Planet Mark's Blog. Thoughts, News And Strategy For Poker Tournaments Of All Sizes

Planet Mark's Blog

Phones, Tablets and Poker’s Recreational Future

I spend a lot of time thinking about the future of online poker. While the US State regulation is a disaster at the moment, there are some real reasons to be optimistic for the rest of the world. Poker has turned the corner from sites full of break-even grinders living off of their rakeback deals. We are heading for different kind of online poker world, one which is dominated by recreational players and mobile devices.

Let me explain.

Submitted by Planet Mark on Wed, 06/04/2014 - 13:49

Opinion: Offshore Poker Sites Are A Red Herring In New Jersey’s Slow Takeup

New Jersey’s online poker launch has not been a success. While most commentators are putting a brave face on things, focusing on small positives – the big picture is bleak. Take up is massively off of projections, and revenue is no longer growing. This news is important not just for New Jersey residents, the continual expansion of State regulated poker depends on the success of the pioneering States.

So, the search for something to blame is in full effect.

First it was the banks and their failure to allow cards to be used.

Submitted by Planet Mark on Thu, 05/22/2014 - 11:17

5 Live Tournament Alternatives To The World Series Of Poker

In the run-up to the World Series Of Poker, you might be forgiven for thinking that every other live tournament event disappears into thin air. In fact, you’ll find a lot of qualifiers online to a lot of live events around the world. This article covers five cool alternatives to the WSOP, that you can qualify for right now.

Submitted by Planet Mark on Thu, 05/15/2014 - 09:21

25 Reasons You Are Stuck At The Micros - Part 1

Are you still fighting like a dog at the micro-limits, trying hard to build a big enough bankroll to break through? I know a lot of readers will find this situation familiar, so I have come up with a list of 25 reasons why you might be stuck. They will not all apply to every player of course. Hopefully this will be the jolt some people need to stop looking for that ‘magic’ or ‘secret’ of the pros – and start closer to home by plugging some more obvious leaks.

On we go, my 25 reasons why you might be stuck at the micro-limits in online poker games.

Submitted by Planet Mark on Fri, 04/18/2014 - 12:17

PokerStars Carnival Of Tournaments - Golden SNGs

With the 900,000,000th tournament on PokerStars approaching The Carnival Of Tournaments rolls into town on April 14th with a key promotion being the return of the Golden Sit N Goes. These are your regular Sit N Go games, only during the promotion random games are is selected and additional prizes (some of them big) are awarded to the players - you will not know whether your game is selected until it starts.

Submitted by Planet Mark on Mon, 04/14/2014 - 10:08

Planet Corp Update April

Last month saw the long awaited visit to Planet HQ of Rich aka Drarr, who has been contributing to this site since the earliest days. As we move into the 2nd quarter of the year in the poker world, all eyes turn to the World Series qualifier season. You’ll also find an update from Knockout Writing... where most of my own focus has been for this past month.

Submitted by Planet Mark on Tue, 04/08/2014 - 10:21

Plugging Poker Leaks By Thinking In Years

Today’s post is about a subtle shift in perspective that can save (or make) you a lot of money at the poker tables. I have introduced the idea of thinking in years using 2 non-poker examples – and then after that return to 3 areas of your play and show how the financial rewards of working on them may be a lot bigger than you think.

Thinking in years gives you a bigger incentive, and increases your motivation to work on things. Here is a recent true example based on Sugar.

Submitted by Planet Mark on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 12:06