Found this on the wires today...Merry Christmas to us online degenerates?
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration appears to have softened a U.S. ban on Internet gambling.
In a legal opinion posted Friday, the Justice Department said online betting unrelated to sporting events falls outside the reach of federal law.
The U.S. government has long considered such gambling illegal when it crosses state lines.
The gambling industry is worth billions worldwide but many operators are based overseas. Washington has cracked down on some of them, and a 2006 law forbade financial institutions from processing funds for most online wagering.
Because of the difficulty in enforcing age and other requirements, the issue has divided lawmakers and the industry. But several states have been studying plans for web betting within states.
The opinion letter was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
A sick week of poker - punctuated by a wild finish to it
Played 6 games of World Tavern this week at 4 venues - solid week all around:
4th and 2nd at Buckshots
2nd at Clancy's
2nd at Hatchy's
1st and 18th (first out) at Airway Lanes.
Last night at Airway, I think I may have had my finest final table performance in a long time. Not so much because I won, but because it seemed like every read and decision I was making was the correct one...it was kind of a sick zone I got into. Too many hands for me to talk about today...maybe another time.
Greg Raymer said it best, this game is about information, and making the best decisions based on the information. If you make the correct read and play, and get drawn out on...nothing you can do about that. That pretty much describes how I went out in the second game so quickly...
Near the end of the first level, and UTG+1 I see A-K, which I raise (100/200) to 700. I get 2 call from players on my left, then Lois (a loose player) 3-bets me to 3200. After staring her down for a few seconds, I just couldn't buy any of her story, so I shoved the rest of my 6,000 starting stack into the middle. After Lois went into the tank for a minute and said that has too many chips already in to fold, I *knew* I was in great shape...and after she called I immediately flipped over my cards, which got a disgusted look from Lois as A-2(!?! - but soooooooooted) was flipped over.
Flop of A-4-4 rainbow was great for me, but then runner-runner diamonds hit turn and river to cripple me. Lois apologized for the sick beat, and I think I took it pretty well...although I did make a "Hee Haw!" sound at her when I told her "Nice hit". Busted out the next hand, which was fine - if I'm busting out of a game in World Tavern early, make it the second game so I can get home earlier.
4 Top 2s in a row - pretty solid, by any standard!
4th and 2nd at Buckshots
2nd at Clancy's
2nd at Hatchy's
1st and 18th (first out) at Airway Lanes.
Last night at Airway, I think I may have had my finest final table performance in a long time. Not so much because I won, but because it seemed like every read and decision I was making was the correct one...it was kind of a sick zone I got into. Too many hands for me to talk about today...maybe another time.
Greg Raymer said it best, this game is about information, and making the best decisions based on the information. If you make the correct read and play, and get drawn out on...nothing you can do about that. That pretty much describes how I went out in the second game so quickly...
Near the end of the first level, and UTG+1 I see A-K, which I raise (100/200) to 700. I get 2 call from players on my left, then Lois (a loose player) 3-bets me to 3200. After staring her down for a few seconds, I just couldn't buy any of her story, so I shoved the rest of my 6,000 starting stack into the middle. After Lois went into the tank for a minute and said that has too many chips already in to fold, I *knew* I was in great shape...and after she called I immediately flipped over my cards, which got a disgusted look from Lois as A-2(!?! - but soooooooooted) was flipped over.
Flop of A-4-4 rainbow was great for me, but then runner-runner diamonds hit turn and river to cripple me. Lois apologized for the sick beat, and I think I took it pretty well...although I did make a "Hee Haw!" sound at her when I told her "Nice hit". Busted out the next hand, which was fine - if I'm busting out of a game in World Tavern early, make it the second game so I can get home earlier.
4 Top 2s in a row - pretty solid, by any standard!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The Legend of A-9
Some people have their favorite trash hands they like to play...within reason, of course. Harry Dixson loves him some of that 6-4 action, I've been partial to 9-7, and I know everyone has their personal favorites they like to mess around with from time to time. On the other hand, I also have a particular "least favorite" hand, and it's not one that immediately come to mind.
If anyone reading this has played at World Tavern with me over at Buckshots or at Overtyme (or even Clancy's, Hatchy's, or Airway this past week) over the last month or so, you may have noticed a recurring bit/inside joke with me regarding the hand Ace-9, and it's been interesting watching this bit evolve and spread to other WTP venues I've played at over the last few weeks.
