5 Card Draw Poker – Learn How to Play Five Card Draw

The rules of 5 Card Draw are similar to the rules of Holdem. The game is played as follows:

1. A small dealer button identifies one player as the dealer. The dealer button moves one spot clockwise after every hand.
2. Before any cards are dealt, players must post any mandatory bets, known as ‘blinds’ or ‘antes’.
   1. In Draw, the player directly to the left of the dealer must post the ‘small blind’.
   2. The player two spots left of the dealer must post the ‘big blind’.
   3. The small blind is most often smaller than the big blind, usually exactly half.
3. After the mandatory blinds and/or antes are posted, each player is dealt five cards face down.
4. A betting round begins, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind. This player is said to be ‘under the gun’. As in every other form of poker, players can choose to check, fold, bet or call as appropriate throughout the round of betting.
5. After the first round of betting, players have the option of discarding up to 5 cards, and exchanging them for new ones. It is not mandatory that players discard and exchange- it is strictly optional. If a player chooses to keep all of his original cards, this is known as ‘staying’.
6. After each player has discarded and exchanged his desired amount of cards, a second and final round of betting begins. The action starts once again with the player under the gun.
7. Once the final round of betting is complete, any remaining players must show down their hands. As in all other forms of poker, the player with the best five-card poker hand wins the pot. If two players show down identical hands, they must split the pot.
8. Once the pot has been transferred to the winner, the dealer button is moved one spot clockwise, and a new hand may begin.

Play Omaha Poker – Learn How to Play Omaha Poker

Omaha Hi poker, usually known simply as Omaha, is very similar to Texas Holdem. There are two main differences between the games:

1. In Omaha, instead of receiving only two hole cards, each player receives four.
2. In Omaha, players must use exactly two of their hole cards in combination with three community cards to make their five-card poker hand.

Structurally, Omaha is pretty much the same game as Holdem. Let’s take a look at the rules:

1. A small dealer button identifies one player as the dealer. The dealer button moves clockwise around the table, and is passed at the end of every hand.
2. All blinds, antes or other required bets must be put into the pot before any cards are dealt. In Omaha.
   1. The player directly to the left of the dealer posts the small blind.
   2. The player two spots to the left of the dealer posts the big blind.
   3. Generally, the small blind is half the size of the big blind.
3. After the required bets have been placed, four hole cards are dealt face down to each player. A betting round begins, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind. This player is said to be ‘under the gun’.
4. Once betting has completed in the first round, three community cards are dealt face up, for all players to use. A second betting round follows the deal, beginning with the player in the small blind. This betting round is known as the ‘flop’, or ‘Third Street’.
5. Once betting has completed on the flop, one community card is dealt face up, for all players to use. A third betting round follows the deal, beginning again with the player in the small blind. This betting round is known as the ‘turn’, or ‘Fourth Street’.
6. Once betting has completed on the turn, a final community card is dealt face up, for all players to use. A fourth and final betting round follows the deal, beginning once more with the player in the small blind. This betting round is known as the ‘river’, or ‘Fifth Street’.
7. Once all betting is complete on the river, any players remaining in the hand must show down their cards. All players still involved must compare their five-card poker hands. The pot is handed over to the player with the highest ranked hand.

Omaha Hi-Lo (Omaha 8):

Omaha Hi-Lo, usually known as Omaha 8, is structurally the exact same game as Omaha Hi. There is, however, one fundamental difference:

1. In Omaha 8, players can aim to make either the best high poker hand, or the best low poker hand. In the case that one player shows down a winning high hand, and the other shows down a winning low hand, the two players split the pot. In order to win the full pot at showdown, a player must have both the best high and low hand, or there must be no low hand in play.

Internet Data-deletion Debate Heating Up

The European Parliament is worried about your data sitting dormant on websites of all kinds and last week began formal discussions to further regulate personal data on the Internet. Greek Member of the European Parliament Stavros Lambrinidis is preparing a report for a plenary session in Strasbourg calling for “more stringent and efficient means of user data protection.” Australia, China, Singapore, and Japan also had similar legislative stirrings in recent weeks.

