Poker Rules

Recently I was asked the question "In the Red, White, and Blue Poker League tournaments, do you use the same rules as the World Series of Poker?"

The actual situation was that I was chipping up players, I needed to move someone to balance tables, I had a handful of chip racks and I was walking by when someone stopped me and asked a question about how to apply a particular poker rule in the current hand. I don't recall the actual question, but this got several people all asking me questions at once and culminated in a non player who was standing near the table asking first if the poker rules are on the website, and secondly if we use the WSOP rules.

The situation was hectic, confusing, and it was clear to me that he was not going to get the answer he wanted, so I suggested we have the conversation another time. I could not understand what he was looking for and hoped to resolve it later.  It didn't happen that way.  :)

But, the concept of poker rules is of interest to many players.  I'd be happy to provide an answer, but I am just not sure of the question.

The answer to the question - Do we use WSOP rules is difficult to answer because it is a badly worded question.  Do we?  Of course not.  No bar poker game does.  The WSOP rules rely upon dealers and multiple floor personnel.  So do we use the WSOP rules?  Yes, of course we do.  Most bar poker games, the well run ones anyway, use the WSOP rules.

Everyone knows there are very clear rules of poker, and all rules are the same.  Everyone knows that every organization that runs poker tournaments has rules that vary slightly from the next place.  So all rules are different.

So do we use the WSOP rules?  An answer is that when a rule has a variance between the WSOP version of the rule and the WPT version of the rule, we tend to use the WSOP implementation of the rule.  I actually don't know of any variances, but if someone were to bring it to my attention in a contested situation I would lean towards the WSOP version rather than the WPT version.

What I am trying to say is that the actual question, do we use the WSOP rules has little validity unless it is put into context. We use generally accepted poker rules, such as are found in casinos.

Casino poker rules were originally standardized by Bob Ciaffone who setup several major card rooms.  Bob Ciaffone wrote a 38 page document is entitled Robert's Rules of Poker which borrows it's name from Robert's Rules of Order (used as the parliamentary authority for deliberative procedure.)


All the casinos then have their own implementation of the rules.  Harrah's, Showboat, Caesars, and Bally's are all owned by Harrah's Entertainment, as is the WSOP.  The rules vary slightly from Harrah's/Showboat to Caesars/Bally's and then to the WSOP.  On top of all this is the Tournament Directors Association (TDA) which votes on and publishes it's own set of poker rules.


But this is not the gobblygook you were looking for.  You want something solid to go home with.


Our tournaments differ from WSOP rules in the following:

• We do not have assigned dealers for each table.
• We "chip-up" rather than "race-off" chips to remove them from the table.
• We allow blinds to stand if they have been posted.  Casinos do not allow this.
• We have no roped off area that the spectators must stand behind, we allow them to watch the table.
• The deal is done by drawing cards at each individual table, not a single deal for high card.
• Seats are not assigned in our tournaments.
• Recent WSOP rules require a player to be SITTING in his seat, not standing next to it for his hand to be live. The TDA has voted against this.  Our rule is you look around, if you don't see the player, you may fold him.
• A bet is chips in front of your cards.  In the WSOP it is chips past the betting line. In some casinos it is chips in front of your cards.
• We take a constrictive view on the two page WSOP F-bomb rule, but adopt a lenient implementation of the penalties.  The WSOP is more constrictive on their televised tables and less constrictive in general play.  The WSOP uses a penalty of time, the TDA uses a penalty of rounds.  We penalize in rounds.

I'm sure there are a hundred or so other variances, but I'm not going to list them all here.
So an answer is yes, as long as you accept the hundred or so ways our rules are not the same as the WSOP, we play by exactly the same rules as the WSOP.

Playing Pocket Threes

In a recent bar poker game, I decided to sit down and play to win.  The chips started coming my way, and then I got dealt pocket threes, also known as crabs.