It started innocently enough a month ago or so over at Buckshots, when Anna Kelly and I starting talking about hands that look good, but more often than not just end up getting you in trouble. Anna brought up A-Q, but I focused more on A-9 (at least from my view) as the hand that often looks good, but many times just gets you in trouble. This observation was based mainly because that was a hand that busted me out of my last 3 tournaments, but it was something I had really been picking up on recently with many other players in games, as well.
Where the discussion turned into a running gag happened during the course of play soon after that discussion started, as both Anna and I were either shoving or having to make a decision to call an all-in with A-9 in four of the next ten hands. Each time, A-9 was either folded face up, or shown by the winner of the hand after the table had folded...each time to a little more laughter as happened.
What did I get out of this? I realized pretty quickly that overplaying A-9 was (emphasis on "was") a major leak in my game. And it's pretty easy to get in trouble in these types of hands, when you think about it. For example, call someone's PFR out of position, then you flop an ace...what do you do? You can check it, but then when your initial raiser bets out, where do you stand? Do you really want to go into passive/calling station mode against someone who could have a higher kicker? Check-calling a lot of your chips away with top pair-weak kicker tends to leave bad tastes in my mouth, but that's just me.
Or, same scenario, except this time you get a 9-high rainbow flop...worth a bet, but then you see another player (let's say he's a fairly tight player) come over the top with a large (relative to the pot) raise. Could this player have limped in with a hand, like, 10-10 or another over pair, and gotten his dream flop?
Obviously, I'm not advocating open-folding this hand without thinking...I'm just arguing that calling PFR raises (especially when out of position) with this hand is going to be -EV in the long-term. Of course, any 2 cards can be playable, and before acting out a hand you have to consider your chip stack relative to the blinds, your position on the table, your position in a tournament, and the players at your table. This is an auto open-raise from the cutoff or the button, but not so much from the UTG position on a full table. Short-stacked, and open-folded to me, I'm also more than willing to shove my chips in the middle with this hand - but have to think a long time before calling off a sizable portion of my stack with it.
As the weeks have gone on, I've noticed that my A-9 hands are not costing me as many chips, and most of the time the correct decision is being made by me with this hand...but hey, none of us around these parts are perfect. If I am folding this face-up to somebody's large raise or all-in shove, I usually give a derivative of the "This hand looks really good, but is going to get me in trouble" speech before folding. I've noticed a few more players giving similar comments, which I'd like to think I had a small part in doing - it's good to see some real thinking going at the tables, rather than the "I have ace-rag, but it's suited - let's gambul!!" attitude we've all seen at WTP and charity poker rooms across the state.
If anyone reading this has played at World Tavern with me over at Buckshots or at Overtyme (or even Clancy's, Hatchy's, or Airway this past week) over the last month or so, you may have noticed a recurring bit/inside joke with me regarding the hand Ace-9, and it's been interesting watching this bit evolve and spread to other WTP venues I've played at over the last few weeks.
It started innocently enough a month ago or so over at Buckshots, when Anna Kelly and I starting talking about hands that look good, but more often than not just end up getting you in trouble. Anna brought up A-Q, but I focused more on A-9 (at least from my view) as the hand that often looks good, but many times just gets you in trouble. This observation was based mainly because that was a hand that busted me out of my last 3 tournaments, but it was something I had really been picking up on recently with many other players in games, as well.
Where the discussion turned into a running gag happened during the course of play soon after that discussion started, as both Anna and I were either shoving or having to make a decision to call an all-in with A-9 in four of the next ten hands. Each time, A-9 was either folded face up, or shown by the winner of the hand after the table had folded...each time to a little more laughter as happened.
What did I get out of this? I realized pretty quickly that overplaying A-9 was (emphasis on "was") a major leak in my game. And it's pretty easy to get in trouble in these types of hands, when you think about it. For example, call someone's PFR out of position, then you flop an ace...what do you do? You can check it, but then when your initial raiser bets out, where do you stand? Do you really want to go into passive/calling station mode against someone who could have a higher kicker? Check-calling a lot of your chips away with top pair-weak kicker tends to leave bad tastes in my mouth, but that's just me.
Or, same scenario, except this time you get a 9-high rainbow flop...worth a bet, but then you see another player (let's say he's a fairly tight player) come over the top with a large (relative to the pot) raise. Could this player have limped in with a hand, like, 10-10 or another over pair, and gotten his dream flop?
