Gavin Griffin is a 30 year-old live tournament pro who has amassed $4,634,067 playing live tournaments, and a little over $70,000 online. The California resident is also a triple crown winner, having taken down a WSOP, EPT and WPT title between May 2004 and January 2008.

Soon after, Gavin Griffin was snapped up by PokerStars but since then things haven’t gone so well for the US pro who has cashed for just $102,688 between 2009 and 2012.

Discussing some of the factors which affected his fortunes over the past few years, Griffin cites the cost of travelling and playing in live tournaments, payment to backers and high state taxes especially in California (he paid $1 million in taxes in 2007 and 2008). On top of that, throw in stock market losses, a better level of general competition, and the effects of Black Friday, and you have all the ingredients of a massive knock to a poker professionals bankroll.

However, Gavin Griffin emphasizes the fact he isn’t broke but has had to step down several levels in order to keep a tight reign on his bankroll. This has lead to a slight dent to his pride, but Gavin now feels he is turning a corner, and as he explains:

“I’m proud that I don’t have too much trouble playing at lower stakes…I was there  [Commerce Casino] playing $8/$16 and in the past I’ve played $200/$400 on a regular basis and played as high as $1,000/$2,000 Limit. So to be there during the LAPC, the best time to play at the Commerce, and I’m playing $8/$16 and all these people I know are milling around, I found myself ducking my head a bit and avoiding people and stuff…So I felt like I was disguising myself a bit, at least until the article came out I guess.”

Robert De Niro played the part of Sam “Ace” Rothstein in Casino (1995), in which the top gambling handicapper was brought in to the Tangiers Casino to help improve the business, before eventually doubling the casino’s profits.

Now the Paradise Walker Hill Casino in Korea, is hoping he may have a similar affect on their operation after contracting the New York City screen icon to be its official model.

The Paradise Walker Hill Casino is the country’s longest running casino and plays host to the five-day APPT Seoul Festival of Poker. Now tourists arriving at the Incheon International Airport are greeted by a billboard of De Niro sharply dressed in a tuxedo, holding cards and beckoning tourists to come play at the Paradise Walker-Hill Casino. Similar posters can also be seen at other major tourist spots.

For those of you wondering why a US actor would be chosen to promote a Korean casino, the answer lies in the fact that the East Asian country only permits non-nationals to gamble, with APPT President Danny McDonagh explaining:

“It’s illegal for nationals to gamble in the casinos here. The numbers [at APPT Seoul] would be nuts if they could. Only internationals can play. We have a few Koreans in the field, but they hold multiple passports.”

Still, despite restrictions the APPT Seoul continues to grow and this season attracted 268 players, although the 68 year-old movie icon was not amongst the field. The figures were also markedly up from 166 in season 2 and 186 the season before. Furthermore, this years winner Andrew Kim from the USA, picked up a record KRW 145 million ($128,914) for his victory in the Korean capital.

Online bingo has become the number one online pastime for gaming fans in recent years. With poker players the most recent converts to the bingo rooms, it might be about time you tried your hand at one of the biggest UK bingo sites online – Costa Bingo.

Costa Bingo is known as the sunshine bingo site because the theme of this bingo room is a beach holiday on the Costa del Sol. Players are greeted by Sunny, the site mascot, and the homepage is awash with sun, sand and sea – as well as the promise of big bonuses and lots of free bingo games.

The bonuses on offer at Costa are some of the best in the business. New players can enjoy a 300% welcome bonus when they make their first deposits – this means you can deposit just £10 and play with £40! Regular players can also enjoy 50% extra whenever they make a top up.

As soon as you join and deposit, you will be able to enter the First Time Depositor Freebie game which gives away a £20 jackpot every 15 minutes. Regular depositors can also enter the Daily Deposit Reload Freebie after every deposit at the site where there is £15 available to win every 30 minutes.

Costa is also known for its great free bingo. Costa Bingo’s free bingo games are legendary as Costa was actually the bingo site that pioneered free bingo with real cash prizes. Players at the site can play for free and still win up to £50 each time in real cash. It’s no wonder gamers of all kinds are turning to Costa.

Those players who want to stand a chance of winning even more money can opt to enter the paid for jackpot games each night which only cost 10p and have prizes of £2,500. However, the biggest draw of the week at Costa is on Friday in the Costa Crazy gae where again players can enjoy a free bingo game – only this time the prize is a whopping £10,000! These Jackpot Bingo Games have been drawing in the poker crowds for some time now and the chat rooms are awash with poker players who have been converted to the joys of free bingo and big jackpots.

Another feature of Costa Bingo that appeals to poker players and casino players alike is the amount of slots, table games and instant games available to enjoy at the site. Many of these titles will be familiar from online casinos, such as roulette and blackjack table games and famous slot titles.

Poker players particularly enjoy the instant game tourneys that are currently on offer at Costa. These allow players to play the instant games in a tournament setting against other players, which is something poker players might miss about playing poker. Now at Costa poker players can enjoy playing against other gamers to try and top the leader board, similar to in a tournament poker game.

The great thing about playing at Costa Bingo is that there is less money at risk, and often no money at risk at all in the many free bingo games available. The jackpots and cash prizes are still highly impressive though – so join in the poker players already enjoying all the action at Costa – your 300% welcome bonus awaits!

How can you tell whether or not you’re playing a good poker game? This simple rule will make it easier for beginner’s to judge their poker performance.

When you’re new to poker, it’s hard to judge how well you’re playing over the course of an entire game, and managing your bankroll can be difficult.

There are lots of different schools of thought when it comes to managing your bankroll while you’re playing online poker, but the simplest and most effective tip that I’ve ever heard is one that can be applied to all kinds of poker – limit and no limit, Texas Hold’em, and Omaha hi/lo.

That tip is known as the “30 bet rule”. Essentially, the 30 bet rule says that you should never lose more than 30 big bets in a game. The size of a “big bet” depends on the type of game you’re playing, but it should give you an idea of how much money you will be risking in a game, and has the added bonus of making sure you’re ready for your chosen limits – if you can’t afford those 30 big bets, don’t even sit down at the table.

The 30 bet rule is useful for many reasons. Firstly, it stops you from staying at a table when you’re losing. Secondly, it encourages you to think carefully before you play poker, and may help you to adopt a more conservative style.

Thirdly, it acts as a form of automatic bankroll management – even for more experienced players. If you are a good player, and you’ve lost 30 hands in one night, then it’s likely that you need to step away from the table for a while. Not necessarily because you’re playing badly, but because those 30 losses – even if they were simply down to bad luck, will have had a massive impact on your table image.

If you look weak to other players at the table, your performance suffers – even if you’re good, you end up getting called on more hands, and you’ll end up losing more often just because of the way the other players perceive you.

The 30 bet rule ensures that bad table image won’t be as much of a problem.