Biloxi/New Orleans trip report

The Wife and I are back from a long weekend in Biloxi/New Orleans, and we won a little (gamblerspeak for "broke about even"). I'll have a lot more poker-specific stuff to spew about on Friday's show, but here's a quick trip report for those with lives beyond cards:

FLIGHT

AirTran has partnered with a few of the Biloxi casinos on package deals from Tampa to the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, and it's airfare-only prices were very reasonable (about $150-160 RT). But we couldn't pass up a cheaper Southwest Ding! fare, which made more sense for us since we were splitting time between the cities. But the best news: Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is much improved over my trip last August, when it was deserted with few amenities. It's still not so crowded, though, that you can't zip through security (well, unless, of course, some moron in front of you waits until the very last minute to start emptying his pockets of more metal than a Transformer robot has and STILL forgets a pocketful of change so he has to go back-and-forth through the metal detector 67 times.) One new good thing: free Wi-Fi in the terminal.

CAR

I know, I know. If I insist on remaining loyal to Thrifty and its great rates and awesome Blue Chip program (which I do, darn it!), I can't rightly keep complaining that Dodge is excruciatingly incapable of building a car that isn't cloaked in blind spots. Our Dodge Caliber wasn't a bad car (I found the illuminated cup holders amusingly cool and the double glovebox kept Laura entertained), but it would have been better had I been able to see anything - anything at all - behind me, or next to me.

HOTELS

Biloxi is back - big time (as in prices). Granted, it was a Saturday night, and Halloween weekend, but Isle of Capri offered the cheapest casino hotel rate ($144, tax included), and non-casino hotels didn't offer much better. As Fasso said, 'Wow, that's a lot for you." Yes, it is. But the room was nice enough (except for being a smoking one). They kinda went psycho on the colors (bright green carpet, and a red "racing stripe," as Laura described it, circled the top of the walls), but I'm sure they are required by Casino Conventions to adhere rigidly to their island theme. The bathroom had a gazillion shelfs and stuff, in case you often travel with volumes of leather-bound books and knick-knacks, and also had French doors instead of a normal door, which might be odd depending on the level of comfort you share on, um, personal things with your travel partner. Oh, and free Wi-Fi. Gotta love that.

In New Orleans, we decided to give the Queen & Crescent another shot, even though the last time we booked with them they lost our reservation and had no rooms left when we arrived (grrrr....). Of course, the $55 (+$15 for valet parking) rate kinda made us forget the first transgression - until we arrived at 4:30 p.m. and saw the lobby full of folks waiting for rooms. We eventually got a key an hour later (and then had to get new keys later and, oh, they lost the keys to our car). The room was very nice, though, and you can't beat the location - just a few blocks from Harrah's poker room and a few blocks from the French Quarter. No free Wi-Fi, but a few hotels nearby fortunately offer such a service if you're laptop is strong enough.

FOOD

The Boomtown Casino buffet, always the class of Biloxi in my opinion, is back better than ever. The Saturday Champagne brunch is about $18 a pop, but worth every slot machine nickel.

The Lava Bar at the Isle of Capri runs "gametime" specials of 25 cent wings. We ordered 20 and were charged $3.12. Even better. A bucket of beer was 10 bucks, so all together, that's a cheap meal.

Treasure Bay has the best name for a buffet EVER - Infinity. It's small, but there's enough there to make it worth $10 at lunch (or, if you did what we did and sign up for the players club, you get a buffet comp. Ka-ching!).

In New Orleans, even though we know better, we got tourist-trapped every step of the way. Too hungry to research the first night, we returned to the Cajun Cabin on Bourbon Street, where everything is way overpriced, except, oddly, a half slab of ribs for $12.95. (We did, however, have a front row seat for the best people watching in the entire world. Note to middle-aged men attending conventions - take off the "My Name Is" tag and lose the Dockers before strolling the thoroughfare in search of young women who haven't yet considered that a combination of seven Hurricanes and an odd desire for plastic trinkets may earn them a starring role in the next late-night must-have DVD). The next day, we hit Napoleon House, which is supposed to have the second-best muffaletta in The Big Easy. It was cheap and good, but overrun by pasty-white folks with cameras around their necks.

CASINOS

Still with me? Well, here's the stuff you really care about. The Biloxi gaming is back better than ever, and even better, poker on the Gulf Coast is miles ahead of where it was pre-Katrina. In those days, the Grand Casino and President were the only casinos in Biloxi proper dealing poker. Today, five casinos do and ironically, the Grand (open, but still rebuilding) and President (washed away) aren't among them. The IP and Beau Rivage have the most happening rooms (several games going and wait lists on Saturday night), while Isle of Capri, Hard Rock and Boomtown had two or more games going. Alas, it's a land of hold'em. I was told an Omaha game breaks out a couple days a week (Isle deals an O8 tournament on Sundays), and all the rooms had a stud bad beat, so it must be played sometime, but I never saw it. The good news? No $2/$4 anywhere. Cheapest game is $4/$8, and often with $1/$2 blinds. Some of the rooms it's even a $1-$4-$8-$8 spread, which is cool. No-limit was $1/$2 everywhere, and $2/$5 and higher games were taking place at the bigger rooms. You can find one or more tournaments every day of the week.

Everything seems a little hipper in Biloxi now (Hard Rock, of course, is always hip, but the IP is no longer a low-roller's paradise). And definitely don't forget to sign up for a players club card everywhere. Our bounty for doing so: Three $10-in-free-slot play offers (which we turned into more than $30), two buffets, a T-shirt and a deck of cards). Laura even got the new-player bonus at a casino she had a card at, so it's worth asking.

As I did last trip, I really like Harrah's poker room in New Orleans. I wasn't sequestered in the back room this time, so I really got to see the design and layout this time. It's really authentic. Plus, they had a $4/$8 half-and-half (hold'em/Omaha high) game going, which was fun. I wish more rooms dealt something like that. The wait list was so long they opened a second table - proof, I think, that once you get something like that established, it can live on.

- SCOTT

I'm a break-evener!!!

Lots of poker to talk about, and with Scott in Biloxi I figured I may as well post this now instead of talking about it on the show. This post is kinda long.

I nearly defended my title Friday night at Gambit's home game (I finished second for a decent cash; more on that later). On Saturday, Big Dave from Ohio (pictured), the man directly responsible for getting Kenna James on our show way back in the day, came to town and we met up for some poker at Derby Lane. Remember, he was our AIPS Limit Hold 'Em champ from last year, so when we got to Derby Lane I thought he might want to play limit, but he said "Let's play NLHE baby!" And I'm sure he's glad he did. He walked away with 3X his buy-in. I, on the other hand, had another one of those roller-coaster rides that I bring up on this blog so often.

