Geoffrey Fisk

Few poker players can lay claim to the longevity enjoyed by T.J. Cloutier. With a career that goes all the way back to the 1950s, Cloutier has just about seen and done it all in the game of poker. One of the most prolific players in World Series of Poker history, Cloutier is the only player in the WSOP record books with...

Poker tournaments represent the world's most popular way to play poker. The World Series of Poker is the world's most famous poker event, and revolves exclusively around tournament play. If you've never played in a poker tournament, you...

There's no reason to let a lack of chips stop you from playing a game of poker. Many alternatives are at your disposal if you want to run a live poker game, but don't have traditional poker chips available. As long as you have a deck of cards, you can almost certainly find something to take the place of poker chips. Let's take...

The legitimacy of online poker remains a question for some players. The "poker boom" era of the mid-2000s brought online poker to the mainstream, and nearly two decades later many players prefer online poker over its live counterpart. The great "is online poker rigged" debate has persisted throughout the modern era of the...

As much as any other pastime, poker straddles the line between "game" and "sport". The "game" part of poker requires no further validation. The status of poker as a "sport", however, can certainly go up for debate. Can poker be rightfully considered a sport? Let's evaluate that question:...

Card counting was made famous through books like Bringing Down the House and movies like 21. Tales of card counting often center around players winning huge sums of money, then making a hasty exit from a casino with security in hot pursuit. Card counting generally applies to blackjack, but you might have wondered - does card counting work in poker? Can You...

Dan Shak is a 62-year-old hedge fund manager and semi-pro poker player. Backed by an almost unlimited bankroll built in gold futures trading, Shak stands as a mainstay on the high-stakes live tournament circuit. Shak's poker accomplishments are impressive enough to warrant "pro" status. He's among the top 100 on the Hendon Mob live tournament database. Here's a look at the poker accomplishments...

Poker is a game that can be played with up to 10 players in some formats, but you only need a minimum of two people to play the game. A poker game involving two players is called a heads-up poker game. The positions in a heads-up poker game might be different than they are in a game with three or more players. Other...

Texas Hold'em is the most popular poker variant in the world. As a result, "Texas Hold'em" and "poker" are often used interchangeably. It's important to note, however, that the term "poker" can include many other different styles of the game. If you've ever wondered is poker the same thing as Texas Hold'em?, read on. Poker vs Texas Hold'em: What is the Difference?...

The ability to fold marks one of the most important aspects of a winning poker strategy. In Texas Hold'em, playing too many hands preflop, or moving forward with too many marginal hands post-flop, can end up as a major detriment to your win rate. Knowing when to fold in poker is arguably the most critical skill in the game. The...

Peter Eastgate won the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, and his life path after that win makes the Danish player one of the more mysterious figures in poker history. Eastgate was 22 years old when he achieved his WSOP win, making him the youngest...

Greg Merson's place in the poker history books includes one of the all-time greatest runs at the World Series of Poker. Merson took down the 2012 WSOP Main Event and won the Player of the Year award, becoming the only player to ever do both in the same year. Merson's incredible success at the 2012 series came on the heels...

Jamie Gold took down the biggest winner's prize in the history of the World Series of Poker Main Event. The 2006 Main Event set WSOP records for both attendance (8,773 players) and first-place prize money ($12 million). Gold's path to the championship included regular displays of speech-play antics, with a signature style that...

Players all over the world can play online poker at PokerStars in some form. The PokerStars main client offers poker games around the globe, but players in some areas of the world can’t legally access the platform. The United States sits on the list of countries that can’t legally play on the PokerStars main client. PokerStars does operate a family of US-facing sites,...

Jumping into the world of poker can be an intimidating task. Online poker games at even the lowest real money stakes still require a decent level of poker skills to beat. Aspiring poker players looking to learn Texas Hold'em can find several ways to do so at play money poker sites. These sites allow beginning players to play poker with...

Daniel Coleman called out fellow high stakes poker player Sean Perry as a scammer, stating that Perry took seven figures off Coleman in a case of daily fantasy sports fraud. Coleman dropped that statement in a Friday afternoon tweet, which included a screenshot of a detailed summary of the scam as Coleman suspected it. Coleman accuses Perry...

Dario Sammartino's career highlight reel includes a runner-up finish in the 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event. The 34-year-old native of Naples, Italy took part in one of the most controversial hands in WSOP history on the way to that finish, which lives on in poker lore. Sammartino broke through in the high roller tournament...

Blackjack persists as one of the world's signature casino games. Blackjack games are among the most popular pastimes at land-based and online casinos around the globe. While the house edge makes blackjack nearly impossible to beat in the long term, you can make the most of any blackjack session with a solid betting strategy. The fundamentals of a sound blackjack...

Joe Hachem won the World Series of Poker Main Event at the height of poker's mainstream popularity in 2005. His poker accomplishments aren't just limited to that championship run, however. Hachem also holds a WPT Main Tour title, along with 34 cashes and eight final table appearances at the WSOP over the course...

Upswing Poker’s ever-growing roster of world-class coaches just added another cash game crusher. Ryan Riske joins the Upswing team of poker pros with a proven record of success in some of the world’s toughest online cash games. Subscribers to Ryan’s “pokerwithriske” Twitch channel have been watching Riske crush the games on PokerStars for the better part of the...