With Bolton and Spurs replaying the abandoned FA cup tie on Tuesday night, Bolton midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker admits he suffered flashbacks to Fabrice Muamba’s sudden collapse during the game and those who bet football money wouldn’t be surprised.

It must have been very difficult for both sets of players to return to the ground itself but Reo Coker revealed that memories of the incident drove him to return to the precise scene of Muamba’s collapse.

“Yes, you could call it flashbacks,” said Reo-Coker. “That’s why I had to walk over to the spot before the game to get it out of my system and, speaking to the club doctor, even he said he felt weird.

“When I came on the pitch before the game, I had to walk over to the area where the incident occurred, just for my own benefit. There was a tingly feeling down my spine.”

The occasion will no doubt have affected the performance of the Bolton team who lost the game 3-1, but praise must be given to the management and the players for their efforts and facing their fears at White Hart Lane after an emotional and traumatic couple of weeks. Fans of betting football will be pleased things were no worse.

It might take some of the players longer than others to get over the experience, though it will last in their memories forever. Hopefully though, Bolton can spur themselves on to another victory in the Premier League this weekend in their bid to stay up.

The most common way to view your stack size is in terms of the number of big blinds you have. You simply divide the size of the big blind by your stack size to give you your number of big blinds. So if the blinds are 50/100 and you have a stack of 3,000 chips then you have a 30BB stack. Even people playing in WSOP tournaments should remember this.

So getting dealt pocket sixes in early position with a 10BB stack is different than having a 25BB stack. Imagine you have a 25BB stack and have been dealt pocket sixes in early position. Your first task is to check the stack sizes behind you. Most stacks have you covered with the exception of the big blind who has a 10BB stack. None of the players have been particularly getting out of line so you can safely raise and then fold to any three-bet with the exception of the shove from the big blind.

You take this line because you know the 10BB stack is going to be moving in with a very wide range (as would you). If you had the 10BB stack then you would simply move all-in. When you see players open-folding with 10-15BB stack sizes on a regular basis you can reliably mark them down as fish. Player on Betfair need to bear this in mind.

Make sure you always give yourself fold equity. Once your fold equity diminishes you are going to find yourself in trouble. Keeping your eye on stack sizes should ensure you retain fold equity.

When Sean Jazayeri joined the 548 other players in the LA Poker Classic, his highest live cash was for $48,051 for a second place finish in a Wynn Classic event. He can now add $1,370,240 to that resume after taking home the latest WPT title. From Boot Camp to WPT Title, what a journey for Jazayeri. http://poker.betfair.com/en/

Jazayeri actually came into the final table as the chip leader. But despite having all of the chips he was still lacking all of the experience. The final table consisted of David “Doc” Sands, Dan Kelly, Noah Schwartz, Jason Burt and Jason Somerville once again proving that the cream of poker can really rise to the top. When you consider the colossal final table that James Dempsey recently overcome to win his WPT title at the Bellagio, you realise how difficult it is to win a Stateside WPT event.

Jason Somerville and Jason Burt were the final table short stacks and they had no time to find the double up before Jazayeri and Kelly eliminated both to reduce the field to four. Next to head to the rail was Noah Schwartz. The two-time WPT final tablist falling on the sword of Jazayeri. http://poker.betfair.com/en/promotions/choose_your_own_sign_up_bonus.php

Three-handed play saw Sands emerge as the favourite especially after eliminating Kelly in third. But the lesser-experienced player managed to become the latest WPT Champions Club member after his [Ad] [5d] defeated the [Ks] [Qh] of Sands.

It depends what game you are playing, but essentially a hand combination is the cards the dealer has given you to play your hand. So in No Limit Texas Hold’em (NLHE) your hand combination will consist of two cards whereas in Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) your hand combination will consist of four cards.

Understanding card combinations enables you to narrow down the potential number of hands your opponent could be holding. You can practice this in Betfair free poker. This in turn allows you to make a more informed decision of whether to call, raise or fold. Learning hand combinations are not as complicated as you may think, and it is as simple as learning the words of a song. Here are some card combinations for you to memorise that will aid you in your decision in Betfair Omaha Poker or allow you to win a general knowledge contest.

•    There are 1,326 hand combinations in No Limit Hold’em

•    There are sixteen combinations of unpaired cards

•    There are twelve combinations of any two specific unsuited, unpaired cards

•    There are six combinations of pocket pairs

•    A set has three combinations

•    There are nine combinations of two-pair hands

With a little daily practice these combinations can become so ingrained in your mind, you will be able to remember them when playing on autopilot.

Three pounds better off with Sole Dancer for finishing just a length-and-a-half behind Milton Bradley’s charge earlier in the week, Dvinsky proved the handicapper right in defying his years by making every yard of the running in the five-furlong William Hill Handicap to beat his recent conqueror by a gutsy half-a-length before returning to what by Kempton all-weather standards was a tremendous reception. Fans of Stanjames should bear this in mind.

Trainer by Paul Howling, for whom he raced for a five year period before being sent back to the Hampshire-based handler in November of last year, the 11-year-old son of Stravinsky clearly thrives on his racing and shows no signs of being ready to claim his pension book and gallop off into the sunset. Understandably emotional at Dvinsky landing his 18th win from 201 starts, (he has also been placed a further 62 times!), Howling declared, “Dvinsky is incredible! The handicapper might stop him winning but he won’t stop him running.”