I honestly don't know how to play the people at Derby Lane anymore. It was very frustrating, and since Dave was there for every gruesome hand, he can attest to my frustration. Here's an example: I'm UTG with Q♥Q♦ (absolutely the best hand I had all day) and since the blinds are $1-2, I made it $12 to go. Are you saying to yourself: "You should make it $6-8, Chris" or maybe "You should make it $15-20 Chris."? Ha! Why am I laughing? Well, a raise to $6-8 makes ZERO people fold. And a raise to $15-20 still makes almost no one fold. Plus, do I really want to risk 20% of my buy-in on a raise in early position? I mean, I almost can't get away from the hand after that point. Also, remember one of my earlier posts about making it $20 to go UTG with aces at Derby Lane? Click here if you don't remember that debacle. So I made it $12 and the button and BB called. At this point I don't know where I am in the hand but I have a feeling the button has connectors (he was a calling station) and the BB I couldn't really tell what he had, maybe Ax? He was new to the table, but I could tell he was loose. So the flop came: J♦K♥K♦. The BB checked and I put out a feeler bet of $15. Both players called. So this gave me no info. Someone could have a jack, someone could have a straight draw, someone could have smooth-called with a king. So when the turn came a blank 3♣. I didn't know what to do. I thought, "If I fire into this pot again and someone has a K I'm dead." So the BB checked, I checked and the button checked. Cool, now I know I'm ahead because unless someone had KJ or JJ they wouldn't risk giving another free card with two diamonds and two to Broadway. I was convinced no one had a king. So the river was the 4♦. The BB checked and, knowing Derby Lane players, I was afraid of the diamonds, so I checked and so did the button. OK, put them on hands.

The button had J♣10♥ and the BB had 2♦7♦.

I lost it.

Normally (and I know the Nation won't believe this but it's true) I never say anything derogatory at the table. In home games I do sometimes, but that's because those are my friends and I can be myself (an obnoxious dolt), but at a cardroom I tend to just tap the table or roll my eyes. However, on this hand I just lost it. And the guy was a big dude with massive tattoos, too. I don't know what I was thinking because he could have handed me my head if he wanted to. But I just said "Dude, are you (insert expletive here) kidding me? I made it $12 to go UTG?" He laughed and said "They were sooted, and I was actually thinking about reraising you preflop." That made me laugh as he was joking and I kinda calmed down after that. (Though I didn't drop a few more choice words that made the dealer warn me and I apologized). I'm a firm believer in not tapping on the glass and at least Dave was the recipient of this donk's poor play, felting him at least once with the nuts.

There were a series of hands like that one where I knew I was WAY ahead but either got handcuffed by a scary board that fell their way, or they would suck out on me. One more quick hand: I had $27 left of my initial buy-in as four players limped ahead of me. I looked down at 10♣10♠. So I pushed, because I didn't want to race an entire table of limpers. One guy called me with J♥10♦. Flop came Q9X and he turned an 8. Unreal. At one point I was down $165 and all I had were the $25 in chips on the table. I had no more money with me. But I gambled with Q♦8♦ and got it all in there with a flush draw. Two callers tripled me up when I turned the A♦. I later doubled up again with trip 9s and eventually was up $5 on the day. In the end, with Dave there, I wanted to play a few more hands because I knew he had to leave soon and didn't want to just fold, so I leaked a few chips and finished down $16 on the day. Not too bad and we had a lot of fun. It could've been worse.

As for Gambit's home game that was another case of up-and-down. I was treading around even all during the cash-game portion. The final call of the evening fell on me and I wanted to play Deuce-to-7 Triple Draw Lowball, but we had 8 players and that wouldn't be a wise choice as too many players would have to sit out on each hand, and with this being the final game of the night before the tournament I didn't think that would be fair, so I just called NLHE. During Razz, Stud/8 and Stud I picked up NO HANDS and literally just watched the antes eat my stack. I never won a pot in those games. Plus people kept calling O8B, which I hate. So when NLHE had been called earlier I made back all of my money on two occasions. I figured why not call it again?

UTG+2 I got K♣Q♥. Gambit's structure for NLHE is two $.25 blinds and a $20 cap. So I brought it in for a $1.25 raise. I got two callers, including Snuffy (aka NewScott). The flop: Q♣8♣Q♠. I bet out $4. The player on my immediate left (I'll call him B since I don't know if he wants his name on here) called and then Snuffy capped it. I immediately called and then "B" went into the tank. What could he have? Flush draw? A worse Q? A better Q? During his deliberation Snuffy says "Don't flip your cards over right away if he folds." This meant he wanted to see if I wanted to run it twice, which we NEVER have done. I wasn't too sure I appreciated him saying that as my response and his question could've revealed to B the strength of our hands. But I said I'm not running it twice. I assumed Snuffy had a flush draw and was gambling. B finally said "I can't lay this down; I call." He had 88! Wow, I guess I give him a lot of credit for taking his time and thinking it through, but on the other hand, it's like $14 to win $60 and he has a boat!!! So I needed a K or a Q. The turn was a 3 and I didn't pair up on the river. It was easily the largest pot in Gambit's home game ever. Snuffy said he had QJ and mucked, then later told someone he had KQ, so I think he had a flush draw. HA!

So after that cooler I HAD to come in at least second in the tournament to score a profit, and I did. I had a 2-1 chip lead on one of our new players from TiltMonkey, and I was close to putting him away, but he flopped a set of jacks and in the end his full house was larger than mine. After that I gambled with J♥8♥ and he had J♦9♦. He flopped a straight-flush draw but I paired my 8. He made a Q-high flush to end it on the turn. So I won $8 on the night. God, I hate that, but it's better than losing, and I'm actually proud of the way I buckled down and turned a profit.

Online I won $8 playing a variety of games Saturday and Sunday, including HORSE with some Ante Uppers. So I broke even on the weekend. Maybe someday I'll finish UP for a weekend again.

-- Chris

Epsiode #124: Mori Eskandani

Image courtesy of Mori Eskandani (the one in the beard)

MAIN TOPIC

We have a fun chat with Mori Eskandani, CEO of POKER-PROductions, which has brought us Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker, the National Heads-Up Poker Championship among other poker shows. Tune in to hear some behind-the-scenes stories from the set, laugh at some of the crazy pitches Mori has gotten for shows ideas and learn what the future of televised poker holds. Click here to hear the show.

OTHER TOPICS

AIPS: Congrats to predator06, who lorded over Event #10, likely because none of the bountied players could get past the pregame introductions. Click here for info on the final two events.

Absolute: We weigh in on our opinions about the Absolute Poker scandal. It's another painful reminder of how easy it is to get duped online, so play very carefully. If there's a fresh angle to the story you haven't found somewhere else, let us know and we'll take a stab at it.

Doyle's Room: The Web site returns to the U.S. market. And Chris issues a correction on last week's news about Pam Brunson (Don't you love it when Chris has to admit mistakes? I mean, since he'll never admit he's wrong about RCGs?)

PokerBowl: Scott still thinks this event is laughable, but we're all happy that good friend Kenna James had some success. Tune in next year to watch it.

Survivor: Did these folks really make us root FOR Jean-Robert this week? Really?

Hotline: Our listeners are winning everywhere! Tell your friends.

