AskMen.com offers some surprisingly sound advice concerning bluffing. Here's a sample:

Like any poker play, bluffing is all about overall expectation. You are not trying to win a particular hand, you are trying to make the play that offers you the highest expected profits overtime. Developing a strategy or overall approach to bluffing is a key element in your overall game.

Now head over to the nearest low-limit hold'em game you can find and bluff away (all your money)!

How tight should one play preflop in a no-limit game? Can you mix in more hands than you can in limit? How about when the game is short-handed? What role does stack size play?

Don't ask me this crap -- if I knew the answers to this do you think I'd be working at this dump? Geez...

...then who is losing? A valid question indeed. Leave it to 2+2 for answers (not that there are any losers there).

The World Poker Tour Championship kicks off today and runs all week, Cardplayer (of course) has early coverage. Poker Wire is also on the case.

Daniel Negreanu was on ESPN's Sportsnation today, answering reader questions. Here's the complete chat transcript. There's some interesting stuff!

Phil (Vegas): I noticed that you don't believe in playing tight in the early stages of tournaments, but after 2004 at the main event do you think you'll hit the brakes a little?

Daniel Negreanu: (5:11 PM ET ) No. Absolutely not. There is more dead money on the first day. It's a great opportunity to end Day 1 with $70-80,000. There is money out there so if I don't get it, somebody else will.

It's a big log, so get reading.

Sharon Goldman has a new Poker Journal entry entitled Tells and Life. As you could probably guess, it talks about tells:

A tell, by poker definition, is any habit, behavior or physical reaction that gives other players information about your hand. I spend a lot of time learning each player's tells so that I may read that player better in any future game I play with them.

Reading or learning tells is not as easy as it sounds. You need to pay VERY close attention to every movement a player makes during a hand � and also when they're not in a hand. You can pick up tells on a player when you're not in the hand by watching their reactions to the play of others. But when you have figured out that person's tell � you have an advantage.

Read the rest.

Would you believe that pPlayer has the audacity to slander the most premium starting hand of them all? If you want to read some inane babbling, you can find the nonsense here.

Ironically, with the influx of dead money into the poker world, many poker pros are playin less. Pokernews.com makes a few observations on this topic.

Oddly enough, even filthy rich poker pros enjoy free money from sponsorships, especially when all they have to do is wear a little logo on their shirt or hat. However, this can create problems on televised events, where you'll sometimes find those logos covered in black tape or blurred out in post-production.

Planet Stacked Tip: Be sure to read this article, as Annie Duke has been nominated for the "Most Ridiculous Comment of the Year" for her quote near the middle of the article where she likens poker pros to slaves.

Granted, addressing this topic on the internet is about like discussing anorexia at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting, but I submit this thread for your perusal nonetheless.

Daniel Negreanu talked about the play against Paul Phillips in his newest blog entry:

Paul Phillips did a reverse-reverse "math guy" play on me and I felt it. I almost called him but at the last minute changed my mind and he bluffed me off of a key pot.

Paul follows up in his own blog.

For those of us who are huge fans of the 2004 BarronVangorToth.com Actor of the Year, this seems like a dream come true, especially when the founding member has missed Ben every time he has been at Foxwoods. Not that he's bitter or anything. (Especially because it's not like he carries every Ben Affleck DVD in his car just in case he gets the opportunity to run into him: yes, even "200 Cigarettes" and "School Ties.") Perhaps to satiate the ever-increasing demand for all-things-Ben, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum - Las Vegas is stepping up to the proverbial plate. Bravo, I say, Bravo!

Many will initially say it is far better to spend $3,499 on a weekend session learning from Bill Fillmaff. However, if you stop laughing at the Phil Hellmuth Fantasy Camp information long enough to read through the whole thing, you'll learn that you'll also get instruction from not one, not two, but THREE Stacked pro's: David Williams, Josh Arieh, and Evelyn Ng. One wonders if it would generate more buzz (and more business) being billed as the David, Josh, and Evelyn camp. I certainly would pay $3,499 to go camping for the weekend with Davi--- I mean Evelyn.

Daniel Negreanu has a new blog update where he talks about the Pro Poker Tour and the related side games. Here's a peek:

Actually I love the PPT. I love the concept, but I think it would have been better if the players all had to post a buy in and then have the half a million dollars added to the prize pool.

What that would do is A) increase the prize pool substantially, and B) it would get rid of some of the "riff raff."

It pains me to see some players in the event that don't even support the WPT. They used to play tournaments years ago, and either because they can no longer financially afford it, or weren't lucky enough to stay afloat, are given a free ride.

Read more.

Limping in with big pairs, cold-calling raises with fringe holdings, running QJ offsuit out of position, playing suited connectors when you're not going to get the six or more to the flop required to make them profitable, defending blinds with garbage, and more - this article has a boatload of quality advice.

ALL IN magazine is out of business...? I'd assume a sales bonanza for any publication with the 2004 BarronVangorToth.com Actor of the Year on its first edition cover, but ... apparently not.

