Venetian is more than just poker

The Venetian is my co-pick as the most beautiful casino (along with the Wynn/Encore). It's well-known for it's deep-stack poker tournaments, but is also be recognized for its beauty.

The Palazzo is part of the Venetian complex.


You can read what Wikipedia says about the Venetian here.


Venice, Italy, has many canals. The Venetian attempts to duplicate that:


Gondolas are flat-bottomed boats well-suited to the canals in Venice. Now they are used mainly for romantic sight-seeing.


Did you know there is also a Venetian in Macao? It is (currently) the largest casino in the world at 550,000 sq ft (51,000 sq meters).


There are many statues and fountains that are lovely.


I walked north, then looked back at part of the Venetian peeking over the Sands Convention Center.


If you go inside the Venetian, and take the escalators up one floor, you can get a close-up view of some exquisite artwork.



Tomorrow: Three collages of random photos.

Las Vegas wakes up at night

If you look south on the strip from the Eiffel Tower, you see the MGM, Mandalay Bay, The Pyramid, Planet Hollywood and others. All photos are high rez, so click to enlarge, if interested.


If you turn around and look north, you see the Flamingo, Treasure Island, Trump and others:


This strip of neon from Bills' Gambling Hall caught my eye.


More neon! The Mirage, Caesar's Palace, Bally's and more:


The Eiffel Tower replica is considered romantic to some. I'm showing my age, but to me, it was considered a great place to get photos, heheh.


Look! You can see an awesome reflection in the Trump (click to enlarge).


It's nighttime and Caesar's Palace presides over the city of Las Vegas:



Tomorrow, I'll share some photos from the beautiful Venetian.

Thanks, I needed that

I went to the Goldstrike Saturday night to play poker. The tournament was at 6 p.m. and I signed up for it. The entry was $90 and there were 49 runners, 10K in chips and 20 minute levels.

When the blinds were 300/600/25, I picked up J-J UTG and raised to 2100. A guy who wasn't paying attention put 600 out. Now, when told that would stay, he reluctantly called the 2100 (it was either that or forfeit the 600). It folded to the BB who moved all in. She had around 9K, I had ~19K. What would you do? Well, it would help if you saw her. She had a do-rag on, boobs handing out and basically looked like a tourist donk. I moved all in myself to drive out the other guy.

When we turned our cards over, I wasn't surprised to see she had 8-8! Sweet. Pocket 8s, however, have been hot lately. Lightning36 was knocked out of WSOP Event #43 when he had Q-Q and the villain had 8-8. Sure enough, against me an 8 came on the river. Instead of chipping up to nearly 30K, I was now short-stacked at about 8 or 9K. Eventually I was all in against with Q-10 suited vs J-10 and lost that one, too.

Time for the ca$h game. I've learned that I don't always play well after a tournament. Maybe there's an adrenaline crash or something. I decided to play in the 4/8 Limit HE game. I bought in for one rack of white and started to play. At first I couldn't win a pot. Twice I flopped a set and someone stayed in and hit a flush -- stuff like that. Then things turned around. My good hands held up and got paid off.

This was a lucky hand for me that really turned things around. I had ♣K ♣J on the button and called. It was raised behind me and raised again. There were so many players who stayed that I did too. It was raised again. Finally it was capped. Seven players had put $20 each in the pot before the flop, w-o-w.

The flop was good for me: ♣A ♣6 ♥Q. Besides having the nut flush draw, I had a gut-shot straight draw (a 10). The turn was the ♣5 giving me the nuts. I bet $8 and two players called. The river was another 5 (I forget what suit), so there could be a boat. It was checked to me, and I bet another $8 anyway and got the same two callers. My hand was good! The pot was around $200!

Was there any doubt, actually? Crubs always get there. CK has been preaching that for some time now, and even the worst infidel has heard her message and become a believer.

After that, many more good things happened. I wish I could say I played great poker, but really, the pots just fell to me. When a dealer or new player came to the table, they all commented on my mountain of chips. I usually put 20 in a stack. I had 40. The brush came by and commented.

Around 1:30 a.m. I was ready to check out. They say if you cash out with a profit of four times your buy-in, you've had a monster night. I had to get six racks to carry all my chips. Guess what, they didn't all fit and I had to get a seventh for the rest. As I was cashing out, the shift manager came by and he also said something.

After returning from Vegas with my tail between my legs, it felt good, even if it was only limit poker (they call it no-fold-em hold-em).

What does Bellagio mean in English?

The Bellagio has a huge lake in front with fountains. They are beautiful and a popular tourist destination.


If you are on the East side of the street, you have to use the walkway to cross over. If you do, and if you look up, you might see these:



Below is the lake. The Bellagio is on the right and mostly out of sight. The lake covers nine acres.



