The full amount of your gambling winnings for year must be reported on line 21, Form 1040. If you itemize deductions, you can deduct your gambling losses for year on line 27, Schedule A (Form 1040). You cannot deduct gambling losses that are more than your winnings.

It is important to keep an accurate diary or similar record of your gambling winnings and losses. To deduct your losses, you must be able to provide receipts, tickets, statements or other records that show amount of both your winnings and losses.

Face it, IRS gets you coming and going. Well, I’m off to play poker.

Have a healthy and watchful respect for strong-tight players who are rarely in hands, particularly if they play hand out of position. If a player like this raises in early position you should fold all those marginal hands, and small pairs as well.

When weak players have entered pot, you should be happy to call and take flops with them provided you can do this inexpensively. Slow playing big hands has a higher expected value in No-Limit than it does in Limit games where it is rarely right way to play. That being said, it is a skill that takes a lifetime to master, and can easily backfire on you.

As blinds increase in tournament play you must be flexible with your evaluation of starting hands as you have to keep your chip stack well ahead of pace set by blinds. In tournament play you cannot wait for perfect starting hand, and frequently you need to make your own luck. Be selectively aggressive, especially in later stages of tournament. Initially you should be tight at least until you have a good read on some of opponents at your table. Try to avoid coin-flip scenarios where all your chips are at stake. This happens all time in online tournaments where players feel comfortable going all-in on AK and equally comfortable calling that hand with any pocket pair.

The winners of tournaments at all levels are usually those players who pace themselves early on, make a move in middle stages of event, and then start all over again at final table by once again playing strong-tight.