The industry spent a dozen years fighting US Congressman Ed Markey’s (D-MA) efforts to regulate the Internet. Markey, though, just passed the chairmanship of the House Subcommittee responsible for telecommunications, technology and the

Internet to one of the House’s most tech-savvy Congressmen, Rick Boucher (D-VA).

As the 1960 boatlift Cubans in Miami claissically lamented, “We prayed for the overthrow of Batista; then we got Castro!” High on Boucher’s list of priorities is a bill to regulate privacy of Internet users. Of most concern to online gaming businesses will be a specific “opt-in” clause for users before data can be shared with other providers.

Why the sudden activity? Congress, Parliament and most governmental bodies seize their opportunities from headlines. This has been quite a few weeks with scandals providing fuel. NBC News reported recently that a back door existed in many popular music file-sharing programs that could allow hackers into one’s computer to download tax forms, university applications and personal bank account information.

Recently, Minnesota Senate candidate Norm Coleman’s website allowed anyone to download his entire donor database, including addresses and credit card numbers. MSNBC’s interviewed data security expert Adria Richards, who found the security issue and reported it on her blog. The Coleman gaffe could crimp his plans to continue his challenge against Al Franken for that long-disputed Senate seat. Could you imagine a solicitation letter for Coleman’s legal challenge fund including the line, “Sorry, please send more money and by the way, you need to get a new credit card?”

Elsewhere, Facebook was thrown into a crisis over a minor change in its website Terms and Conditions (T&C) allowing them to keep your data indefinitely — mostly because it is too difficult to erase from 115 million users. So loud was the uproar that they changed it back to their original terms.

This type of change could affect your poker/gaming sites. What can you do to protect your data already out there on the Web? If you cease doing business with a gaming site, make sure to delete your account and all personal info. Write to the company and ask them to delete your account and all personal information. Same for the payment agencies they use.

No matter where you play, change and update your info regularly. Don’t automatically store passwords; use a simple password saver program and auto-generator.

Examine what data is stored on your ‘my account’ page and is no longer needed and can be deleted. I’ve left five or six online poker sites during the last three years and never thought much about the issue of data protection; my personal info, including a faxed copy of my passport’s main page, sits in one site’s office.

Also, check your computer’s msconfig file periodically to see what programs start automatically and run all the time. Aside from improving speed and performance of your machine, there is no need for a lot of these programs to run 24/7 and some of these are where trojans and other malware programs can attach themselves and compromise your files.

A change of this magnitude could, conceivably, affect security on the operator side, making it more difficult for sites to find bots, colluders and multi-accounting players, and thereby make it more difficult to keep the online game safe and fair for all. In the UK, data-protection laws are interpreted with such strict, minute detail that even trying to arrange a furniture delivery, if my wife purchased it, is impossible, because, “They must speak to the person who placed the order.”

With the US, EU and Asia looking independently at the issue, any result will have little impact on those who steal data for a living; they will simply find another way. It could, though, create a confusing maze of tougher standards for all and would be difficult to maintain and implement.

For an industry deeply involved in a fight to overthrow UIGEA, this issue is among the thorniest. Since Congress, Parliament and regulators are not known for taking smart action, this is one fight to watch and weigh in on early.

Editor’s note: Contributing columnist Denis Campbell brings an independent and experienced eye to poker’s political scene. Campbell has worked closely in the past with former Cabinet Secretaries in the Carter and Clinton administrations, Ambassadors and members of Congress. He offers commentary on US and UK politics for the BBC and Huffington Post, and is currently the editor-in-chief of UK Progressive Magazine. Here, Denis offers his insights on matters affecting poker. Denis’ views do not necessarily reflect those of PokerNews.

Poker News Cup Alpine Begins

Dream Table III Begins Tonight on ‘Poker After Dark’