On a personal note, I currently am the sole source of income for two women, neither of whom have I ever been married to, are my children, nor have they bore my children. Suffice it to say that it's a long story. So I feel for those guys who have the albatross which is Responsibility around their neck. Especially the guy married to this woman who's trying to figure out the best way her husband can pay to get her nails done. Even though he's on the other side of the pond, I do have a spare room in my home, if he's interested. The downtrodden must stick together.

It's a truly sad day in any marriage when a mock kidnapping must be orchestrated in order for a husband to get in a few hands of poker.

We can't make this stuff up.

Are you the type of person that warning label makers have in mind when they put warnings such as "Caution -- HOT" on coffee cups or "Do not ingest" on rat poison packages? If so, then you probably don't have the mental capacity to plan your own poker night. Have no fear -- here is a guide walking you through the process.

Head over to pokernews.com and read about some of poker's young stars. Be warned, however, that in an obvious oversight the most prolific young player of them all was left out.

Poker prince and Worldwide Champion Bill Fillmaff has released chapter 2 of his Secret System instructional poker videos. Here's what this one is about:

Worldwide Champion Bill Fillmaff breaks down his perfect strategy for winning poker tournaments, managing your bankroll, and setting traps.

Go watch it, if you must.

Here's the newest issue - but that's a whole lot of articles, no? And most of them can't be good, can they? (Especially since NONE were written by yours truly.) Well, dear reader, we here at Planet Stacked want to save you some time and eliminate the need to make your own decisions. With that spirit in mind, I present the Top 5 articles from this issue, listed with the best first in case you only have time to read one. You're welcome!

I mean, what more is there to say? He is the absolute man among men.

I can only imagine what type of press there would be about Stu Ungar if he were doing today what he was doing back in them thar days. Too bad most of us will never get the chance to see his antics to any great extent...

I'm not one to talk about my faults, for I have few, and I dislike making people more envious of me and my amazing life filled with women who constantly reject me, friends who oftentimes let me down, and a career path most find fringe at best. (please, someone, help me) One of my faults, however, is swearing, as I love to fraggin' swear up a storm like a proverbial sailor. Apparently, so does Phil Hellmuth, and while I'm not Phil's biggest fan, this is definitely an amusing anecdote about the Bill Fillmaff wannabe.

I'll preface this by saying Roy West aggravates me with each and every article as he's constantly trying to feed me some outlandish (or unhealthy) meal. That aside, he is a solid poker writer who this month discusses some obvious - and some non-traditional - ways to improve your game. I certainly don't want to be Roy when I grow up in like eighty years, but I would like to incorporate this type of mindset into my game ... and into my life.

For unimaginative cigar-smokers who still think this is 1978, you don't run them very often. I've said it before and I'll say it again, in most games, even up through the upper-low limits like $10-$20 when you're getting 7-9 to every flop, play them under the gun (it says so on p. 82 of "Small Stakes Hold 'em" -- don't question it). However, Michael still manages to sneak in some sane points amongst his initial warnings against this gonzo of a holding.

480 players got together in Tunica, Mississippi to be a part of the largest charity poker event in history. Players were vying for two WSOP seats and ended up raising over $90,000 in the process.

If you're like me, you're thinking of investing your life savings (i.e. $27 and a bunch of those stamps for free sandwiches at Subway) in World Poker Tour stock. However, analysts warn that WPT stock is no sure thing. Maybe we need a plan B for our future financial security.

It's that time once again to curse our luck and think about what might have been over at 2+2. The thread kicks off with a poster telling of his preflop fold that cost him a $20,000 jackpot. Rats.

Poker Updates has apparently broken the story that Shana Hiatt is leaving the World Poker Tour after this season. Here's pPlayer's report. Rumors that Shana will be replaced by a dress-wearing Eskimo Clark are thankfully unconfirmed at this time.

Daniel Negreanu has a new blog update in which he talks about gambling with fellow Stacked pros Erick Lindgren and Josh Arieh... but not necessarily at poker. It's a fun read.

Speaking of Daniel, pPlayer has some clarification regarding his exclusivity to the new Wynn property:

Daniel lays it out very clearly: "I will play cash games exclusively at the Wynn when I'm in Vegas, but am free to play in tournaments all over town."

For more on that story, go read the rest.

In an attempt to stave off the forces of evil and the subsequent spread of moral corruption among citizens, Police recently raided an East Rochester Poker club.

Let's all take a moment and ponder where we would be were it not for the kindness of authorities everywhere to make moral choices for us.

I think we missed the launch of Josh Arieh's new official site. He's got a journal/blog, news, articles... all that good stuff. Check it out!

Something is seriously wrong with this world if you can't play Texas Hold'em in Texas. However, that could be the case soon in the state where it all began. If some politicians have there way, even FREEROLLS would be illegal.

What's next? No dueling outside of the local saloon? Where does it end???