A low pair is the sort of thing people debate on whether or not to play.  Pocket threes as it turns out, are a Sklansky Group 7 starting hand.  This means they are playable in late position with no previous raiser.  The book says to fold small pocket pairs when in early or middle position.

The actual odds of winning with a wired pair of threes preflop is about 13% at an eight person table, or about 1 to 6.4.  Once you narrow it down to five people in the hand, the odds improve to about 1 to 4.25.  With 400 in the pot, my call of 100 is pot odds of 4 to 1.  This is not exactly stellar expected value (EV), but I called anyway.

The trick is that if you flop a set, no one sees you coming.  When you do flop a set, the implied pot odds are enormous.  With a flop of say, AK3, the players with high face cards will fall over themselves to bet their pair or two pair while I'm holding back a grin and looking at my set of threes. While the guy betting Big Slick thinks he has hit paydirt, I've trapped him and will be taking all his chips.

The odds of flopping a set are about 7:1.  That means that once out of every eight flops with a pocket pair, I get trips.  The flop came and was 773.  As it turn out, I flopped a boat.

So the betting goes on and on.  Before long everyone is all in. There is not much chance of me losing the hand.  When we have our showdown I proudly turn over my boat.  The flush loses to me.  The other guy had a pocket pair as well - pocket sevens.  He flopped quads.

Phil Hellmuth is credited with saying 

I guess if there weren't luck involved, I'd win every time.

Poker and the Nash Equilibrium

A natural strategy in poker as in any other situation is to play to win.  But is this always the best strategy?

How to play against an All-In
When a player goes all in in a poker tournament, there are two basic strategies that the other players use. Well, the other players who choose not to fold.  There is the

• let's check it down strategy, and 
• the isolate strategy.

Check It Down
Some people say there is a gentleman's agreement in poker where they check it down.  First of all, let's get it straight.  When you play poker, there is nothing gentlemanly about taking one guy's car payment so you can pay your mortgage.  There is no rule that exists to say you don't bet when someone else goes all-in.

Isolation
Another common thing seen at the poker table is a later player making a big bet, or a raise to isolate the other players out of the hand to transform the play into heads up.  Some believe this improves the raiser's chances as with less players they are more likely to win the pot.  This shows an insight into the math of poker.  Others call this same act protection.  These people either have heard someone else call it this, or the have an even better understanding of the math at play here.

The Natural Strategy
A natural strategy is that greed is good. The poker player pursues his own self interest, the pursuit of chips.  This theory is espoused by economist Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776), saying "by pursuing his own interest, [the individual] frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he intends to promote it."  This is the good old American Dream.  Win the chips and the world is a better place.

The Nash Equilibrium
John Forbes Nash is a Mathematician who won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in Economics for a bargaining strategy known as the Nash Equilibrium.  His life was fictionalized in the movie A Beautiful Mind.  Nash noted that if everyone is out for themselves then sometimes everyone is playing a sub par strategy.  A Nash Equilibrium exists when each player plays his best response to the situation. In Nash's theory, each player has some understanding of what the other player might do.

Nash's theories turned traditional economics upside down, but have been very useful in a variety of game theory applications. Nash's theories suggest what if by pursuing your own self interest you may get less, but by pursuing the greater good you get more.  In practice we see this in trade cartels and shared standards (VHS vs. Betamax)

Applying this to the all-in move in poker involves stepping back for a moment.  What is your goal?  Is your goal, in a tournament, to acquire chips, or is your goal in a tournament to eliminate players?  Utilizing Nash's theory a player can postulate that he wins in the long run if he gives up chips in this all-in hand.

The Downside to Isolation
Suppose the player who goes all-in preflop has pocket Aces.  If nine players at a ten person table call him, he then has a 31% chance of winning against the nine random hands.  If the isolation succeeds and transforms this into heads up, the the all-in jumps to an 86.4% chance of winning with his pocket Aces.  The raiser has indeed improved his chances of winning, but at the same time he has improved the all-in's chance of winning.

