Derry Brother Wants £20,000 illegal Poker Jackpot Back

A Derry man who admitted, along with his brother, organising an illegal poker night in 2009 has said he wants to get the £20,000 jackpot money back.

Paul Quinn from Amelia Court and his brother Terence from Clipper Quay were given conditional discharges at Londonderry Magistrates Court.

The jackpot will stay with police until a Proceeds of Crime application is finalised.

Paul Quinn said he wants the money to repay their punters.

The £20,000 was made up of players stakes built up in a kitty that increased over the months before the jackpot night. "We do not have the money," he said. "Some of the punters have been angry - they think we have got the money."

Mr Quinn also said he felt "vindicated" by the findings of district judge, Barney McElholm, on Wednesday, who said he accepted there was a lot of confusion at the time about the relevant legislation relating to such a poker jackpot.

Judge McElholm ordered the police to return equipment and almost £800 to the brothers, but also made the order that the stake money should stay with the police until a Proceeds of Crime application is finalised.

Tips to Handle Shorthand Poker

Short handed poker (six handed or less) is quite different to free play (eight handed or more) so after the surviving the trials and tribulations of free play you must adjust your play (changing gears) to suit the new conditions. The fewer opponents you are playing the wider the range of cards are playable and the classic hands we would play during free play become power hands and should be played much more aggressively.

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 I find that breaking tourneys into basic segments helps to keep track of where you are during the game allowing you to make finite adjustments to your play on the fly which is a key to playing strong poker, this also assists with post game analysis which allows you to isolates whether the mistakes that lead to your elimination were yours or your opponents. So the basic structure of a pub poker tourney is as follows:

1: Which is comprised of the first several sets of blinds usually up to some sort break in the game. During this period survival and observation are your two primary goals, the information that you glean here will increase your ability to grow your stack and out play your opponents in later parts of the game. Coin flips for all or large percentages of your stack must be avoided at all costs at this time.
2: Free play is the section of the game where the blinds are starting to get to be reasonable 200/400 or better and there is still usually 50% or more of the field in play. This is the time to go to work growing your stack using the information gathered in the first period, but be careful to avoid overplaying hands in this period because a crippling mistake this early can be tough to come back from.

3: Final two tables: During this section of the game it is important to be able to adjust your play to cater for an ever declining field. Caution is best as it’s very frustrating to make this far in a game only to give it away because you weren’t able to make the best of the spots available to you. Remember short stacks will be trying to grow their stacks for the final table so let them come to you and it is also a great time for trapping and applying pressure to the short stacks because of their increased activity at this time.

4: Final Table: If things have gone your way then you’ve arrived here with a fair stack and good starting position. First order of business is to note that all tourneys of this nature will have their prize and or points spread skewed heavily toward the deepest finishers so patience is key early on. As your opponents reduce in number and the prizes become larger it is time to open up a little, always noting the essentials like position, style of play, recent opponent behaviors, poker table betting patterns, pot value etc.

Remember player’s knowledge is power. Good Luck

Choosing a New Online Poker Site

When it comes to playing Internet casino poker or other forms of online poker there seem to be new poker sites popping up all the time. When someone makes the move from live poker to play internet poker there are a few things to consider, and a number of rooms, even US poker sites, to choose from. From online poker blogs to actual poker rooms, there are so many places to choose from it can be quite confusing. So how does one make the choice among all the new poker sites?

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Define What You Want
When you set out to play internet poker, what exactly do you want? Fodder for your game reports, if you run one of the ubiquitous online poker blogs? A chance at making some extra money? The thrill of victory? Just to while away time while having some fun?

Depending on what your reasons are will depend if you head for some Internet casino poker or play in a straight forward online poker room. Of course there are other factors that can come into play; many US poker sites, for example, are free to play sites, so there are fewer opportunities for money making, but it is still possible.

Poker or Casino Poker
Internet casino poker is something different from online poker - although the terms can be used interchangeably and for the most part the real meaning of the phrases will depend on the interpretation of the person using them. Internet casino poker could mean online forms of casino poker games, as opposed to poker played in a casino.

A casino poker game would be something like pai gow or Casino hold’em, a game where you play against the house instead of other players. Many new poker sites are not of this variety - you find them mostly in online casinos (as opposed to online poker rooms) and online casinos will sometimes be rare - they are rarer in the US than US poker sites, for example- online poker blogs may offer some help in picking out the best among them.

When you set out to play internet poker and you have decided which kind of poker games you want to play, it is time to look at the new poker sites and see if they offer the game type you want. If not, you can safely get them off the list. If so, then you can look at other factors such as playability, payouts, etc. Reviews and word of mouth from online poker blogs can help with that.

The best thing to do when choosing a site to play internet poker, be they US poker sites or not, is to sign up and play. Most sites will offer a free to play version that is very close to the full pay version, so that is the route to go. If it checks out security wise and has the games you want, then your actual play experience will be the final factor.