On 1997, Bigler was on vacation from his job as a business man when he played for the first time at de Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas. At the same time, the World Series of Poker were taking place. About that occasion he says: “I remember wondering myself what was I doing with all those poker chips. I didn’t even know what poker was”.

Poker game was getting his attention and he decided to learn more about it, he read books and his interest in playing started to grow. At his native country, Switzerland, he found very few people who knew how to play poker. In fact he told: “At Switzerland, most people relate poker with old western movies where players got shot during poker games”.

Bigler got experience in poker tournaments at Vienna, Paris and Amsterdam and then he won his first satellite tournament on December of 1998 at Atlantic City. On January of 1999, he won a Pot-Limit Hold’em tournament in Reno, However, Bigler’s ambitions are beyond that and he is decided to make his name really well known at television poker.

On 2001, Bigler sold his business at Switzerland to become into a professional poker player. On 2002 Bigler won his $10,000 seat at the Bellagio’s Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas and got to the final poker table being the first player eliminated.

VIFFER an US Professional was undoubtedly the major winner at the Big Game IV organized by Partypoker dot com. The dude’s full name is David ‘Viffer’ Peat which finished nearly £150,000 in profit, a record for the Big Game

Viffer said at the end of the 48 hour marathon, “I am still ready to play, can’t we go on for longer?”. It made me laugh.

Another new innovation was the player walk-ons (when the dudes comes into the play scene..) with Tony G’s ‘Bicycle Race’ entrance and Roland De Wolfe’s howling ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’ curtain raiser particularly memorable. The rest weren’t as funny as this two.

The Big Game gets bigger and even more huge every year. As you know the Mysterious online high stakes legend Isildur1 pulled out of the Party Poker Big Game, Tony G said he was a pussy, basically.

Name Profit/Loss

Paul Marrow -15,000
Jennifer Tilly 32,975
Laurence Grondin 20,725
Dusty Schmidt -11,925
David Viffer Peat 146,225
Isaac Haxton -6,775
Neil Channing -24,725
Andreas Ruiz -5,000
Oscar Pardo -750
Dixie Dean -10,000
Roberto Romanello -20,000
Guy Steele 1,050
Paul Zimbler 12,650
Barny Boatman 3,825
Andrew Feldman -8,900
Phil Laak 21,925
Luke Schwartz -55,000
Ellis Reuben 25,225
Simon Munz -24,900
MB Mahmoud -27,200
Robert Williamson III 10,450
Bodo Sbrzesny 17,450
Sam Trickett 24,825
Tony G 11,500
Dan Fleyshman -2,675
Roland De Wolfe -60,000
James Mitchell -2,175
Justin Bonomo -43,025

Tom “Durrrr” Dwan is one of the best poker players around, actually he might be the best online poker player, no doubt.

This guy is really sharp and always follow the plan a very good pro.

Anyway, let’s stop hailing Durrrr and start telling u the story, he lost $2.500.000 in one week, yeah, we’ll explain how. Anyway this is just variance for him, he is still in the green numbers with like $3.6 millons this year, so yeah cool.

The battle was against jungleman12 and Phil Ivey. Durrr played near to 8000 hands against jungleman12 in a six table heads-up $200/$400 no-limit hold’em session. At one point Dwan was like half a million up but jungleman12 turned it around and ended the game (quited) with $584,000 as a winner.

Then Tom Dwan aka Durrrr decided to go battleground against Mister Phil Ivey, playing $500/$1000 pot-limit Omaha match. only in 462 Durrr lost $423.000 against ivey, ROFLMAO. I hate this guys.

The rest was eaten by Antonius and URnotINdanger2 among the whole week.

This week…Pro Players earnings/loses

This week’s biggest winners (4/26-5/3): Luukie21(+$666,000), Patrik Antonius (+$639,000), Observer84 ($523,000)

In the red: Tom “durrrr” Dwan (-$2.51 million), URnotINdanger2 (-$908,000), MicahJ (-$659,000)

Top earners, April 2010: Patrik Antonius (+$2.56 million), Tom “durrrr” Dwan (+$1.37 million), Phil Ivey (+$908,000)

Wanna be like this PRO poker players? Why not start playing on the best place,
partypoker.com ?