By isolating, the raiser purses the American Dream by attempting to win more chips.  The downside is that the all-in was 2:1 favorite to lose the hand, but now is a 6:1 favorite to win.

The Equilibrium
The optimal strategy that cannot be improved upon is for all players to not bet after the all-in.  To, in practice, check it down.  By giving up the direct pursuit of chips then all players benefit against the all-in by providing the best chance of eliminating him from the game.

Variations on a Theme
Mathematically, the only situation where it makes sense to bet is when you have (flop) the nuts.  If you have the true nuts, then you do not have to be concerned about the all-in NOT being eliminated.

Collusion Warning
If everyone just happens to adopt a strategy of checking it down then that is fine and that is legal.  But as soon as someone asks the group about checking it down, then collusion is occurring and the rules of poker have been broken.

In conclusion, follow the math.  Don't bet against an all-in.

Winning by Losing in Poker

I haven't played poker much the last month, except for a few online tournaments.  However, I sat down and played a bar poker tournament a few days ago.  There was a particular hand that I want to share - it involved pot odds.  I may not have the details correct in my memory, but the pot odds principle is there.

To be honest, I wasn't really playing at first.  I was running a tournament that started small and an extra player was needed at the table.  So I sat down and played.  Without any real desire to win, I just bleed chips to the other players until almost all of mine were gone.

Then I realized, why not?  I should go on and win this thing.  So, I started playing in earnest.

A pivotal moment came where I was the big blind for 4,000 chips.  A guy in middle position raised to 8,000.  There were three players who called.  It was on me. My cards really weren't that good.  I didn't even need to be in the hand.

The pot was now 36,000; I had to call 4,000.  That gave me 9:1 pot odds.  With those pot odds, I really wanted to call, so I pushed in my extra 4,000 in chips.  The flop came.

I almost laughed.  The pot was 40,000.  I had just flopped an open ended straight  My odds of catching one of my four outs was 31.5%, or about 1:2.  Trying to keep a straight face and failing, I blurted out to the original raiser "There is nothing you can bet that will not give me good pot odds."

After the flop, you want to make a big bet that destroys a person's pot odds and keeps him out of the hand when he has a draw.  On a 40,000 pot I'd call 100 (an impossible bet here) even if I had nothing at all and no chance for a draw.  40:1 pot odds would be too much enticement.  But even if he had 40K in chips, I'd have to call - that would give me 2:1 pot odds, a break even point.  If someone else called, my pot odds woudl be even higher.

So the original raiser opened for 10K.  That gave me 4:1 pot odds, and since two more players went in, it gave me a 70K pot I needed 10K to call.  With 7:1 pot odds, and 1:2 odds of making my hand the "pot odds" were dictating that I call.

Work it out.  Over time I will lose two out of every three hands like this I play.  So I am far more likely to lose than to win.  But by playing a hand that loses, my chip stack will grow.  If I play the hand 100 times, at a cost of 10,000 to call on the flop, it will cost me 10K * 100 = 1,000K chips.  If I win 1/3 of the time, I win one third of 80K * 100, or about 8,000K / 3 = 2,666K chips (the actual amount is 8,000K * 31.5% = 2,520K chips)

For 100 such hands, my win of 2,520 chips, less my cost of 1,000K chips equals a profit of 1,520K chips, or 15K chips per hand.  To put in terms of mathematical expectation, I "expect" to win 15K in chips every hand, whether I win the pot or not.  How can I not call?

This is what pot odds are and how they are played.

Just to note, since this would have bankrupted me if I had lost, which I was favored to do in a one hand situation, stack management is important to consider as well as pot odds.  Always call when in a cash game, but for tournaments it is a gamble.  But I gambled, and won.

Just remember, it is important to know the math.

Cheating for Free

Free bar poker is an excellent place to practice your card skills.  If you lose there is no penalty - it costs you nothing to play.  It should be no surprise that people come into the poker league and try cheating.  The same thought must prevail in the mind of the cheating player - what is the worst that can happen for cheating in free poker?

