Site Review: Cardschat Poker Forum

While players can get a lot of information from reading poker blogs, one of the most valuable resources poker players have to increase their skill and their awareness of things going on in the poker community is web forums.

Like blogs, the best web forums have a community feel to them, but without the pressure of having to maintain a site or post frequently. On forums you can lurk around, read a lot, ask questions and participate as much or as little as you like.

Cardschat, one of my advertisers over on the right column, is a great place for someone looking for a place to talk poker and become part of an online community. The site is bulging with tips, strategies and hand analysis, along with the requisite space for venting your bad beats.

The hand analysis section of the Cardschat forum is a particularly useful resource. There are posting guidelines to help you post your questions in a format that will get you the most valuable responses. Once you have posted your hand, an entire discussion is likely to follow if your situation is interesting from a strategy standpoint. These discussions of real-world situations are the best setting for deeper learning about poker strategy.

Cardschat also hosts a gallery of poker room reviews that includes a growing guide on choosing a site to play on, how easy it is to deposit and withdraw your bankroll, tournament structures and whether sites accept US players. There is also a list of Poker Room deposit bonuses, but it is distinctly separate from the site reviews.

Other useful features on the Cardschat site include a poker odds calculator, online poker tournament listings and even a poker screensaver.

If you're looking for a place to learn about and discuss poker strategy, whether it be playing in tournaments and ring games or picking out a good poker room and bonus strategy, Cardschat is a great resource.