Tampa Bay Poker Replay: One-Eyed Jack's in Sarasota announces new SNGs and satellites, and it's time again for the Vincent Lecavalier Texas Hold'em Celebrity Poker Tournament.

HAND OF THE WEEK

Dave "djm182" submits a hand that proves why stud8 is one of the greatest poker games.

He begins with a great two-way draw (As-2d-4h), and in capped pot with multiple opponents, he pairs his Ace on 4th Street. Capped again, he hits a powerful 3h on 5th Street when the action slows down. He bricks on 6th Street with a Js, while both of his remaining opponents seemingly improve. He gets caught in a raising war and can't get away, and the river two-pairs him: too little, too late.

Lessons? You can easily get committed in stud8, but at some point, you probably need to find a way to cut your losses against multiple frisky opponents. But even if you do, your reads can be way off since it's a split pot game. We love it!

NEXT WEEK'S SHOW

Scott reports back from Biloxi and the state of its poker post-Katrina.

- SCOTT

One Minute Mystery: The Case of Playing the Cosenza

We're in Level 1 of a five-table tournament, with blinds of 100/200 and starting chip stacks of 5,000.

The players aren't great, but aren't terrible.

We raise to 500 with Ad-10d, and the button and big blind call.

We check the rainbow flop of Q-10-3, the button checks and the big blind leads out for 400. We call, the button call.

The turn is a Jack, and we check again. So does the button, and big blind again bets 400. We now check-raise to 900, and the big blind calls.

The river is a 10.

What does our opponent have, and what do we do?

Times file photo

AIPS II, Event #10 Champion: predator06

Congratulations to predator06, who wins the 10th AIPS II banana as champion of the Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event, which drew 88 entrants.

predator06 won the last hand against yzerman13 with a, um, King-high straight flush (don't get Chris started on RCGs). Congrats to the entire final table, who did much, much better than our boutied, who had their collective worst finish in AIPS history.

Bounties go to:

• Joe24Pa (Chris "willhopper" 55th place)
• Mr Mike77 & spinn1 (Scott "OffDeadline" 59th place)
• predator06 (Columbo "columbo" 69th place)
• ErsatzSantiag0 (Fasso "stpetebeach" 71st place)

NEXT EVENT: HORSE, Thursday, Nov. 15, 9 p.m. Eastern

Click here for the Player of the Year standings. (Special thanks to Ante Up! scorekeeper Gambit for compiling them and the first bananahead of the year Blazman for hosting the results).

Click here for the schedule and all the info on AIPS II events. We'll update it as we set dates for future events, and recognize champions. (This link is also permanently posted on the right-hand side of the blog with all the other important links).

- SCOTT

Congratulations to predator06, who wins the 10th AIPS II banana as champion of the Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event, which drew 88 entrants.

predator06 won the last hand against yzerman13 with a, um, King-high straight flush (don't get Chris started on RCGs). Congrats to the entire final table, who did much, much better than our boutied, who had their collective worst finish in AIPS history.

Bounties go to:

See what Joe Navarro is talking about

Many of you wrote us to say how much you enjoyed our show with ex-FBI interrogator Joe Navarro ... and also how much you wish it had been a video podcast so you could see his tips in action.

Well, the Associated Press recently did just that, so click here to see Joe work his magic.

- SCOTT

Can someone explain this? Please?

In anticipation of AIPS Event No. 10, Pot Limit Omaha/8, I decided to give a SNG a try. Please understand I’m not posting this to start another all-out offensive regarding RCGs or RNGs or anything like that. All I’m asking is WHY? Why is this happening? Or maybe HOW? How is this happening? Also keep in mind I won this tournament, so there's no complaining, and I didn't suffer any bad beats.

This SNG took less than an hour (54 minutes to be exact) to the tune of 67 total hands. Within those 67 hands QUADS were dealt at least three times (all three were shown down), and one player who won a pot that didn’t go to showdown but mucked his winning hand typed into the chat “Quad 6s.” That makes four hands of four of a kind (that I KNOW about). He could’ve lied, but that doesn’t matter, and it’s not the point. With my own eyes I saw quads three times (getting them once). By the way, two of the quads hands came just eight deals apart. Take a look at my quads hand:

Dealt to willhopper [Q♦ 6♥ A♦ A♠]
Player X raises to 320
willhopper raises to 1,120 <----- I had a massive stack and he was on the bubble so I took a shot
Player X calls 137, and is all in
willhopper shows [Q♦ 6♥ A♦ A♠]
Player X shows [3♥ 2♥ 4♥ K♦]
*** FLOP *** [4♣ A♥ A♣]
*** TURN *** [4♣ A♥ A♣] [4♦]
*** RIVER *** [4♣ A♥ A♣ 4♦] [7♣]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
willhopper wins the high pot (537) with four of a kind, Aces
Player X wins the low pot (537) with 7,4,3,2,A

Amazing? Not only did I flop quads, but he turned trips, too! And he made a low!! But guess what … I’m just getting started. What’s rarer than four of a kind? A straight flush, right? How about three of them in this SNG, including a Steel Wheel and a Royal? Here’s the Royal, just for the hell of it, and for space I’ll just leave the acting players in the history: 

*** FLOP *** [K♥ A♥ 4♠]
Player A bets 100
Player B calls 100
*** TURN *** [K♥ A♥ 4♠] [Q♦]
Player A bets 100
Player B calls 100
*** RIVER *** [K♥ A♥ 4♠ Q♦] [T♥]
Player A bets 900
Player B calls 900
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Player A shows [3♣ J♥ 8♥ Q♥] a Royal Flush, for high

Yes, I know it’s Omaha, and winning-hand values increase over Hold ’Em winning hands something like five-fold or whatever, but these hands are the RAREST of all hands, and they accounted for 10 percent of hands dealt in this SNG. … I’ll let that sink in for a second … 10 PERCENT OF ALL HANDS DEALT WERE QUADS OR STRAIGHT FLUSHES!!

We play O8B in our home games ALL of the time, and you can count on one hand in the past year how many times straight flushes have been the winning hand. In fact, I really remember one Royal Flush and maybe one straight flush ... that’s it. Even quads only make an appearance maybe every third or fourth session … MAYBE. And I KNOW we’ve played more than 67 hands of Omaha in the past year. It’s more like 400-500 Omaha hands. These types of hands just don’t arise in B&M games THIS often. They just don’t. Sorry.

Again, I’m not accusing any site of anything here (as you will soon find out), and I’m not saying anything is rigged. I’m merely asking: Why is this happening? How can you explain these incredibly rare hands being dealt time after time?

Variance? Well, that might make sense if I hadn’t seen ANY of these types of hands online in like six months. But we all know THAT’S not the case. Is it a flawed RCG? Not according to the dozens of people who commented on my last RCG post (and I'm not arguing for this so calm down IT geeks). Could the Full Tilt owners benefit somehow? Well, it was a tournament and they didn’t get a rake from the “action” hands; so the answer there is “no.” Did these hands encourage action to end the tournament in a timely fashion so FTP could run another tournament and make more money? Please. This is one theory I always laugh at. There’s no limit to the amount of tournaments these sites can run, and they are constantly running identical tournaments overlapping one another, so that doesn’t even seem plausible.