Presumably you kick the person out of the league and bar them from playing with the honest players.  I catch people cheating a lot.  More than you would think.  My ability to catch them cheating has far less to do with any brilliance on my part, and relies more on their ineptitude at being dishonest.

Recently I caught someone cheating in a big way.  As a courtesy to the bar, I informed the manager about it before I went to kick the guy out.  The manager did not want her valued customer, the cheater, removed from the poker tables.  I can't imagine why; I do know they have spent time outside the bar playing for real money at his home game. Free bar poker can pay off - he gets to make use of the skills he practices at the bar poker games.

About two weeks ago I decided enough was enough.  So I told him while I could not kick him out of this one bar, he was banned from all our other poker games.  He was a very unhappy camper that night.  How does that one particular bar feel about it?  Well, they don't really talk to me anymore, so I am not sure.

He did win first place with new league running the show.  I suspect both the player and the bar manager are both happy now.  I wish them well.

Felony Poker

I recently had a disagreement with the manager of a local restaurant where we played free poker.  The manager wanted to refuse to allow the tournament winner to participate in winning the prize money unless the winner had made a purchase of at least $10.  I pointed out this would be illegal, but the manager was undeterred by my concerns.

What follows is the written result of my research into the matter that I made available to the restaurant.  What was the reaction I got?  Let's just say they were not pleased that I would not go along with them.  Enjoy...

 - * - * - * - * - *

I've tried to provide a short summary of how your proposed policy interacts with existing gambling law in Virginia.  Included are a number of relevant quotations from an official Attorney General "opinion."

Gambling is generally illegal, in particular unlicensed gambling.  But what is gambling?  It is generally agreed that a three-prong test must be applied to define something as gambling.  These three prongs are 1) Consideration, 2) Chance, and 3) Reward.  If any of the three prongs are missing, then there is no gambling.  If all three are present, then gambling is occurring.  Bar poker is only legal because it lacks the "consideration" prong.

This is codified in Virginia law 18.2-325.  Consideration is referred to as "placing a bet of money or other thing of value."  Chance is mentioned as "[an] event the outcome [of which] is uncertain or a matter of chance."  Reward is mentioned as "a prize … or thing of value."

Consideration.
Consideration is what you pay to play.  This is generally money for a buy-in, or money to purchase a ticket, or the "bet" that is made.  In North Carolina the state has construed that entry into a restaurant to play poker is "consideration."  In some such states, non pecuniary consideration is accepted, such as walking in the door.

In Virginia this concept is clarified by 18.2-333. 
no consideration shall be deemed to have passed or been given because of any person's attendance upon the premises of another … where no charge is made to, paid by, or any purchase required of him in connection therewith.

So by law, the act of walking in the door is not consideration in Virginia, unless a purchase is required. 

A March 2006 Attorney General opinion on bar poker states:
In our opinion, the type of poker tournaments that you describe does not involve illegal gambling so long as the participants do not pay any money or other valuable consideration, directly or indirectly, in order to participate in the tournaments at any level.

Relevant excepts from the Attorney General opinion include
There is no requirement that a player make a purchase at the tavern – e.g., purchase a drink – in order to play

If there is no consideration, then these poker tournaments would not
be illegal gambling prohibited by the State’s criminal law. An
essential element of gambling is absent when “there is no money or
other thing of value given or required to be given for the opportunity
to receive an award determined by chance. Mid-Atlantic Coca Cola Bottling Co. v. Chen, Walsh & Tecler.

