Bodog pulled out of the U.S. market to avoid being taken to the mattresses by the DoJ.

While everyone is focused on the Full Tilt Poker hearings in Alderney, Bodog drops a bomb: they’re pulling their brand from the U.S. market.

From the official announcement:

“Following recent news that Bodog UK has been granted a gambling license by the UK Gambling Commission, we are pleased to announce further developments to the Bodog brand going forward.

As highlighted last week, Bodog UK’s CEO, Patrik Selin believes the trust and credibility that having a UK license brings to the brand will benefit customers and allow him to attract the best talent in the industry to work with him.

However, in order to ensure the brand’s expansion is not affected by negative perceptions, both in the UK and elsewhere in emerging markets such as Asia, where Bodog88 is already successful, a decision has been made to withdraw the Bodog brand from the US market at the end of 2011. As a result, the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group’s (MMGG) brand licensing agreement will be allowed to expire on 31 December, following which US residents will no longer be able to access bodog.eu or any other Bodog branded website. We understand that MMGG will launch under its own brand in 2012, licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. All Bodog.eu clients’ funds will remain safe and they will have the option to switch to a new MMGG brand should they wish but MMGG confirms it’s business as usual…”

In reality, the announcement is only surprising in how steadfastly Bodog has believed over the years that it can successfully operate in the U.S. market. However, with increasing payment processing difficulties since The Events of 4/15TM and continued DoJ crackdown, we’ve anticipated the gradual departure of all U.S. facing sites over the course of the next year-plus. Just bound to happen.

Read more about the withdrawal on CalvinAyre.com here.

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Until informed otherwise, we'll just assume that isildur1 is Candace Swanepoel in a bikini and leave it at that.

PokerStars today made official something that’s been in the rumor mill for a little while by signing isildur1 to a sponsorship contract.

More or less confirmed at this point to be Viktor Blom, PokerStars is still dragging out his big “reveal” for awhile (a move we endorse, by the way). A little copy & paste from their release:

Unless you’ve had your head buried in the sand (what are you, an ostrich?*), you’ll know Isildur1 lit up the poker world by coming from nowhere to compete in the highest stakes online cash games. When I say high stakes, I mean games that generated the biggest pots in history – one coming in at a whopping .3million. And the swings! One week the poker world saw Isildur1 spin up several million dollars, then watched aghast as he lost it soon after. If heart-stopping action is what you’re after, Isildur1 is the one to follow.

But what makes Isildur1 even more of an enigma is that no-one knows his or her true identity. Is this player really a young starlet with the guts to take on the world’s best? Or is it a seasoned professional who, under a new guise, has been taking everyone to the cleaners?

Expect Stars to milk the identity thing for a month and then do the big isildur1 reveal at the PCA in January.

It’ll be interesting to see how isildur1 spurs nosebleed action on PokerStars and if he can move the needle and create the kind of excitement that Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan does over at Tilt. Our best guess: Scandis love the move, no real change for U.S. high-stakes players, which is probably just fine with Stars.

Read more about the signing here.

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More Isildur1 Full Tilt High Stakes Drama

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The only time you should really consider shoving with a baby pocket pair is when you are in the cutoff or button position. You only have to get through 2 or three players at that point and it is worth the risk. If you have to try and beat anymore than that, you are giving yourself a very slim chance of survival.

The other reason that you do not want to push with this type of hand is because the possibilities of losing is endless. You are going in with baby cards and you are in danger as just about anyone calling you is not only going to have two live cards, but you are also in risk when the board pairs as you can get counterfeited. If we had a buck every time a small stack got booted out of a tournament because of this we would be rich.

Another hand that is deadly to go in with is A-rag. Again, you are in fear of the big stacks here and anyone with chips and an A is going to make this call. You are also going to get called with just about any pocket pair as well. If you go into the flop with only one live card, the rail is more than likely your next destination. No, you are much better off shoving with a hand like QJ than you are A2. You probably have two live cards there and are also opening yourself up to a straight draw.

The one thing that you have to remember when you are short stacked and shoving for your life is that even if you are behind going in, you want to have live drawing cards that can get you back ahead in the hand. A rag and small pocket pairs are just not worth the trouble. Take a second to think about what you can hit before you shove those chips in there.

