Birthplace: Vancouver, Canada
Sign: Pisces
Status: Dating
Resides: Los Angeles
Tina Sue was born and raised in Vancouver. The youngest of two children, she has an older brother. Her ethnic background is Chinese. At the age of 5 she was already playing poker at the kitchen table with her family for pennies and sometimes peanuts. They played two games 7-card stud high and 5 card draw poker. A few years later her father brought her to the longshoremens hall where they played $1-2 three card poker. She remembers winning a $22 dollar pot when she was only 8 years old. Her father also brought her along to the racetrack where she learned to handicap the horses and she also won her first tri-actor at the ripe age of 5. Needless to say her exposure to the gaming world started very early.
Poker didn't become a constant in her life over the years until she was 22 when she moved to Los Angeles and was introduced to the real world of poker at the Bicycle Club Casino. The first time she stepped foot into the "Bike" she was stunned to see 2000 people sitting in a room all playing poker. There she became friends with players that took the time to teach her the basic fundamentals of the game. From there she went on to play regularly for the next few years traveling up and down the west coast of north america. Visiting every little poker club she could find. Back home in Vancouver the main games were pot limit, dealers choice, mostly omaha and a $10-20 omaha hi-low game. This is where she learned the most about poker. Playing with the old timers, "the rocks" as they were known then and watching them make their moves.
Becoming a "professional" by the age of 25 and playing $20-40 holdem around california she didn't take tournament play very serious until the summer of 1993. She was visiting friends in Las Vegas and sat down in a WSOP $220 satellite and won her first seat into the "BIG ONE" to play for a million dollars. There were 6 bracelet holders at her final table. The "boys" still talk about that day. Tina Sue was only one of five women that played the event and the field that year was a mere 230 players. After that experience she was hooked. Since then she has played for a million dollars several more times. She just recently came back from the Monte Carlo Millions Tournament that was held in November in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Placing 3rd in the consolation event for $10,000.
Over the years on a few occasions she has been employed as the poker teacher and tournament director at some of the poker clubs. She has also worked in the pr and marketing departments for several large land based and internet casinos. Currently Tina Sue resides in Los Angeles working as a Poker Consultant and plays poker on a regular basis in live action games and tournaments. She enjoys meeting people and telling jokes at the poker table.
" I believe that everyone has one good joke to tell me so I can laugh with them!"
Tina Sue
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Fair Poker Tips
Do not make a raise unless you think you can call a re-raise
In other words, if you are going to play strong, don't back down if someone wants to play stronger. You may or may not re-raise, but that's not the point. You have to be to handle being re-raised.
Do not make a call unless you think you could raise
The idea here is that you should only be playing hands where you think you have the best of it, and you want to make others pay to draw out on you. Meaning they have to pay for the privilege of beating you. The trick here is to be in the best of it odds wise more often than not, because you will not win all of the time. Learning what the odds are can be a tricky thing, but that comes over time.
If someone draws out on you, take note of what they were playing,
but don't get upset
Part of playing poker is to have people gamble. If no one gambled, there would be no point to the game. Since it takes no skill to get dealt two Aces, no one would play unless they had the best hand all the time, and therefore, the game would always be determined by the luck of the deal. That is not poker. That is a game called Bingo.
So, pay attention to what people gamble with, and use that to your advantage.
Be a happy loser and a humble winner
No one likes to give their money away to a show-off. Basically, give them some sugar if you are going to punish them. If you catch a lucky card that gives you the best hand, simply say, "Yup, I got lucky. You had me the whole way. I can't believe how I lucky I got." All the while thinking to yourself, "Yeah! That was a huge pot! I rule!"
Learn how to switch gears in tournaments
If you are playing a tournament, know that as time passes, and the number of players dwindles, it becomes more important to play hands that are less than optimal.
It is better to win a bunch of small pots than to lose a few big ones
Basically, don't get fancy. If the pot is big enough, and you have the best hand, go ahead and push as big a raise as you can into it in an attempt to take it down at that point. Don't feel bad about not making as much as you could have had you let people stay in. The more often you let people stay in by not making strong bets, the more often they will suck out on you, destroying you as you losing big pots.
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Online Poker Etiquette
Most poker etiquette is common sense, try to be polite and respect other players at the table. This is no different when you play poker at an online poker room. They might not be 'rules' per se, but etiquette is important nonetheless.
Play games for FREE first if you don't fully understand them
When people are playing with others for real money, they expect that others players at the table know the game. Slowing them down and/or asking questions because you haven't done your homework isn't polite to do. Read the instructions first, play at a free table (all the online poker rooms we recommend have free play) to get the hang of things, then go play at a real money table. Other players (and your pile of chips) will thank you.
Watch your language
When you're playing online you're not usually surrounded by friends, so it's polite to keep it clean.
Don't get carried away with the chat
Chat features are integrated into poker rooms for a reason - to chat. But not everyone enjoys the distraction. Try to flow with the pace of the table, if people are chatty, talk away. If people aren't, don't. Also, reserve chatting for when it's not your turn - it's rude to keep others waiting while you type. Being social is nice, but there's a time to play and a time to talk.
Don't be a jerk
It's pretty self-explanatory, but sometimes people forget. Don't talk trash to other players or 'rub it in' when you're up - treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.
Try to keep pace
Online poker rooms usually allow 30-60 seconds for a player to take their turn. This time limit is there to protect players in the event of internet delays or the occasional time when they're not paying as much attention as they should be. The time is not there to be used up on every turn - remember people are waiting for you, and games can get frustrating for all when people don't keep a good pace. Most online poker rooms will allow you to select your upcoming action before it's even your turn, so do just that when appropriate.
Don't make comments about a hand in progress
Folding and telling people what your hand was gives players an unfair advantage. Saying 'and I had two aces!' tells an active player there aren't many aces left in the deck. Speculating on what players left in the hand have also tips people off.
Don't do it.
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Land base vs. online poker
Table poker is one of the most well recognized games in the casino.
Poker is often played professionally, or by amateurs, in a casino, or in a tournament. It has even become popular to televise high stakes poker competitions often involving celebrities.
Online poker software simulates a virtual table and the game is usually played the same way as live poker (depending on the variation you are playing).To make the online poker seem more realistic many casinos offer the choice to play with a real, live dealer that appears on your screen and that you can communicate with.
Obviously the anonymity that online poker affords players precludes the need for a 'poker face', a requirement once deemed essential to any successful poker pro.
However, those of us that have played poker in both casino or house games and also online agree that poker is one of the traditionally great games that migrates beautifully to the online environment.
And, when we consider that the 2003 WSOP champion Chris Moneymaker learned everything he knew about poker in an online card room and managed somehow to beat out all the seasoned land based pros in his first live casino outing, the future for online poker is indeed a bright one.
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