Poker News & Reviews » poker

Just Kept on Keeping On.

Reed — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:40:05 +0000

Went for a beach vacation with the family to San Diego. We had a great time and for once we didn’t even step foot in a casino. That’s right we just kept on keeping on right on by.

Had a blast with the family and taking the dog to the beach.

The games will always be there and so will the casinos but my daughter will only be this age once and the dog is no longer a puppy. I guess the moral is ( if there is one) Live now in the moment, if that’s busting a couple tourists or just making your spouse’s favorite dinner. There is more to life then making money at the poker tables, sometimes that is easy to forget through the daily grind and swings of poker but it is truth never the less.

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New Internet Gambling Bill HR 2267

Reed — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:09:05 +0000

Well a new bill has come out that will make it truly “legal” to play online poker again. Seems this new bill HR 2267 is on it’s way to set the new standard.

The bill will require that all online gambling ( and poker ) sites be based in the United States ( the ones to service the U.S.) . Meaning no more offshore accounts and no more wondering where in the world your money could be.

These companies will now be legally liable to the patrons of the online poker casinos and could be held accountable for anything that could happen ( Say like the president of the company wants to back door everyone on the site and take millions of dollars scott free).

The big players online are going to be scrambleing to get a foot hold on the U.S. market so there should be some good bonus deals flying, and lets all hope the players are kept in the forefront because with out us there is no internet poker.

AP & UB Royal Flush Poker Jackpot is a Bad Beat!

Reed — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:28:29 +0000

Finally an online gaming network ( Absolute & Ultimate Bet ) has stepped up and created a bad beat jackpot for Omaha players. The problem is it’s only for PLO (pot limit Omaha) players and not eight or better plus they take a hefty thirty five percent off the top when it does hit.

So of the remaining 65%

50% Of the figure goes to the player holding the Royal Flush

25% Of the figure is divided among the players at the table where the Royal Flush was hit

25% Of the figure is divided between everyone playing at a Royal Flush Jackpot table with the same stakes

They are going to take an extra fithty cents out of every pot that has at least a twenty five cent rake to build the Royal Jackpot fund for Omaha (PLO only) players. And the fine print……

For the Royal Flush to be awarded:

Player must use two cards from his hand of 4 cards to make the Royal Flush
Hand must go to a showdown
A ‘jackpot’ rake must be collected in the hand that the Royal Flush occurs
Four or more players must be dealt in the hand

Royal Flush Jackpot tables will collect $0.50 from the pot of each raked hand that is raked $0.25 or more. The $0.50 is added to the Royal Flush jackpot.
Players sitting out at the Royal Flush table when it occurs are not eligible for the jackpot
In order to qualify for a piece of the 25% same stakes split, players must be playing at the same game type and stake level where the jackpot was hit. Players must have played in at least one hand, in their current session at the table, where a jackpot rake was collected and players must have contributed to that pot. Players must be dealt cards when the Royal Flush occurs.
If two Royal Flushes hit at precisely the same time, the jackpot will be awarded to the hand that began first according to the AP/UB game time.
- Not all tables qualify for the Royal Flush Jackpot. Pot Limit Omaha Royal Flush Jackpot tables will be noted with the icon “J” after the table name.
- In order to qualify for the Royal Flush Jackpot, four or more players must be dealt in the hand and a rake must be collected.
- The player with the Royal Flush must use two cards from his hand.
- Players sitting out at the Royal Flush Jackpot table are not eligible for the jackpot.
- The hand must go to a showdown in order to qualify for the Royal Flush Jackpot.
- Should two qualifying jackpot hands hit at precisely the same time, the jackpot will be awarded to the hand that began first according to the UB game time.
- UB does not tolerate collusion. All players must act independently and not reveal their hands to other players, nor tell them how to act. Failure to abide by these rules will result in automatic disqualification from the Royal Flush Jackpot.
- The Royal Flush Jackpot collects $0.50 from the pot of each raked hand that is raked $0.25 or more. The $0.50 is then added to the rolling jackpot.

Poker sites are always looking for new ways to entice people to join and play which is great and as a poker player I do appreciate that….but….if your going to make promotions “for the players” then make it for them not just as another avenue for the site to make more money. Promotions are supposed to drive more people to sign up and play ( which means more rake generated and more income for the site) not build a big purse for the site and stab the loyal player in the wallet.

Note: As of this posting the Royal Flush Bad Beat just got hit at 3:54 Pacific time, Good job Omaha poker players!!!!

No Limit Hold’em-Nut Flush Draw

According to David Mamet ….

Reed — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:04:00 +0000

“Poker reveals to the frank observer something else of import—it will teach him about his own nature. Many bad players do not improve because they cannot bear self-knowledge.”

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Single Table Shootout 10/12/09

Reed — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:59:11 +0000

Started out with eight players ( #9 came in late and missed a round of the button) with both the small and big blinds posting with out a player yet. A aggressive player I’ve played with many time raises it in middle position. I’m sure he is trying to steal the absentee blinds so I call in lateposition with a marginal hand of Q, 9 off suit. Everyone else folds leaving 150 in the pot. Flop comes 2,2,5 and the villain bets 50, I call knowing he probably has none of that and figure whatever comes on the turn I will let him bluff at it again then raise him. Q comes on the turn which is great for me. He throws a 100 into the pot but didn’t say anything so by casino tournament rules it only counts as 25. At this point there is 275 in the middle up for grabs so I raise it to 175 and he insta folds. The rest of the tournament didn’t go as well, got pocket A,A’s raised to 150 and got no action. Raised on the button with J, J , small blind goes all in for 125 more ( instacall) and has A,A which holds up. Then I go all in on the small blind with A, 9 off suit. The original aggressive villain calls with A, 4 suited in clubs. ( Player 1 (A 4): win 29.05% lose 55.78% tie 15.17% EV 0.366Player 2 (9 A): win 55.78% lose 29.05% tie 15.17% EV 0.634 ) So as you can see I’m a pretty good favorite. Then the flop comes..9 7 Q (Player 1 (A 4): win 36.48% lose 63.16% tie 0.35% EV 0.367 Player 2 (9 A): win 63.16% lose 36.48% tie 0.35% EV 0.633) hit my 9 and in the lead. Fade anything bad on the turn but get smacked in the face with a river club giving him the flush to knock me out.

