Bad Beat of Sorts

So today, I'm back playing $2/$4 at the Palms Casino.  Laurie likes to watch movies while I play.

 

After about 90 minutes of playing with only 5-6 people.  I'm back to even and I'm at a full table.  Here's what happened that ruined the rest of my game.

 

I'm dealt As-Js in middle position.  The flop comes Ts-9c-Tc.  There's a bet and I call and about 4 other players call too.

 

The turn comes Ks.  OMG.  I'm one card away from a Royal Flush.  I comes to me and I check.  There is a raise and then a reraise.  It's going to cost me $8 (2 bets) to draw to the Qs.  Normally this is a bad call because I'm not getting pot odds.  But with the Palm high hand jackpot there is more money coming to me if I hit my hand.

 

At the Palm, the highest jackpot you can earn is the Spade Royal Flush.  This pays off $1045.  So I have a 1-in-52 chance of winning $1045, which is giving me 125-to-1 pots odds.  So calling with $8 is the right call.

 

The river comes 5d.  Damn, I missed my monster hand.  I fold.

 

Now here's the worst part.  The guy who one, flips over pocket 10s for a four of a kind.  If I had his my royal flush, that guy would have lost and won the bad beat jackpot.  The jackpot was at $6000.  He would have won 50% for $3000.  I, on the other hand, would have won 25% for about $1500.  The rest of the table would have split the remaining $1500 for about $200 each.

 

If that one card, the Queen of Spades, hit the board, I would have walked away with $2500 and would have go on to our vacation styling.

 

Piece of advice, when you come this close to winning $2500 and can't pull it off.  Stop playing poker.  I lost an additional $30 because of steaming.  Now I'm blogging and steaming and I have a conference tomorrow and I can't sleep.

 

This is the story I'll be telling over and over from now on.

 

Cheers.

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

 

Poker at the Orleans - 10/21/06

Laurie and I went to the Orleans last night.  Show would see the Grudge 2 and I would play poker.  We bought her ticket and then we went downstairs to watch me play.

 

As we approached the room, there was a tournament going on.  The room is quite large for casino standards.  They had a $2/$4, $4/$8, $6/$12, $4/$8 Omaha Hi/Lo and $1/$2 no limit games going.

 

I signed up for $2/$4 and waited about 8 minutes for a table.  The Orleans is off-the-strip and attracts many locals, which means that the players are a little bit better than the tourist on the strip.

 

When I started, I played a little aggressive. I lost a big hand when the turn gave me top pair, but my opponent had a full house on the river. The table was playing a little tight.  Lots of checking on the flop.  I got back to even by being agressive with second pair and just reading the tables strength.

 

Again, the winning strategy worked, play tight and they always pay you off.

 

Here's an interesting run of hands:

 

The dealing deals me a King but flips it up by accident.  My king is now dead.  My hole cards is a King-3.  I would have had pocket kings. I decide that my odds of winning are pretty slime, so I muck the hand in early position.  The flop comes King-8-9 rainbow.  I'm steaming right now.  Turn comes a Jack.  The river is a 7.  I would have lost to a straight, but the dealer saved me.

 

The very next hand I'm dealt pocket Kings again.  I play this super aggressive by raising preflop and I win it on the turn.

 

Final hand, I'm dealt pocket kings once again. Here is an example of the addage, "They always pay you off." I have Kings and I'm playing it aggressive.  I raise preflop and I have have 4 callers, including this woman under the gun.  This woman always raises when she has a hand.  the flop comes 6-9-King.  I have trips.  That woman raises and I call and the rest of the table folds.  She bets again and I reraise.  I have to think she knows I have kings and the best hand, but she has to make sure calls me to the end.  I win a lot of money on this hand.

 

Other weird hands.  I'm dealt pocket fives.  The flop is K-K-7.  On the flop everyone checks and on the turn everyone checks.  The river and early position bets.  I sit and think for a while and I call.  I win with two pair.

 

How do you tick people off?  Hit your draw on the river.  One hand I hit my straight on the river.  And the guy who lost couldn't stop talking about it almost ten minutes.  Here's a few of my decisions.  I entered the hand with a 9-6 off in the small blind. I was getting 9-to-1 to call.  The flop came A-9-8.  Player bets and I call.  I have the odds to make trips or backdoor straight.  Turn comes 5. River comes a 7.  I was getting the odds for this call and it paid off.

 

Thats it for now.  I hope to have another day of poker while I'm in Vegas.

 

Your Pal,

Al

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

 

Viva Las Vegas

Laurie and I will be in Las Vegas soon. I have one day for poker. The catch is that my wife wants to watch. I will be showing her my whole cards.

I think it will be fun, but there is a little pressure to not lose. I'm going to take her to the Excalibur. It's my favorite tourist spot and the fish aer definitely biting.

I'll play tight but aggressive. I'll keep you posted. Anyone know a good place for Vegas fishing?

