To get a piece of the $10,000 that’s awarded every month, all you have to do is place somewhere within the top 25 players on the SNG Leaderboard.  The amount of money you earn will of course depend on where you finish in the top 25, but as long as you’re in one of these spots you will be getting paid.

The great thing is that the $10,000 isn’t the only money given out through the SNG Leaderboard since another $2,000 will be given away based on your streak bonus.  If you’re able to string together several sit and go wins, your leaderboard prize money will be multiplied based on your best win streak of the month.

Obviously, not all SNG’s are going to be equal when deciding who lands in the top 25 so allow me to explain how the points system works.  Every time you finish in the money in a sit and go, you will earn points towards the leaderboard.  The higher your placing and the higher the buy-in of the tournament, the more points you’ll receive.  For instance, a $20 + $2 SNG is going to award a lot more points than a $5 + $0.50 SNG considering the places are the same.

So the basic formula for figuring your SNG points is: √buy-in X your final placing bonus.  To illustrate this formula at work, let’s say you finished first in a $10 + $1 sit and go (√100 X 12).  Using this formula, you would earn 120 points on the SNG Leaderboard and be that much closer to grabbing a share of the $10,000.  Simply put: you need to play in sit and go’s and place well to win major cash.

Aashish Nanak was already different from other boys his age since he showed an interest in computers at the age of 3.  Now he is definitely different from boys his age because the Delhi, India resident recently won over a half million dollars in an online poker tourname nt.

Unfortunately for Aashish and the Nanak family, the money isn’t theirs yet because an unidentified poker site won’t deliver the $500k.  The poker room, which has remained anonymous, has refused to pay up because of the simple fact that Aashish is obviously underage for the game of poker.  Their refusal to pay has set the stage for a big court battle that is currently taking place in Delhi.

The case for the poker room seems solid at this point, but the Nanak family has also put forth some strong arguments as well.  According to them, it was well known by the mysterious poker website that Aashish had been playing at their room.  They claim that a staff member from the site had even given him a nickname – the Little Poker Wizard.

Whether Aashish Nanak and his family wins the court battle remains to be seen.  But he has an incredible story nonetheless.  Aashish began working on his first Internet website by the age of 4.  This in turn evolved into an affiliate marketing business that Aashish was running to help the Nanak family pay their bills.  Eventually, his uncle noticed his remarkable abilities and got him involved in Internet poker by the age of 6.  Since then, Aashish has been playing poker on his uncle’s account and has earned lots of small winnings during his three-year poker career.

But Aashish will have to continue fighting for the largest win of his career this week in court.  Since the Nanaks aren’t exactly the wealthiest people in India, they are certainly hoping the court decides in their favor.

This No Limit Hold’em Tourney costs $5 + $0.50 to enter, and has a gold-infused pot, sweetened by us.

Tourney Details:

Location: Tournaments >> Scheduled >> Special

Time: Wednesday 17th March 2010 @ 18:45pm Server Time

Cost: $5.00 + $0.50

Chips: 2,000

This should be a great tourney, and a good way to kill some time in between green beers. Check out the tourney, and bring home that pot o’gold.

The one thing that has eluded Hellmuth throughout his poker career is a WPT title. With three final table appearances to his credit, he has always managed to fall short of the trophy, finishing fourth in the Gold Rush event for $34,000, third at Foxwoods for $281,000, and sixth at the L.A. Poker Classic for $229,000.

Hasan Habib joins Hellmuth on his quest for a WPT title and is fourth in chips. Much like Hellmuth, Habib is no stranger to running deep in the WPT circuit, previously finishing second, third, and seventh at circuit events for over $2 million in earnings.

Joining them are Matt Keikoan (World Series of Poker bracelet winner), Mclean Karr (who battled his way back from 10 big blinds), Dan O’Brien (guy with Irish last name), and internet pro Andy “BKiCe” Seth, who sits atop a decent chip lead. O’Brien finished 11th a year ago in this very tournament, a potential story of vindication which has Disney inspirational movie plot written all over it.

