Merge Gaming Network recently signed on star Shannon Elizabeth as a sponsored pro for their top poker room Carbon Poker. Other poker rooms have briefly sponsored Shannon Elizabeth in the past however Carbon Poker is excited to have the star on board at the Merge Gaming Network.

Most people know Shannon Elizabeth as “Nadia” from the 1999 cult classic “American Pie”. Even though acting is her first and main career Shannon Elizabeth takes poker seriously enough to consider it her second career.

Shannon Elizabeth has not done too badly with her poker career as she has had some outstanding performances on the poker table. Shannon Elizabeth first made a name for herself in 2006 when she beat out 84 poker professionals and celebrities to win the Caesar’s Palace Celerity tournament for first place earnings of $55,000.

Elizabeth didn’t stop there; she went on to cash in over 4 separate events between the 2006 and the 2007 World Series of Poker tournaments. Shannon Elizabeth’s best run at a poker tournament had to be at the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Shannon Elizabeth dominated through four rounds knocking out big time professional players like PokerStars’ Barry Greenstein and the flamboyant Humberto Brenes. Shannon Elizabeth made it all the way to the semi finals where she was knocked out by Paul Wasicka who went on to win the whole tournament. Shannon Elizabeth raked in $125,000 in earnings for her performance at that tournament.

Shannon wasn’t always a poker player. Elizabeth started out her film career with the movie “Jack Frost”. She didn’t reach her superstar celebrity status under her role as the sexy “Nadia” in “American Pie”. There was a provocative scene in the movie that made millions of guys in the world fans of Shannon Elizabeth. Shannon Elizabeth has also had many other roles in movies like “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”, “The Grand”, and she has made several appearances on the famous television show “That 70’s Show”.

Carbon Poker was looking to add star power and poker skills to their roster and they found it with Shannon Elizabeth, the poker slash actress superstar. The Merge Gaming Network is amongst one of the biggest poker networks online in the world; surely it is a poker home worthy of Shannon Elizabeth. Look out for Shannon Elizabeth on Carbon Poker blogs and in Carbon Poker videos.

When you make a raise in online poker, you must know how much to raise. This aspect of the game should not be taken lightly if you want to play poker well.

Do not always use a fixed amount like 3 BB or do not raise a random amount either. Finding the correct amount is part of your poker skills. So in order to work on this, let’s first ask ourselves what is the reason for raising? There are mostly three reasons:

1. getting information about the other players’ cards,
2. using aggression which puts pressure on your opponents,
3. narrowing the field down.

If none of the above is achieved, there is no point in raising before the flop and limping would be as good. As it is hard to win a hand in a multi-way pot unless you hit the board, by raising you force the weak hands to fold. And if they do not fold, then you have narrowed their range, hence you got information.

As was said earlier, the convenient standard raise is three times the big blind. Betting less such as two times is called a min-raise and is usually not recommended, because it makes it cheap for people to call with their draws. The other choice below 3 is two and a half. And you can bet any amount above 3, such as 4, 5, 6, …, all the way to shoving.

The key here to understand is that you want to raise as little as possible while reaching the three goals. This way, by investing less in the pot you improve your ROI. But sometimes you have to bet more than 3 in some games where players like to make big calls preflop. And sometimes you can bet less, like in a tournament when the blinds are large.

Making big raises is not a smart move if you can achieve the same result with less. Each table and game is different, so part of observing your opponents should be to determine what kind of raise is appropriate. Watch what works at your table. If three BB raises get lots of caller but 4BB do not, you have to bet more.

On the other hand, the players who bet more than necessary do not know how to adjust well to their table. This will cost them in the long run. Do not use a preset number, watch out what is going on and raise accordingly.

Remember that. Your results will get an incremental boost if you pay attention to raising the correct size.

Master Online Poker and Maximize Your Bankroll

Sometimes some poker players ask me some advise on how to make more cash playing poker. This week the concern of a poker player was to find a one stop shop to find out all there is to know about information about online poker and things that will improve his bankroll such as rakeback and freeroll tournaments.

The people of loltherake.com made their site’s navigation very simple and easy to understand, all the while providing players with the information they need to successfully maximize their online winnings via poker rakeback, such as the Ultimate Bet rakeback. The site explains what rakeback aka rake rebates is, and how to better understand the term in general.

However, in addition to rakeback, this site also explains how to choose the right online poker room to better benefit your playing style and needs. This rakeback site clearly explains how to pick an online poker room and offers very good advice on what factors are the most important when selecting one to deposit and play on.

This rakeback website is a trusted resource that really details the many different ways to find the best casino or online poker room. This information can be vital to a new comer or someone who is not having very much luck or a good time on their current online casino or online poker room.