Poker Tournaments – Poker Game Schedule with 100% Deposit Bonus

Mon 23rd Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
22:15	USARounders Skill Level 6 – Daily 22:15 – Deep Stack 5000/15M Rounds, With Antes	No Limit Texas Holdem	$20.00	$2.00	0	$0.00
23:00	$10 Bounty Freezeout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$5.00	$1.00	0	$0.00
23:20	$3 PL HO Freezeout	Pot Limit Texas Holdem	$3.00	$0.30	0	$0.00
23:40	$5 Turbo Heads Up Shootout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$5.00	$0.50	0	$0.00
23:50	$3 Bounty Turbo Freezeout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$2.00	$0.30	1	$2.00
Tue 24th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
00:15	USARounders Skill Level 6 – Daily 00:15 CST – Deep Stack 5000/15M Rounds, With Antes	No Limit Texas Holdem	$20.00	$2.00	0	$0.00
00:30	$3 PL Omaha Hi/Lo – 00:30	Pot Limit Texas Holdem	$3.00	$0.30	0	$0.00
00:45	$5 Heads Up Shootout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$5.00	$0.50	0	$0.00
01:00	$2 Shootout Freezeout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$2.00	$0.20	1	$2.00
01:15	$5 Bounty SH Freerzout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$3.00	$0.50	0	$0.00
02:15	USARounders – Skill Level 5 – Daily 02:15 CST – Deep Stack 5000/10M Rounds, With Antes	No Limit Texas Holdem	$15.00	$1.50	0	$0.00
12:40	$2 NL Holdem Freezeout – 12:40	No Limit Texas Holdem	$2.00	$0.20	0	$0.00
15:20	$3 NL Holdem – 15:20	No Limit Texas Holdem	$3.00	$0.30	0	$0.00
17:45	$1 NL Holdem Turbo – 17:45	No Limit Texas Holdem	$1.00	$0.10	0	$0.00
18:20	$3 PL Omaha – 18:20	Pot Limit Texas Holdem	$3.00	$0.30	0	$0.00
Thu 26th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
20:00	$25 Thursday Night Extravaganza	No Limit Texas Holdem	$25.00	$2.00	0	$100.00
Sun 29th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
13:00	RioPokerPalace $10 Guaranteed Omaha Hilo Freeroll	Pot Limit Texas Holdem	$0.00	$0.00	0	$10.00
Sun 26th Apr 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
12:00	PaperChase 750 Holdem Event#1	No Limit Texas Holdem	$0.00	$0.00	0	$0.00
Sun 10th May 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
12:00	PaperChase 750 Holdem Event#2	No Limit Texas Holdem	$0.00	$0.00	0	$0.00
Sun 24th May 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
12:00	PaperChase 750 Holdem Event#3	No Limit Texas Holdem	$0.00	$0.00	0	$0.00
Sun 7th Jun 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
12:00	PaperChase 750 Holdem Event#4	No Limit Texas Holdem	$0.00	$0.00	0	$0.00
Sun 21st Jun 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
12:00	PaperChase 750 Holdem Event#5	No Limit Texas Holdem	$0.00	$0.00	0	$0.00

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Tue 17th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
19:00	Shamrock Gaming 1k Guarantee	No Limit Texas Holdem	$24.00	$2.00	0	$1000.00
20:00	$5 NL Holdem Short Handed Turbo	No Limit Texas Holdem	$5.00	$0.50	0	$0.00
22:15	USARounders Skill Level 6 – Daily 22:15 – Deep Stack 5000/15M Rounds, With Antes	No Limit Texas Holdem	$20.00	$2.00	0	$0.00
23:00	$10 Bounty Freezeout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$5.00	$1.00	0	$0.00
23:20	$3 PL HO Freezeout	Pot Limit Texas Holdem	$3.00	$0.30	0	$0.00
23:40	$5 Turbo Heads Up Shootout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$5.00	$0.50	0	$0.00
23:50	$3 Bounty Turbo Freezeout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$2.00	$0.30	0	$0.00
Wed 18th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
00:15	USARounders Skill Level 6 – Daily 00:15 CST – Deep Stack 5000/15M Rounds, With Antes	No Limit Texas Holdem	$20.00	$2.00	0	$0.00
00:30	$3 PL Omaha Hi/Lo – 00:30	Pot Limit Texas Holdem	$3.00	$0.30	0	$0.00
00:45	$5 Heads Up Shootout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$5.00	$0.50	0	$0.00
01:00	$2 Shootout Freezeout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$2.00	$0.20	0	$0.00
01:15	$5 Bounty SH Freerzout	No Limit Texas Holdem	$3.00	$0.50	0	$0.00
12:40	$2 NL Holdem Freezeout – 12:40	No Limit Texas Holdem	$2.00	$0.20	0	$0.00
15:20	$3 NL Holdem – 15:20	No Limit Texas Holdem	$3.00	$0.30	0	$0.00
Thu 19th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
20:00	$25 Thursday Night Extravaganza	No Limit Texas Holdem	$25.00	$2.00	0	$100.00
Sun 22nd Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
13:00	RioPokerPalace $10 Guaranteed Omaha Hilo Freeroll	Pot Limit Texas Holdem	$0.00	$0.00	0	$10.00
Sun 26th Apr 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
12:00	Paper Chase $5K NL Hold’em Event #1	No Limit Texas Holdem	$10.00	$1.00	0	$0.00