The fountains are choreographed and set to music and (at night) a light show. The fountains can be viewed every 30 minutes during the day, and every 15 minutes from 8 p.m. until midnight. There are 1200 nozzles that operate to stage the show.



You might have noticed the buildings in the distance have a reflection of the Bellagio in them. Let's take a closer look:



What does Bellagio mean in English? It's the name of a resort town on Lake Como in Lombardy, Italy. It doesn't mean anything in English -- it was a trick question, haha, I'm so mean. You can read more if you click here.

The Bellagio at night:


The fountains at night:

I've got the blues

I've wanted to see the Blue Man Group since I saw them in a special on TV. Last Sunday, I did.

I enjoyed the percussion, the lighting and staging, the comedy, and the audience participation. The show was well worth the money and passes the acid test: I would go see them again next time I'm in Vegas.

Have any of you seen them? What do you think?


No photography during the show, but they came to the lobby after for a photo op.

Bally ho!

Bally's Casino in Las Vegas is located on "the strip" and is a member of the Harrah's family.


Bally's is a stop on the Las Vegas monorail. I have monorail photos and will post one or two later.

There are several components to a being good poker player. You have to be able to read the board. You have to be able to read the players. And, sometimes you have to know a little math.

I played $1/3 NLHE with Lightning36 at Bally's poker room. A player two to my right raised to $8 and I raised to $20 from the hijack seat. The button and the raiser called. I started the hand with $200 as did the button. I don't remember the first guy's stack size, but it wasn't relevant.

The flop was ♣Q ♠8 ♠7. The first guy checked and I bet $30. The button raised to $60, the first guy folded and I called. The turn was the ♦10. I checked and the button bet $60 and I called. the river was the ♥Q. I checked, the button bet his last $60 and I folded. Yes, I lost $140 and probably looked like a donk.

What do you put the button on? I thought his hole cards were 8-8 or 7-7 or possibly A-Q (but less likely, especially when the queen came on the river) for a likely set.

What were my two hole cards? If you think about it, it's obvious. I don't have A-A or K-K (or A-Q) because I would have folded to his likely set. I had ♠A ♠K. I raised pre-flop to (try and) drive out the cut-off and the button, so I would have position.

What happened? Let's do some math.

There was $60 in the pot pre-flop. On the flop I bet $30, expecting to win the hand right there. When the button raised to $60, there was $150 in the pot and it cost me another $30 to call. I had nine outs to the nut flush. Three aces and three kings might be outs, but either card could give the button two pair if he had A-Q or (unlikely) K-Q. With the nine outs, I'm nearly 20% to hit a flush on the next card. The pot was laying me 5:1 and I'm only risking 4:1, so easy call from within an express-odds framework. Also, let's don't forget that I'll get more money from him if I hit.

The turn was a 10 -- that now gave me three more outs because now a jack would give me a Broadway straight, so I now have 12 outs, although the ♠Q isn't a clean out because it might give the villain a boat. The button bet $60 into a pot of $180. This means it costs me $60 to win a pot of $240 or I'm getting 4:1. Having 12 outs means I'm nearly 24% to hit the flush or the straight (or 3:1), so it's still +EV to call. Also, don't forget that if I hit, I'll bet my last $60, and can expect him to call such a small amount to (try to) win such a big pot.

Yes, the board bricked and I lost $140. My calls were (mathematically) correct, but the card gods didn't cooperate. The villain, on the other hand, made several mistakes in bet sizing. It worked for him, though. He built a bigger pot, but he should have bet larger to protect his hand, both on the flop and turn. He may have read me for A-A or K-K, in which case his bet sizes were correct (I'm drawing to two outs, so he wants to keep building the pot). Too bad he didn't have to pay for his indiscretion.


The Bally's poker room has 10 or 12 tables and each seats 10 players. There are automatic card shufflers. The room was well-run and the dealers were good. Players varied from local leather asses to tourist donks to ball cap kids. They have daily tournaments and overall, it's a comfortable place to play.

Hot time in Vegas

I'm home and trying to get back into my usual routine. I've started looking as some of the photos I took. Here's a teaser:


The Mirage Casino has a spectacular volcano that goes off at nights. You can read about it here. Photos are high res, so you can click to have a better look -- you know the drill.


The volcano erupts every hour on the hour from 8 p.m. until midnight (when weather permits). Their catch phrase is: Put some sizzle into your night.

Five days in the desert

Five days in the desert

Above are the fountains at the Bellagio.

I came. I played poker. I stunk.