Obviously, I'm not advocating open-folding this hand without thinking...I'm just arguing that calling PFR raises (especially when out of position) with this hand is going to be -EV in the long-term. Of course, any 2 cards can be playable, and before acting out a hand you have to consider your chip stack relative to the blinds, your position on the table, your position in a tournament, and the players at your table. This is an auto open-raise from the cutoff or the button, but not so much from the UTG position on a full table. Short-stacked, and open-folded to me, I'm also more than willing to shove my chips in the middle with this hand - but have to think a long time before calling off a sizable portion of my stack with it.
As the weeks have gone on, I've noticed that my A-9 hands are not costing me as many chips, and most of the time the correct decision is being made by me with this hand...but hey, none of us around these parts are perfect. If I am folding this face-up to somebody's large raise or all-in shove, I usually give a derivative of the "This hand looks really good, but is going to get me in trouble" speech before folding. I've noticed a few more players giving similar comments, which I'd like to think I had a small part in doing - it's good to see some real thinking going at the tables, rather than the "I have ace-rag, but it's suited - let's gambul!!" attitude we've all seen at WTP and charity poker rooms across the state.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Hot run continues
Went to my every-other-Tuesday night outing at Overtyme (they actually run every Tuesday, I just go every other week) yesterday, and was determined to have a good week - mainly because I will now have a tavern ranking after getting my minimum number of games in for the season. Had another solid day, so let's get on to it!
First game saw me do what I've doing consistently the last few weeks - building up a decent stack early, and by the end of the first level my stack went from 10K to 26K, without having to show down any hands...great start! Because of this, I was able to play a more LAG game for a couple of levels...and while my chip stack started to yo-yo a little bit, I managed to get to the break (end of 4th level) with 36K in chips.
Went on a little run to start the level right after the break, as I not only doubled-up eliminated 2 players, but I eliminated 4 players...all in a matter of 5 hands. Went to the final table with about 70K in chips, and navigated my way to a truly great final 3...well, 2 out of 3, anyways, since the top 2 ranked players in the state were also remaining. Back and forth among the three of us, until I eliminated Dave in 3rd place, and heads-up we go. Bob, I think, outplayed me for the 20 hands or so we played HU, but I did hit my straight on the turn to double up for a big chip-lead, and then won a race by spiking a king on the river to end it. Win #3 on the season, and the first at Overtyme.
2nd game was a strange game, seeing how loose a couple of players were. Just played a patient game, methodically chipped up, and somehow took 4th - but if not for a horrible river, probably cruise to another HU match. As it stands, I'll be #1 ranked at both Overtyme and Buckshots for the season once this week's games are updated into the system by Debbie (Tournament Director). 5 TOCs in 8 games at Overtyme - a ridiculous run for those fields!
First game saw me do what I've doing consistently the last few weeks - building up a decent stack early, and by the end of the first level my stack went from 10K to 26K, without having to show down any hands...great start! Because of this, I was able to play a more LAG game for a couple of levels...and while my chip stack started to yo-yo a little bit, I managed to get to the break (end of 4th level) with 36K in chips.
Went on a little run to start the level right after the break, as I not only doubled-up eliminated 2 players, but I eliminated 4 players...all in a matter of 5 hands. Went to the final table with about 70K in chips, and navigated my way to a truly great final 3...well, 2 out of 3, anyways, since the top 2 ranked players in the state were also remaining. Back and forth among the three of us, until I eliminated Dave in 3rd place, and heads-up we go. Bob, I think, outplayed me for the 20 hands or so we played HU, but I did hit my straight on the turn to double up for a big chip-lead, and then won a race by spiking a king on the river to end it. Win #3 on the season, and the first at Overtyme.
2nd game was a strange game, seeing how loose a couple of players were. Just played a patient game, methodically chipped up, and somehow took 4th - but if not for a horrible river, probably cruise to another HU match. As it stands, I'll be #1 ranked at both Overtyme and Buckshots for the season once this week's games are updated into the system by Debbie (Tournament Director). 5 TOCs in 8 games at Overtyme - a ridiculous run for those fields!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Here's a hand showing what Douchebag Poker is really about
I only remember seeing a hand like the one I was involved in last night only once before in live poker (when I was at the Dino's game), so it's noteworthy enough for me to post here.