Tournaments In Progress

Tue 17th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name	Game Type	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool
17:45	$1 NL Holdem Turbo – 17:45	No Limit Texas Holdem	$1.00	$0.10	95	$95.00
18:20	$3 PL Omaha – 18:20	Pot Limit Texas Holdem	$3.00	$0.30	33	$99.00

Completed Tournaments

Tue 17th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Finish	Name	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool	Winner
17:20	$3 NL Holdem – 15:20	$3.00	$0.30	38	$114.00	Projekt420
14:41	$2 NL Holdem Freezeout – 12:40	$2.00	$0.20	44	$88.00	rudolf15
02:54	$3 PL Omaha Hi/Lo – 00:30	$3.00	$0.30	18	$54.00	nelsonmommy
02:47	$5 Bounty SH Freerzout	$3.00	$0.50	24	$72.00	axperutun1
02:37	$2 Shootout Freezeout	$2.00	$0.20	22	$44.00	digzkatz
01:55	$5 Heads Up Shootout	$5.00	$0.50	6	$30.00	SKINEEZY
01:38	$3 PL HO Freezeout	$3.00	$0.30	27	$81.00	bagofcoins
01:31	$3 Bounty Turbo Freezeout	$2.00	$0.30	90	$180.00	Belhial
01:00	$10 Bounty Freezeout	$5.00	$1.00	36	$180.00	permadan1
00:50	$5 Turbo Heads Up Shootout	$5.00	$0.50	5	$25.00	Hunter8281
Mon 16th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Finish	Name	Buy In	Entry Fee	Players	Prize Pool	Winner
21:06	$5 NL Holdem Short Handed Turbo	$5.00	$0.50	38	$190.00	MeHigh9
20:05	$3 PL Omaha – 18:20	$3.00	$0.30	47	$141.00	billhowarth
19:14	$1 NL Holdem Turbo – 17:45	$1.00	$0.10	123	$123.00	DoinWorkOVerHEre

