The attendance at the 2008 WSOP has broken previous records and shown that the game is still in a growth period, despite the attempts of the American government to stop it. This year’s WSOP had a record attendance at 57,793, breaking the 2007 record of 54,288. It also broke the prize-pool record from last year with a whopping $180,960,934 in available winnings.

It also broke the record for the largest poker tournament outside the main event with 3,929 players in the No Limit Holdem Event #2. And players from 104 different countries and territories were represented this year, compared to the previous record of 87.

This shows that poker is still growing throughout the world. Despite the economic and political situation in the United States poker is on the rise with more foreign players entering the scene. It should also experience more growth once the laws are changed in the U.S.

How much you should bet in a hand of poker usually depends on the situation. When you feel that you have the lead in the hand, but there are more cards to come, you should bet enough to deter drawing hands from sticking around. Each situation presents different pot odds, but if you think you have the lead, and there’s a possible draw on the board, you should bet around three quarters of the size of the pot. That makes it a mathematical mistake for the drawing hand to call.

If you have the nut hand after the river, a value bet is the way to go. A value bet is any amount that you think that particular opponent will call. If it’s too big you won’t get paid off, so betting a smaller amount that gets called is better than nothing at all.

Planning your play is important for a couple of reasons. First off, unless you’re a professional you can’t just jump on the computer any time you want to. There’s only so much time in the day to play, so finding the best action when you can play will be a good practice. Inform everyone that might interrupt you that you’re playing poker, and don’t want to be interrupted unless it’s important.

Planning the length of your session is important because you don’t want to play too long. A few hands can easily turn into a marathon session. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the game, especially when you’re winning. If you play too long you’re likely to start making mistakes. Tired poker is not a good way to play, so limit your sessions to time frames where you stay fresh. Otherwise you’ll just dump back everything you have won.

If Barack Obama becomes the next president, can he legalize online gambling? First off, online gambling is not illegal in the U.S., except for a couple of exceptions like Washington State and a few others. The laws against online gambling are aimed at the banks that do business with online gambling sites, not the sites or the activity itself. So if he does change things in the future, he would be making it legal for banks to do business with online gambling sites.

He won’t be able to do it by himself, but he will be able put it to Congress. A Congress that is predominantly Democratic. It wouldn’t take too much persuasion on Obama’s part to make online gambling completely legal. However, it would be in his best interest to gauge public opinion more, before making a move that the Republican government could use against him in the future.

Like most strategy in poker, playing the button properly will depend on your opponents. The button position has the advantage of watching everyone act before he has to, so when no one bets at a pot it’s a high percentage move to bet, regardless of your hand.

If no one has come into the hand, and it’s your play with only the blind positions remaining, it’s a high percentage move to raise the blind players. The money they have in the pot is forced, and they will most often have nothing in their hand. A raise makes them get off their weak cards.

If the blind players to your left are easy pushovers, you’ll steal their blinds again and again. This goes for flops too. If everyone checks to you it’s a good move to bet. If you get called you’ll usually get a free card on the next street.

1. Danny Wong was eliminated from the $1500 event #36 in fourth place when his pocket kings were beaten by A-5 of hearts. Jesper Hougaard flopped a flush and busted Wong.

2. Justin Filtz lost, and was eliminated in third place, with pocket aces against A-K in event #31, $2500 no limit holdem short table. A king came on the flop and the river.

3. Anthony “Tuff Fish” Guetti had 10-10 to Johnny Kitchen’s 8-7. The flop was 6, 5, 3 and the turn was a 7, but the river was a 9, giving Kitchens the straight.

4. David Bach won over pocket aces twice; once with pocket nines and again with A-2.

5. Bill Elder’s A-Q of spades had an A-9 dominated when the money went in, but a flop of A-9-3 put the bad beat on Elder. He was in the $1500 no limit holdem event #2.