CoolCat Casino Online Gambling Tips 5 steps to becoming a poker master. So, Martin Jacobson is worth $10 million today. He just won the World Series. We’re not talking baseball. We’re talking poker. He blew through a field of X,XXX players to conquer the Main Event title.
How to Play Poker. Poker is a popular game that's easy to learn but difficult to master. Although it's a card game, poker is also a game of strategy, and you'll need to constantly read the other players to decide when to fold, when to.

FAQ- Frequently Asked Questions

This week's article aims to start answering a question you have asked us often - what is the best way to learn with PokerSnowie and PokerCoach? PokerSnowie's learning algorithms are based on the Game Theory Optimal framework. Studying game theory is certainly one of the best way to improve in poker and here are three areas in which we can progress a lot with the help of PokerSnowie.

Q:How do I play in a chess tournament?

A:Check out our Clubs & Tournaments area to find a tournament in your area. If you're not comfortable playing right away, you are free to observe any event. Most tournaments have skittles rooms, where players compete casually, often in blitz games and tournament participants analyze their games. You also might want to investigate a club in your area. Search our Club directory. Vanilla Pro 1.1.3.

Q:What's a chess tournament like? How is it different from playing a friendly game?
A:Rating points and prizes are usually at stake in chess tournaments, so the atmosphere is much more competitive and quiet than in a casual club or cafe game. There are special tournament rules like 'touch move.' Check out the tournament play section of Rules of Chess for more details.

Q:If I play in a tournament, who will I play against?
A:In the large majority of chess tournaments, computers determine pairings. In the first round, players are ranked by their ratings (Unrated players are ranked at the bottom, alphabetically.) The Swiss system of pairing is then used. Swiss pairings split the field into two halves and pair the top of the first half with the top of the second half. If there are 50 players in a tournament, #1 will play #26, #2 will play #27, etc.

Q:What's a chess rating and how do I get one?
A:A chess rating is an estimate of your playing strength based on prior results. Before completing 26 games, your rating is provisional and can change drastically after winning or losing. Later, ratings change incrementally based on your result and the ratings of your opponents. When you win, your rating should go up, when you lose, your rating should go down, and when you draw, whether your rating goes up or down depends on whether you were lower rated than your opponent (up) or higher rated (down). US Chess assigns ratings to members who play in official tournaments. Ratings range from 100 to nearly 3000. You can lose rating points as well as gaining them (unlike in bridge) but you cannot lose your US Chess rating. Once rated, always rated.

There are also separate ratings for various chess organizations from the international chess body, FIDE to Internet chess clubs.

Chessplayers often worry or obsess over their rating, because it determines pairings, which tournaments they can play in and reflects their current playing strength, so much that one professional player compared losing 10 rating points to losing 10 liters of blood! (This is actually MORE blood than the average human body contains.)
In many tournaments you can only play if you are over or under a certain rating. For instance, there are Under 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000 and 2200 sections in the some of the larger tournaments in America. The prizes are as high as $10,000 for the winner of each section. This leads to occasional 'sand-bagging,' losing points on purpose to lower your rating artificially in order to play in a weaker level tournament. This is an offense that could get you kicked out of US Chess for life. On the other hand, telling strangers at tournaments that your rating is 2600 is a good way to earn their total respect for the entirety of the elevator ride- until your 12-year-old daughter shows up and says 'Daddy, how could you miss Ne5?!!' For an extensive listing of US Chess Rated Tournaments please check 'Clubs & Tournaments' category located on our homepage then click on 'Upcoming Tournaments'. We offer listings by state as well as 'National Events', 'Grand Prix Events' and 'Foreign Events'.

Q:My friend is too weak for me. I beat him every game. How do I find an opponent of my level?
A:Internet gaming rooms are great ways to meet up with players of all levels. ICC, short for Internet Chess Club, and Playchess are two popular servers. These both charge a fee for membership, but in return you get grandmaster analysis of top games around the world. A popular free chessplayer server is yahoo.com. On all these servers, you earn ratings, ranging from about 500 to 3000. Ideally, you want to find an opponent with a similar or slightly higher rating than your own.
If you're yearning for some real-life chess action, check out if there is a club in your area through the US Chess chess club directory. Or, send out an email blast to your friends or post an ad on craigslist or myspace (be sure to meet in a public place). You'd be surprised how many potential chess partners there are in your circle. A lot of people love and learn the game early, but give it up since it's tough to find an appropriate opponent. In this way, chess is a lot like tennis.

Q:What's a Grandmaster (International Master, Master)?
A:The United States Chess Federation (US Chess) awards the national master title to any player who reaches a rating of 2200. Less than one percent of rated players hold the title. An Original Life Master is a National Master who has played 300 games with a rating over 2200. Grandmaster (abbreviated often to GM) is the highest title you can achieve in chess. Like International Master (abbreviated to IM), it's an international title, and is awarded by FIDE, the International Federation of Echecs.

Q:How do I get better?
A:If poker takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master, chess takes a weekend to learn and several lifetimes to master! But you can have fun, challenge yourself and improve at any level, and that's one of the greatest things about chess. Becoming a good player requires a firm grasp of tactics (short-term operations to win material or deliver checkmate) so you should check out our puzzle galleries or go to the US Chess Federation's online chess shop for tactics books for your level. If you're looking to improve your strategical skills, there are a number of good books available on strategy, such as the classic My System or the more modern, Reassess Your Chess. To get a feel for how strong players approach different positions, I recommend looking over annotated games from the Chess Life archives. Also, play, play, and play. If you combine concentrated play with study, you will improve!

Q:I'm a single guy in college, and I heard chess is nerdy. Why should I play?
A:Chess is a great game that can lull its devotees to trance like states of concentration. Finding a wonderful and surprising move can fill you up with aesthetic joy and the pride of discovery. A game of chess or a tournament can test your will power, discipline and sportsmanship, resulting in intense situations that draw many to the game. In the chess world, race, gender and class are invisible. It's inspiring to see eight-year-olds competing with senior citizens, and Gucci-clad investment bankers fighting it out with high-school janitors.

How Long To Master German

Chess is not nerdy at all. We've come a long way since the days of cheap 'chess is nerdy' jokes in Saved by the Bell! Celebrities who are crazy about chess include supermodel Carmen Kass, pop star Madonna, actor Will Smith, magician David Blaine and boxer Lennox Lewis. International chess superstar Garry Kasparov has been interviewed in every place from Charlie Rose to Playboy, and starred in a Pepsi commercial. Alexandra Kosteniuk, a Grandmaster from Russia has done modeling shoots for Vogue, Elle and Mademoiselle. If you still think chess is nerdy, browse through our U.S. player galleries for more evidence to the contrary.

Our female participation in chess tournaments has greatly increased over the years. Women of all ages are

How Long To Master Poker