The site also covers other subjects regarding Internet poker such as poker strategy, mastering online poker, and provides viewers with links that lead to information on different game strategies and the “how to” of rakeback as well. For the online poker player just starting out or the more experienced player who just wants to learn more, this is the place to go for information to really sharpen one’s game.

Let’s face it, getting knowledge from a teacher is important and getting knowledge about rakeback can honestly be invaluable for most players’ bankroll, so make the right choice today.

Why not playing on a looser site and forego the tighter site?

That’s an interesting question I am asking myself sometimes. I figure as I move up I’m going to have to play against tighter players anyway and I might as well learn playing at the lower levels, instead of having to learn at the higher levels and lose a bunch of money learning how to play against them.

I have learned quite a bit playing at the tighter site, which I feel has helped my overall play. I play at one site until I qualify for the next level, and then move to the other site to move up to the same level. I have to play differently at the two sites, and it takes me a while to adjust. But I am winning at both sites. And I think that it takes me approximately the same amount of days to move up a level at both sites. Also an additional advantage is that if one site is down, I can always play at the other site.

I fluctuated from between +$50 and -$50 all day today. At the beginning, I started out slightly positive and then at the end went into the negative when in two different hands, I ran into a set and lost. Then at the very end I got pocket AA and one of my opponents had K 9. The board ended up being 6 9 3 K 3. I was ahead on the flop with my aces against his pair of nines. Then I was behind on the turn to his two pair. Then the three on the river covered his two pair giving me a higher two pair. I was lucky on that hand.

I also had a previous hand when I had K Q and my opponent had K 7. The board ended up being 9 4 K 7 9. Like the hand above, I was ahead on the flop, behind on the turn, and ahead on the river when the river card covered my opponent’s two pair and my queen kicker beat my opponent’s seven kicker. I can’t remember winning two hands in one day in the same manner when the river covered my opponent’s two pair allowing me to win the hand. Other than those two hands above and losing to my opponent’s sets, the day was uneventful.

My high pocket pairs won. I had AA, KK, JJ, and QQ and won with all of them. With the KK and JJ, I flopped sets. Flush draws made were 1 for 2 1/2, above average. For the most part I stayed out of trouble. I only had 2 problem hands. I made two pair with A 7, and lost to two pair A 9. The second hand, I raised with AQ, and was beat by AK. Other than that I didn’t really have any problem hands. I was only beat twice on the river and zero on the turn. I had 5 favorable river cards, and 4 favorable turn cards.

I had two dream hands. In the first hand, I was in the small blind and called with The King of Spades The Nine of Spades. The flop was The Nine of Hearts The Nine of Diamonds The Nine of Clubs. I flopped quads. That was a fun hand to play. I won a $47 pot.

The second hand I had pocket The Jack of Spades The Jack of Diamonds. My opponent had The Ace of Clubs The Six of Clubs. The final board was The Jack of Clubs The Five of Spades The Three of Clubs The Three of Hearts The Nine of Clubs. I flopped a set, and turned a full house. The river gave my opponent his flush to the ace, but he was doomed to my full house. The raises on the river were capped and I won a $66 pot.

I lost a hand when I had flopped two pair and my two pair got covered on the river when the board paired up. Kind of makes up for the times that this happened to my opponent and I won.

Here is a recap of today’s session.

My high pocket pairs were winning today with one exception. I had QQ, JJ, KK, KK, JJ, AA, and QQ and won with all of them except the first JJ. On the other hand I had TT twice and lost both times. I got beat on the turn twice and the river twice. But I had good river cards once, and good turn cards six times.

I was thinking of taking the day off from playing but decided to play anyway, and won $102. I got beat once on the turn by a straight flush. Not that it matter that much because all I had was a pair of tens. I also got beat twice on the river. But I also had some good cards on the turn and river. I had 3 favorable turn cards and 2 favorable river cards.

In one hand I had AQ against my opponents pocket 44.The flop put a pair on board and the turn paired the other card on the board resulting in the board showing 2 pair higher that fours, covering my opponents pair of fours. Now all he had was a 4 kicker and my ace high won. I made 2 out of 2 flush draws, way above average.

The second was a runner-runner flush draw which won me a $69 pot. This upset one of my opponents who type an obscenity in the chat box. I won one bluff with 6h 3h when I had absolutely nothing and bet the flop and the turn. My only opponent folded on the turn and I won. That was fun. Sets flopped were 0 for 2 pocket pairs, a little below average.

Some bad hands. I had T9, got trip nines on the turn and was beat by a full house, sixes over nines. I had pocket QQ and lost to a flopped set of twos. I had a straight draw in a big pot and missed. I had AJ, got a jack on the turn, and got beat by pocket queens. I had AQ and got beat by AK.