Just who is this hot Poker babe?
For those who are not in the
know, this babe is a successful
actress and also one of the
hottest and greatest Poker
players you will ever meet.

Born on September 7, 1973 in
Houston, Texas, Shannon
Elizabeth Fadal was a cheerleader
and an aspiring professional tennis
player who used to work hard for her sport until she landed a role in a music video that was shot locally. She used that as a motivation and began a modeling career which in turn led to acting jobs on television shows like “Hang Time” and “Arli$$”. Because she did best in portraying these roles, she was chosen to be Nadia in the movie “American Pie”. In addition, she made 35 more films and television appearances in the past years. With all these achievements she had, people consider her a well-seasoned veteran in the showbiz industry.

Similar to other Poker players, Shannon ventured into the world of Poker at an early age by playing games such as 7 card stud with her family as a past time. When Poker was booming and there was a rise in the popularity of televised Poker Tournaments, Shannon got to know the game of Texas Hold’em.

Akin to other Poker celebrities, Shannon had to adopt Poker mentors to help tweak her game and teach her the subtle nuances of the game which led her to play with a proficient and seasoned style that was able to stand up to the best of competitors.

Now that she is already proficient, Shannon found herself playing Poker more often.

She got in the 2005 Main Event at the World Series of Poker with Daniel Negreanu as her guardian.

Since she is said to have a lot of victories in 2006- for instance, she was a sixth placer at the Las Vegas Poker Invitational, Shannon proclaimed a new career as a devoted Texas Hold’em player.

Shannon also finished 3rd in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship in 2007 and won $125,000.

One Poker site said she also stars alongside Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson and Poker hall-of-famer, Doyle Brunson in an improvisational Poker comedy called “The Grand”. I actually met with one of the producers of the movie back in 2005 so he could pick my brain about being a female in a predominately male industry. He was looking to “round out the female character”. His original email described the movie as “a factious improv comedy in the vain of Christopher Guest’s film Best in Show is the best way to describe it.” I get many emails talking about projects and it’s nice to see one that has come to fruition. It’s even nicer to see some big names including Shannon involved in the project.

It is also said that Online Poker room, Full Tilt once had a sponsorship agreement with Shannon.

Just recently, Poker Reviews said that Shannon joined Doyles’ Poker Room.

Does the live and Online
Poker community have its luck
candidate? According to some
Poker Review sites that candidate may just be Barack Obama.

Obama just won the democratic nomination. Should we vote for him or should we opt for McCain? A Poker Review site points us in the direction of a Telegraph article that details Mr. Obama’s Online Poker background.

Toby Harnden writes:

“When he was a young state politician in Illinois, Barack Obama played his cards right. “He had the stone face,” said Senator Terry Links, who hosted weekly Online Poker games at his home. ‘He didn’t stay in hands if he didn’t think he had a chance of winning.’

Links told Harnden:

“Barack wasn’t one of those foolish gamblers who just thought all of a sudden that card in the middle was going to show up mysteriously. He’s as competitive in politics as he is in Online Poker. It’s not like he’s going to go into something without a course of action mapped out.”

So would Barack Obama rally behind the Online Poker playing community who today feel like castaways thanks to a few choice politicians? Probably not. But we cannot help but wonder if Mr. Obama would have requested the removal of an attached measurement to curb Online Poker attached to that port security bill.

Anyway, i have read in Doyle Brunson’s blog that that he’s backing Sen. Barack Obama:

“I have come to the conclusion that poker players have to support Obama. We cannot possibly let McCain be our President because he supports most of George W. Bush’s views. Hillary has lots of experience but I do not think she is ready to lead our nation. Imagine her trying to talk to the leaders of the Islamic world? I wish we could have her husband back, but we cannot. Jennifer Harman and I have emailed Obama and asked what his position is on internet gaming. Hopefully we will get a response from his camp.”

You can also count CardPlayer columnist and poker author Bob Ciaffone as an Obama backer.

Hmmm. Whether or not i will vote for him, the real question that really intrigues me is, How does Obama play his cards? Earlier in the campaign several journalists looked into that.

Aside from Harnden’s report, Christopher Wills also filed a report for the AP in September about Obama’s poker playing as a state legislator in Springfield, Illinois:

Obama was a regular at the low-stakes games – sometimes stud poker, sometimes draw – designed to break up the tedium of long legislative sessions. poker, beer and cigars were staples; Democrats and Republicans, lawmakers and even the lobbyists who Obama sometimes rails against dealt the cards and placed their bets.

