1. You will always have room to improve, and leaks to plug up in your game.

2. The game is always evolving and you have to keep up with new methods of play.

3. If you play the same way all the time, your friends and opponents will know how to play you.

4. VIP status in online poker rooms will diminish over time, and you lose out on some freebies

5. Bad habits develop over time. Keeping up on your play will help you recognize them.

6. New bonuses and satellite opportunities are released every month.

7. You don’t want to make any rookie mistakes just because you haven’t played in a long time.

8. You can’t win if you don’t play.

9. It beats spending all of your extra money on beer.

10. You never know when the big win will come, and you’ll place deep in a big tournament.

Max “Italian Pirate” Pescatori won a WSOP bracelet on the same day Italy won the World Cup in 2006.

Poker has been spreading around the globe for over six years now. The latest country to fall in love with the game is Italy. Italians spent 350 million euros on online poker, an average of 600 euros per person. According to a survey by the Consumers Defense and Orientation Association (ADOC), nearly two million Italians play some form of gambling game online, with a fourth of them playing on sites abroad.

This information was conveniently made public as the Italian government puts forth plans to legalize online games of chance. Italians are visiting online casinos 25% more than they did last year, and the government plans on collecting revenues from the games before too much money flows out of the country.

The survey also warns of online gambling addiction. It’s estimated that there are 16,000 problem gamblers in Italy who lose consistently, and go into debt at least 10,000 euros.

Dennis Philips, the current chip leader in the 2008 WSOP, has announced that he will donate 1% of his winnings to cancer research. That could be as much as $182,000, if he goes on to win the $9,119,517 first-place prize. His sponsor, PokerStars, will match his donation dollar for dollar.

“I am thrilled to contribute a portion of my WSOP earnings to the Prevent Cancer Foundation,” said Phillips. “Charity involvement has always been an important part of my life, and hopefully more poker players and final table participants will follow suit in upcoming poker circuits like the European Poker Tour and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.”

Philips is also involved in charity work for multiple sclerosis. His brother was diagnosed with the disease, and he’s been involved ever since. It’s good for the game of poker to see charitable guys like Dennis Philips leading the way for the other players.

The first casino has taken the plunge and converted their poker room into a completely automated environment. There will be no more dealers in the Excalibur poker room. They are being replaced by Twelve PokerPro electronic tables, made by PokerTek, the number one manufacturer of automated tables.

“I’m excited to see the turnout,” says Neil Bard, floor manager for the Excalibur. “We are going to have several famous poker pros come to help launch the tables.” He also said that both tournament and cash games will be offered, but limits and game variations have not been worked out yet.

Considering the recent decline in Vegas revenues, these tables could be a needed boost to the casinos’ bottom line. The table game plays 50% more Texas hold’em hands, and a 100% more Omaha, than a game with dealers and chips does. I just can’t see these tables being popular for long.

The WSOP Europe will attract a lot of the best players in the game. Last year’s event saw superstars like Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Annie Duke, and many others make their way over to play in London. Any big name poker star could potentially win it.

But the name that everyone will be watching will be defending champion Annette Obrestad. She will turn 20 the day before the tournament starts, and everyone will be interested to see if the online phenom can repeat as champion before she’s even allowed to play in a casino in the United States. She won over $2M last year, making her the highest winning female ever.

Phil Ivey is another player with a history of doing well in Europe. He has had good finishes in Spain and Monte Carlo in years past. It’s unknown if Phil will be making the trip to London this year.

The WSOP Europe schedule has four events this year, with four WSOP bracelets up for grabs, and all the events will be played under the same roof. The tournaments will be played in the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square London. The schedule looks like this:

September 19 - Event #1 - £1,500 - No-Limit Hold’em Day 1A (3-day event)
September 22 - Event #2 - £2,500 - H.O.R.S.E. (3-day event)
September 24 - Event #3 - £5,000 - Pot Limit Omaha (2-day event)
September 27 - Event #4 - £10,000 - World Championship No-Limit Hold’em (6-day event)

“We have enhanced the schedule to provide more variety and game play, greatly broadened the worldwide television exposure and have brought the event under one roof to better the player experience for this prestigious and premiere event.” said Ty Stewart, World Series of Poker Director of Marketing.

Would you like to see what all this Macau fuss is about? The Chinese gambling resort is getting more press than Vegas lately. It’s a little out of the way for the average guy to go to, but Bodog poker room has a promotion that could get you there.

The poker room is offering two different ways to win your way over there, including entry into an APT event. Macau will host the first APT event of Season Two, and you could be there. You can either play in their regular qualifier tournaments (from July 7 – August 3) to win one of three seats, or play in their Seat Giveaway series (the finale is on August 2) to win one seat.

If you win a seat you’ll join Team Bodog in Macau and you’ll stay at the Galaxy Star Hotel and Casino, plus you get entry into the $5300 event.

The television broadcasts of the WPT are on a few cable channels. GSN has the most coverage, and the Travel Channel and local stations air coverage of recent events. The coverage currently running is of the Bay 101 Shooting Star event. The players involved in the final include Michael Baker, Noah J Jefferson, Brandon Cantu, John Phan, Jennifer Harman, and Steve Sung.

On August 5th GSN will air coverage of the World Poker Challenge from the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. Players at the final table include Jeff Dewitt, Jason Potter, Zach Hyman, Bryan Devonshire, Lee Markholt, and David Pham.

Events to watch out for in the future on GSN include coverage of the Foxwoods Poker Classic airing August 11th, the WPT Ladies’ Championship airing August 18th, and the WPT World Championship airing August 25th. There are also DVDs available for previous season’s coverage that you may have missed.

Las Vegas dealers are in the process of becoming unionized, as Local 721 continues to get employees to vote whether or not to join. They have had successful attempts at the Wynn and Caesars Palace casinos thus far, but have a long way to go before all the Vegas dealers are unionized.

The effort suffered a setback recently when the employees at the Rio voted against the union with a 247-162 vote. Organizers said they were not disappointed with the outcome of the vote, and will continue to try and organize local casino employees. The Las Vegas Dealers Local 721 is an affiliate of the Transport Workers Union of America, based out of New York.

Depending on where they work, a union may not be the best option for the casino workers. Unions limit shifts and take away flexibility the dealers may already have established with the casino.

One of the issues with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is that State governments are responsible for gambling laws. The federal government cannot dictate to the state what gambling laws are to be enforced, so a California assemblyman has crafted a bill that may change things for online poker and online banks.

Lloyd Levine wants to keep all the gambling contained in state boundaries. Players and operators would be restricted to the physical limitations of state jurisdiction. Then each state could police and regulate the games themselves. Essentially California players would play on state-operated online poker rooms, and move money through California banks.

He faces a lot of opposition, mainly from competitive groups like Native Casinos, racinos, and Las Vegas and Atlantic City. These groups are trying to control a near monopoly in gaming revenues, exercising whatever political maneuvers they can to protect their share of the market.