Finally the Antonio Esfandiari also called “The Magician” (that’s it, man he is a magician) broke his kinda “badrun” (this dude won millions anyway).

He is the chip leader for WPT Festa Al Lago  with 313.000 chips.

The funny thing is that the 2nd in chips have only 200k (It’s this kinda unknown Nick Sliwinski).

The leadership has been mostly attributed to a confrontation with the November Nine’s Scott Montgomery (I don’t like him). Esfandiari had a set and the stupid Montgomery check raised all-in. Esfandiari was so happy to call that he couldn’t stand it. He almost cryed of happyness, ffs.

Montgomery I don’t like you still I don’t know you and you might be a wonderful human…OR NOT. (J/K anyway don’t sue me)

THE MOST FUNNY THING ABOUT FESTA AL LAGO: MICHAEL PHELPS.

The already world-wide-well-known Michael “Aquaman” Phelps was escorted to the Fontana Lounge by the  Phil Hellmuth Jr.

Note: Aquaman Phelps won (only) 14 Olimpic Gold Medals meaning that he is an alien or something..

The Top Five Chip Counts

The top five chip counts feature some more big names with big stacks. Right behind Esfandiari and Sliwinski is Jennifer Tilly with 195,050 and Andrew “good2cu” Robl is in fifth with 173,450. Also having a strong start to the tournament were Joe Sebok (142,050), Johnny Chan (138,000), Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron (116,825) and Allen Cunningham (105,825).

Day 1a bought 153 players whose paid $15k entry each, meaning 2.3M only with entry fees.

Learn poker watching Chris MoneyMaker Videos.

Check this one out. Chris MoneyMaker made up some videos so people can learn to play poker, if you don’t know how to play poker certanly this is the video for you. It’s quality is comparable to DVD and you can rest watching it at fullscreen for free. It’s total length is 50 minutes so get ready with your drinks and food and learn a lot from this poker profesional player, who have WSOP title. The video itself is called “Poker for Dummies”

This could be the definitive guide, tutorial, advice, tips to start playing poker. Even if you don’t have a clue about the game, at the end of the video you’ll be able to have some fun.

If you are a good poker player this video would be slow at the start, so you should advance it like 10 mins. Enjoy!

Chris “Jesus” Ferguson: Starting from Zero.

This is tip 100 of FullTilt Pro Poker Team. Chris Ferguson is fully sponsored and actually works as Pro Poker player at FullTilt Poker. He wrote the advice, so don’t miss your chance to check inside Jesus Mind.

I’m almost a year into an experiment on Full Tilt Poker. I’m attempting to turn $0 into a $10,000 bankroll. With no money to start with, I had no choice but to start out playing Freerolls. Starting out, I’d often manage to win a dollar or two, but I’d quickly get busted and have to start over again. It took some time but, after awhile, I was eventually able to graduate to games that required an actual buy-in.

Even today, people don’t believe it’s really me when I sit down at Full Tilt’s small stakes games. They ask what I’m doing down here, and often tell me stories about how they turned $5 into $500 or $100 into $1,000. Usually, these stories end with the person telling me that they went broke. There’s no surprise there. These folks tried to quickly build a bankroll by gambling. They’d play in a game that was beyond their bankroll and, if they happened to win, they’d move up to a higher limit and risk it all one more time. Inevitably, they’d lose a few big hands and go broke.

For me, this experiment isn’t about the money. It’s about showing how, with proper bankroll management, you can start from nothing and move up to the point where you’re playing in some pretty big games. I know it’s possible because I did it once before, turning $1 into $20,000.

To ensure that I keep my bankroll intact, I’ve adopted some key rules:

• I’ll never buy into a cash game or a Sit & Go with more than 5 percent of my total bankroll (there is an exception for the lowest limits: I’m allowed to buy into any game with a buy-in of $2.50 or less).
• I won’t buy into a multi-table tournament for more than 2 percent of my total bankroll and I’m allowed to buy into any multi-table tournament that costs $1.
• If at any time during a No-Limit or Pot-Limit cash-game session the money on the table represents more than 10 percent of my total bankroll, I must leave the game when the blinds reach me.

I think a lot of players would do well to apply these rules. One great benefit from this approach to bankroll management is that it ensures you’ll be playing in games you can afford. You’ll never play for very long in a game that’s over your head because, when you’re losing, you’ll have no choice but to drop down to a smaller game. You can continue to sharpen your game at that lower limit until your bankroll allows you to move up and take another shot. These rules also prevent you from being completely decimated by a bad run of cards.

