Welcome! You’ve discovered My Poker Diary!

My Poker Diary is a real life collection of poker stories, table secrets, player tips, tricks and how-to’s - all brought to you in a ‘behind-the-scenes’ kiss and tell account of a group of player’s journey into the world of poker.

Poker: Day 1

Probably the most daunting part about taking up poker, is knowing where to start. It can be quite overwhelming and a little scary entering what seems such an edgy, dog-eat-dog, or more aptly shark-eat-fish world. There’s the jargon to bust, the poker game variants to learn, a decent, legitimate poker room to find and that’s all before you can even start to work on building your stubbornly meager bankroll. But have no fear! We’ve all been there. There is only one way to start and that’s to dive on in. The My Poker Diary team all went through the same process and we’ve documented our experiences in these pages in order to encourage and reassure future generations of poker players that poker is, indeed, an open book just waiting to be read by one and all.

In the diary

A good way to whet your appetite and find out how much fun you can have playing poker is to tune into some of the biggest worldwide poker tournaments that happen every year. From the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to the World Poker Tour (WPT), Aussie Millions, European Poker Tournament and more, you’ll be able to marvel at some of the best poker players in the world. Regulars at the felt include the likes of Phil Ivey, loud-mouth Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, established women’s pro Annie Duke and more. Watching them play not only gives you a standard to aspire to but helps you understand how a spectrum of hands can be played to their full potential. Check out our Poker Events Diary to see what’s coming up this year and make sure you’re following all the top poker action.

Poker’s dirty secrets

Unraveling the mystery surrounding top standard poker is fun and fantastic news for your own game. What seems like uncanny and slightly paranormal sixth sense demonstrated by the pros can be interrogated and revealed for what it truly is; a series of expertly executed strategies and tricks. While only recently experiencing an explosion in popularity, poker is old enough to have developed a set of unwritten rules. Certain hands have a way to best be played, certain opponents have a way to be manipulated and so on. By studying a poker players not-quite-so-secret dirty secrets, you’ll provide yourself with the core tools required for the basis of a good game. With plenty of practice and your own personal flair, there’s no limit to how far you could take your game, or how much you could win!

Check out the line up of the world’s greatest poker events for this year.