Blinds at 100-200, last hand of the level. UTG Loose-passive chaser raises to 1400, 2 folds to me, who looks down at Q-Q. I 3-bet to 3300, Loose-agressive player on button shoves all-in (has me covered), and small blind shoves for his last 7,000 or so. UTG original raiser just chuckles and mucks her cards, and with 11K back I have a decision to make here...on to the thought process:
First instinct is to muck my cards, since I am pretty sure I am behind...but to who? I initially discount the button, because I remember him 4-betting me off J-J with A-Q earlier this season. I have a pretty good idea I am behind the SB here, but with him having the shortest stack at risk, I am not too worried about that...since as long as I can beat the button I will basically stay even in chips. As I go a little more in the tank, I had a sense that I was really up against it here, and even said so at one time...something like, "Fukkkk, why do I think I have the 3rd best hand here?".
So, having the gut telling me how crushed I am, I look at the time, figure that if I go out here I can get home early and watch the football game from my couch, and I make the call. Yup, what do I see turned up: Button has A-A, SB has K-K...great, just as I suspected, yet I still made the call. Douchebag!
Flop of A-rag-rag puts the button seemingly way ahead, but with 3 spades on the board and me the only one holding one, I perk up here. Blank on turn is followed by a spade on the river for a monster suckout - and I let out a loud "WHOOOOOOOOOO!" after this. If you've played with me more than a couple of times, you know that I usually don't get terribly excited one way or another after these hands, so this was unusual, indeed.
Dave, the state champion in our league, didn't where any of us made any missteps here...but I kept saying that it really was a stupid call on my part, seeing how bad of shape I knew I was in. I explained the whole concept of "douchebag poker" - when you call knowing you are way behind, and you aren't getting the proper odds, and yet you call bets, anyways...and eventually suckout and win a hand you have no business being in. To the button's credit, he took the loss in as classy a manner as you could hope for - thanks, James, for not going off on me last night!
I did crack that, with 12 people left in the tourney, I hoped I finished better than 7th or something...and I guess you could say that I did. Chipped up my big stack consistently, until I got to heads-up...and after falling behind about 2-1, adjusted my game against the loose calling station I was against, and roared back to claim my second win in 10 games this season at Buckshots. One lucky hand, but solid play all-around.
Blinds at 100-200, last hand of the level. UTG Loose-passive chaser raises to 1400, 2 folds to me, who looks down at Q-Q. I 3-bet to 3300, Loose-agressive player on button shoves all-in (has me covered), and small blind shoves for his last 7,000 or so. UTG original raiser just chuckles and mucks her cards, and with 11K back I have a decision to make here...on to the thought process:
First instinct is to muck my cards, since I am pretty sure I am behind...but to who? I initially discount the button, because I remember him 4-betting me off J-J with A-Q earlier this season. I have a pretty good idea I am behind the SB here, but with him having the shortest stack at risk, I am not too worried about that...since as long as I can beat the button I will basically stay even in chips. As I go a little more in the tank, I had a sense that I was really up against it here, and even said so at one time...something like, "Fukkkk, why do I think I have the 3rd best hand here?".
So, having the gut telling me how crushed I am, I look at the time, figure that if I go out here I can get home early and watch the football game from my couch, and I make the call. Yup, what do I see turned up: Button has A-A, SB has K-K...great, just as I suspected, yet I still made the call. Douchebag!
Flop of A-rag-rag puts the button seemingly way ahead, but with 3 spades on the board and me the only one holding one, I perk up here. Blank on turn is followed by a spade on the river for a monster suckout - and I let out a loud "WHOOOOOOOOOO!" after this. If you've played with me more than a couple of times, you know that I usually don't get terribly excited one way or another after these hands, so this was unusual, indeed.
Dave, the state champion in our league, didn't where any of us made any missteps here...but I kept saying that it really was a stupid call on my part, seeing how bad of shape I knew I was in. I explained the whole concept of "douchebag poker" - when you call knowing you are way behind, and you aren't getting the proper odds, and yet you call bets, anyways...and eventually suckout and win a hand you have no business being in. To the button's credit, he took the loss in as classy a manner as you could hope for - thanks, James, for not going off on me last night!
I did crack that, with 12 people left in the tourney, I hoped I finished better than 7th or something...and I guess you could say that I did. Chipped up my big stack consistently, until I got to heads-up...and after falling behind about 2-1, adjusted my game against the loose calling station I was against, and roared back to claim my second win in 10 games this season at Buckshots. One lucky hand, but solid play all-around.
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