President Signs Illegal Gambling Bill

Well President Bush signed the Port Security Bill which not makes it illegal for US Banks to transfer money to online gaming sites.  I've followed a lot of the debate and I have a few comments:

 

1.  Do not blame Republicans for this?  This is the work of a few congressmen and Senator Bill Frist (R).  Let's just say that even though I'm a die-hard Republican, I will work to ensure that Bill Frist is not our presidential candidate.  Lord help us.

 

2.  President Bush is not at fault.  The gaming portion of this bill was added one at the last minute and without debate.  The President had the choice of either appeasing poker players or protect us from terrorism.  The choice is clear, our security is more important than my ability to play poker online.

 

3.  There are a few open questions.  Is a poker site considered a gambling site?  I've discussed this before - http://www.mypalal.com/poker/christianPoker.cfm  But my position is that in its true form Poker is a game of skill not of luck.  You can make a living playing the game, but it requires hard work.  Many people will great poker as a quick way to make it big.  In this case the individual is treating poker as gambling.  With that exception it's a game of skill, like playing $100 to enter a softball league in hopes of winning a trophy.  It's not illegal.  In this case, can poker sites be considered gambling sites.

 

4.  Third Party Payment sites.  Sites like Neteller and Firepay are offshore companies that allows you to purchase overseas by upload funds to the account and then disbursing it to a foreign company such as retail locations for toys, clothing, and other merchandise.  It also includes online sites not based in the states (which is all of them).  Can the US Government restrict a company that does not even reside in the US from making specific transactions?  Because these sites are not strictly for gambling, can the US government prevent banks for transferring funds to these accounts?  My feeling is no.

 

More to come as things develop.

Patience and Internet Poker

Winning at internet poker requires a great deal of patience.  It also requires the ability to lay down the losing hand.

 

I'm so impatient when it comes to Internet Poker.  I think this is why people play multiple tables.  My problem is that I'm in too many hands and calling with any ace.  Amazingly I am will to sit back at a live table and not play a hand for 30 minutes.  On the internet I want play every blind and late position.

 

It all just chips away at your stack.

 

If you want to look like a donkey, start calling down hands, especially when you're beat.  This is the point that I follow my instincts and fold or challenge with a reraise.

 

Skills to learn - 1) wait for good starting hands.  Consider position your position and try to have two cards that work together.  2) fold when your instincts tells you that you're beat.  You're going to lose alot if you keep calling down to the river with the worst hand.

Is Internet Poker in Danger?

The legislation is finally here and it appears that President Bush is ready to sign it.

 

It makes me wish the President has a line item veto.  A new law to curb online gaming was backdoor attached to a defense bill.  This happens all the time.  A president should not have to sign a bill wholesale, but he should have the right to veto part of it.  Not that the President would necessarily veto this part of the bill.

 

Anyways, for those of you not aware, the bill calls for banks to stop transactions between US customers and offshore gaming companies.  It imposes fines on banks and jail time for gaming companies.

 

Full Tilt Poker believes that poker is a game of skill not gaming and has pledged to run business as usual.

 

The Poker Players Alliance is trying to convince lawmakers that Poker is a game of skill as well.

 

All I can tell you is stop investing in online poker.  According to Full Tilt, it will take banks 270 days to comply with these laws.

 

What does that mean to us?  Not sure yet, but I'm probably not going to keep a lot of money in my online account.  I was just at the Neteller site, where I do some of my money transactions.  They do not know how they will be affected by this law.  Technically they allow you to move money to their company in order to make international purchases.  They just stated that they are going to be monitoring progress of this law.

 

It's an unfortunate law.  The Libertarian in me says that the government should stay out of this.  The conservative in me says, that unless this is a way for terrorist to transfer money, no ban should exist.  The Christian in me tells me to just stop credit card transaction.  I say, let us play poker. 

They Always Pay You Off

I'm still thinking about my current live casino streak.  I've recently written an article on my website about why I link live casinos vs. playing on the internet.  Check it out - http://www.mypalal.com/poker/liveVSnet.cfm

 

The big reason I like low limit hold'em at casino is that you will get paid off with every winning hand.  You just have to be patient to have a winning hand.

 

Every time I have the best hand going I will have at least 1 or 2 caller to the river just to make sure I actually have a hand.  It never fails.  They'll say, "I just have to see that you have it."

 

It's even better while slow playing.  You will get maximum value for your premium hand.

 

It happened to me recently.  I had the Jack of Hearts and a rag.  The flop came King of Hearts, Queen of Heart and the three of Hearts.  There was three of us in the hand.  One player was betting out, I assume he had a King.  The player to my right was calling and I was calling.  Mind you that I'm getting pot odds at this point to stay in the hand and fish for the last heart.

 

The turn comes a rag and one more round of betting.  The river comes the Ace of Hearts.  I have the NUTS.  The original bettor bets.  The player to my right raises (she has the flush) and I reraise her with the NUTS.  Surprisingly, the two bettor call my raise.  The player to my right says as she's calling, "You must have the Jack of Hearts."  I flip my Jack over to take the pot.

 

This happens all of the time.  My feeling is that in Low Limit Hold'em, you see a lot of beginning players.  These players like to play and they do.  They hate giving up a hand and they are there to have fun.