So why are these hands being dealt? Can someone just give me an answer that makes sense? Please? I'm asking this question after a tournament I WON and didn't suffer any horrendous beats. But these hands are incredible, and if you can look at this post and shrug it off you aren't being honest with yourself.

-- Chris

It's a wide world of poker

It's an impossible to watch ESPN's coverage of the World Series of Poker without realizing how global this year's event was. The Main Event final table had six countries represented, and a number of bracelet winners were non-Americans this year.

Now, I'll pause here to say this shouldn't be a surprise. Poker is played worldwide, and played well worldwide. But I did find myself wondering why this year specifically it seemed like the world's biggest poker tournament was, well, more worldly.

Here are a few of my theories on why so many winners this year don't start baseball games by singing "O Say can you see ...":

Brother, can you spare a dollar? The U.S. dollar is so weak that any working class Parisian can afford to buy back the Statue of Liberty and so weak that Canadians would be smart to cross the border to buy their Canadian bacon. Not only is it cheap for foreigners to travel to the US of A, it's cheaper for them to buy in to poker events.

As Columbus would say, the world is (well) round(ed). Omaha is huge abroad. While Americans seem content with a steady diet of no-limit hold'em, the poker players of the world are honing their skills with a buffet of games. Being able to play multiple games offered more opportunities for success at this year's WSOP, which thankfully reduced the percentage of no-limit events. It's also helps you improve your no-limit game. If you can figure pot odds with four cards in your hand, it's safe to say you can do it even better with just two in your hand.

Online poker is rigged! OK, so I'm kidding (really, Chris, it's not. It's not!). No, what I mean is that U.S. lawmakers rivered a bad beat on its citizens with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. While us Yankees can still play online, it's become much harder and no doubt many Americans gave up and devoted their spare time to trying to afford Hannah Montana tickets for their kids. Not so for folks in countries whose governments are blinded by bigger problems to deal with than ridding their land of guys who play cards in their underwear. The online game has proven to accelerate learning curves, and for those whose online path is unimpeded, it's like the Autobahn of poker education and Americans can't even drive 55.

What do you think?

- SCOTT

A week without poker

Normally I take vacations to go PLAY poker, but this time it was the other way around. I played two small heads-up sessions with my son (for fun), but other than that, I never signed on to Full Tilt, there was no home game and I steered clear of the card rooms.

This was mostly due to the fact that I had a ton of family in town and I had to take care of them as we watched my wife successfully complete (for the second year in a row) the 3-Day Breast Cancer Awareness Walk for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. My wife rocks! On Day 2 she even finished 12th out of nearly 2,000 walkers (not that it's a competition, but you can imagine how hard that is). And she would have finished higher if her stupid husband didn't call her on the cell to find out where she was on the course so he could watch her!) So I'm unbelievably proud of her.

But that poker layoff now means I have a TON of poker coming up. AIPS is Thursday, in case you forgot; Friday I defend my title at Gambit's home game; and Saturday I'm meeting up with an Ante Up! friend at one of the local rooms to play some NLHE.

I'm also headed to CT in early November to cover the early stages of the WPT event at Foxwoods and I'll hook up with a bunch of Ante Uppers there and in a home game. Should be fun.

But to get back to my initial point: Do you think time off is bad for your poker game? I know a lot of people condone time off when you are running bad, but what about when you just have to take time off because of other commitments? Do you find it ruins your game? Are you rusty or refreshed? I've been running really well lately, and now that I have taken time off I'm afraid I might be a little off.

-- Chris

P.S. I did, however, find plenty of time to destory GUITAR HERO's 80s version. I even cleared three songs on EXPERT, including I Ran and Bang Your Head (Metal Health). That game is like crack for 30-year-olds who lead otherwise clean lives. And apparently Guitar Hero III comes out real soon so my addiction will be fed even more.

Catching up with online news

Thank you to all the listeners who have been keeping us up to date with the ongoing Absolute Poker situation, where many people are claiming a player who won a large tournament had access to every player's hole cards. I haven't posted about it because frankly I haven't (and likely won't) have the time to investigate it to my satisfaction, and I'm always squeamish about linking to rumors (darn those journalistic ethics!). But it's reached a point where it's THE story in the poker world, so we need to at least acknowledge it here.

I'll admit: the evidence being put forth certainly looks damaging. But as my high school track coach reminded us often, "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear."  I offer that sage advice not to sway anyone from fleeing Absolute, or to persuade anyone that the opinions they've developed based on what they've seen or heard should be abandoned.

Instead, I offer it as a reminder of the mantra you'll hear me refer to on the show often, whether the issue is collusion, RCG shuffling, hacked passwords or "action" decks: ONLINE POKER IS THE WILD, WILD WEST. We can (and should) raise our voices to make sure any and all nefarious behavior is stamped out in the online poker world, but at the end of the day, if you chose to log on to an online poker site, transfer money into it and play for money, you absolutely, unequivocally, must assume all responsibility for the risks inherent. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the online poker kitchen.

I'll get off my soapbox now to chime in on reports that Doyle's Room is returning to the U.S. market. The site has posted no official news confirming it, so I'm trusting fellow poker journalists on it (but not linking to any stories). But if it does prove to be correct, my opinion is we're seeing a changing landscape for online poker.

Doyle's Room left the U.S. market not out of corporate fear for prosecution like so many other lily-livered sites, but rather because its supporting operations turned the other cheek and made it far too difficult for Doyle to continue. There may be multiple reasons why Doyle is coming back, but I have to wonder if poker's great warrior has sensed weakness, and like a great poker player, isn't missing that opportunity to take advantage of that. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act regulations arrived several months late, and posed more questions than they answered. With comment periods and transition periods ahead, the mechanism to enforce the law may be years away. Has the government let Doyle "catch up" on this particular hand? Again, we can only wonder. But it sure is fun to wonder, isn't it?

- SCOTT

Episode #123: Alternative online sites

MAIN TOPIC

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has chased many a poker Web site out of the USA, and scared many more Americans from trusting online poker sites with real money. You, of course, can play online for free at sites like Yahoo or the recently relaunched IWon, or you can play for free at most of the pay money sites. Sadly, there's no incentive on these sites to play optimal poker, since as soon as you lose, and can refill. So what's a guy to do if he wants to play competitive poker online without risking real money? A couple of new sites have cropped up trying to feed this market. We take a look at two of them. Click here to listen to the show.

PurePlay.com: CEO Jason Kellerman gives us a ring to chat about his site, which is membership-based. Pay $19.99 a month and you can play as much as you want, and if you do well, you win cash prizes. (You can also play for free, but with vastly reduced benefits). Paying members also get individualized performance ratings and player statistics, and aren't subjected to ads. You must download software, though other options are in the works. Scott gave the site a test, and reports that it plays very similar to the popular online sites, though he wasn't convinced players were taking it seriously. That, however, can be a huge benefit to a player who does.

