Well if you haven’t heard the news, the US Congress has solved the most pressing issue in the US today, online gambling. At 1am Saturday morning, the US Congress finished attaching “Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement” act, to a Port Security bill. This bill bans finanical transactions with “illegal online gambling” businesses, but really doesn’t define what “illegal online gambling is”.

In response, Party Gaming, 888/Casino on Net/Pacific Poker, Cryptologic, Boss Media have all announced that they have closed or intend to close all US real money accounts, either immediately or following George Bush signing the bill. This means that millions of Americans will soon be prevented from playing real money poker online.

For millions who lose their money playing, this may be good new financially, but really screws up a fun hobby and our dreams of playing poker for a living. For those who make their living playing online poker, it’s time to find a land based game or a new career.

One player was quoted as saying:”This Sucks!”

Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Give a man a table poker table full of fish and he’ll eat like a king, every day!

The bigger fish eats the smaller fish, the smallest fish eat smaller animals and plants and that is the food chain in snapshot. The same in poker. Everywhere you play poker, where at party poker or ultimate bet or royal vegas, there are the fish and players who win their money. Interestingly, these great poker players are just a different type of fish we call them Sharks.

So, it’s the same int poker the big players eat the little ones and then spit out WSOP replays on ESPN!

So what about a Fish? Why the term fish?

Just in case you you aren’t exactly sure what I mean by fish: simplyit’s a bad player, waiting to lose his/her money.

So, why are great poker players sharks and crappy poker players fish? Which came first to poker, the term shark or the term fish? I’m guessing fish came first and the reason is simple, it fits to describe all the players of the game

1. People who fish for a hand. Those who wait for their cards to improve.
2. People who will bite/take the bait on your soft play or bluff.
3. People who can be gutted, for money.
4. People who travel in schools. Call a bet, only because everyone else is in the pot.
5. People who repeat same wrong behavior until they die (run out of money).
6. People who, like salmon, who swim up stream to spawn and die. People playing crap hands hard, against all odds.
7. A shark who eats all the fish.

So, what are you? Shark or chum?

Yes I owe any readers out there an apology for waiting a couple of weeks to wrap up my tournament experiences, thoughts and comments. I’ve been busy playing poker online, several hours a day (and doing quite poorly).

In an effort to make this easier on me and maybe quicker for you, i use the ever popular TOP list:

Top 5 Tournament Tips

1. Dress Comfortable, layers, bring drink, snack, entertainment, etc.
2. Play some live cash games or tournaments to reduce your nervous engery.
3. Plan on having short breaks infrequently - seat, do your lavatory planning with that in mind.
4. Be polite, friendly, but don’t push the quiet guys to speak, they’re quiet because they want to be, just like you want to talk.
5. Play slowly, you can’t win on the first day (of a multi-day event), but most people will lose on the first day.

Top 5 Cruise Highlights

1. Card Player Cruises largest poker room at sea.
2. A veranda cabin, especially if you smoke.
3. Grand Cayman, what a vibrant place, with a beautiful bay for diving/snorkelling
4. The Spa - buy the packages when you board, don’t wait till the last 2 days to check out.
5. Getting off the ship and heading home. Even a great trip needs to end.

So, I’ve played my first big, multi-day tournament and finished in the money. I’m one of the top players in the world according to Poker Pages. Don’t believe it! Playing a tournament like this is a bit stressfull, especially the first time you play. Once you get over your nerves, you’ll find a tournament is like any other event that brings strangers together. Most people look to find a “group” inside of the crowd to hang out with. Poker players are of all sorts, some loud, some quiet, some smokers, some drinkers and unfortunately some dickheads. In general, you’ll find most people are pleasant. The first group people find is the Smokers group, which when i’m gambling, i’m usually part of. On the cruise i met a lot of Danes, Americans, plus some Canadians and Swedes, everyone was friendly and trying to have a good time.

Top 5 Cruise Tips

1. Remember that card you hand the bartender is attached to your credit card
2. Check BEFORE you pack if there is really a formal night, we had 1 “optional” formal night. Didn’t need the suit.
3. Don’t forget just because it’s winter and cold at home, it’s sunny in tropics and sunscreen costs $10 on the ship
4. Don’t plan on using the internet, the ship has service, which cost 50 cents a minute and is slower than the worst dial-up speed you can imagine.
5. If you need to be in contact with land, by phone, rent a satellite phone. Ship to Shore Phone is about $15 a minute.