Wed, 03/02/2011 – 23:15 – PokerPages Staff

Foremost in gaining poker success, the beginner poker player must have a solid foundation; the novice must have a comprehensive understanding of the poker rules and poker betting.  Beyond this groundwork, there are a multitude of tools and strategies that the beginner poker player should have in their arsenal.  While some poker players are not convinced that poker tools or programs improve game play, many online players are successfully using such software to beat their opponents. 

A Poker HUD (Heads Up Display), is a program that displays a poker statistics overlay on the online poker table.  Most good Poker HUDs have both a poker calculator and a tracker.  The poker calculator is a program that provides poker mathematics, such as odds, probabilities, outs, etc.  A poker tracker analyzes your game play and your opponent’s play, such as profitability and table style, betting and playing style.

Before employing such devices, do your research.  Make certain that the program is allowed on the poker site you are playing.  Also, make sure the program safe to install.

Poker bots are computer programs that play the game for you.  It is an automated program that is designed to replace the human player.  For most poker sites, the use of a poker bot constitutes cheating and is strictly forbidden.

Some poker programs can compromise your security.  Use only software from reputable companies. 

The use of legal poker software can greatly improve your play.  They are useful for decision making and trend analysis.  They should, however, be used as a supplement to good poker play based on the rules and the best strategies. 

If you are playing on PokerStars, check out Third Party Tools and Services FAQ.

To learn more, check out PokerSchoolOnline, the best source on the internet for poker related learning.  Then put those skills to work by playing for free at PokerStars.net.  Also, check out the PokerPages sections Poker Information and Poker Articles for more poker tips and strategies.

Thu, 02/10/2011 – 03:33 – PokerPages Staff

Poker fans that enjoy watching the game as well as playing are in for a real treat when they visit PokerStars.tv – the game’s premier venue for watching online poker programs.  PokerStars.tv allows the game’s followers to watch the wide range of poker videos, webcasts and live events available, and they are able to view all of these on their laptops and computers, any time of the day or night.

As well as offering round the clock poker-related recordings, the PokerStars.tv schedule also lists programs for the week.  This week’s schedule has the Online Poker Show, with action from Sunday Million hitting laptop screens on Monday at 18:00 ET.  Then on Tuesday at 05:30 there is the action from LAPT Season 3, presented by David Tuckman.  Inside Deal, the ESPN poker news show, is aired on Wednesdays at 05:30 ET. And on Thursday at 05:30 ET PokerStars.tv presents NAPT Los Angeles, with new episodes shown each week.  Friday at 05:30 ET The PokerStar – which is a big hit especially with Australians, hits the screens.  This show presented by Joe Hachem, seeks to discover the game’s next big star from Australia.

And PokerStars.tv is planning more treats for their loyal viewers.  Coming soon on the schedule are highlights from the London leg of EPT Season 7, featuring, as always, top class poker action.

There is also a huge range of poker programming on PokerStars.tv’s channels.  These include Million Dollar Challenge, The Big Game, and World Cup of Poker.