Ujogo.com: If you don't want to pay a membership, but don't mind viewing constant advertising, this site might appeal to you. The Java site makes its money by plastering the playing area with ads and pop-ups, which Chris and I found to be somewhat distracting on our test. However, the site has teamed with pros John "The Razor" Phan and Susie Isaacs, as well as Expert Insight, so you can watch videos with quality advice while playing. That was a neat feature.

OTHER TOPICS
High Stakes Entertainment Golf Tour: The show debuts on ESPN Saturday, featuring stars like Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth.

Ladies Night: It's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but don't look for the annual World Poker Tour Ladies Night on the tube. It'll air next year instead. We don't want to spoil it, but we're betting a Brunson wins it.

Norway ban? That's right - lawmakers in Norway are trying to ban poker. Ouch. Not good news for young phenom Annette Obrestad.

College poker: Harrah's Entertainment is pitching a proposed Rhode Island casino to college students as a good place to have fun while they take a break from studying, the Associated Press reports. Sounds good to us, but you know not everyone agrees. But the story goes on to profile a unidentified University of South Florida student who claims he lost $50,000 playing poker in the Tampa area. Our advice: Um, don't lose what you don't have so poker opponents don't get more ammunition to fight our great game.

Survivor: We taped in advance of this week's airing, so we were forced to guess what that wacky Jean-Robert was up to this week. Speaking German? Fishing with a rubber band around his neck?

Tampa Bay Poker Replay: Our good friend Sam from One-Eyed Jack's in Sarasota has put together a doozy of a tournament. The $650 "Pros vs. Joes" event is Nov. 30-Dec. 1, and will feature the likes of Gavin Smith, Chip and Karina Jett, Paul Azinger and Winky Wright. Satellites are $85.

What's the Next Level of Thinking? Columbo concludes the first installment of his new feature with the sobering reality that we were third best. Ouch.

HAND OF THE WEEK

JD from Melbourne, Australia, lets us take a look at the perils of slow-playing a set. At a 50 cent/$1 live computer table, it's a family pot to a flop of Ad-10h-6d. JD held 6d-6h for bottom set. It was checked to our hero, who checked and everyone got a free turn card: 5c. It was checked to JD again, who tapped the table and let the button probe with a $10 bet. When it got back to JD, he came alive with a $75 push. His opponent called, turned over 5d-5s and proceeded to river the one-outter for quads.

Lessons? Almost always bet that set, especially with an Ace on the board in a family pot. In this situation, the 5s would almost surely have folded, and we might have been able to extract a bet or two out of an Ace. Instead, we lost a big chunk of a hard-earned stack, albeit on a bad beat.

NEXT WEEK'S TOPIC

Interview with Mori Eskandani, CEO of Poker PROductions (High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark). Let us know what we should ask him.

- SCOTT

IRS wants those poker winnings!

That next big tournament win for you might be a little lighter, thanks to new IRS regulations.

If you're a good, law-abiding American who pays your taxes in full so we can have good schools, safe streets and scientists who study cow flatulence on the public dime, then you already claim all winnings on your return. That doesn't change. What's new is that poker rooms will have to report big fat winnings of $5,000 to the G-Men starting in March. That means you'll have to cough up your Social Security number at the cage so you can get a W-2G form, or the casino will ship 28 percent of your booty straight to Washington.

What does it mean? Not much for big tournaments, like the WSOP or WPT, I imagine. But I wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of smaller rooms cap that top prize at $4,999 to attract the kind of player who isn't too excited about Uncle Sam sharing in their success.

- SCOTT

Has this "poker is a sport" stuff gotten out of hand?

I admit it - I like to jaw with folks who bemoan poker's pseudo-status as a "sport." Obviously, the physical intensity of poker can't match football or even tennis (and list me one other sport where athletes can have a heart attack and come back and compete later that day, like you hear about in poker). Fine points, I tell my opponents. But then I remind them that it IS competition (and doesn't have to be physical), and virtually every "sport" requires intelligence, cunning and other mind-driven attributes in order to achieve success. Fine points, they say.

But now, I've completely and totally lost control of my argument. CardPlayer is reporting that a new competition called "PokerBowl" begins Saturday, with the championship to be played Tuesday in Vegas. And, no surprise, Fox Sports will air it all next year.

What is PokerBowl? Well, the country is divided into teams with catchy poker names like "Cincinnati Full House" and "Atlanta Bluffers" and utterly bland names like "San Diego Players" and "Orange County Outlaws" and make-you-puke punny names like " Pittsburgh Stealers." A bunch of big-name pros somehow got hooked up in this (a nice payday, I'm guessing).

The concept is kinda cool - players from the same team are seated at the same seats at different tables, and the tournament plays out. The winning player wins the competition for his/her team. But must we have gone the extra step, and created goofy names? The entire competition is being played in Vegas, so I'm not sure how many "Tennessee Tilt" fans are going to make the trip. I'm hoping they didn't go one extra step and create goofy logos and, gasp, uniforms, but I guess we'll have to wait until the broadcast to find out (someone please let me know, since I've programmed my Tivo to search out and destroy this show).

What's next? Trades? Collective bargaining agreements? $10 beers at poker events? Remember the old days when we just played cards? It's getting hard to remember that, isn't it?

- SCOTT

P.S.: Two more interesting things to check out in CardPlayer. The World Series of Poker has set its 2008 dates (though not the schedule), and Allyn Jaffrey Shulman weighs in with a more coherent explanation of the proposed ULIGEA regs than I managed, but at least I'm vindicated that someone with legal training agrees it's all quite complicated.

Aaaaaaaand they're OFF!

I'm glad to see my co-host has been posting to our blog on a daily basis in my absence ... oh wait ... he hasn't. Way to keep the blog momentum going, Scott. It's like the blog is Vito Corleone and I've left it under the protection of Fredo. I just hope the blog can survive five shots to the chest.

Well, I'm on vacation, my family's in town and last night HORSE made its debut on ESPN. Could life be any better? I have to admit I don't have any criticism for the HORSE coverage yet. I liked the dual percentages for the split games (loving every minute of Stud/8). Plus the way they went to commercial and came back to the next discipline in rotation was a nice way to transition. The field is just incredible; each table loaded with world champs and high stakes gamblers. Like I said, could life be any better? I'm just sad we're one-third of the way done with the coverage already after just one week, but I'll take what I can get.

So what did I do after the coverage ended? Played Razz with my son Matt, and he trounced me. Did I say I hate Razz lately? I am running so bad in Razz it's laughable. At least it wasn't for money! After it was over I paraphrasd Norman Chad: "Razz is a game that doesn't require as much skill, so that's why you beat me."

Just kidding, I didn't say that.

What did you think of the coverage? Could they improve upon it?

-- Chris

Show #122: Tampa Bay poker trips

MAIN TOPIC

You asked, so we answered: Is the Tampa Bay area a viable poker destination? The short answer: yes. If you're coming solely to play poker, then you'll likely be better off catching the red-eye to Vegas, but there's enough good card-playing here to satisfy most players, especially when you add in the region's other amenities. Listen to the show by clicking here.

