My Son's Gamble

An interesting article about a mother’s struggle with her son’s perceived gambling addiction. It all works out pretty well for all parties. A good read: My Son's Gamble - NYTimes.com.

How to deal with the odd man out

Time for some more discussion folks. Since we no longer have access to the room we had been using we are going to be moving the game around on a rotating basis. The question becomes how to determine who gets seats when there is more demand than supply. Fortunately, we will only have to do this some of the time since Adam has generously offered up his place which has plenty of capacity and Ryan is willing to try two tables by converting his game room to hold a second table. However, we are not always going to have access to high capacity venues. We may be limited to 10, 9, or even 8 seats.

There are many different factors which could be used to decide who gets priority. They include but are not limited to the following:

* "Seniority" as in the people who have been playing mid-week poker the longest. Should people who have been with the group longest get priority?

* Attendance - people who have shown up the most regularly over the past few months. Does it make sense that the players who always show up get spots over those who show up periodically?

* Duration - players who show up and play the longest each night. Should a person who plays from 7pm until the game breaks trump a player who shows up late and/or leaves early?

* Hosts - people who have offered their place to play. Clearly anyone hosting would play while hosting. But do people who host get priority over people who don't host
when playing at a third party location?

* First come first served? - True casino style would be that those who show up first get seats and after the table is full they can either wait or leave. RSVP order to the email invite could conceivably be used but I don't think that would be a good solution.

* Rotation - everyone would take a turn sitting out. Does it make sense for everyone to have to skip a week every so often when the seating is limited?

* Other? I'm sure there are other ways we can determine who gets a seat and who doesn't which are not listed above.

Also, as a sidebar, I want to know what people's opinions are about player versus shuffler. I am working on a way to get the shuffler to take up less rail space, ideally the solution would take zero rail space. But if the choice had to be made between having the shuffler or having people shuffle the cards but squeezing in an extra person, what would people prefer?

Please comment on what you think would be the best method for distributing limited seats. I'd like to get this resolved so that we can have the procedure in place for next week's game. Thanks!

Donks are Back

For a few months it seems like I was just eeking out small wins as the players just seemed to keep getting better and better. I sat down at a $5/$10 table, only to find Mesorucky and Waterpologuy, two really good players who I really can't figure out how to beat. Mesorucky said something interesting in the chat, he said the fish are back, something to do with cake's affiliation with the sport book site. He claimed to be up $100K, playing $25/50 PLO. Since then, I have been on a major heater and have found a few fish along the way.

Here are 3 bad beats I took yesterday and I still came out ahead for the day.

Nut Flush on Turn Cracked

In PLO8, I have the nut flush on the turn and check raise all in. Not a horrible bad beat as villain has 4 outs for the boat and 2 outs for the straight flush, plus he has a low, albeit a terrible one. Villain hits the boat.


Terrible call against obvious AAxx Hand

I am screaming here that I have AAxx hand and would expect a call from a run or a double suited hand like 789T double suited. Instead I get a call from A358, single suited which is going to match up terribly against an AAxx hand. Villain then hits bottom pair and figures he is priced in at 3.5:1 to call my all in bet. He hits trip 5's on the river.


2 Outed on the River

This dude figures I must have a super draw as he shoves all in with top 2 and a gutter to the bottom end of the straight draw. There was no way I was going to give a free card here so I bet out with a pot size bet into the original raiser. Pocket T's would be a bummer but the chances are so remote with 2 people checking and the original raiser is highly unlikely to raise with a TTxx hand. He hits his 2 outer.

Even with these beats, I can still come out ahead with donks like this one who can't figure out that I would only be raising with the nuts as there are zero combo draws on a rainbow, straighty board.

Second Nuts is No Good


Deep stacked all in push with non nuts

Generally not a good idea to go on a boat draw deep stacked. I Push U Pay is normally a very good player so I don't know what happens here.

Another Bad Beat 2 outer

Tony is uber aggressive so I decide to go with my top 2, only to be rewarded with a brutal 2 outer hit on the river by villain.

4 Outer Here

Nut flushes on the turn have a tough time holding up.

So there you have it, even with all these donks hitting imagine all the other hands I had where villains put there money in way behind and missed. Fish are swimming, time for the sharks to come out.

Marsh's Kings

Below is Marsh's hand history of the hand that busted him out of Event 9:

Blinds were still 25-50. I had about 3000. Table was 5 handed at this point. I raise utg with KK after being active early, but missing all flops and now in drum mode. I make it 200 straight. Folds to SB who flats. He is my target at the table so I am pretty happy. Flop is J 9 4r. He donk bets into me for 300, I raise him to 1300, he tank-flats. Turn is a 6, he checks, I ship the rest and he calls. We roll over KK vs 69o, river is an 8.

Please Don't Mix Food/Drink and Chips

After years of use the Bellagios finally got to the point where they needed to be cleaned. While not quite as bad as chips at Kenmore Lanes they were clearly not up to original condition. Some of them were sticking together so badly that people were putting in extra chips into the pot because there was a chip hanging on to the bottom of another chip. That is clearly a state which is below standards.

So I am currently in the process of cleaning all the chips that we use regularly. So far I'm a little more than half way through and it will have taken a few hours by the time all of the chips are done. Apart from the time, throw in the expense of a few jugs of distilled water, chip cleanser, rubber gloves, sacrificial towels, haz-mat disposal fees due to the lead content, etc. and it all adds up to something that I don't want to do again for a long long long time.

As such, I am requesting that all food and drink residue stay clear of the chips. Food and drink on the chips significantly contributes to the sticky chips which we all find less than desirable. If you want to eat, fine. Please do it away from the table surface. If you use your hands to eat do not handle the chips. The lead content of the chips alone should be enough reason for you not to eat and handle chips at the same time. If you do eat with your hands please either wash your hands in a sink or use wipes which I will keep in the equipment cases. Drinking at the table is fine. If your fingers get wet from condensation on the side of a bottle or glass that's OK too. However, if you get any beverage on your hand please either wash it off or ask for a wipe.

Thanks to everyone in advance for your cooperation. By keeping food and drink well away from chips we will all reap the benefits of nice clean chips.

Exciting River Action

As Ryan correctly points out I play a gazillion hands on line every month so it is hard to find one that is truly interesting. Here an $18 pot with no betting until the river balloons into a $664 after the river card hits. I have to make a calculated guess against the uber aggressive I push U Pay that my low is better than his low as it is obvious we both have the nut high. I push U Pay raises a ton of pots with good to great hands so the likelihood of him having an A2 or A3 hand in a limped pot is pretty low.

Drew should especially like this hand as his mistake of putting in chips with a strong chance of being quartered is pretty minor compared to this pot. Check out I Push U Pay's position of being last to act, the anti position in this pot.

Monster River Action

I ♥ Barney Frank

I know you all know about this already, but when it gets prominent placement in the NY Times you know it's a good thing.

Aided by Poker Devotees, Lawmaker Pushes to End the Ban on Online Gambling from today’s NY Times.

Pro-Poker Bill Gettin Introduced Tomorrow

Barney Frank is the man.

Something to keep tabs on. We'll see how it goes, hopefully this goes through and Washington state follows suit in repealing its own ridiculous online gambling ban.

Why are we playing this loser game...

when the real money is in slots?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLzSm-LiBD8