Poker wasn't so hot, but I had a good time otherwise. Met fellow bloggers lightning36, ck (BWoP), lj and TuscaloosaJohnny. Good people.

Took some photos so we'll see how they turned out when I get home. Blue Man Group was super as expected.

I'm at the airport -- more later.

The omen

When I woke up this morning, I had to blow my nose. There was blood in it. I remember the same thing happened last year when I was out here. Must be the dry air. My poker turned out that way -- bloody.

Twice i had good hands and ran into hidden sets. Twice I had top pair, good kicker and was bet off my hand.

The final straw was being short-stacked and moving in with A-Q and being called by 10-7, both hearts. A 10 came on the flop, GG me.

I'm not claiming I played well, but it was brutal and $3000 in chips doesn't give you much wiggle room.

Thanks to all the well-wishers -- it means a lot.

The Room of Requirement

In the Harry Potter books, there is a Room of Requirement. It appears only when someone is in need of it. To make it appear, one must walk past its hidden entrance three times while concentrating on what is needed. Then, presto! The room will then appear and it will be outfitted with whatever you require.

I need a big hand; I need to find the hidden entrance.

I won a bracelet

I won a bracelet

"Hey there, Mr. Smith." it was Shaun Johnston who used to run the tournaments at the Goldstrike. He is a TD here. Is it me of does Mr. Smith sound so old?

At the second table I was moved to, there was another Tunica player and the dealer was also from there (Kenny Piels and Bob). Two other players from Tunica (Speedy Gonzales and Dale) were nearby, as well. Old home week.

Non-players have to stay behind the rope, so they give these bracelets (shown in photo) to the playas.

We're off and running

We're off and running

2710 geezers runners.

The Rio by day

The Rio by day

I was going to play in a local tournament today as a warm-up, but decided instead to take it easy.

Took the shuttle to Harrah's and walked around and took some photos. Then checked out the playing area. Food looks pretty grim, but they give I'd 90 minutes for dinner so I can go somewhere else.

Going to Blue Man Group tonight, something I've always wanted to do.

The Rio at night

The Rio at night

Settled in. Play starts tomorrow with 3000 in chip$. I'll be in Brasilia Room @ table 157 seat 9. GL me.

Poker Pearl #22

Online winner Lucas Rifkin was interviewed in the Card Player magazine shown above (June 17, 2009, casino version).

He was asked: "I see lots of . . . crazy three- and four-betting with air, in and out of position. What's going on?"

Rifkin: A mistake people make is turning valuable hands into bluffs. If someone is opening from early to middle position, some players in late position will three-bet a decent hand like 9-9 or A-J suited. Then, when the original raiser four-bet shoves, they will fold. This isn't a good idea.

The original raiser is going to shove or fold to a three-bet; if they (the early raiser) are going to three-bet or fold, then the late position raiser might as well do that with trash hands instead of with hands that are good enough and profitable to call with and play in position.

So, when three-betting trash hands, the outcome is practically the same as it is with the A-J suited or 9-9. If you can call profitably in position, but your hand isn't strong enough to go all the way preflop, don't turn it into a bluff.

Have convention card, will travel

[I have both poker and bridge content. Look on the right side under labels and click on whichever of the two games (or photos) you want to read about.]

The World Bridge Federation has announced that the next World Bridge Series will be held in the U.S. October 1 – 16, 2010, in Philadelphia. The last time a world championship was held in the U.S. was 1994 in Albuquerque NM, although bridge was staged as a demonstration sport at the Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Thousands of the world’s best bridge players will compete for world titles, with events offered for players of varied skill levels. A special program for young players will be included. Bridge is perceived as a game for old people, so maybe that will help to discourage that thinking.

Players from about 100 different nations are expected to participate in this exciting event. A special invitation is being planned for bridge players from Cuba, with the very real possibility that an official Cuban delegation may visit the U.S. for the first time in 50 years.

José Damiani, WBF President, says, “Philadelphia will be an ideal location for the 2010 World Bridge Series. My warm personal thanks go to the ACBL, the United States Bridge Federation (USBF), and officials and players from Philadelphia, for their support and encouragement.”

Easy when you think about it

You are declarer in 7♠ on this deal:

                ♠ K Q J
                ♥ K 10 7 3 2
                ♦ A 8 7
                ♣ A J
♠ 10 9 7                      ♠ 4   
♥ J 5                         ♥ Q 9 8 4          
♦ J 9 4 2                     ♦ 10 6 5 3
♣ K Q 10 9                    ♣ 7 6 4 2
                ♠ A 8 6 5 3 2
                ♥ A 6
                ♦ K Q
                ♣ 8 5 3

West leads the ♣K and you see you have 12 top tricks. To get to 13, your best shot is to develop an extra trick in the heart suit. You can set up dummy's fifth heart, but you need North's trump for an entry, so you need spades to divide 3-1 or 2-2.