The old-timer began his career back in 2003 under the guidance of Gerard Butler at Newmarket for whom he won a Goodwood maiden on just the second outing of his career, after which he was allotted a handicap a mark of 90, the joint-highest rating of his career and a figure only equalled after beating the useful Count Ceprano in a class 3 handicap at the now defunct Great Leighs in January 2009. Those looking at the Bwin betting need to remember this.

There are no plans to retire Dvinsky as he retains all his enthusiasm for the job and Howling will doubtless be looking for further opportunities to place his old warrior to good advantage in the coming weeks.

The seven-year-old has strained tendon muscles in both forelegs, injuries sustained during his recent one-and-a-half-length success over Call The Police in the Grade 1 Dr P J Moriarty Novices chase at Leopardstown on February 12, a performance that solidified his position among the main contenders for the race that is currently dominated by the presence of David Pie’s Grand Crus, who has now hardened to 9/4 favourite in the horse racing betting in light of the defection of the well fancied Irish contender.

Philip Fenton, trainer of the Gigginstown House Stud-owned charge, was clearly very disappointed at the news but is confident that with plenty of rest and a long spell on the ‘easy list’, Last Instalment will return in good shape next term. The son of Anshan proved himself a very capable novice hurdler last season, but has really come into his own since switching to the larger obstacles and the Cheltenham Festival betting suggested he was set to make a real impact.

He made a flying start to his novice chase career when winning at Galway in October, accounting for Alpha Ridge by nearly four-lengths before Fenton stepped him immediately up in class to bid for the Grade 2 Florida Pearl Novice Chase at Punchestown the following month where he proved far too good for useful opposition, scoring by six-and-a-half lengths from Four Commanders. First Instalment could hardly have been more impressive when slamming First Lieutenant to win the Grade 1 Fort Leney Novice Chas eat Leopardstown’s Christmas before recently completing his four-timer.

Hopefully this exciting young chaser will make a fully recover and be back on his game for the 2012/13 season.

Poker can be the best of friends and the worst of enemies. It can be exhilarating and downright boring.  The mindset of the grinder is to make money. Enjoying the game, learning more about the game and improving as a player all come a far off second place to making money. They won’t be playing at WSOP.

Grinders often find themselves playing 60-hours per week, at the same stakes for months on end. They never venture any higher because they can’t. If they do they will lose money because they have not spent sufficient time learning new techniques or advanced their game one iota. Instead they rely on their small edges to grind out enough money to pay the bills. You will see plenty of them in Betfair Poker Cash Games.

For the grinder, the game is not enjoyable, there are 6+ screens and he or she moves his or her mouse around the screen without thought. When he or she suffers a bad beat it gets to them because they have not taken the time to learn how to control tilt.  In the end it is not just poker that becomes a grind but life itself.
Don’t fall into the same trap as the grinder, and instead choose to learn more about the game of poker, because the game never sits still.

Simon Cowell’s first ever signing sung those lyrics in the hit song So Macho! and although we doubt the song populates the iPods in today’s poker rooms, there are a lot of people who like to think that they are so macho.

In the game of poker you need to retain certain poise and composure if you are going to have a successful shift. One sure fire way of throwing poise and composure out of the window is to find yourself in a war of machismo with a fellow player. Fans of betfairpoker.com should bear this in mind.

Flexing your biceps has its place in a bodybuilding arena and not the felt. Of course, there will always be that Clint Eastwood versus Lee Van Cleef: Old Wild West Shootout mentality to the game, but the one to one macho war should be avoided at all costs.

If you get into a war of attrition against one individual on the table then you have moved out of your logical thinking world and delved deep into the emotional one. Playing poker on a highly emotional level is a recipe for disaster. Poker is all about long-term mathematical probability and if you are focussed on one individual, then you will not be at the top of the game. If you want to learn how to play poker you need to remember this.

So don’t worry about being macho, worry about winning.

When logging onto a poker website it is often important to check your ego in at the door, in much the same way you would do with your jacket when you arrive at a function.

If you can successfully manage to check your ego in at the door then the other player’s minor victories over you become irrelevant. If you have your ego in check then your emotional state becomes calm.  It is this calm emotional state that seems to herald a new and brighter poker future. Taking advantage of poker promotions online will often depends on how well you look after the bonus cash, and that can be decided by your state of mins.

We are sure you have all played with someone who doesn’t seem to let anything at the table affect them. In fact on the surface you would assume that they simply do not care about the outcome of the game they are playing in. There is a small element of truth in this assumption, but mainly they just have a good sense of how poker operates and they know that there is no room for an ego.

When you are playing against such a player have you ever noticed how difficult it is to gain the upper hand over them? It’s tough isn’t it? Well imagine if you had that tough outer exterior? What could it do to your game?

It is difficult to play without an ego. It feels less human and more robotic but it has a lot of advantages and in this difficult game you need all of the help you can get, so ditch that ego today!

One of your roles when you are playing online poker tournaments is to identify the roles that the other players have filled, and the reason you do this is to exploit it for your own personal gain.

Imagine that you have noticed that there is a player at the table who is going through hell. It doesn’t matter what this guy does he always ends up on the losing end of the pot. Armed with your knowledge of streaks in poker, wouldn’t it make sense to get involved in pots with this person? If this guy cannot win a pot then why not make sure that he loses them all to you? Conversely there will be players who are on a heater and cannot stop winning pots. Once again, understanding how heaters work, why bother to get involved in pots with a guy who seems to hit everything that moves?
So next time you sit down at a poker table or take advantage of poker promotions online look around and start identifying everyone’s role. Who are the fish, who are the sharks, who is going through hell and who cannot stop winning?