Consideration may simply be money paid to participate in the game. However, consideration may also take many other forms. See, e.g., Opinion of the Texas Attorney General GA-0385, 2005 WL 3568394 (2005) ($10 donation to charitable cause to enter “poker run” was consideration, even if it was not commingled with prize money); Opinion of the Texas Attorney General GA -0335, 2005 WL 1464850 (2005) (“nominal fee” paid to enter Texas Hold ‘Em tournament was consideration even if house did not share proceeds); Opinion of the Kansas Attorney General No. 05-04, 2005 WL 218294 (2005) (payment of cover charge to enter bar where poker tournament was held constituted consideration); Opinion of the Arkansas Attorney General No. 2004-357, 2005 WL 591228 (2004) (entrance fees for poker tournament or membership fees for poker league would supply element of consideration); Opinion of the Tennessee Attorney General No. 05-159, 2005 WL 2755423 (2005) (admission fee to Texas Hold ‘Em tournament was consideration).

In conclusion on the topic of Consideration, the Attorney General says:
Thus, if participants in the tournament you describe were required to pay a cover charge or to purchase a beverage as a prerequisite to participation in the poker tournament, the element of consideration would be present.

Based on my understanding of your proposed policy, requiring $10 in purchase to win the prize would be considered according to Virginia Law 18.2-238 to be illegal.  The restaurant and operator of the game would be guilty of a Class 6 felony.  And under 18.2-326 any player who makes a purchase in the game would be guilty of  Class 3 misdemeanor.

As you requested, this hopefully will help explain to you why I do not wish to be a part of such illegal activities.

In Search of a Printer Cable

When I got home after running a poker tournament, I found several $25,000 value plaques in my pants pocket.  Guess I can put them into the poker supplies case tomorrow.

I have this really nice HP Laserjet 4100.  I bought it because it holds a full ream of paper.  Technology changes.  It will not attach to the USB port on my netbook.  I bought a USB to parallel cable, but the HP printer does not support it.  I called HP tech support.  They were less than forthcoming.  Since they were no help I theorized the bidirectional parallel port was not working correctly.  Maybe with a larger buffer in the printer I could get most documents to work.

I digress.  I bought a new inkjet cartridge for my color printer.  I needed a cable, so I bought  new USB printer cable for the old printer.  Knowing what would happen, I went to Best Buys who was well prepared to rip me off by selling me a $35 cable.

A few days later I found a cable for sale at Dollar Tree. It was, well, a dollar.

Off to print some poker Bonus Cards, brochures, and related stuff for the poker league.

Blinds Timer Watch

My wristwatch recently stopped working, so I decided to buy a poker blinds timer watch as a replacement.

Of course there is no such thing.  But I used to compete in marathons and owned such a watch.  In marathon training you use an interval timer to pace yourself.  A certain number of minutes running, then a certain number of minutes walking.  Even if you can't run for five full minutes at a time, with an interval timer you can "train" yourself to run faster, longer.

And what is a poker blinds timer but a series of repeating timed intervals?

For 15 minute blinds you set the the first interval for 14 minutes, and the second interval for one minute.  At the first beep you give the one minute warning, then change the blinds on the second beep.  For 20 minute blinds you set the first interval for 19 minutes, and the second interval for one minute.

They have a dress watch version as well, but I opted for the black resin strap sports model.  It's a decent cheap watch for a poker tournament director.  The poker winners can wear the bling.

Blinds Timer Laptop

My three pound Sony Vizio sub laptop died on me.  I really liked this computer I had had for over five years.  Women were always coming up to me and telling that it was the smallest thing they had ever seen and how cute it was.  It came with a built in DVD player and only cost me $2,500 when it was new.

Now in looking for a replacement I found a machine that had twice the RAM and four times the hard disk space.  The new netbooks are the same form factor I like.  I looked around at all the usual suspects - Best Buy, Office Depot, Walmart, MicroCenter, and think it was finally MicroCenter where I made my purchase.

I like the value of "clones" and off brands, so the Acer was a choice I easily trusted.  Besides I've bought, and sold as a computer dealer, their equipment for many years.

The deciding factor for me was a video output.  I wanted to be able to run a cable to the restaurant's flatscreen TV to show everyone the blinds timer - I use Tournament Director.