Suppose the layout is as shown above. If you aren't careful, you will promote a trump trick for West. Is there an answer?

After winning the ♣A, you cash the ♦K Q, then the ♥A. You lead a trump to dummy and play the ♦A discarding your ♥6.

Now you can afford to ruff a heart low, return to dummy with a second round of trumps, and lead another low heart, and ruff it with the ♠A, avoiding any potential overruff. Besides, this looks spectacular and style points aren't always easy to come by. Just sayin'.

Finally, you lead a trump to dummy, drawing West's last trump. You score your grand slam via six spade tricks, three hearts, three diamonds and one club.

Something new every time

There are many things that make bridge the beautiful game that it is. One of them is that you can play thousands of deals and still see something new on the next one.

Here's an example: How do you win five tricks in this suit? Dummy has ♥Q 10 9 7 2 and you (declarer) have ♥A 8 3?

Playing at the Lightman Bridge Club in Memphis, Al was the declarer on this deal (low cards are approximate):

                ♠ 4 3
                ♥ Q 10 9 7 2
                ♦ 5
                ♣ A Q J 9 5
♠ A K J 9 7 2                     ♠ 6
♥ ---                             ♥ K J 6 5 4
♦ Q J 9 6                         ♦ 10 8 7 4 3
♣ 10 8 7                          ♣ 4 3
                ♠ Q 10 8 5
                ♥ A 8 3
                ♦ A K 2
                ♣ K 6 2

Al was South and opened 1NT. West bid 2♠ and North bid 3♥. East passed and Al bid 3NT. He had spades securely stopped and notrump distribution.

West led the ♠K and shifted to the ♦Q. Declarer won and led a club to the queen to advance the ♥Q. East could see that if he covered, it would be easy to set up the suit, so he played low. Al led another heart, and, when East played low again, inserted the 8 which held.

Declarer played the ♣K and another to dummy, on which East discarded the ♥6. On the next to last club, East discarded the ♥J (East could see that the dummy was entryless and declarer had the blocking ace), and these were the cards that were left:

                ♠ 4
                ♥ 10 9 7
                ♦ ---
                ♣ 9
♠ A J                         ♠ ---
♥ ---                         ♥ K
♦ J 9 6                       ♦ 10 8 7 4
♣ ---                         ♣ ---
                ♠ Q 10
                ♥ A
                ♦ K 2
                ♣ ---

On the last club, East discarded the ♥K, but Al had the answer. He discarded the ♥A. This allowed him to cash three hearts tricks in dummy to make two overtricks and score a top board.

Observing their gear

I use three different card protectors: the one on the left says "All in," the next one is a three-dimensional spade symbol and the one on the right has a St. Louis Cardinals' (baseball) emblem.

A comment by fellow Memphis/Tunica-area blogger Jusdealem got me to thinking. When you sit down to play, noticing things about your opponents can help give you an insight into their playing style.

Here are some observations she made about their card protectors:

Cubic zerconia encrusted doo-dads: Wanna be baller, baby! Would rather win with a bluff, than have a legit hand.

Picture of grandkids: Rarely bluffs; has the goods.

Horseshoe: Superstitious. Believes more in luck than skill.

Vegas memorabilia: Tourist donk.

Can you think of more? Do you use a card protector, and, if so, what does it say? If I'm using mine that says "All in," does that mean I'm in full-tilt mode and ready to shove?

I just thought of something else. Do tee shirts with different words on them mean anything? What else can we observe that can give us insight?

Pay attention

When I sit down at the table, the first thing I do is observe each player. It's amazing how much you can tell almost immediately. This is a big advantage for me compared to online play. Does he act confident? Does he look drunk? How does he handle his chips? Does he have a clue?

The following happened at the Goldstrike last Saturday early in the Omaha-8 game. On the river, the 10 seat bet, one player folded and only the eight-seat called. The 10-seat turned over the nut low and trip 5s for high. The eight-seat studied and finally mucked his hand.

The dealer waiting to come in was standing behind the eight-seat player. "He folded a straight," he mouthed to the (present) dealer. I'm sure no one else saw this, but I did and it was good information. I now can add to my profile of the eight seat -- he's not the sharpest player in the game, to say the least.

What do you look for when you sit down to play in a live game?

Live poker is rigged, too

These vignettes from the Goldstrike last night:

In the tournament, a lady and another guy were all in pre-flop. The lady had Q-Q and the guy had 10-10. The guy flopped a 10, but the turn was a queen. A classic case of suck and re-suck the card gods giveth and the card gods taketh away. Three hands later, the two are all in again! This time the lady has K-K and the guy has 9-9. The flop included a 9 to give the guy a set. Guess what came on the turn? Yep, a king. If played online, the conspiracy theory whining would be heard.