Dropping down and playing lower limits is difficult for a lot of players. They view it as a failure and their egos get in the way. Many want to remain at the level they’d been playing and win back their losses. But this can lead to some pretty severe tilt - and that can go through a bankroll in a hurry. I know that dropping down was difficult for me in my run from $1 to $20,000. When I first played in the $25/$50 game, I lost. Sticking to my rules, I dropped down to the $10/$25 game. I had a losing streak there and had to go down to $5/$10. That was tough. After playing $25/$50, a $5/$10 game was boring to me.

But I had the discipline to stick to my rules, and that motivated me to play better at the lower levels. I really didn’t want to lose any more because I knew the consequences: I’d have to play even lower and work even harder to get back to where I’d been, which could take as long as a month. If you ever find yourself bored or frustrated playing at the lower limits, you’re obviously not playing well. Take a break from the game. Often, stepping away can give you a fresh perspective and heightened motivation to play well when you return.

There are a couple of more tips I’d like to share regarding bankroll management. First, you should never play in a game that is beyond your bankroll simply because the game seems to be soft that day. It’s never soft enough to risk money that puts your bankroll in jeopardy. The other point is that you should avoid playing in games that are at the top of your bankroll limits, when a lower game offers more opportunity for profit.

I’m confident that by sticking to these sound bankroll management rules, I’ll make it to my $10,000 goal. These rules are sure to help you as well, as you pursue your own poker ambitions. So, if you want to start your own quest - or play against me while I’m continuing with mine - come open a free account at Full Tilt Poker and look for me online. But hurry, because I’m hoping I won’t be in the lower limits for too much longer.

Phil Ivey

DON’T READ THIS TIP

This tip 125 was wrote November 6th 2007 by Phil Ivey Himself! Don’t miss the chance to read about this PRO poker player thoughts. We love Full Tilt Pro Players.

When it comes to advice about poker, my attitude is very simple: seek it out, absorb it, but while you’re at the table, forget it.

I’m a firm believer in learning the game by playing the game. I’m not saying there aren’t a lot of great resources around to help players improve their games or that poker books and tutorials don’t have their place. They do. However, the problem I see with people who rely on these kinds of aids is that they end up playing poker like someone else or - even worse - like everyone else.

One of the things that makes poker great is that it’s a game where there’s really no right or wrong way to play. Every player has their own approach to the game and the key, in my opinion, is to take the things you learn from other players and incorporate them into a style of play that works for you.

There are some players who take a very mathematical approach to the game, and for them, it works. They study the odds and make decisions based on whether they think they’re getting the right price to commit their chips to a pot. It’s a solid way to play, but the fact is, it’s not the right approach for everyone. What’s more, even the best of these players will tell you that math only takes you so far.

Calculating the odds can certainly help you decide whether you’re making a smart move, but it doesn’t take into account who you’re playing against. There are many times when you can do all of the math you want and your decision still comes down to intangibles and a feeling about your opponent or the situation you’re facing. Does this guy have a hand? Can I push him off the pot? Am I getting myself into trouble here? Even if the odds say you should play, your gut may be telling you something else, and that’s something you can only develop by playing.

Relying too much on other peoples’ advice can actually make it harder to develop this kind of reading ability because it tends to clutter up your head. You get so focused on thinking about odds, probabilities and strategies that you forget that you’re playing against someone else and that you have to try and figure out what he or she is doing. Are they scared? Will they fold to pressure? Are they a maniac? In my opinion, these are the important things to keep in mind during a hand.

It’s been said before, but it bears repeating. Poker isn’t about the cards; it’s about the players and the situations. Winning players understand that sometimes you have to take chances. Sometimes they work and other times they don’t. Whether you win the hand or not, you have to make the play that you believe is best.

At the end of a hand or a session, go back and study the things you did well and be honest with yourself about where you made mistakes. Don’t, however, overanalyze how you could have played a hand differently because this can negatively impact how you approach your next hand or session. Identify your mistakes, learn from them, and move on. Just because some play or move didn’t work the way you wanted doesn’t mean you were wrong to try it. As I said before, there are just some things that you have to learn by playing.

