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.

Summer is a time of year when people have a bit more time to play tournaments online. Most sites try to put on a promotional tournament event this time of year. Bodog is having its Mini Series of Poker right now, with 25 events that mirror the events being played at the WSOP. The buy-ins are 1% of the cost of the real events, and the grand prize is three seats to the WSOP Main Event in Vegas.

PokerStars has its Million Dollar Turbo Takedown this summer. With a total prize pool of $1 million up for grabs, and at least one in every three players getting paid, this no-limit holdem event has a $1 million guarantee with a first-place prize of $100,000.

Carbon Poker is running its Summerchamps 2008 promotion. It also closely mimics the WSOP schedule. They will bring back successful players to play in the final.

Stealing under the gun is a simple concept of raising pre-flop from under the gun. That’s the position right after the blinds. Most poker theory dictates that one should only play premium cards in these positions, because one is at an instant disadvantage. So if most of the players are under the assumption that players will only play premium cards in this position, adjusting to this can be profitable.

By occasionally raising from under the gun, especially at a tight table, a player can steal the blinds from the early position. This trick can easily backfire if you raise into someone who has a good hand. You end up in a position where you have a poor hand in a poor position. It’s usually better to have something like connector or suited cards, to give you a better chance to hit something on the flop if you do get called. 

Poker pro Evelyn Ng plays for Team Bodog

If you can’t make it to the World Series of Poker in Vegas you can still get in on the action without having to leave the comforts of your own home. To be held during the same time period as the WSOP in Vegas, Bodog Poker’s Mini-SOP online poker tournament will only cost you about 1 percent of the actual buy-in of the WSOP Event.

“We’re happy to offer those not able to attend the 2008 WSOP in person an affordable and exciting online alternative,” says Alwyn Morris, CEO of the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, which runs Bodog in North America. “For only one percent of the standard WSOP Main Event buy-in cost, Bodog online poker players can have a shot at the Mini-SOP crown and three $12,000 prize packages including entry into the 2009 WSOP Main Event.”

The Bodog Poker Mini-SOP starts on May 30th through July 3rd, with the top 27 players (on the tournament leaderboard) competing in the final event to be held on July 10th. The top 3 finishers at the final event will each be awarded a $12,000 prize package to the 2009 WSOP Main Event. Places four through nine will receive $109 to buy into online poker tournaments in the Bodog Poker room.

For more information on the Bodog Poker Mini-SOP, visit the Bodog Poker Room.

Every year at this time casinos offer odds on certain players winning the WSOP. The top professionals usually have the best odds; this year you can get 5/2 on Daniel Negreanu. Other celebrities like Ben Affleck and James Woods have odds available to wager on, but it’s traditionally been the big-name professional players that get all the attention.

Online players are getting more respect this year. Last year the bet was any internet player winning, but this year bets on specific online players are being offered. Stars like Justin Bonomo are getting odds of 3/1, and Brian ’sbrugby’ Townsend is getting 9/2. That’s not bad for a couple of relatively unknown players.

That’s the beauty of the World Series of Poker; anyone can win it. It could be a professional live game player, an internet player or an amateur. I predict we’re due to see a big-name pro win.

Get all your fun World Series of Poker betting here.