I took a bad beat in the tournament (all in and A-Q < A-J). The next hand a short stack went all-in for 5000. I was on the button and went all in myself with A-J. The big blind called (I had him covered). The shortstack turned over Q-9, no surprise as he needed a double-up and even picking up the blinds and antes would be good for him. We were shocked, however, to see the BB turn over 9-7 off-suit! Huh?? Naturally he hit a 7 on the river to win. The shortstack asked him why he called for his tournament life with 9-7 and he turned and pointed behind him where two guys were standing, and said "I was trying to bust. My buddies want to go eat." Ooookaaaaay. Whatever.

On the hand I busted out of the tournament with, the dealer dealt to me, then said to turn the card over. He claimed it had floated (I didn't notice it, but I'm sure it did if he said so). I turned over a big fat ♥A. He used that as a burn card. I was shortstacked now and went all in and was called. The other guy beat me, but if I had been able to keep the ace, I would have won. Some night stuff happens.

I then moved to the Omaha-8 game. I've played at Tunica almost every weekend for five years, so I've seen just about everything. After about three hours of play, a new one (to me) happened.

I was dealt ♥A ♥3, ♠A ♠5. It was a kill post, so the minimum bet pre-flop was $6. The betting was raised and re-raised until it was capped. That means five of us put in $30 each before we'd seen anything but our own two cards and the pot was already $150, minus $4 rake and $1 for the badbeat jackpot. That's Omaha-ha.

The flop was J-10-7 with one heart. I don't remember the betting, but I stayed in. Now, the dealer dealt the ♥4 which gives me a draw to the nut flush, and there was no qualifying low so far. Everyone checked. But something strange happened. The dealer called for the floor. When the floor arrived, he explained that he had burned too many cards and the actual turn card was supposed to be the ♥K and the river would have been the ♥4. I'm not sure how this happened, but it meant I would scoop the whole pot, s-w-e-e-t!

Whoa, not so fast.

The floor first said that the ♥K would stand, but she couldn't let the ♥4 be the river. She said that everyone would know the river and that wouldn't work (I am paraphrasing here). Finally, she ruled that all the cards after the flop would come back (including the ♥K) and ordered the dealer to shuffle what was left of the deck and replay the turn.

One of the players began to argue loudly when they took the king away (it turns out he had A-Q for the nut straight). The last two cards were redealt, and a measly three of a kind won the pot. Now the guy really got loud saying how he has been screwed. I didn't say anything (no point, actually, it wouldn't do any good), but he wasn't screwed. He wouldn't have won the pot, but, of course, he didn't even realize this.

After that, I racked up my chips and left; sometimes it's not your night.

Bow to the queen

They say that nice guys finish last, but a fellow blogger has proven that old saying to be false.

CK entered WSOP Event #25, a split event. Playing against 376 of the best Omaha-8 / Stud-8 players in the world, she made it through to the money and finished 39th. The event was eventually won by Phil Ivey. Come on, CK, you can't beat Phil Ivey? All kidding aside, she did outlast many bracelet winners that are well-known throughout the poker world.

There will be 57 events, and 57 poker players will finish 39th this summer. None of them, however, are quite like CK. She's an excellent writer (both entertaining and technically superb), has an upbeat personality, and, most importantly, is a kind and considerate person (a not-too-common trait among poker players, unfortunately). Those of you who read her blog already know that she quit her job as a high-powered attorney in New York City to move to Las Vegas to follow her dream.

I'm hereby anointing CK as the Queen of the poker Bloggers.

Ready to roll

Leaving one week from tomorrow.


I sent my entry fee ahead of time via a ca$hier's check and above is a shot of my confirmation. Apparently I can get my money back if something happens and I can't go -- something such as being hit by a bus, getting the swine flu, deciding not to be dead money or whatever.

A world-wide top (almost)

Brent and I played in the bridge Worldwide Pairs last Friday. There were 4672 tables in play which means 18,688 players (if my math serves me). I don't know how many different countries were represented, but these countries were among the top 10 pairs: U.S.A., Canada, Italy, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Cyprus.

It's hard to get a world-wide top, but we came close on this deal (rotated):

                ♠ A J 9 8 6 3
                ♥ J 6
                ♦ 10
                ♣ 10 6 5 3
==
                ♠ Q 4
                ♥ 10
                ♦ K Q 7 6 5 3
                ♣ K Q 9 2

       West   North   East   South
                             1♦
       1♥     1♠     2♠    3♣
       4♥     5♣     Dbl    All Pass   

West led the ♥Q showing the king (Rusinow leads) and East encouraged with the 2. Another heart was led and South ruffed East's ace. Declarer advanced the ♦K, taken on his left by the ace. West shifted to the ♠10, low and king by East.