The rooms

Derby Lane, St. Petersburg: Greyhound track's room open noon-midnight

Tampa Bay Downs, Oldsmar: Throroughbred track's room open noon-midnight

Tampa Greyhound Track, Tampa: Former greyhound track's room open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Sarasota Kennel Club, Sarasota: Greyhound track's room open 1 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Seminole Hard Rock, east of Tampa: Casino open 24/7.

Treasure Island CasinoCruz, Treasure Island: Cruise-to-nowhere has one poker table and two sailings a day.

The games/stakes

The new laws allow for $100 buy-in no-limit hold'em, and $5 limits on limit games, including hold'em, Omaha 8, stud and stud 8. Other games can be found every once in a while.

Most rooms have two multitable NL hold'em tournaments a day, with buy-ins from $40 on up, and SNGs from open to close.

The accommodations

Seminole Hard Rock is a bona fide Vegas-style resort, but it's often sold out and expensive. If the kiddies want to splash around in the Gulf of Mexico, the Don CeSar is a pricey, yet historic, option just a card's throw from Fasso's pad on St. Pete Beach. Mom-and-pop motels line the beaches, but your best central location might be in the areas surrounding the airports: Ulmerton/Roosevelt roads in Clearwater and Rocky Point and Westshore in Tampa.

The airports

Tampa International Airport (TPA) is one of the best in the world, and many airlines offer nonstop flights from dozens of cities. Plus, free Wi-Fi so you can play on FullTilt before your return flight. St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport (PIE) is a smaller airport, but has some carriers that serve alternate cities and Canada.

The other stuff

We have a great theme park (Busch Gardens) and beaches, as well as lot of other stuff that make the region a tourist destination. And, it's a short drive on Interstate 4 to the mouse in Orlando.

OTHER TOPICS

The bard returns: Yes, Mike Fasso returns to the show ... and doesn't disappoint you literature nuts.

Home game hysterics: Take a quick trip inside the madness that is the Ante Up! Home Game.

If you need a flush: Straight Flush Septic Services can help you out. Tell 'em the boys from Ante Up! sent ya (just don't tell them we want to start Royal Flush Septic Services and put them out of business).

WSOP: We are all friends for life, though Chris rails on the coverage, so maybe we're not friends with Norman Chad now.

Who was that guy? Chris was sure Scott was up against a pro in his World Series of Poker SHOE event, and he finally figured out who he was: The MIT Blackjack Team's Mr. M, J.P. Massar.

Pokerati poll champs: Take a look at the hardware to the right. Who's your podcast? Yeah, we thought so.

AIPS/CHIMPS: The final AIPS events are slated, and CHIMPS keeps rolling on.

Survivor: Here's a surprise - Jean-Robert is hungry. And he knows Mandarin.

Tampa Bay Poker Replay: Scott gave up his Thursday night to take a highlighter to the 19 pages of proposed clarifications to Florida poker laws and the 53 pages of proposed enforcement regs for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Yeah, he has no life.

What's the Next Level of Thinking? Welcome a new feature from Columbo (don't worry, the retooled One Minute Mystery returns in a couple of weeks). See the previous post for all the details.

HAND OF THE WEEK

A fairly routine hand that Kevin in Atlanta played in CHIMPS sparks a fairly spirited debate over whether you should check-raise in razz. Kevin starts with 4-3-2, though a couple of Aces, a 5 and a 6 are out. We hit a 6 on 4th, and make our hand with a 5 on 5th. On 6th, Kevin gets a little cute, checking his 9 when his two opponents catch 7s. It works, as his check-raise gets both callers. But the river sinks his ship when an opponent draws out, and they get into a raising war. How would you have played it?

NEXT WEEK'S SHOW

Alternative Online Poker Sites (show was taped in advance).

- SCOTT

What's the Next Level of Thinking?: Presto

Welcome to a new feature from our favorite mystery man, Columbo. (Don't worry, the retooled One Minute Mystery returns in a few weeks). "What's the Next Level of Thinking?" will appear every once in a while.

This week's query:

The situation: 3-table tournament of good players, down to 16 left. We're in 13th with 2,400 in chips and a tight-aggressive image. The average stack is 4,500 and limits are 75/150.

The hand: A middle position player with about 1,600 in chips makes it 550 to go, and the big-stack button calls. We look down at 5-5 in the big blind and call. With about 1,725 in the pot, the flop comes J-7-3, two hearts.

The questions: What probable hands hit that fllop? Do you expect our hand to win?

Last two AIPS II events created

First, a reminder that AIPS II Event #10 (Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo) is Thursday, Oct. 25, at 9 p.m. Eastern on FullTilt (so hurry those little trick-or-treaters along). Password for all events is "anteup".

We've also set up the last two events of this year's series:

Event #11 - HORSE (#29106562) - 9 p.m. Eastern, Thursday, Nov. 15. Entry fee is $5+0.50.

Main Event - Double Stack No Limit Hold'em (#29106696) - Noon Eastern, Saturday, Dec. 15. Entry fee is $24+$2.

A couple of notes on the Main Event: You can use a $26 satellite token to enter. You can win those in several different ways for as little as $4+0.40, I think. Maybe we'll even sked an AIPS Satellite Night one night if there's interest. Also, some of you asked us to consider making it a "super stack" tournament (5K in chips instead of 3K). We talked about it, but we decided the extra buck of rake ($23+$3) wasn't worth the extra 2K in chips.

And, as always, click here for all the information on AIPS II. It's not too early to send us your thoughts/suggestions for AIPS III, which we'll kick off in January.

- SCOTT

Prop bets ruin televised poker

Is anyone watching Poker After Dark this week? Now I understand why High Stakes Poker did away with the prop betting on its show. With Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, Eli Elezra and David Benyamine at the table, it's as if they're speaking another language; they aren't talking poker and they're annoying the hell out of me. At first I thought it was cool because it sort of made the boring players more animated and they actually had conversations at the table. But the more they talked about the more I realized it was all about the props and then wanted to delete the episode from my TiVo. Who cares if Ivey just won "triples" of if that flop "hit me twice" for Barry? If these guys want action that bad that's fine with me, who am I to stand in the way? But this is MEGA week, where everyone buys in for $50K and it was supposed to be exciting. If you take these four guys and center all of their conversations and actions around prop bets and trips to Hawaii for golf, all we're left with is Jennifer Harman and Allen Cunningham. Now, don't get me wrong, Jennifer is by far my favorite female pro and Cunningham is an incredible player, but entertaining they are not. Maybe these action junkies should have someone on the side keeping track for them so they (and the viewers) aren't distracted. It's no wonder Shana isn't exactly talking to anyone this week. What would she ask them? Were you disappointed that your threes and sixes didn't come on the flop as often as you'd like? Give me a break and play poker.