A rant regarding the poor play of Europeans, how the aggressiveness of internet players is bad for the game, or “if it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d win every one” from Hellmuth has yet to be heard. With blinds at $8,000/$16,000 and a $2,000 ante, there is plenty of room for play, one of which will hopefully knock Hellmuth’s ego out of orbit so it comes crashing back down to a felted reality like a shooting star.

Here are the payouts and current chip stacks:

First place: $878,500
Second place: $521,200
Third place: $292,800
Fourth place: $234,300
Fifth place: $175,700
Sixth place: $117,000

(1) Andy Seth – $2.1 million
(2) Phil Hellmuth – $1.4 million
(3) Dan O’Brien – $1.1 million
(4) McLean Karr – $1.1 million
(5) Hasan Habib – $455,000
(6) Matt Keikoan – $371,000

From a press release last year announcing their annual partnership with the WSOP and their two seat give away promotion, Milwaukee’s Best Light marketing manager, Stefan Dinwiddie, stated the following:

“The WSOP Main Event is undoubtedly the world’s premier poker competition, and Milwaukee’s Best Light is proud to give amateur poker players a shot at playing against the best of the best and winning millions. Serving as official beer sponsor of the World Series of Poker gives us a chance to acknowledge and reward loyal drinkers, because Milwaukee’s Best Light is also the unofficial beer of poker games everywhere.”

Unofficial beer of poker games everywhere, huh? Let me break this down and translate it for you. What Stefan really means is:

“It would be an honor for our beer to be considered the least bit average because we put as little effort as we can as brewers into producing and marketing it for people who can only hope and ultimately expect their entire lives to be just that–average. We hope that in marketing our frothy peasant ale to an inbred, inferior race of burger flippers and car mechanics by dumbing it down to a sissy-hating, estrogen abusing audience, we too will be able to cash in on poker and the hopes and dreams of blue collar workers praying to one day win it big and move out of their double-wides.”

Yah, I said it, and I didn’t even have to mention how it tastes, which if you were wondering is like the diesel fuel their target audience puts into their Hemi trucks. If this is “Milwaukee’s Best,” I don’t even want to know about their worst.

Too late…

But the dilemma comes in when you consider the straight potential of J-10.  If the board does present you with a straight opportunity, then there’s a good chance that you’ll have the high straight with these cards.  Seeing as how there’s the potential to hit a big straight with J-10, you’ll want to look for situations with large multi-pots to play this hand.

The best spots to play J-10 in is obviously late position since you’ve seen how many players have limped into the pot.  If several players have limped in, then you have an excellent opportunity to call and see if you hit a drawing hand on the flop.  This situation will give you a great chance to wait for your hand before betting big.

The opportunities for playing J-10 only get better when you throw a lot of tight players into the mix since they won’t be as likely to make you pay to see cards.  If you can continue to see cards for cheap then you’ll be able to play your drawing hand into the turn and even river.

You can also semi-bluff with J-10 since it gives you a shot at getting some kind of hand down the line.  Just make sure that you’re semi-bluffing the right players though because you don’t want to be counting on the straight to come through in a bluffing situation.

Stopping a session early because you’re ahead

While most players already know not to keep playing during a losing session just to break even (many people still do it anyways), some players will quit sessions just because they’re ahead.  Now this can be a great confidence booster to know that you’ve played a solid, winning session.  However, quitting when you’re beating the game will leave you short on profits time and time again.  If anything, you want to make even more time for a winning session by putting things off while the going is good.

Picking the wrong games

Being a profitable poker player isn’t always about making the best plays or being one of the top players at your online poker room – it’s about being better than those at your table!  That’s why picking the wrong games can be such a killer in terms of profit.  When choosing an online poker table, make sure to look at the flop-viewed percentage so that you can get a good idea as to how many limpers are in the room.

