Poker Advice For Fools

I am sad to report that the valiant efforts of Congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul to amend the draconian ban on internet gambling. The House Financial Services Committee voted down legislation that would have prevented federal agencies from issuing rules implementing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

In his usual disingenuous style Congressman Spencer Bachus declared this a “victory for young people.” In a press release the congressman used the usual ‘it’s for the children’ defense. Bachus was one of the original authors of the ban along with Jon Kyl and others. While Bachus’s reasoning may be laughable, it is no laughing matter for the millions of US citizens who enjoy a game of cards or bingo, spending the money they have earned on an activity they enjoy.

Studies have shown that regulated and taxed online gambling could provide the United States Treasury up to one billion dollars a year in revenue. This is money that could be used to pay down the disastrous national debt, provide health care for the uninsured, or any number of socially beneficial programs.
As if that isn’t bad enough UIGEA is an unfunded mandate on banks that forces them to assume law enforcement responsibilities for which they are ill equipped. On top of the recent mortgage meltdown banks must now use scarce resources deciding which transactions are legal and finding those that are not. It is estimated that these responsibilities will cost financial institutions millions per year.

As with any law passed in such a quick and underhanded manner there will be unintended consequences. States that allow citizens to purchase state lottery tickets may find themselves afoul of this law. In many states the lottery partially funds education and states that allow internet sales of lottery tickets may find a shortfall of funds from the lottery. Since online gambling will remain essentially unregulated and untaxed many citizens will find themselves at the mercy of a Wild West atmosphere on the internet. Less than ethical sites are sure to proliferate in an unregulated market.
In the guise of ‘protecting our children’ Bachus and his cohorts are unwittingly exposing young people to the thousands of unethical websites that are sure to proliferate to take advantage of this unique opportunity provided them by the ‘guardians of morality’.

J Davis is a consultant for http://www.bingohouse.com and http://www.bingosuite.com. His articles may also be found at http://www.bingolingo.com ,http://www.internetbingoblog.com, and at http://www.egamblingtips.com

The river comes down and it doesn’t improve your hand so you’re stuck with top pair and a weak kicker. You paired up your king on the flop and raised every street but the guy across from you with the dark glasses called every damn one. You just hate those silly sunglasses.

You’ve taken a couple of shots but his refusal to fold has you worried. It’s time to check and hope that he checks as well. Only he doesn’t check, he moves all-in.

First you think, he’s got to have me beat, maybe two-pair, a set, or perhaps got you out kicked. Suddenly it occurs to you, maybe he missed his draw and, when you showed weakness, he pushed in. But no, the flush draw didn’t come up until the turn and he called your bet after the flop. He could have has middle pair and then got the draw. Or, maybe he’s been setting you up for the big bluff all along, just waiting for this moment. What to do? Your tournament life it on the line.

The book tells you to put all the pieces of the story together, put your opponent on a hand, and go with your read. That all sounds good but us non-pros know that easier said than done. We all get in a situation where our choice is nothing more than a coin flip.

What to do when you have no clue what to do. The secret is in the what-ifs, the money in the pot, and your tournament goals. Will losing this call be crippling and is the risk enough to justify the pot? What’s more important, winning the tournament or cashing? If you’re on the bubble and really want to cash, maybe you should fold. If you want to win and doubling up will put you in good position to do so, maybe a call is right. Perhaps losing the pot wouldn’t hurt you too bad and you feel confident you can come back verses the people you are playing. Do you think a better spot down the road might present itself?

Someday you’ll develop the ability to confidently put players on hands, see tells, and recognize betting patterns and sense weakness. Those things come with time and until they do, you will find yourself in situations in which you don’t see a clear solution to the problem. Even among the professionals these situations happens. There can only be three possible outcomes, you lose, you win, you split and since splits are rare, it’s usually one of the first two. Just ask yourself, does the change of winning the pot outweigh the possibility of losing it.

Jerry Rex from The Gravelbourg Gazette, Gravelbourg, Canada

In the days before Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 World Series of Poker, I was part of a small group that played a semi-regular poker game. It was a dealers call game in which we played a variety of different poker games. We planned our first Texas Hold’em tournament before Moneymaker had won and actually took place just days after his triumph. Since that day we played our first tournament, it’s been Hold’em, and only Hold’em, every since.

With so many other poker games out there, I wonder why Texas Hold’em is played in a staggeringly large percentage of games on the planet. Why not Omaha or Stud, I ask? There are two basic reasons, simplicity and luck.

Texas Hold’em is really a simple, basic poker game and because of this, it makes great television. It’s easy to know pocket kings is good and eight-three off suit is bad. Compared to Omaha 8, in which you get fours cards, must use two and can either be going for the high, the low, or both. It’s not the kind of game that makes great viewing to the average viewer in that it’s too much to think about while having dinner.

“Any two cards can win,” Doyle Brunson is famous for saying. This is true, especially in Texas Hold’em. It is a game in which, no matter how hard you try to lose, you will occasionally find a way to win. We’ve all been there! The inexperienced player, calling raises with any two cards and somehow sucking out, thinking he’s playing good, not understanding he beating the odds over and over. That’s the luck variance in the game. Anyone can win a hand, or a tournament, but over the long run, the good, logical players will always come out ahead.

How many people, after being eliminated for a tournament, walk away saying, “I just played badly,” or “Man, the lady just was better than me tonight.” No, it’s always some bad-beat story, or something in which the bottom line is, they were the better player and the other player just got lucky.

The game is easy to learn and since the worse player can beat the best player on any given hand, it is the perfect game for the masses to play. Personally, I miss the days of dealer calls, and maybe would like to play five-card draw once on a while.

Jerry Rex from The Gravelbourg Gazette, Gravelbourg, Canada

By Lou Krieger – Saturday, April 19, 2008

Here’s another in a series of stupid poker busts that made the news. The Fort Mill Times, a Rock Hill, South Carolina newspaper reported on poker arrests in Alaska … as if that’s of national concern, or of any interest at all to South Carolinians living 3,000 miles away.

It’s just another imbecilic waste of police power, time, manpower, and effort. With 14 tables and only 11 players, they could have allowed the place to fail on its own. I don’t know what time of day they conducted the raid, but with only 11 players in a 14-table room, business wasn’t exactly booming.

Read the Rest at Lou Krieger’s Blog

I’m sure all of you know by now, but I think this whole stupid attempt by our own government to take away our right to play Internet poker, especially by the underhanded, sneaky is has been done, it a totally violation of our rights as Americans and a total slap in the face to our constitution!
_____________________________________________________________________

Read the rest of this entry »