Photo courtesy of NBC

How disappointing

I imagine we'll touch on this subject during this week's show, but I have to react to ESPN's coverage of the WSOP Main Event final table. To be honest, after watching it live, I now know what ESPN is up against when it comes to editing these shows. I suppose the editors et al have to go under the assumption that most of the general viewing public hasn't seen this final table before, thus whatever they choose to edit out or leave in is what they feel is best for us. When a final table goes 15 hours and you need to cram it into a couple of hours it's understandable to an extent that the commentators don't tell you what an incredible streak Jerry Yang was on BEFORE he made Lee Childs lay down those queens. Sure, they showed two hands that he had won and made some comments, but this guy was relentless and rolling.

Chad says Childs made a bad laydown, and in the actual sense, yes he did. But in the grand scheme of things, given the HUGE momentum Yang had going, given that Childs would have in all liklihood been next to go out, and given that Yang had reraised him preflop, I can't blame him for folding. The coverage also didn't give a current chip count, and if you were going on the premise that Yang still only had say, $9M in chips, and Childs had roughly $14M, there's no way Childs folds for just another $2M or so because of the price he'd be getting and because Yang couldn't bet anymore. But, when Yang went all-in, it would've been, for all intents and purposes, Childs' tournament life. He HAS to fold there in my opinion. I don't, however, condone showing his cards, which he did twice on national TV (once the week before). I do think Childs showing the QQ (and KK last week) encouraged Yang to bluff later with J8, and of course Childs caught him; it just didn't work out in the end. Do I think he should have folded KJ there? Someone had to look this guy up, and Childs knew in his gut he was ahead. That's the mark of a very good player. His reads were a little off at that final table, but when it absolutely meant he would be out if he was wrong, he wasn't. So I commend him for that.

I just felt like ESPN's "Reader's Digest Abridged" version of the final table painted that situation (and others) in the wrong light. As always, this is why you NEVER should learn how to play poker from watching it on TV. People will see Yang shoving with JJ and think: "Hey, if I have JJ I can just shove and people will lay down better hands to me." It doesn't work that way, folks, and that's why poker on TV should be viewed solely has entertainment, not education.

So what's the solution? Well, how about fewer episodes dedicated to Days 1ABCD, Day 2 and Day 3, and just lump those days into one 2-hour episode? Or two 2-hour episodes? Do we really need to see THAT many interviews and NUTS segments? They could just as easily fill the entire schedule that's been slotted for the coverage, but instead, give the final table two-three weeks of coverage. What if Scotty Nguyen had made the final table? Do you think they would have wanted to give him three hands on national TV? No way! Get rid of some more NLHE undercard coverage and give us more final table drama. Just about every time you looked up someone was getting eliminated. It felt more like the WPT than the WSOP.

Other notes: Another nuance lost was South Africa's Raymond Rahme and the fact that he was 62 and exhausted. In the end he was pushing with dubious holdings and taking forever to make decisions, but you didn't see any of that. And that comes into play when he makes his decisions. So you may say, "How can you put his whole tournament on the line with AQ there?" but you don't know that he was EXHAUSTED and probably wanted it to end. ... Childs talking to his dad during a couple of hands was very borderline. You shouldn't be talking to anyone outside the table during a hand, and Childs is fortunate the tournament director was just as caught up in the moment as everyone else, otherwise he could've gotten a penalty, twice.  ... These guys played for 15 hours on the final day after about a week of constant play, and when it got to heads-up they showed ONE HAND? Wow! At least give us a couple of folds or something. Tuan Lam actually outplayed Yang for a lot of the heads-up portion, but you'd never know that unless you watched or read it somewhere like here. It just seems like a terrible injustice to these guys. But I guess the millions of dollars they won will compensate for their lost air time. ... I really like Chad's FLUSHYs, but I think the segment is too short. ESPN should give him a 1-hour special (a la John Madden or Terry Bradshaw) that recaps the WSOP and allows him to generously sprinkle in more FLUSHY awards. Very entertaining stuff.

-- Chris

Tonight's the night

The 2007 World Series of Poker's Main Event comes to an end tonight with back-to-back episodes. We finally get to see what Jerry Yang was holding, we finally get to hear what Norman Chad will say about Lee Childs' laydown and we'll finally get some peace and quiet because at some point Kahn will get eliminated.

This also means that next week begins coverage of the $50K HORSE event, which will run until Oct. 30.

Also, a reminder that CHIMPS is holding its Razz tourney tonight on Full Tilt Poker at 9 p.m. ET. Password is anteup.

-- Chris

More RCG stuff

Recently I've been trying to boost our blog numbers by visiting other forums and offering advice, then telling them about Ante Up! and the blog (if it's permitted). I also have our URL in my signature to promote the site. On one of the forums there was a post about the Full Tilt RCG (or RNG).

Someone in a razz tourney was talking to Howard Lederer, pictured, in the chat and they had a conversation about the RCG. The gist of the conversation was this, and it's all paraphrased, but you can find the conversation here:

Random Player: Hey Howard, I know that Full Tilt places action cards into the RCG to speed up play in cash games, but does that happen in tournaments, too?
HL: Uh, we don't do that. That would be very hard to pull off.
RP: But I was talking to Chris (Ferguson) and he said it is true.
HL: You misheard. What happens is the remaining cards are shuffled constantly and a card is randomly pulled.
RP: Maybe I did mishear him, but the shuffling doesn't seem right.
HL: Well, it prevents cheating. Our RCGs have been audited, etc. Even if you cracked the deck you couldn't cheat.

Then the random player mentioned something about the longer I take the better chance there is that a different card would come had I acted sooner, or folded, etc. Howard didn't discuss this, but it still makes you wonder about fate. And about whether Ferguson actually said that. And didn't he have something to do with the programming of Full Tilt?

Had the cards remained in the original shuffling order, would you have won? Lost? The thing they institute for security is the very same thing that could be costing you money. Or not. Very intriguing to say the least. And it's not like we didn't know these RCGs shuffle the remaining cards during the action on every street, or that if we fold the cards that come would change, but it certainly doesn't feel like poker, it feels like a "Texas Hold 'Em Slot Machine" as one poster put it.

-- Chris

Photo credit: Getty Images

Have another one buddy

In my last post I made reference to a big session online Friday night. I (virtually) sat down at a .5-.10 NLHE table with a $10 buy-in, and when I left I had $68.50, and I got nearly all of that cheddar from two drunks. It was quite the perfect scenario, and normally I don't trust the chat I read, but in this case there was no denying it. Here's the best part: It was a six-handed table, but I sat alone with these guys for almost an hour. They kept typing in stuff like: "I set a record. It's been a whole 10 seconds since alcohol has touched my lips!" and "I thought I had three 9s in my hand." WE WERE PLAYING HOLD 'EM! And, I'm actually being kind here as my editorial instincts fixed all of the typos. What it actually said was "Iset a recrd. its ben a hole 10 sencods sense alchol has touchd mylips." And his partner typed in: "I gotcha beet, 14 second heer."