Online Poker Tournaments with a 100% Deposit Bonus

Wed 11th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name					Game Type				Buy In		Entry Fee			Players		Prize Pool
00:15	USARounders Skill Level 6 – Daily 00:15 CST – Deep Stack 5000/15M Rounds, With Antes					No Limit Texas Holdem				$20.00		$2.00			0		$0.00
00:20	BigDaddys holdem nl					No Limit Texas Holdem				$3.00		$0.30			0		$0.00
00:30	$3 PL Omaha Hi/Lo – 00:30					Pot Limit Texas Holdem				$3.00		$0.30			3		$9.00
00:40	BigDaddys holdem nl					No Limit Texas Holdem				$1.00		$0.10			0		$0.00
00:45	$5 Heads Up Shootout					No Limit Texas Holdem				$5.00		$0.50			0		$0.00
01:00	BigDaddys Omaha					No Limit Texas Holdem				$5.00		$0.50			0		$0.00
01:00	$2 Shootout Freezeout					No Limit Texas Holdem				$2.00		$0.20			2		$4.00
01:15	$5 Bounty SH Freerzout					No Limit Texas Holdem				$3.00		$0.50			1		$3.00
01:40	BigDaddys Holdem NL					No Limit Texas Holdem				$1.00		$0.10			0		$0.00
02:00	BigDaddys Omaha HiLo					No Limit Texas Holdem				$5.00		$0.50			0		$0.00
02:15	USARounders – Skill Level 5 – Daily 02:15 CST – Deep Stack 5000/10M Rounds, With Antes					No Limit Texas Holdem				$15.00		$1.50			0		$0.00
02:20	BigDaddys Holdem NL					No Limit Texas Holdem				$3.00		$0.30			0		$0.00
02:40	BigDaddys 7 Card Stud					No Limit Texas Holdem				$1.00		$0.10			0		$0.00
05:15	USARounders – Skill Level 4 – Daily 05:15 CST – Deep Stack 5000/8M Rounds, With Antes					No Limit Texas Holdem				$12.00		$1.20			0		$0.00
12:40	$2 NL Holdem Freezeout – 12:40					No Limit Texas Holdem				$2.00		$0.20			0		$0.00
15:20	$3 NL Holdem – 15:20					No Limit Texas Holdem				$3.00		$0.30			0		$0.00
17:45	$1 NL Holdem Turbo – 17:45					No Limit Texas Holdem				$1.00		$0.10			0		$0.00
18:20	$3 PL Omaha – 18:20					Pot Limit Texas Holdem				$3.00		$0.30			0		$0.00
20:00	$5 NL Holdem Short Handed Turbo					No Limit Texas Holdem				$5.00		$0.50			0		$0.00
23:40	$5 Turbo Heads Up Shootout					No Limit Texas Holdem				$5.00		$0.50			0		$0.00
Thu 12th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name					Game Type				Buy In		Entry Fee			Players		Prize Pool
21:00	$25 Thursday Night Extravaganza					No Limit Texas Holdem				$25.00		$2.00			0		$100.00
Sun 15th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name					Game Type				Buy In		Entry Fee			Players		Prize Pool
13:00	RioPokerPalace $10 Guaranteed Omaha Hilo Freeroll					Pot Limit Texas Holdem				$0.00		$0.00			0		$10.00
Sun 29th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name					Game Type				Buy In		Entry Fee			Players		Prize Pool
13:00	Paper Chase $5k NL Holdem Event #1					No Limit Texas Holdem				$0.00		$0.00			0		$0.00
Tue 10th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Start	Name		Game Type					Buy In			Entry Fee			Players		Prize Pool
23:00	$10 Bounty Freezeout		No Limit Texas Holdem					$5.00			$1.00			23		$115.00
23:20	$3 PL HO Freezeout		Pot Limit Texas Holdem					$3.00			$0.30			24		$72.00
23:50	$3 Bounty Turbo Freezeout		No Limit Texas Holdem					$2.00			$0.30			68		$136.00
Tue 10th Mar 2009 (All Times Eastern)
Finish		Name		Buy In	Entry Fee		Players		Prize Pool				Winner
20:50		$5 NL Holdem Short Handed Turbo		$5.00	$0.50		33		$165.00				BigJ19
20:10		$3 PL Omaha – 18:20		$3.00	$0.30		39		$117.00				BLOtheAFguy
19:17		$1 NL Holdem Turbo – 17:45		$1.00	$0.10		109		$109.00				allycats221
16:57		$3 NL Holdem – 15:20		$3.00	$0.30		42		$126.00				gusbuster5
14:36		$2 NL Holdem Freezeout – 12:40		$2.00	$0.20		24		$48.00				mrscarroll21
03:00		$5 Bounty SH Freerzout		$3.00	$0.50		35		$105.00				exbruin
02:26		$2 Shootout Freezeout		$2.00	$0.20		22		$44.00				nyhydro
02:16		$5 Heads Up Shootout		$5.00	$0.50		13		$65.00				ChefBoyrdvegas1
01:50		$3 PL Omaha Hi/Lo – 00:30		$3.00	$0.30		17		$51.00				UseYourBlink
01:37		$3 Bounty Turbo Freezeout		$2.00	$0.30		87		$174.00				timothy0101
01:15		$10 Bounty Freezeout		$5.00	$1.00		52		$260.00				dolphinfan131
01:13		$3 PL HO Freezeout		$3.00	$0.30		26		$78.00				wheresyourdevilatnow
00:20		$5 Turbo Heads Up Shootout		$5.00	$0.50		8		$40.00				DABIGMAC

Poker Rakeback FAQ

What is rake?

Rake is the money taken out of the pot by the house. Depending on the limit it can be from $.05-$3.00.

What is rakeback or rake back?