I like my Acer Aspire One, and for just a tad over $300 it is a great replacement for my $2,500 Sony.

No Limit Hold'em Double Up

I noticed a new type of tournament (well, new to me) on Doyle's Room called a Double Up tournament. It was cheap, so I tried it out. I paid $5 to play at a 10 person table. The idea is that the top five all win the same amount, double what their buy-in was.

After a few minutes I had three times the chips of the next player, and realized I was likely to be in the top five for a prize. Then it occurred to me that once I got to 5th place I would be assured the most that could be won. There would be no reason to continue. Maybe I should just go all in every hand until I get knocked out and collect my prize.

As it turned out the tourney ended once we got down to five players. I was the chip leader at the time and took first place. I collect my $10 and logged off to play another day.

There are other buy-in amounts. I see $1,000 and $100. I think I'll skip $1,000. Maybe I'll try a $100 Double Up next time.

Lobster Feast at Harrah's

Harrah's in Atlantic City is one of my favorite places to play poker. I'm going up there this Friday for Lobster feast.

They are comping me two "lobster feast" dinners at the Waterfront buffet and a Friday night hotel room. The Lobster Feast includes a whole Maine lobster, lobster ravioli, and more. As I recall, it is the regular Waterfront $25 buffet plus $10 extra for Lobster Feast. Comparing the price to local restaurants, the buffet might be a bargain even if I was not getting it for free.

My hotel room became a problem in that I waited to late to reserve it and Harrah's was sold out. So I am staying for free Friday at Showboat.

I think I will avoid the 11:00 Friday poker tournaments at both locations and aim for the 2:00 and 7:00 tournaments, then the Saturday 11:00 AM poker tournament.

The new expanded Harrah's poker room is my favorite in Atlantic City, with Showboat being number two. A little poker to tide me over until the May 9th bus trip.

Poker Host Acid Test

I hired a new person to run poker tournaments and he ran the Monday night tournament at Addy's Bar and Grill. The acid test for whether or not a poker host is good is if I can sit down and play poker and concentrate on the game, not what he is doing.

Even though it was his first tournament, he did very well. I did in fact get up from my seat three times to correct mistakes he was making, but it turned out well. In the end I was at the final table, albeit shouting instructions to the second tournament that started playing while I was at the final table of the first tournament winning all the chips and finishing first.

I had an impressive chip lead early in the game, but in one hand I lost most of my chips, and was soon down to only three chips of the smallest denomination being played. Linda to my right unwittingly encouraged me on saying that my lack of chips was not likely to stop me from running the table.

I went all in with a 7-3 and was called by K-3. I flopped a set of sevens and won enough chips to get back in the game. Now it was time to quit playing cards and start playing poker.

Poker is a mix of three elements - 1/3 math, 1/3 luck, and 1/3 psychology. Had I not been short stacked, my going all in with 7-3 would suggest I know nothing of math. Winning with 7-3 suggests I got lucky. With that luck I was able to establish a table presence that allowed me to use psychology to go on to win the tournament.

Luck hit my game two more times, and as luck would have it I hit on sevens both times giving me a table image that some found hard to get away from. I pressed my psychological advantage and won the tournament.

I hated knocking them out of the game, but I enjoyed playing with Roger and Linda at the final table.

Bus Trip to Atlantic City

The Red, White, and Blue Poker League had their first bus day trip to Atlantic City today. We went to Showboat, the Mardi Gras casino. Showboat has the prettiest poker room in Atlantic City and it is also the fifth largest behind Borgata, Taj, the Trop, and Harrah's.

The new poker room was relocated from upstairs down to the main floor. It's in the back, next to the boardwalk. In fact, you can see the people walking by on the boardwalk through the windows that look out on the boardwalk and ocean beach.

Showboat's poker room is House of Blues themed, along with being a signature WSOP poker room. It's spacious and has a 60's type of atmosphere in the wall paintings and decoration. The poker room is filled with plasma TVs and is a great place to play poker.

