In her article on beginner poker strategy, Catrina Rudd recommends taking it slowly instead of assuming you can handle a dozen open tables like the pros. This was the most helpful advice I found in her article.Focus is a key that many people attempt to avoid by playing multiple tables. This does not just apply to people like Gus Hansen who may play as many as 10 or more tables at once, but also to the guy in his hotel room that thinks two tables would be slow enough to maintain an edge and double their money. The reality is that by playing more than one game at a time you are more likely to create reason to tilt. This will give you one opponent, one table, one hand to focus on. This facilitates creating opportunity to bring back the pot time and time again, instead of paying out the blind time and time again with no reprieve.

Many thanks to PokerAdvisory for the article.The Main Event will begin on July 3rd this year, and play as normal down to the nine gamblers at the final table.

Action will then break until November, at which point play will resume November 10th, with elimination continuing through the day and possibly into the 11th to reach the champion and final player.

The break in schedule is designed to allow ESPN to broadcast the final table as a same-day event, almost covering the intensity and pressure of the last hands live. ESPN has previously broadcast the tournament as a series of programs that concluded months after the action had finished.

Link.Reese was found by his son early Tuesday at his Las Vegas home after suffering from symptoms of pneumonia, said poker great Doyle Brunson, his longtime friend.

"Many consider Chip the greatest cash-game player who ever lived," Pollack said in a statement. "His victory in the inaugural $50,000 buy-in HORSE championship ... made him a part of WSOP lore forever."

In addition to his son, Reese is survived by a daughter and a stepdaughter, Brunson said. He was recently divorced from his wife.

An excellent review. Link.Let me spoil the ending of my review right up front. I believe that "The Mathematics of Poker" is the most important book on poker written in the last decade, arguably the most important poker book of the last 25 years. Despite this, I believe that this book will help relatively few poker players, and as such, its impact on the games played in most card rooms will be relatively minor.

"The Mathematics of Poker" is not a poker book with a mathematical focus; it is a college-level math text whose subject matter is game theory as it applies to the game of poker. It is not an easy read. This reviewer has a degree in mathematics, yet at several points I found the book tough to follow. I expect that most readers who have not taken college math courses will struggle to digest what lies between its covers.

Link.The French proposal, launched after the riots in that country in 2005, includes a couple of items referencing online poker. The first, similar to the UIGEA, would require banks to block transactions to online gambling sites. The second would require any online portal with a French facing to post warnings about site content that the French government finds objectionable or face severe fines and imprisonment.

Link.While Woman Poker Player is not one of the classic poker publications, it is ever-increasing in popularity, and may one day be listed with the greatest poker magazines of all time.

Of course, with a name like Woman Poker Player, it goes without saying that the magazine is targeted at a specific audience. This bi-monthly publication seeks to enrich the life of female poker players, and not simply by giving them tips on the game. The magazine also has articles about well-being, fashion and other aspects of life important to all women, not just the poker-playing variety.

If you live in Texas and want to improve your gambling rights, you should call your local representative and encourage their support of this bill.Link.The bill by Rep. Jose Menendez, a San Antonio Democrat, would allow live or electronic poker gambling at certain establishments as well as charitable poker for qualified groups.

Poker enthusiasts, including some leading national players, are expected at the Texas Capitol on Tuesday for a hearing on the proposal before the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee.

If enacted into law, the measure would put Texas alongside several other states such as California and Montana that created a safe, regulated environment for poker wagering, said Michael Bolcerek, president of the National Poker Players Alliance.