East now returned a heart, giving declarer a useless ruff-sluff. He discarded a diamond and ruffed in dummy to lead a club to his king, winning. He lead the♦Q and West discarded a spade. He led a low diamond and West discarded a heart. Declarer ruffed in dummy and led another club. This wasn't his best choice.

Here are all four hands:

                ♠ A J 9 8 6 3
                ♥ J 6
                ♦ 10
                ♣ 10 6 5 3
♠ 10 2                        ♠ K 7 5
♥ K Q 9 8 7 5                 ♥ A 4 3 2
♦ A                           ♦ J 9 8 4 2
♣ A J 8 7                     ♣ 4
                ♠ Q 4
                ♥ 10
                ♦ K Q 7 6 5 3
                ♣ K Q 9 2

East showed out and Brent, West, won two rounds of clubs, led another heart and and declarer was down four --- that was plus 1100 for our side.

This was a score of 4577 matchpoints for us and only 95 for North-South. Even though this was an unbelievable result, it wasn't a top. When there are that many players in the field, anything can, and does, happen.

If you want to see the frequencies of all the scores on the board (#24), click here.

They came calling

Last Saturday I was sitting in front of my computer and my doorbell rang. I could see two men in white shirts and ties and holding bibles. Uh oh. I considered moving my browser to a porn site, then inviting them in. Now that would be interesting, but I'm not that diabolical.

When I opened the door, I found that, no, they were not Jehovah Witnesses. They told me they were Baptists, and just came to call to invite me to their church.

That reminded me of this quote from Jeff Hwang's book Pot-Limit Omaha Poker.

On page 220, he says "Don't go out of your way to make 'expert' plays. There are opportunities to make expert plays, such as raising a bettor (when you have) multiple draws in order to isolate him so that you have a better chance of winning in one direction or the other.

(Hwang then gives an example hand and flop.)

"Now that kind of play sounds like fun, but don't go out of your way to do it, as it is more likely to get you into trouble. Omaha players came to call."

Reports coming in

I talked to a friend of mine tonight who just got back from Vegas. He went for the first week and played in two events.

In the first event he played, it was the first level and someone raised to 175, the normal raise at his table. He was on the button with Q-Q. What would you do? He raised to 500 and the villain re-raised to 1000. Huh? He called and the flop was A-Q-x. The villain checked and my friend bet 2/3 of the pot -- the villain moved all in. My friend knew he must have A-A: The min-raise preflop, the check-raise all in, but he called and it was set over set (villain had A-A). He took the walk of shame after 23 minutes of poker.

He did better in his second event. He made it about half-way through and knocked out John Pham along the way.

My friend said he was impressed by the young guns. It was raise, raise, raise. He said if you raised them, they would raise you right back. They were totally fearless.

This sounds bad

Below was in today's Memphis Commercial Appeal, the main newspaper in this area. I don't have a link yet (working on it), but this is a cut and paste of an article (it's copyright material, so I'm posting snippets only):

Memphis Commercial Appeal 06/10/2009, Page A03

Online poker accounts frozen

An advocacy group for online poker said Tuesday that the federal government has frozen more than $30 million in the accounts of payment processors that handle the winnings of thousands of online poker players...

... The Poker Players Alliance said the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York instructed three banks to freeze the accounts.

In a letter dated Friday and faxed to Alliance Bank of Arizona, the prosecutor said that accounts held by payment processor Allied Systems Inc. are subject to seizure and forfeiture ...”

What this means is that Account Services writes checks to players who are cashing out. As a result, thousands of players receiving checks from the company will try and cash them and they'll bounce. We've already seen this in a blog piece called Puke by cracknaces.

UPDATEs: Here's a link to The New York Times article. Thanks to Poker Cats for providing it on his very nice web site.

And this link to a Wall Street Journal piece that you can read here thanks to a link from Ken P's interesting web site.

Poker pearl #21

Alec Torelli (shown above) was interviewed in the June 3 issue of Card Player magazine. He plays online as traheho and is successful in cash games and tournaments.

He was asked what advice would he give to poker players who have trouble with downswings. His advice shows he is not only a good poker player, but he's a wise young man.

Having balance in your life is important. I like to do other things to keep me engaged in life. It's so easy to be swept away in poker.

You play 12 hours a day and lose your soical skills. You stop making friends and having other hobbies. Go do something you like, such as canoeing, or whatever. Take a break from poker.