It took us about three and a half hours to get to Atlantic City. We all got a $15 bus bonus - a voucher to play in slot machines. The trip was a bit less that eight hours in the casino, we all agreed we want more casino time for the next trip.

The available poker tournaments at Showboat were at 11:00 and 2:00 and were $100 + $20. There was also $1/$2 no limit as well as $2/$4 limit games.

Everyone had fun and we are all looking forward to the next trip to Atlantic City.

In the Hospital

I'm sitting in the hospital wondering what is going to happen. It is now Wednesday. I really don't feel like typing this in.

On Thursday evening I started feeling bad at a poker tournament. On Friday after lunch a doctor at a walk in urgent care office told me while he did not know what I had, he suspected appendicitis. Specifically, he told me to go to the emergency room and get a CAT scan, or I would die. I told him I didn't feel confident with his diagnosis and that I wasn't going to the hospital and apparently was going to die.

My plan was to get some antibiotics and stay in bed for a few days and wait it out.

The weekend passed but on Monday the pain had not. I dropped by Addy's to look in on the poker tournament, collect some sign ups for the Atlantic City bus trip and then drove down to the emergency room. The delay to be seen was too short to use the free Wifi in the waiting room. I got the CAT scan, which involved my drinking a Barium isotope in four doses over three hours, then going through the machine.

After the results of the CAT scan were studied, my doctor told me she did not know the cause of my problem but was diagnosing me with "intestinal pain". This was obvious to me before coming in. Somehow I expected more from a multi-million dollar piece of diagnostic equipment.

I'm sitting in a hospital bed now. I'm told I have lots of infection near my appendix, which is also near several other organs. I'm told it's probably not appendicitis. I suspect the treatment for all the suspected ailments involve antibiotics, rest, and not eating.

Expect to see me Sunday at the $200 tournament, then on the bus trip to Atlantic City. Or, I might die instead. Who knows?

How'd He Get To Be So Good?

The April edition of Northern Virgina magazine features a photo and article about Robert Costner on page 76. The article is titled "How'd He Get To Be So Good?"

In it Robert, Veteran of hundreds of poker tournaments, gives advice on how anyone in the neighborhood can get in the game and win.

In the article there is a story about Robert sitting down late, as the eighth player, in a poker tournament at Addy's Bar and Grill. He looked around and immediately saw seven fish. Twelve minutes later, three of the guys had no chips.

If he sits at your table, just ask for a seat change. You may be stuck with him, but don't give up your chips without a fight.

Fun Blackjack

I've wanted to learn how to count cards in Blackjack. Since I run a "mini-casino" - i.e. the poker league - I ought to be able to find a way to do this.

What I've done is buy some decks of cards, a blackjack shoe and discard tray, added some poker chips, and now we have Fun Blackjack.

We've played a few times at Addy's and KC's. I spoke with one of our players, JC, and he is going to "manage" the free Fun Blackjack on some nights. It looks like based on his schedule, we will have Fun Blackjack at 6:00 PM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

It's informal for now. I hope everyone has fun with it.

Hooters Poker Club Shirt Prize

The Red, White, and Blue Poker League got it's start running tournaments at area Hooters restaurants. That was several years ago, and we don't play there anymore, but I wanted to renew my relationship with the company.

Part of that has been they have given us a number of freebies to use as prizes in our tournaments. Recently we gave away, as an additional tournament prize, a Hooters Poker Club shirt at Addy's Bar and Grill, then later at KC's American Grille.

Tonight on the Third Thursday tournament at KC's, Deborah Brown won the second tournament and took home the Hooters Poker Club shirt.

It's a nice blue shirt. Made by Dickies. It has a collar, buttons up the front, a fan of cards and Hooters Poker Club emblem over the front pocket, and the back has a large full color playing card (a King drinking beer) and says Hooters Poker Club.

Joey Lee was the winner at Addy's in the second tournament on the Last Wednesday of the month. He won the Hooters Poker Club shirt there.