The traits Obama displayed around the card table those many nights are ones he brings to his presidential bid and are certain to be evident — and analyzed — if he wins the White House.

By his poker buddies’ accounts, Obama is careful and focused. He is not easily distracted and doesn’t give away his intentions unless it’s to his advantage. He’s not prone to taking risky chances, preferring to play it safe. But he’s also serious and competitive: When he plays, he plays to win.

“It’s a fun way for people to relax and share stories and give each other a hard time over friendly competition,” Obama said by e-mail. “In Springfield, it was a way to get to know other senators — including Republicans.” …

Though Obama is one a strong presidential candidate, i am still thinking if he will look back and help the poker industry if in case he wins.

Playing Poker is a game wherein the more information you know about your opponent, the more advantageous your position is. Holding on to more pieces of information will make you most likely beat your opponent. While luck is a big factor in Poker, it is still the struggle for information that is the most important since it enables people to play Poker professionally.

Often times you, as a Poker player, resort into concealing information about yourself, but you also have to be vigilant of what information you want your opponents to see, either intentionally or unintentionally. There will be times when you will wish to let your opponents have some information, as you want to compel your opponents to take certain actions. If your opponents are falling to the information you leaked, you can lead them straight into a disastrous game, or simply cause them to make the wrong turn.

An example of this happened in a nine player sit and go. A good looking player was playing on Poker Stars. He had been getting horrible cards, and went almost an entire level without seeing a single face card. After a long period of folding, He finally picked up a hand, pocket queens. He was on the button, so he had a good hand with good position. However, the second player to act pushed all-in, and at this time his stack was only slightly decreased from his starting stack. Another player called, so he made the proper move for this stage in the tournament: The player threw his hand away. As it turns out, he would have won the hand, as the raiser had Q-8 and the caller held A-K with unremarkable community cards. One player revealed that they had folded A-Q, and after careful deliberation, the good looking player revealed that he had held pocket queens.

Why did he do this? First of all, the other players were starting to realize that he was playing tightly, so by revealing that he had not given in to the temptation to play a big hand in a bad situation, they would come to the conclusion that he truly do only play good cards, and he wouldn’t be making any dumb plays when he held good cards. He wanted to instill fear in them, fear that would cause them to fold when he did raise, as his style relies on aggressively forcing other players out of the pot when he enter a hand.

Just shortly after revealing that he had pocket queens, he started to pick up hands and he was willing to play with in good position. He used these hands to his advantage, raising when he came into the hand, either winning the pot outright or isolating himself against one or two opponents. If he did get callers before the flop, he was always able to make them fold after the flop. His stack was growing, and he became a powerful force at the table without winning a truly big pot.

At one point he, apparently, looked at his stats, and saw that he had seen eleven flops, and had won ten pots. A couple of those wins came preflop, so that slightly skews the numbers, but the only time he saw the flop and didn’t win the hand was when he was playing for cheap from the blinds. Every time he raised before the flop, he won the hand. He had accomplished his goal of getting the other players to fear him. it is also during this time that he had only made it to one showdown, this occurring when he was in the big blind and called the short stack’s all-in, as they only had five more chips than his big blind. He won that pot for the very small win and an elimination.

This is, in reality, a perfect example of what can happen if you take time to analyze carefully all the information that is available and use them to your advantage. Being able to carefully control information is essential if you want to win in Poker and sometimes it is a good idea to leak some information to your benefits.

According to a statement,
Representatives Steve Cohen
(D-TN) and Steven Rothman
(D-NJ) placed their signatures to
HR 5767′s list of existing
sponsors last week to block
the implementation of the 2006
Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act (UIGEA) which
made it illegal for financial institutions to pursue transactions between US residents and online poker and gaming operators.

Earlier, Congressmen Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced HR 5767 which quickly gained ten signatures.

All seven of these new sponsors also reportedly signed HR 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (IGREA) which was introduced on April 26 of last year to legalize and regulate online gambling in the United States.

It is said that Frank now focuses on blocking the implementation of UIGEA, following an April 2nd hearing conducted by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology that voiced the inconsistencies, ill definition and inherent problems of the UIGEA.