So here’s my advice. Read this tip. Read other tips and poker books. Talk to your friends. Absorb as much information as you can. But at the end of the day you have to trust your instincts and play your own game – not someone else’s.

Gus Hansen: Being a Bully.

This article has been written by Gus Hansen himself! It’s tip 122 of FullTilt Pro Poker Players

Many players understand the concepts involved in building a large chip stack during a tournament. What they don’t understand, however, is how to use their chips effectively once they’ve gotten them. Once they’ve accumulated a lot of chips, many players want to control the action, but they haven’t thought through how to take command of the table.

When I’m the big stack in a tournament, being the bully is always my first consideration. I want to eliminate players, continue to build my stack, and avoid dangerous situations. If I can create a scenario where I’m the table captain – meaning I dictate the size of the pots – the rest of the action becomes easier to read. I can frequently steal the blinds and antes, and if someone else re-raises, it’s pretty easy to put them on a hand because I know they can only play back at me with really strong cards.

One of the first keys to becoming an effective big-stack bully is to stay aware of your fellow players and the size of their stacks. Don’t give short stacks easy access to all-in moves with any Ace. If you raise with a hand like 9-8 suited and a short stack comes over the top and pushes all-in, then you’ve created a bad situation. Even if you’re getting the right odds to call, you don’t want to double anybody up.

You also have to recognize those players that won’t stand for your bullying or who are just trying to survive and make the money, but are so low in chips that they have no choice but to push. At some point every player reaches their breaking point. You should be conscious of that moment so that you don’t needlessly hand over chips to someone who is ready to play back by pushing all-in and putting you to a tough decision you don’t want to face.

Sometimes, being the bully means that you’ll have to make a crying call even when you don’t want to. For example, if I feel like the short stack is pushing with any Ace, I’ll sometimes gamble even if I think I may be behind before the flop. If I’m holding something like K-Q suited, I’m going to try to knock the player out of the tournament. I’ll basically play with anything down to K-8 suited, because if he has something like pocket 6s or a naked Ace, it’s a choice I can live with.

Of course, being a bully doesn’t mean you should let your aggression outweigh good sense. Playing smart poker – raising at the right times against the right opponents – is always something to keep in mind. For example, if you’re raising on the button with a weak hand like 10-6 against two small stacks in the blinds and one of them pushes, you’ve created a bad situation that you really could have avoided.

If I’m raising in these spots with hands like K-9, J-10, A-9, I’m not worrying too much about getting called or re-raised by a short stack. But with 10-6 off-suit, you have to think – maybe I don’t need to lose a bunch of chips with this hand and double someone up. A good rule of thumb here is to ask yourself if your opponent would push with 10-6 themselves. The answer is, probably not. They would have folded with 10-6, so you created a bad situation by raising with it in the first place.

When you’re trying to be a bully, try to think about what your opponent would do if they were holding your cards. Put yourself in their position and reverse the hands. If you think they would push all-in with the same hand you’re holding, then your hand is strong and you should be a bully and push. If they would have folded your hand, then you should probably let it go too.

There are some hands you’re going to play no matter what, and if you’re behind, you can’t worry about losing. Just say to yourself – that time I was unlucky, next time it will be different. If you raise with A-8 on the button and the blind pushes with A-10 – well, it happened. Put the hand behind you and move on.

To be a successful bully, you have to be willing to take some risks and to lose some chips. Remember, it’s OK to lose the occasional battle in order to win the war.

High Stakes Poker Videos

Farha vs Greenstein

AA vs KK

Guess the winner

Outstanding situation, Farha ’s with KK versus Greenstein ’s AA on High Stakes Poker, It really appears Green have the Aces, still Farha have the kings, he is really thinking about this. This is the biggest desition a no limit player have to make, to call an all in from a player that it’s very passive, I mean he waited until having best hand and got AA.

Get your Poker money Bonus ($600 free) at FullTilt Poker

Daniel Negreanu vs. Gus Hansen

This incredible video will make you think it’s possible to be a millonare (or at least half of it) only in one hand of poker. The Pot is higher than 500.000 dollars. Probably one of the most interesting pots ever filmed on a video of poker.

Daniel Negreanu big bets, Gus Hansen all in.

Play at FullTilt Poker and get $600 free.