tilt has hundreds of "red name" pros, Team Full Tilt is an honor held by professionals like Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Phil Ivey, and Jennifer Harman. So, when you see him playing for a half-million dollars against "Isildur1" you can be sure he's earned his stripes!