If you lose five buy-ins or 20 buy-ins, who cares? You are still playing poker and doing something you got into because you thought it was fun.

When you are running bad, it's important to continue the good habits you have when you are winning, even though you are losing. Small things like eating healthy and working out might not seem important when you've just lost a bunch of money, but they are. You will bounce back and it will happen more quickly if you maintain the same good habits.

Poker pearl #20

[Above is a scan of the cover of the June 3 Card Player magazine.]

One of the regular columnists for Card Player magazine is Roy Cooke. You can tell he plays mostly live from what he writes here:

When observing opponents, try to determine their weaknesses and what plays will work best to take advaantage.

Poker is a people game. Learn an individual opponent's tendencies; think about how you can best play against those tendencies.

When you are correctly making different plays in similar situations against different opponents, you are on your way to developing the poker "feel" that will take your game to a new level.

Saturday night's all right for poker

Played in the tournament at the Goldstrike Saturday. Slightly different this week: They had 10K in starting chips and charged $135. I thought that would kill the attendance with the economy being shaky, but 79 runners signed up.

Early on I doubled up in this scenario: There were several limpers to me in the big blind. I had ♠A ♥K and decided to check. You can make a case for raising, but then a CB on a raggy flop is exploitable. I decided to play a small pot out of position.

The flop was ♦A ♣K ♠x and I bet the pot and got one caller. The turn was another rag (two spades on the board) and I bet pot again and was raised all in. It looked like he was on a flush draw, so I called -- if he had a set, so be it. He turned over ♠Q ♣J, WTF? Then I looked at the board again and one of the Xs was a 10, oops, he had a straight! The river was an ace, so my donkey full house took it, but it was embarassing to say the least.

After 2 1/2 hours, the blinds were getting high. 10K in chips sounds great, but they raise the blinds and antes so fast that you don't really get much more play than the usual starting stack. It folded to me in the SB (sorry, but I don't remember the blinds and antes, but they were significant). My stack was around 14K and I moved all in. The next guy (who had about half my stack) thought and thought and finally called and turned over ♥J ♦5!! Unfortunately, I turned over ♠6 ♠2, heheh. A ♦6 on the flop was good enough for me to win -- I won't repeat the naughty words the other guy used. That's the problem with a move like I made -- when the other guy is shortstacked, they are willing to gambool -- nothing to lose.

A few hands later I had another guy all in (he had me covered). I had ♠A ♠9, and he had ♦A ♦4. The flop was low cards, so my 9 would play, but there were two diamonds. The turn was another diamond giving him the nut flush, and my tournament night was finished. Serves me right for the early suckout and for getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar with the mighty 6-2.

I headed straight for the 3/6 limit O8 game with a kill. There was one seat open -- suhweet! I won three kill pots early and was up $200+. The game was agressive. One of the regulars (a good player) quit. He didn't like the volatility. In a game like that you have to be willing to pay off when your draws don't hit or they run you down.

My winnings dwindled down (to about $50) when this hand played out. I held ♠A ♠K ♠9 ♣A. It was a kill pot and someone raised so it was $12 to me. I'm still learning O8, so maybe I should do something, but I just called. The flop was ♣10 ♥9 ♥4. There was another bet and raise and a bunch of us donkeys called. The turn was nice for me:♦9 giving me trips. Again it was bet and raised and reraised making it $36 to me. I called. The river was sweet: ♥K giving me a boat and the third nuts (K-K or 10-10 would beat me). The first guy to act was an old man and he bet $12 and one player called. Can he really have a higher boat? I just called and he proudly announced he had the nut flush. The other guy folded and I showed my boat to scoop a ~$250 pot.

Can you imagine betting into a big pot like that with a paired board and only a flush? You can see why I loved this game.

I played until around 3 a.m. and quit. I hated to leave (the game was still juicy), but I was pooped. I wish they were all this easy.

Up, down and sideways

Last Sunday, after the baseball game, I headed for the Mississippi River. For some reason, the parking in Tom Lee Park was closed off, so I drove to the top of the bluffs and hiked down.

Shown above: The boat in the foreground is loaded and moving downriver. The second boat is moving upriver, and the truck is on I-40. Even though it was bright and sunny, the photo is fairly drab. I believe it has to do with the way the light reflects off the water (or doesn't).

It's hard to appreciate how big each individual tow barge is. One barge can hold the equivalent of 20 railroad cars or 75 semi-trucks. One boat (called a tow) can push 20 or more barges. In fact they can be in groups of up to 45 barges, and are often longer than an aircraft carrier. See here. If you want more river factoids, click here or here.

