Florida has almost every positive attribute one could want in a locale, whether it be a new place to call home or a vacation spot. Consider the amenities –

Sunny almost year ‘round – Check

Great tax laws (no tax on groceries, prescription drugs, etc) – Check

Surrounded by beaches on three side (it IS a peninsula, you know!) – Check

Great infrastructure (hospitals, road ways, public transportation) – Check

Add one more positive to the list this week – Embraces Online Poker

You read correctly, Florida is one of the latest states to have a State Representative propose a Bill that would regulate online poker. The plans are for this bill to compliment the larger Bill(s) that have been endorsed by Rep. Barney Frank. These Bills have been steadily gaining momentum in 2010 due to the challenges that so many states face as a result of the economic crisis. Now that the rubber has hit the road in most states and the reality is starting to sink in, Bills such as this one are gaining supporters.

If given the choice of legalizing and regulating online gaming or closing down schools and laying off teachers, most reasonable people would say vote for legalizing online gaming. Only the most stubborn constituents are continuing to block this sort of legislation. In short, this is why these bills are beginning to gain so much attention.

With so many states cautiously approaching this hot topic, there’s bound to be major media coverage to follow. Factor in major organizations such as the Poker Players Association (PPA) and it appears that 2010 is once again going to play host to a major live soap opera. Played out before our very eyes, will we see Online Poker legalized at the Federal level? Only time will tell but early indicators are very positive.

Badugi poker is one of the fastest growing poker games around as its popularity is growing more and more every day. The game of Badugi poker can be very profitable if you are playing at the right online poker room, which is PokerStars. PokerStars is the largest online poker room in the world and it is also the best Badugi poker room in the world as well.

What is Badugi Poker

Badugi is a drawing game. Each player is dealt 4 cards with a chance to draw 3 times. Each time you draw there is a round of betting. At the end the player with the lowest hand of all different suits wins. A-2-3-4 of all different suits is the best possible hand you can have. In Badugi poker having pairs is bad. You want to have all different cards and must have cards of all different suit.

Where to Play Badugi Poker

At PokerStars you will see more traffic to the Badugi tables and tournaments than at any other poker room in the world. There are more Badugi games running at PokerStars than at most of the other online poker rooms combined!

Right now when you sign up to play Badugi at PokerStars you will receive a 100% on up to $600 first time PokerStars deposit bonus. Now is the perfect time to start playing Badugi poker at the best online Badugi poker room in the world.

Why Play Badugi Poker at PokerStars

Badugi poker is better than other online poker games because it hasn’t become overrun by the grinders that no limit hold’em and Omaha have at their tables. There are a lot more fishy players that can be taken advantage of on the Badugi tables and you don’t have to compete with many others to be the one to take their money. A lot of players decide to try and play the more main stream games and end up losing money due to the overflow of grinders at almost every stake. Badugi tables are still fresh and haven’t yet been taken over.

The PokerStars Badugi cash tables and tournaments are the best out there. The games are completely weak and if you learn some good Badugi strategy you should be able to run over your opponents pretty easily. You will quickly see how profitable the game can be when there aren’t tons of regs seated at the table with you scaring off the fish. You can quickly gain control of the tables and dominate the fish until they are broke.

Badugi poker is a great up and coming form of poker that would be perfect for any new player looking to get into the game. You won’t have to worry about grinders, and you will have a completely open field to make your Badugi bankroll grow. What are you waiting for?

Sign up to start playing Badugi poker at the best online poker room in the world, PokerStars.com

Not if you like playing for real money. You know – the kind that comes from ATM machines and banks? Unfortunately, since Steve Jobs is hell bent on making everyone buy apps from his little domain (iTunes, iBooks, etc) the poker sites that offer real money poker such as Full Tilt and Poker Stars are left in the cold. The players that enjoy playing on those sites are left in the cold in as well. We did speculate that if the iPad went with an iPhone/iTouch OS versus a real Mac OSX there would be no real money poker games on the iPad. With the official announcement of the iPad on the books, we now know that Jobs and co went with the locked-down, ” you’re not going to create ANY app without our approval for our iPad, iPhone platform”. Since you won’t find any US based company endorsing online poker for real cash, that means that you won’t find any apps such as Full Tilt for Macs in the Apple store.

Don’t hold your breath for any changes either. In fact, I wholly recommend that if you were looking to play poker on your iPad you do one of two things:

1. Play a browser based version using Safari from such online poker rooms as bwin or

2. Ditch your iPad and load up a true download poker client from a trusted room such as Poker Stars

Unfortunately those are the few options available to you at this time. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this changes because it’s clear that the iPad could be a great platform to enjoy your favorite past time on (not that favorite past time, we’re talking poker).

As usual, stay tuned for any updates as it relates to Poker on a Mac. Or in this case, Poker on an iPad. Anything relevant pops up on our radar and you can bet we’ll report on it.

In the meantime, Good Luck at the Tables.

With the incredible buzz leading up to this weeks announcement that’s almost certain to be a confirmation of the rumored Apple Tablet, one has to wonder how well this thing will work for online poker playing? First, a few questions will have to be answered:

What will the OS be for the Apple Tablet?