So, at first I was skeptical, because people try all sorts of things to make you call when they have the nuts, etc. But these guys were hammered, and they were trying to bluff at all the wrong times. It took me a few hands to realize they were just two drunks laughing it up at the table with each other on a Friday night. I even made a big laydown early on, not knowing they were drunk bluffers. One time I had a wheel and a guy called off his entire stack with Q-high and one card to come. I kept busting them and they kept rebuying. Or, one drunk would bluff the other one, get all of his chips and then he would try to bluff me and I would take them from him. Every so often someone would join the table, lose a pot to one of the drunks, leave, and then I'd take that money from the drunks later. It was a dream.

In the end, the Great Porcelain God took them away from me, but I went to sleep a happy, happy poker player.

So, if this isn't a good enough ad to keep you from drinking too much alcohol and playing poker, then nothing is. Imagine their faces the next time they logged on and saw their bankrolls. I have no idea how much they lost collectively on the night, but I got mine.

LOW LIMITS: I continued my assault on the lower limits, posting three more winning sessions at Stud/8 and/or HORSE on Saturday night and Sunday.

ONE MORE THING: I forgot to post this on my last entry about Saturday's home game, but we played poker for six hours and not once was Razz called. Is that blasphemy?

-- Chris

Illustrattion by Chris Cosenza using images from iStockphoto.com

J-10 made me a LOT of money

 

You know how just about everyone says J-10 is their favorite non-premium hold 'em starting hand? Well, after Saturday's home game J-10 will forever be my favorite hand, even though I have an affinity for 9-10 (it's my birthday). It seemed like every time I had J-10 I made a straight on Saturday, and won gigantic pots to boot. The thing about J-10 is you need to treat it right. Don't go with J-10 looking for a pair. If you don't pick up a straight/flush draw with it, you should pretty much be done with it if facing pressure, unless you have two pair. Remember, J-10 is the only combination that can make four straights and they're all the nuts (A-K-Q-J-10, K-Q-J-10-9, Q-J-10-9-8, J-10-9-8-7). You can't make a bad straight with J-10.

Two hands come to mind, even though I made three or four straights with it Saturday, and the first one came in double-flop hold 'em. There was a raise before the flop(s), but because it's DFHE, at least four players were in the hand. DFHE is an action game no doubt, and just about everyone sees merit in their cards knowing two boards are coming, plus it's limit.

So here are the flops:
Top board: K♥Q♣5♥
Bottom board: 8♥9♠6♦

I was on the button and I guess there's an argument to re-raise preflop since J♣10♣ is such a good hand for this game, but I was happy with just calling two bets because the pot would be big enough to draw. After the flop there was one bet and a couple of callers before it got to me. Normally, in regular limit hold 'em I'd raise here to try to get a free card (thanks Lee Jones), but I thought "With two open-ended straight draws, I'm not just raising for a free card, why not build a huge pot in case I hit both?" I had 7 and 8 outs on the respective boards (though I might not have the nuts on the top board if a heart came), so I bumped it and everyone called.

The turns were:
Top board:  K♥Q♣5♥3♦
Bottom board: 8♥9♠6♦2♥

Pretty inconsequential, but there was one bet, so I called and so did one other player. At this point the pot was pretty big, and since I didn't get my free card I figured the bettor had to have something like KQ, a flush draw or a straight on the bottom.

The rivers:
Top board:  K♥Q♣5♥3♦A♣
Bottom board: 8♥9♠6♦2♥7♠ 

WOW! Were my eyes deceiving me? Did I just make the mortal nuts on both boards with this massive pot out there? At this point there's a bet and a call before it got to me, so I raised and they both called. Turned out one guy flopped a straight with a 10-7 on the bottom board and the other guy made two pair on the top board. Cha-ching! Massive pot! Fasso said it was at least $50. I love DFHE!!!!

The other notable J-10 hand came in NLHE (with a $30 cap). Again I was on the button (or at least I had position) and I just limped. The board came 8♥9♣6♠. There was a check and then a bet of $3 into a $6 pot. I called and so did the checker. The turn was the 7♥. Bingo, but it put two hearts up there. After a check there was a $6 bet and I made it $20. Why so much? My reasons are two fold: I'm hoping someone has the ignorant end of this straight with a 5 or the second-nut straight with a bare 10, plus with the hearts out there I don't want someone with A♥9♥ or with two pair rivering me. Anyway, the checker called! The original bettor folded, saying I must've slow-played a monster and if his read is right he's making a good fold. I assume he put me on an overpair. I put in the cap's last $5 in the dark and a 5♣ came on the river for a straight on board. My opponent called and had a 10 in his hand, but I, of course, had the higher straight and took down another massive pot.

Did I say J-10 is my favorite hand? Understatement of the century! I was the big winner, pocketing close to $120 profit on the day. Combine that with the very big night I had online Friday and it was a very good two days.

Other notable things: We introduced 5-card draw for the first time. I won a decent amount as I have played this game my whole life, I've read Caro's Super/System chapter and played it very successfully online at PokerRoom before those spineless jellyfish pulled out of the American market. But there was one hand I can't believe happened, and I promised Kyle I would write about it. For those of you who don't know, 5-card draw is played with blinds (just like Hold 'Em, Omaha, Deuce-to-Seven). When you are playing $2-4 limits, that means the blinds are $1-2 and you can raise in increments of $2 before the draw. After the draw you can bet and raise in $4 increments. So I looked down at AAJ24 in the BB. I raised and got everyone but the button to fold. Normally position is HUGE in this game, but he discarded before I did, telling me he intented to take three. So I thought about taking two and keeping the jack to disguise my hand. But since he drew three I knew I was ahead and figured I could take three to give myself a better chance to hit trips. The top card was an ace and the second card was a jack. If I had kept the jack and drawn two I would've boated up. Anyway, I still had AAAJ4. So I bet out and he RAISES me!! Cha-ching!!! So I three-bet it and he capped it!!! I called and he turned over 99933. He drew three and made a boat!!!! I tried to find a poker calculator that could do the odds of this happening, but I couldn't find one. What a hand!!! I lost $20 on that one hand, but, I got it back later from him (he was the guy who called my cap in the NLHE hand and had the straight to the 10). Sorry Kyle.

Fasso made an impressive rally. I had him all-in at one point, his entire $100 buy-in all but gone. It came during limit hold 'em. He was in the BB and I was on the button. I raised with 7-7 and he reraised. It got capped and he only had $3.50 left and he asked if I wanted to put him all-in. I said sure and he turned over AA. He flopped an ace and I turned a 7, but alas my one-outer didn't land on the river (this isn't Full Tilt). And from there Fasso turned it all around, eventually doubling his buy-in. He and I were basically the only winners, one other player won $9 and since that player wasn't Scott, you can imagine how he did. I'll let him do the post-mortem of his play if he wants.

-- Chris

Episode #121: Derby Lane's Jeff Gamber

MAIN TOPIC

Jeff Gamber, director of poker operations at Derby Lane, swung by the studios to talk about the room's recently completed $550 tournament (which ended with a 6-way chop not long before closing time), what's next for his room (a series of "What's Your Passion? tournaments with prizes like a brand new Harley) and the changes in Florida law (latest proposals will, among other things, allow for rebuy tournaments). Click here to listen to the show.

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