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When you are in this spot and either raise or bet after a check, the move from the other player is going to be come back over the top of you. Now you are faced with a decision for your chips and you have to decide if you are going to put your faith in nothing more than JJ.

One thing a lot of players fail to register at this very moment is that they were coming in against a raise and then you were check raised. Before making a knee jerk bet, consider what just happened. You made a bet that basically told the other player that you had hit our jack. They have to figure you for AJ or KJs in your hand from the position that you made the original call from. They know what you have, it is a matter of you realizing what they have.

If they make a strong move over top of you, you can be all but assured that their original raise was with an over pair and they are playing against your emotions that you will automatically push back on their bet. It is the perfect trap and the only way that you can avoid it is by NOT playing AJ in the first place.

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It may be a little painful to hear, but you really should be playing at the $.05/$.10 level with this kind of a bankroll. At this level, you are not only protecting your bankroll from being lost in one bad session, you are also able to multi-table and give yourself a realistic shot of making a profit in online poker.

With so many tables going and so many different players, the chances of you being able to pick one table out of all the ones that are available and win at it are slim to none. However, if you are playing on at least 4 tables at the same time, you can counter the variance and actually make a profit. If you don’t believe it, give it a try at the very lowest levels until you can get used to playing on multiple tables at the same time. Start with two tables, then keep adding one until you can do anywhere from 4-6 tables at the same time.

In addition to offsetting the variance, you are also more likely to play steady poker instead of trying to get cute. You learn to play the numbers and stop trying to make the moves that you see on television that just never seem to work for you. You may not make a huge profit at each session, but you will at least be making a profit instead of flushing your roll down the drain by playing at a limit you should not be at and putting it all on the line on one table.

Give it a try and see if it works. You are going to be pleasantly surprised at the results and can gradually work your way up in limits as both your bankroll and ability to play multiple tables improves. Remember, ABC poker goes a long way when you have 6 tables rocking at the same time.

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Another situation to consider chopping is when the blinds have started to dominate the stacks. You never want to be in a position where you are forced to be all in or close to it when the blinds start coming around. If the stacks are even, everyone else is probably thinking the same thing. Take the prize pool and divide it up evenly by the remaining player and let everyone walk with second place money. The swing is too great from first to third to take the chance that you will look down at 72 when the blinds hit your stack.

Some people will consider the thought of even thinking about chopping to be a sign of weakness. However, they have probably never walked away from a tournament after having a chip lead with a bad beat that sent them out in third place. If you have that happen once, your opinion of a chop changes.

Something else to consider if the table seems a little reluctant, but the chip counts are fairly even is to divide up the chips and leave a little extra for the winner. For instance, there are four people left and the prize pool has ,000 in it. Everyone is even, but people still want that big payday. You can suggest to chop the pot to a four way split of ,500 with an additional ,000 going to the overall winner. Everyone agrees, play will loosen up because that fear of getting knocked out with the bottom pay is now gone. The winner still walks away with more money than everyone else and everyone is a winner. Sometimes chopping is not such a bad idea.

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When you are playing shorthanded, you have to be able to open up your play if you are going to be successful. AA, KK and AK are no longer needed to fire in a raise under the gun. With only 5 other players in the game and 2 of them on blinds, you now only have 3 other players to get buy before you can steal those blinds. In shorthanded play, AJs, A10s and middle pocket pairs become much more powerful in early position. These are hands that you are supposed to fold on a full table, now you are going to raise with them.

Having less people on a table also means that fewer people stand a chance to hit the flop. You will often see people make some incredible calls on short tables. The infamous, “how can you call with that kicker?” is a pretty popular rant from someone who is banging away at the pot with his KK and then he sees a A2 get flipped over and loses it.



If you are on a full table, calling down a raiser with middle pair is probably not an option. When you are playing short, you may actually want to make a move on the pot at this time unless the flop shows an A or a K. If you are sitting on 78s to flop of 10-7-3, you may very well be good if you are heads up. Can you even think of making this play on a full table?

Shorthanded play takes a lot of practice, but when you become proficient at it, you can add tons of cash to your bankroll. It will help you play better during those late night hours at the casino when people start heading out and it will also help you do better in tournaments when the field gets narrowed down and tables are constantly playing short. Loosen up your game and don’t be afraid to mix it up and watch the cash start to pile up.

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