Right now it appears that it will be powered by a version of the iPhone/iTouch operating system. If that’s the case there’s no current online poker site that has a real money application that will work. The main challenge here is that apps must come via the iPhone store and since that’s a US based operation, there’s no way they’ll let a real money poker site such as Poker Stars host their app. So don’t hold your breath that there will be a true native poker room that you can download for this particular Mac just yet.

If the OS is the standard Mac OS, the answer is simple. You can absolutely run Mac Compatible poker sites such as Full Tilt Poker or PokerStars on your Apple Tablet.

Will gesture based input work as well as a mouse?

It’s pretty much a given that a developer will have to completely rework an applications input controls to work on the Mac Tablet. Hard-core online poker players may be a little slow to adapt their style to a gesture based app. Since most of them prefer to multi-table, it’s not clear right now how effective this alternate form of input will work vs. a mouse.

I personally think that the Tablet can be a great platform for playing online poker. Not having to lug out a laptop for a quick session of 2/4 Omaha at my preferred poker site is a good thing. Only time will tell if the masses feel the same. In the meantime, let’s see what the folks out of Cupertino have to say when we all learn the specifics later this week!

Let’s hope you’re running the latest Mac OS with some decent horsepower under the hood. This week Full Tilt Poker has released a new version of Texas Hold’em that’s literally put the online poker world on notice. It’s called Rush Poker and it’s the perfect answer for the ADHD crowd that can’t stand waiting for more than a few seconds to play their next hand of poker. The premise is simple but the technology behind it is actually very complex. If you’re wondering why you need the extra horsepower (processor power) to enjoy this it’s because it’sFAST. Very fast.

So what is Rush Poker? Glad you asked…

When you sign up for a Rush Poker game at Full Tilt you join a pool of players that are all playing the same game and stakes. You’re instantly “transported” to a full ring game and are dealt a hand. If you choose to act on the hand and play, the hand plays out with the standard Flop, Turn, and River (unless of course there’s a raise and the other opponents fold). If you choose to fold however, is where things get interesting. When you fold your hand you’re instantly transported to another Rush Poker table.

In other words, the very second you’re no longer involved in the hand you land at another table and are instantly dealt a new hand. Pretty trick, right? We certainly think so. If you’re looking for speed you’ve found it. This is the perfect solution to someone who doesn’t want to multi-table. You simply take your seat and the tables come to you.

This new game is going to make an impact on other sites that don’t offer it. It’s one of the first truly revolutionary poker games introduced since the online poker market took off like a rocket in 2002. There will be talk of strategy, bots, and all sorts of other angles that one may exploit based on this new poker game. We’ll definitely be talking much more about this new game in the coming weeks.

So if you needed yet another reason to try their exclusive Mac compatible Full Tilt Poker client, here it is.
Good Luck at the Tables!

While we’re on the subject of online poker for Macs, let’s talk a little about a very popular tournament structure that can be found on almost every major site – Turbo SNG’s (Sit N Go). These are just like standard Sit N Go tournaments with one major difference, there are typically only three minutes per round and the blind accelerate VERY quickly. The upside? It’s perfect for the seasoned player and/or serious income player. The downside? You can lose your bankroll that much quicker if you’re not ready to play in this type of online poker tournament.  If you’re a newer player that’s reading this article because you’re not familiar with the term, here’s a few tips to remember before you dive in head first.

1. Turbo SNG’s are a little bit of strategy and a little bit of luck. You’re going to have press many times with marginal hands due to the blind structure.Remember that suited connectors and small pairs are very valuable in this type of tournament. You don’t have the luxury of time to fold marginal hands like you would in a traditional (slower blinds) tournament. Go with your gut and push the chips in.

2. You can capitalize on weaker players that aren’t used to the blind structure. Many newer (than you) players will push with very weak hands and/or draws. So remember rule number one and punish them by taking their chips in the right situations.

3. Position is huge here but be wary of players defending their blinds. Time is everyone’s enemy in this type of tournament but you still have to pick your spot. The prevailing logic is that if you’re holding any Ace or King on the Button and it’s folded to you, put the blinds to a big decision with a healthy raise or an all-in. Every little bit counts and those blinds that you pick up early may be the difference that puts you in the money later on.

In summary, you’re still playing poker. The game doesn’t change only the time you have to make decisions. The clock is on steroids so adjust your play accordingly. There are many more sources of good information out there regarding Sit N Go tournaments, so consider this a simple primer and go from here.

Mac owners can download a Mac only client at Full Tilt Poker and try their hand at a Turbo SNG

As more and more PC owners migrate over to Macs, they’re often disappointed to find that many of their favorite applications no longer are available on their new machines. To be fair, there are many programs that are ported over to work on a Mac and many more are available as a “true” Mac application. In addition there are also platforms that will run PC applications on Macs but those are not without controversy and more often than not, headaches.

Poker fans that also own a Mac will find that some of the popular poker sites that they may have played on are also not Mac friendly. The search to find Mac compatible poker sites can be a challenge.

To address that need we’re in the process of ranking and reviewing each and every one of the top ranked Mac poker sites that offer a download version of their software. Some offer Flash versions of their poker rooms but we’re not a big fan. Flash can crash and cause other performance issues and if you’re playing poker for real money that’s not desirable. So to make it easy, we only talk about true 100% Mac compatible download poker around here.

So stay tuned as we’ll begin compiling our rankings very soon and make them available right on the home page for your convenience.
Good Luck at the tables!

-The Mac Download Poker Team