Rakeback is a percent of the rake paid back to you for playing at a poker site. Serious players earn thousands of dollars a month just in rakeback. When you sign-up for a rakeback deal via RRR your rakeback money is usually paid automatically by the poker room directly to your poker account. However, sometimes your rakeback money will be paid to your Neteller account.

What is a rakeback affiliate?

A rakeback affiliate such as RRR is a site that helps promote online poker rooms. In return we are paid a percent of the rake collected from poker players that sign up via us. Each month we pass on the vast majority of our cut from poker rooms to our players.
I am already signed up at a room, can I get rake back there?

No. You can, however, on some networks switch skins and play on the same network.

What is a skin?

A skin is a group of poker rooms that share are on the same poker network. For example Cryptologic skins would include InterPoker and Sun Poker and a handful other rooms. Players at all of these rooms play in the same games. Most networks will allow you to sign up under all skins regardless of the number of rooms on the network you are already signed up for.

How does the poker room come up with my rake amount?

The rooms use a formula called Monthly Gross Revenue (MGR) a ka net rake. This is the amount from which your rakeback is calculated, i.e. if your rakeback percentage is 30 and your MGR is $1,000 you would get $300 in rakeback.

To calculate your MGR some rooms subtract any bonuses earned during the month, while others don’t. The same goes for whether or not tournament fees are included in MGR. Rooms also have different methods for calculating your share of the actual rake. Some poker rooms use what is called contributed rake where you must participate in the pot to have rake credited. Others use the dealt method where you are credited with rake in every hand where you’re dealt cards.

Read more about how a certain poker room calculates rake by visiting its page here on RRR.

Will I get a sign-up bonus when I sign up for a rakeback deal?

In most cases yes. Read more about a certain poker room’s sign-up bonus by visiting its page here on RRR. Please note that in some cases this bonus will be subtracted from your net rake.

Can my spouse, parent, brother, sister, roommate or anyone else that shares my computer have an account at the same poker room as me?

Usually, but they will need to get their own funding source for their account. You usually can not share Neteller or Firepay accounts with them. You may however transfer them money at most poker rooms. Signing up underage people, pets, appliances, lawn gnomes or some other figment of your imagination just to get a rakeback deal is fraud. You risk the poker room asking for ID and then having your account frozen and funds confiscated. It will also be hard to fund this account as it is not possible to get Neteller accounts for these fantasies.

Poker Pro Annie Duke

In a game that has historically been dominated by males, Annie Duke is making some serious waves. Beyond kicking the stereotype, Annie Duke has gone one better by not only beating the top women players, but taking out the men as well. She is currently the top female poker player in the world, and also has a WSOP bracelet to show for her success.

Annie Duke was born into a very competitive family, and family card nights were the norm during her childhood. Between herself and Poker star brother Howard Lederer, those must have been some pretty intense games! As a child, Annie excelled in school and went on to pursue studies in English and Psychology at Columbia University. As a student, Annie frequently visited her brother’s poker games, but oddly never joined in. Instead she continued her studies in cognitive psychology at graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, where she won an esteemed National Science Foundation Fellowship.

In the early 90s, Howard Lederer brought Annie to Las Vegas during a weekend off of Grad School. It was the WSOP week, and Howard taught Annie the basics of Texas Hold’em. A couple of trips to Las Vegas was all it would take for the competitive Duke to get hooked on the game, and in 1992 she left her studies to take up the game.

This was a very bold move indeed for a young woman who had just competed 5 years of Graduate School! Her poker career began in Billings, Montana, where she played the local tournaments. Big brother Howard taught her a few things, and after some small successes in Montana, he convinced her to enter her first WSOP tournament. She placed in 3 tournaments in her first year, and cashed out over $70,000 in winnings, and secured her future as a professional poker player.

Annie’s commitment to poker has paid big dividends for her; she has won major tournaments and even took the title (and $2 million pot) away from the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, knocking out 8 of the top players in the world along the way. She also does instructional seminars, and is even personal tutor to movie star Ben Affleck.

Perhaps the only thing that exceeds Annie’s commitment to Poker is her commitment to her family; she’s a mother to four children, and they will always take priority over Poker according to Annie.

When she does finally retire from the game, it’s safe to say she’ll be remembered as one of the all time greats, not one of the all time great women. Annie has proven herself against the top players in the game, irrespective of gender.

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