Look again

You arrive in 6♠ on this layout:

                ♠ K 9 8 6
                ♥ Q J 7
                ♦ 7 5 3
                ♣ A 8 6
==
                ♠ A Q J 10 7 4 3
                ♥ ---
                ♦ A Q 4
                ♣ K Q 3

West leads the ♥10 against your small slam. What is the best play for the contract?

You have 11 tricks, and, at first glance, it seems that leading to your ♦Q is the best chance (50%).

The first thing to do is cover the heart with the jack. East plays the ♥K and you ruff. You play a spade to dummy, drawing the trumps as both opponents follow. Next you lead the ♥J and East covers with the ace. You ruff, play three rounds of clubs ending in dummy and advance the ♥7. When East plays low, you discard a low diamond.

Here's a look at all four hands:

                ♠ K 9 8 6
                ♥ A J 7
                ♦ 7 5 3
                ♣ A 8 6
♠ 5                              ♠ 2
♥ 10 9 8 6 3                     ♥ A K 5 4 2
♦ K J 8 2                        ♦ 10 9 6
♣ 9 7 2                          ♣ J 10 5 4
                ♠ A Q J 10 7 4 3
                ♥ ---
                ♦ A Q 4
                ♣ K Q 3

On this layout, a diamond return will be into your A-Q and a ruff-sluff is no better for the defense.

If the above line of play didn't develop (East has the ♥8, for example), you can always fall back on a diamond finesse. The only time the recommended line isn't best is when East has ♥A K doubleton and you could have ruffed out both high cards.

Here is the BBO Handviewer:

A bridge event played around the world

The Worldwide Bridge Contest is being held in two separate sesssions: Friday night (June 5) and Saturday afternoon (June 6). Bridge players from around the world will play the same pre-dealt hands. The scores on each board are pre-determined. Wouldn't it be exciting to get a top board in the whole world? I'm just sayin'.

If you live in North America, you can find a club holding a game tonight if you click here. For Saturday afternoon games, you can look here.

I'm playing in the session tonight. GL to all who play, especially me!

If declarer goofs, make him pay

Playing online bridge last night with Xwing, we played this deal (rotated):

                  ♠ Q 6 4
                  ♥ K 8 3 2
                  ♦ 9 7 3
                  ♣ Q J 8
♠ K 9 2                        ♠ J 8 5
♥ 10 9                         ♥ A Q J 7 6 5 4
♦ K 6 5 2                      ♦ Q J 4
♣ 10 6 5 4                     ♣ ---
                  ♠ A 10 7 3
                  ♥ ---
                  ♦ A 10 8
                  ♣ A K 9 7 3 2

   West   North   East   South
          Pass    1♥    2♣
   Pass   Pass    2♥    Dbl
   Pass   3♣      All Pass

I was West and led the ♥10. Declarer covered with the king (not the best play, but it didn't matter), Xwing played the ace and South ruffed. Declarer played a club to the queen and advanced the ♠Q. I took my ♠K and led the ♥9, ruffed by declarer.

South cashed the ♣A, the for some reason cashed the ♠A and the contract could no longer be made according to Deep Finesse. South exited with a spade, won by Xwing who shifted to the ♦Q. Declarer took the ace and advanced the good ♠10. I ruffed and declarer overruffed with dummy's ♣J. She led a diamond from dummy, and Xwing ducked! I won the king, returned a diamond to her jack and now Xwing led a heart for the trump promotion. (She could have won the jack when diamonds were led and kept leading hearts, but this looked sexier.)

We took two spades, two diamonds and the ♣10 for down one and plus 3.10 IMPS for our side. Declarers generally made 3♣, but went set in 5♣. The big winner was 3NT by North-South and you can see all the results here.

Chop chop?

I forgot to blog about this amusing incident from the poker tables this past weekend.

Everyone folded to the blinds. The Big Blind asked, "Do you want to chop?"

The lady in the small blind said, "No."

She threw in her $1 chip to complete, and the BB raised to $10. The SB then folded.

The rest of us had trouble keeping a straight face.

A sunny Sunday means baseball

I went to the ballpark Sunday. The Memphis Redbirds were playing the Iowa Cubs. We lost both games, but, really, who cares? Baseball on a lazy Sunday afternoon, soaking up some rays, taking photos -- it doesn't get much better than this.


Baseball is for all ages. This fellow (above) was enjoying himself.


The throw was high and the runner was safe. If you click to enlarge, you can see the baseball. Digital cameras are amazing.


On the photo with the scoreboard in it, if you click to enlarge you can see a FedEx plane flying overhead. Memphis is headquarters for this world-class company.


See the gyro-thingie? I wonder how they work. Have any of you been on one?