In addition, the April 2nd hearing also discussed the concerns raised in over 200 comments received during the government’s open feedback period in 2007.

Reports said that the Banking Industry and frustrated government officials testimonies showed the failure of government to define transactions that are considered to be illegal amid the already overworked US financial services industry objecting strongly to side with UIGEA’s role.

HR 5767, in particular, targets the Treasury Department and U.S. Federal Reserve, to further stop the possibility of more work on the regulations to enforce the UIGEA.

“The Bill would prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve from proposing, prescribing, or implementing any regulation under Sub Chapter IV of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, and for other purposes,” Congress website said.

The following congressmen have signed onto the new bill:

• Gary L. Ackerman (D-NY)
• Robert Wexler (D-FL)
• Shelley Berkley (D-NV)
• Russ Carnahan (D- MO)
• Michael Capuano (D- MA)
• William Lacy Clay (D-MO)
• Steve Cohen (D- TN)
• Bob Filner (D-CA)
• Charles Gonzalez (D- TX)
• Luis V. Gutierrez(D-IL)
• Michael Honda (D-CA)
• Peter T. King (R-NY)
• James McGovern (D-MA)
• James Moran (D-VA)
• Ed Perlmutter (D- CO)
• Steven Rothman (D- NJ)
• Robert Wexler (D-FL)

According to a statement, the office of Frank continues to rally for supporters to contact their congressmen to voice their support of Online Poker, saying it is the biggest factor for getting sponsorship and support of the bills.

The Poker Players Alliance website also reportedly offers a contact list and letter template for writing congresspersons (by zipcode) making it quick and easy to even add highly valued personal comments.

For a complete list and informative profile of all current members of congress please go to the online directory for the 110th congress.

Playing Online Poker means
that you can do many things
that you would never be
allowed to do in a Poker table.
When you lose a hand you can
scream for as loud as you like
and can even curse, no one will
hear you anyway. No need
to hide your emotions when you
get excited or get nervous when
the game is not running your
way. Also, you can use a variety
of different Poker tools which
can enhance your play and give you essential pieces of information about the game. There are a variety of Poker different tools available online, and here are just a few of the tools available for anyone to use- you are free to use don’t worry, no one will know anyway. Using these tools does not mean you are cheating, these tools are merely guide for a smooth Poker game.

Poker-Edge: This is a player tracking software that lets you know exactly who you are up against. Poker-Edge stores Poker statistics of Online Poker players and shows you what kind of Poker player you are up against. If your opponent is a less experienced one with very little skill, Poker-Edge will let you know. And if you are up against veteran players who know every strategy that will make you lose, Poker-Edge will give you a warning. Poker-Edge has a very simple interface where you can see these vital information about your opponent. Poker-Edge places an icon next to each player. It can be a fish for a weak player, a bomb for a player who will wait for hands, but will play them aggressively, and a shark for the most dangerous of opponents. These are not the only icons. In fact, more icons can be displayed together with a small window that lists every player with their icon and their names color-coded so you don’t have to look all around the table. If a player’s name appear in green, then he is weak. A player’s name which appear in red is a tough one. If you really want to know exactly who they are, you can also look at Poker-Edge database of statistics on each player to get an exact view on who they are at the Poker table.

Texas Calculatem: This is a Poker tool which show you the Poker chances of you winning the hand as well as showing you the mathematically correct move. Added to that, Texas Calculatem will also give advice based on the number of players, your position, playing style, and many other factors. All this helpful information is displayed in a small interface that does not mess your view of the Poker table and your potential to compete against the other players.

Pokerbility: A tool which is very similar to Texas Calculatem. Pokerbility will show you the odds of the hand, the chances for you to make various hands such as a full house or a straight, and the number of outs you have that will improve your hand. Pokerbility will also give you advice and also take into account your playing style, which you can alter at any time depending on how you feel like playing. Just make sure that the Pokerbility window does not cover the Poker table, as this can cause problems. Pokerbility shows a little more information than what Texas Calculatem shows. It also displays the information in a fancier way due to its nicely made graphics, but in the end it all boils down to which one you think is better.

These are only three tools an Online Poker can use to aid his gaming experience. Keep in mind to research each Poker tool you are considering to use before you purchase or download it. Remember that viruses and malwares are on the loose.