Poker Advice For Fools

I love playing poker, real poker. Nothing bothers me more than getting invited to a “dealer calls” home game and the host calls a game like Baseball,  Kings and Little Men, or even Five Card Draw with sevens, threes and one-eyed jacks wild. In fact, I always ask first, does your home game use wild cards? If the answer is yes, I don’t play. I was once in a discussion with another card player in which he tried to tell me how much fun game with wild cards are, and how much action it creates. For me, it just adds another element of luck that hurts the skill players.

You see, I really enjoy the skill of the game. The last time I played the game Kings and Little Men, I was dealt four queens, Now if you don’t know this game, it is a guts style game in which Kings and your lowest card is wild. You get 5 cards, decide if you are in or out (If you lose, you match the pot – no betting), and then you can change any cards you want with the deck. So I get dealt a king, 2 queens and of course my lowest card is automatically wild. 4 queen! I commit to the hand and ask for 1 card. The only way my hand could improve is to get a fifth queen. This could happen if I was dealt another queen, a king, or my low card pairs up. One other person also stays in. He asks for 4 cards. He kept an ace. My hand didn’t improve but his did. He got a king, a jack and two three. The jack was the same suit as his ace (I don’t remember which). So, he ended up with a Royal Flush, beating my four of a kind. $25 dollars out the window. Fuck that game!

I enjoy PLAYING poker with people who know how to play poker. If I get to a Texas Hold ‘em tournament and sit down at a table with a bunch of new players, my heart just sinks. I know, unless I get real unlucky, I’ll take their chips, but that’s not the point. I want to play poker. I want the chess game that is Texas Hold’em. I have a friend whom is a few good player (For a home game player, like me), and a love sitting down at a table with him. I know I’m going to have to think, to put puzzle pieces together. When I win a game with him, or people like his, I know I’ve accomplished something.

Of course, at this point, I am not playing for my livelihood. That might be a different story.

And there is the skill of playing bad players. I remember it look me a while to learn to adjust me game to be able to beat them, which is basically, play your cards, don’t be too tricky and bet big. Inexperienced players don’t have enough sense to fold. Of course, this depends on how they play. Sometimes I’ve played new players and they will fold to any raise, others seem to call any raise. Figure them out and play accordingly.

Anyway, poker for me is more for personal growth that a way to build a fortune. Hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to do both.

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I don’t care how good of a poker player this asshole is, but no human being has the right to treat others as the way this moron treats other people.

While watching the WSOP last Tuesday, I was waiting for someone to hit him. I’m also disappointed in the WSOP for not dealing with this completely childish behavior.

If you buy anything Phil sells, if you attend any of his seminars, you are a sucker. This will be the last blog about this fucking child. I wonder if his wife, who seems really embarrassed as Phil yells across the floor, “honey, honey” every lets him know what a damn idiot he is.

By Matthew Blake

Online Poker And Software

Playing online poker has become not just more and more popular over the last years, it has also been a profitable area for professional players and part-time players who understand that with the right software they have an edge over other players. Such software includes poker indicators which help you to understand your chances of winning better or database software that helps you to profile other poker players to analyze and beat their playing style. This article talks about poker robots also known as poker bots.

What Is A Poker Bot

A poker bot is a program that is able to play poker hands on its own. It is a software solution that enables someone to fire up their poker software, sit down at a poker table and let the bot play the game on its own.

Read the rest of this entry »

You can’t watch or listen to a poker show without hearing about some eighteen internet kids who is making millions with on-line poker. I began to wonder about their future. Young and rich is usually a bad combination and mix that with Las Vegas and gambling, I can imaging a few problems.

When I was young, and believe me that was a long time ago, I always assumed that all the successful rock and roll bands of our time were rich, happy and set for life. Of course we learned later, with shows such as “Behind the Music” that our fantasy was not always true.
Read the rest of this entry »

If you answer “yes” to more than half these questions, yes, you suck at poker.
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1. Do you say things like:
   “I had a feeling” “Well they were suited”
   “Any two cards can win.” “It’s all luck, anyways.”
   (These are the mating call of the loser.)
   -
2. Do you call a pot size bet on the turn with a pocket pair of fours,
   hoping to hit a set?
   (Check out a term call “Pot odds”)
   -
3. Do you have favorite hands that are really garbage hands,
   such as 10-4 or 6-9?
   (Be honest!)
   -
4. In early position, Do you look at ace-nine off-suit in the first level of a on-line tournament and push all-in?
   (Just stop that. Trust me, and an ace does not mean all-in.)
   -
5. Do you ask “Is it on to me?” when the table is quiet and every is gazing at you?
   (If this is the case, you might want to give it up because to win consistently, YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION!)
   -
6. Do you slow play pocket aces, and when someone draws out, you say,
   “The curse of pocket aces strikes again.”
   (Against more than one other player, you still an underdog, even with Aces.)
   -
7. Do you min-raise every street with trips and bitch when someone draws a straight?
   (Rarely in min-raising a good thing.)
   -
8. Does your night usually wraps up with a bad beat story?
   (If you are not sure, next time you get home from a game and you tell your spouse/partner about how you busted out, look at his/her eyes. If they are rolling back, you probably should answer yes to this one.)
   -
9. Do you lose a big hand and say, “I knew I was beat but I had to call?”
   (If you know you are going to lose, don’t call! You never “have to call” Of course, there are times when it is proper to call down a hand that will probably lose but unless you understand why, don’t!)
   -
10. Do you think you can’t win because of the bad poker players.
    (Part of winning is to take avantage of bad players. If you can’t, you’re a bad player!) -

If you look at these question and take a hard look at yourself, you will get better. There are plenty of books and websites that can help explain why these things are bad. But until then, come play in my home game!