We are going to be doing some more promotions with Hooters. We have the Hooters Poker Club meeting at noon on the third Saturday of each month. We have some of the Hooters Girls, in uniform, playing poker with us at KC's. They gave me a Hooters Shirt to wear at poker tournaments. And we have some Hooters Girls going to Atlantic City with us.

Look for more interactions between the Red, White, and Blue Poker League and Hooters.

Antes at the Final Table at KC's

I decided to play in the Sunday Ante at KC's American Grille. The tournament is different from the regular Red, White, and Blue Poker tournaments because we have 20 minute blinds, not 15 minute blinds, and we have antes.

If I haven't said it enough, I hate Antes. An ante is a small forced bet by everyone at the table before the cards are dealt. The sum of the antes at a full table will about equal the big blind. The reason I hate antes is because I am lazy. It doesn't fit in with my style of playing poker.

What I like to do, and often do, is accumulate a large stack of chips early in the game. Then I can be lazy and coast - not bother to play any hands unless I really like them. But with antes, I can't just ignore the hands, I have to bet when I am not in the blinds because I am losing chips with the antes. In the higher levels, this can kill me if I don't play.

Everyone could tell I was tired in this game, so my play was not optimal. I had lost a lot of chips to the antes and my stack no longer looked good.

So on Sunday when I moved to the final table I looked at my opponents and stated "It's time to stop playing cards and start playing poker."

I concentrated on my game, and I picked up most of the next few hands. People commented to me on how tired I looked, and before long I left the tournament with a 4th place finish. Greg finish first.

I hate antes. They killed my game and took my win from me. That is why I am playing in games with antes. With practice I can overcome this. I can beat the antes.

I first learned to hate antes at Caesars in Atlantic City. Antes are a part of all the big tournaments in the WSOP and WPT. Antes are in the big money tournaments I play online. I'll keep playing antes until I discover the guy across the table from me hates the antes more than I do.

Then I'll love the antes and gladly take his chips from him. :)

Jamal Plays in Irish Open Grande Finale

Last Sunday we had our first of two mini regional poker tournaments to try to win the $7,000 prize package for the Irish Open. The tournament began at 5pm and lasted about three and a half hours. At that point we had a winner of the regional, ready for the Saturday Grande Finale.

Jamal Sullivan is the man we sent to the first National Grande Finale for the Irish Open. There were 88 players in the tournament that started at 2:00 PM Saturday. Representing Team Red, White, and Blue Poker, Jamal doubled up on his first hand.

In the first hand a player caught a set of 7's, but Jamal produced a set of 8's at the showdown, winning the first hand. If only the rest of the tourney could have gone like that for Jamal. A few ugly hands later he was back to an average size stack like everyone else.

In the end, Jamal finished 44th out of 88, a disappointing finish for him

Jamal says "I like Doyle's Room… I'll play there a lot more."

Next Saturday we have our second player we are sending, Steve Loving. We hope Steve can make it to the top.

WSOP $300 Event

It's Friday morning, and the next WSOP event is for $300+$40 at noon at Caesars. I'm there and so are 900 other players. The purse is about $280,000 with the lion's share going to first place.

I really would have expected about 1,100 players. I attribute the difference to a bad economy. My play is average. I finally start to die os slow death of attrition after the dinner break and finish as number 159. They pay the top 90.

Time to go home, or is it?

I drive up to Harrah's to catch the Friday night 8:15 tournament. I rock. People keep losing chips to me. I'm mostly going form straights and flushes, and I keep catching the straight. I get them about one time out of three that I try. (This means I'm folling the odds.)

But the players I'm up against just won't believe I keep having my straights. To be honest at some point I didn't catch and everyone folded to me anyway. When we got down to two tables, I had 24% of all chips in play sitting in front of me.

A final table, a few more hands, and I'm the winner. It was a small tournament, so I only won $2,200. But at least my week was over and I have gas money to get home.