Making a call just to see an opponent’s hand

You can usually make a fairly good gut decision as to whether an opponent has you beat or not.  However, there is always that inclination to try and see if an opponent is possibly bluffing even when you know you’re beat.  Resisting this temptation is a must though if you’ve already put your opponent on a range and have decided that they’ve got you beat.

Starting things off, after years of evading weight loss bets, Doyle Brunson couldn’t resist the 10-1 odds on the $100,000 pooled together by a plethora of Vegas pros in 2003. At the height of Atkins and with the help of Weight Watchers, Doyle dropped below 300 pounds, but gained a little back when he put the $1 million he cleared in his pocket.

Mike Svobodny, a famous backgammon player, once bet Ted Forrest $7k that he couldn’t run a marathon at the University of Nevada Las Vegas track field. As if running isn’t unbearable on its own, the blistering heat made the track so hot, it melted the soles of Forrest’s shoes during his 26 mile run. He reached the finish line and immediately went to the hospital with the feet of a Kenyan.

If you thought Huck Seed was just a great poker player and a distant relative to Johnny Appleseed, you were wrong. He is also one of the most notorious prop betters on the pro poker circuit. The following are some of his most famous wagers:

• He once took a six-figure bet that he couldn’t break 100 four times in one day on a golf course in sweltering Vegas heat using a sand wedge, five iron, and putter. On a day where the mercury nearly popped out the top of the thermometer at 120 degrees, it only took him six rounds.
• He was given two months that he couldn’t learn to do a standing back flip towering like the Jolly Green Giant at 6′7″. He did one before the end of the 60 days and another after he collected his $10k.
• Phil Hellmuth once bet Seed $50,000 that he couldn’t stand up to his shoulders in the ocean for 18 hours. He was right three hours later, when Huck came in to shore pruned up and smelling like high tide.
• Man of betting legend or stubborn pride? Seed’s most recent wager involved him proclaiming that he could run a mile in 4:39. If and when he transforms into an Olympic runner at the age of 40, his 33-1 payout will be brought to him upon by a yeti wearing a clown suit riding a unicorn.

Prop bets and the poker community go hand in hand. From the golf course to feats of strength to the criminally insane, these bets feed a gambler’s compulsive appetite for always needing something to be on the line.

For anyone that missed last night’s episode of High Stakes Poker, what is arguably the largest prop bet ever made took place between Ivey and fellow high stakes pro Tom “durrr” Dwan. Dwan bet Ivey $1 million that he couldn’t give up eating meat for a year. At a price that takes some people a lifetime of hard, honest work to make, Ivey has to refrain from chicken, fish, beef, and pork. That MBFN. Dwan–get in touch with me and I’ll do it for $100,000. Let me know. TTYL!

For a better look into Ivey’s lifestyle, disregard for money, and his fearless ability to place anything and everything on the line, ESPN took an incredibly enthralling and intimate look here.

As for prop bets, the game of poker has had a long laundry list of famous pros, stupid bets, and irreparable regrets. Below are some of the most notorious:

• Gavin Smith, Jeff Madsen and Joe Sebok recently had a three-way last longer bet during the main event of the L.A. Poker Classic. Sebok, first to be eliminated, now has to get tattoos of both Smith and Madsen on his body. Madsen was next to go and only has to defile his body with Smith’s face. Only…
• Howard Lederer, a vegan, was bet $10,000 by David Grey that he wouldn’t eat a cheeseburger. The melted goodness on top wasn’t the only cheddar Howard got his hands on that day. He immediately let go of the tree he was hugging and chowed down on the beef patty, walking away with some easy money.
• Easily the most infamous prop bet ever involves high stakes gambler Brian Zembic. A friend of Brian’s bet him $100,000 that he wouldn’t get breast implants and keep them for a year. Defying all laws of nature and manhood, Zembic went through with the procedure, paying for the surgery that replaced his dignity with 38Cs. He remains a walking one-man circus sideshow, getting $10,000 a year for the life of his money making chest.