Stay on Top of the Poker World

Poker is a game where you seek an edge over your opponent in order to come out on top. There are many different types of edges you can seek. One of the major edges that doesn’t involve strategy at the table is having an informational edge over your opponent. When you remain informed, you are able to capture many other edges. Being up to date on the latest poker industry news, post, blogs and tweets can give you a informational, educational, and poker cultural edge over other players.

The poker world disseminates its information in many formats; news sites, poker forums and communities, blogs, and Twitter. I will recommend some of my favorites from each category that you might consider visiting to become more informed.

Poker News Sites

News sites shoulder the biggest responsibility for reporting poker relevant news. I’ve found the news sites vary quite a bit in their quality, quantity of news and objectivity.

Pokernews – Largest poker news site with many international versions.
Bluff Magazine – One of the standard bearers for poker news, with live reporting from major tournaments.
PokerListings – Regular quality and direct source news with several news pieces a day.
CardPlayer – Once the standard poker news bearer, but now just another source for poker news. Often their international versions break news, though.
Pokernewsdaily – Regular informational news source. Since poker’s Black Friday, the news volume has decreased.
Subject: Poker – The best site for investigative breaking hard poker news. Unfortunately the updates are infrequent.
EpicPoker – The home to the professional only Epic Poker Leagues has excellent writers and pros contributing articles, blogs and news.
Poker King – Less frequent, but informational poker news.
High Stakes DB – News and results focused on the online high stakes cash game world.
PokerFuse – Up and coming credible independent news source with an ear to breaking news.
PokerNewsBoy – Another decent independent poker news source.
OnlinePoker.net – A solid news source that gives roughly three news items a day.
InsidePokerBusiness – This sites gives poker industry-focused news. Not as regular in new material as one would like, but in the wake of EGRmagazine going to a for-pay access, it represents the best option to get industry-focused news.
Poro Report – A no-nonsense poker news aggregate site that hosts links to what it considers the biggest poker news of late.

Poker Forums and Communities

Poker forums and communities are able to harness the power of the many members to often break stories or help disseminate information to the masses.

CardsChat – A worldwide poker appealing forum.
CoinFlip – Active poker community with pro blogs, news and forums.
Donkr – A European focused active poker forum.
FlopTurnRiver – Active poker forum with news and promotions.
LiquidPoker – One of the old time poker communities with a gaming edge.
Nutblocker – Blogs, news, forums and community focused just on Pot Limit Omaha.
Parttime Poker – Active community with news and informational resources
PocketFives – Large poker community and forum with news and a tournament focus.
PokerCurious – A community and informational resource geared to newer players who are eager to learn.
TwoPlusTwo – The largest and busiest poker forums in the world, by far. Great information and entertainment can be had, but also confusing, overwhelming with a lot of negativity.

Blogs

Instead of famous poker pro blogs, the focus is on a select few poker industry blogs that share insight into news and trends in the industry.

Amy Calistri – Independent-minded Amy Calistri blogs on poker and politics.
Bill Rini – Thailand based poker industry insider who blogs about a host of interesting poker industry issues.
Hard-Boiled Poker – The best all around daily poker industry blog that recaps the major issues.
Infinite Edge Gaming – Out of the box, Norwegian poker consultant shares his thoughts about the poker industry.
Lou Krieger’s Keep Flopping Aces – The author of 11 best-selling poker books keeps an informative poker blog detailing the highlights from the poker world.
Pokerati – A collaborative site with a range of poker news, blogs and commentary from various areas of the poker world.
PokerStarsBlog – The largest poker blog in terms of volume represents all aspects of live and online poker activity at the world’s biggest poker site.
PartyPokerBlog – The collective blogging and news of the large poker site and it’s promotional pros.
Riding the F Train – Irregular blog that give insight and perspective on the poker world.
Tao of Poker – Author and reporter, Pauly blogs about his poker travels and major happenings in the poker world unlike any other writer.

Twitter –

For the fastest arriving poker news and notifications, nothing beats Twitter. News and links to article and pictures constantly stream on your feed if you follow a lot of respected players and poker pros. I will share some of the most helpful poker industry informational players.

@Kevmath – Generally recognized as the most informed and quick responding poker Tweeter
@NoahSD – The man behind Subject: Poker
@ftrainpoker – Works in poker industry
@BJNemeth – WPT reporter and photography and loves sharing his experienced opinion
@hardboiledpoker – Reporter, author and professor
@InfiniteEdgeKim – Poker industry consultant
@Mark_Gahagan – Poker writer and podcaster
@billrini – Poker consultant and industry insider
@jesswelman – Bluff magazine editor, reporter, and podcaster
@AlCantHang – Poker writer
@taopauly – Author and poker commentator
@ESPN_Poker – Andrew Feldman leads poker coverage for the network.
@Grange95 – Poker commentator
@PokerSmell – Poker writer and podcaster
@lance_bradley – Editor in Chief of Bluff Magazine
@casinocityvin – Poker writer, reporter and podcaster
@SubjectPoker – Repping the poker hard news site
@howardstutz – Reporter and columnist for the Las Vegas Review Journal focusing on gaming
@ScurrilousMay – U.K. outspoken poker podcaster and writer
@compncards – Poker writer and commentator
@_otis_ – Poker reporter and PokerStars writer
@pokerfuse – News site
@GamingCounsel – Gaming lawyer
@taxdood – Poker tax consultant
@PokerGrump – Poker player and humorist
@BluffMagEric – Bluff Magazine owner
@webjoker – Dutch poker reporter and writer
@ChrisKPHall – British poker reporter and writer
@PokerScout1 – Poker industry insider
@Barry_Carter – British poker writer
@WhoJedi – Poker photographer
@toddbterry – Poker player and lawyer
@pkrgssp – Poker player and poker media commentator
@MatthewParvis – Pokernews editor in chief
@change100 – Independent poker writer
@merchdawg – Works in poker industry
@CKrafcik – Gaming lawyer
@WriterJen – Poker writer and reporter
@_tizzle – Poker industry insider
@oskargarcia – Reporter and columnist for the Las Vegas Review Journal covering gaming
@GaryWise1 – poker writer and podcaster
@SavagePoker – Famed tournament director
@wickedchops – Poker industry insider
@Pokerati – Poker industry insider
@AgentMarco – Poker commentator, podcaster and interviewer
@ZBTHorton – Poker commentator and podcaster

Managing Your Poker Information

There are a number of ways to organize and manage all these news sources, sites, blogs and Twitter feeds.

Many people utilize browser “favoriting” options.
Some people utilize RSS feeds on blogs and sites where available and organize them through an RSS aggregator.
Establishing a Twitter account is quite easy and then simply search selected people and click Follow and their tweets will appear in your stream.
I found a site PokerCurious that when you sign up for a free account allows you to “favorite” many of your favorite news, forum and blog sites throughout their site, aggregating them on one page you can customize.
An alternative method to search out poker news on a particular subject or key word is to establish Google alerts which you can set to email you as often as you like when there are mentions throughout the web.

Monitoring a selection of the above poker news sites, poker forums and communities, blogs and Twitter feeds will collectively accelerate your exposure and understanding of the real money texas holdem industry. That knowledge can quickly translate to a monetary edge in knowing when and where to play or better understanding the dynamics of the game you play. It is also very educational and entertaining.