Single table shootout 10/9/09

Reed — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:26:30 +0000

Played the $25 morning NL hold’em single table shootout this morning. There was only eight players, making a $200 prize pool (casino takes nothing from the tournaments). Played very patient, waited for hands, then pushed hard when I got them. Raised to $250 when I had A, K off suit in the small blind after two people limped in for $50 each and took down the pot without a fight. Got a call when I raised again with A, K from first position by a guy with K, Q and knocked him out after a Ace hit the flop and the turn. Made a couple positional raises against the tight big blind to do some stealing. Lost some chips when I was forced to call some cheap all ins with some very marginal hands. We ended up getting down to three players, I had a medium chip stack. The chip leader then knocked out the short stack , leaving us heads up. My opponent, who I’ve played against several times, had me out chipped about 2-1 and offered to chop the prize pool 5-3. Seemed like a good deal, so I took it.

The new characteristic to avoid; Being “the teacher”.

Reed — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:50:11 +0000

The new characteristic to avoid; Being “the teacher”.

How many times have you been called down to the river after you raised pre-flop, bet on every turn to find your worthy adversary holding a 4,7 off suit to make some outlandish straight and making your pocket Aces worthless? Let me tell you it happens way too often . Now the right thing to do would be to shake it off , store this valuable information you just got and continue the game. But often times what I see happen is the “what in the world were you in that pot for?”, “you called a pre-flop raise with that?”, “do you know the odds of you actually hitting any sort of wining hand with that?” and so on and so forth I’m sure you have heard it or said any number of these things after a frustrating bad beat such as this who could blame you. The thing to remember is the situation will come up when this persons ridiculous draws will back fire , you’ll have the nuts and rake in a huge pot.

If you try and “teach” these people a lesson maybe next time they won’t call your pre-flop raise and pay you off because of the comments you made. Do you really want to stop them from calling your raises with terrible hands and chasing essentially losing draws, of course not . These are the people who will pay you off time and time again. If they can’t learn from their mistakes it is not your responsibility to teach them the rules or odds or anything for that matter.

So stay focused , let the fish do what they do, and let the professors do the teaching.

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Keep an eye on the competition.

Reed — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:48:32 +0000

Keep an eye on the competition.

Now with poker popping up around every corner, and new eager players just waiting to jump in ( a game they never played , but caught a couple episodes of on T.V. ) it’s time now more then ever to size up your competition and pay attention. You are not the only one who has seen all the fresh meat entering the coral, all the sharks, lions and eagles have been praying for this day.

When a new player sits down at your local $4/8 game do you automatically discount them just because they are a new face? If you haven’t seen them play before , well they must not be any good and nothing to really worry about. That sounds like a great way to lose your money. If you are so arrogant with the “new guy” how observant have you really been with the other players . Can you really trust your judgment when it comes down to that one important call that either sends you home packing or lets the rest of the table know it’s only a matter of time before all their chips are coming your way? For those of you that don’t know or have “forgotten” how or what tells to look for when the new guy comes to town here is a couple hints that might help you out .

Are you observing not only the people you’re playing with, but also those waiting in the wings? Small observations can help you in the long run. Do they wander around lost after standing by the door for 20minutes deciding if it’s ok for them to be in here? Or do they walk right up to the pit boss and sign up? Do people in the room know their name? This is always a big give away that they have been here on several occasions and may not be the pigeon you were hoping for. Then again, frequency is (thankfully!) not neccassarily a sign of a good player. How much do they buy in for ? The minimum or do they get a full rack? Are they intoxicated? These little observations give you lots of information even before the person sits down, that is assuming you were watching them, not the short skirted cocktail waitress or the game on the tube.

So they sit down, now is when you really should keep an eye out . Do they know about the blinds and the betting? I was in a game the other night and I actually heard a guy in the 7^th seat say to the man next to him” a full house beats a flush right? “ Now because I keep my ears open and my mouth shut for the most part I was able to hear this remarkable comment over the noise of the casino and store it in the proper place, primed for later use. By the way I helped to relieve the novice of the burden of cashing in his chips. Does his hands shake when he bets ? Does she string bet? How do they handle their chips? Do they clumsily stack their chips in awkward stacks or are they doing finger rolls while counting and stacking the chips like the dealer. If they tip the dealer or not may show they never ventured beyond their computer.

Take in all of the seemingly inoxious details, you never know what may help you down the line. Knowing how familiar your opponents are with the game, how comfortable they are, how loose, tight, or indifferent they are, how much/little money means to them, all of these factors can equal more money in your pocket if you just bother to pay attention.

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According to Crandall Addington….

Reed — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:42:55 +0000

“ Limit poker is a science, but no limit is an art. In limit, you are shooting at a target. In no limit the target comes alive and shoots back at you “.

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According to Chris Ferguson…

Reed — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:41:46 +0000

“ Work hard and love the game. Take your time and move up slowly. Playing poker can be a humbling experience; you learn real fast how to deal with failure. It’s what you do with that failure that determines future success.”

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