Answer 1:

Unfortunately, it seems as if the government-run casinos will NOT be spreading poker games! Only useless Caribbean Stud! Too bad, I was also anticipating a future of playing Hold’em and 7CS at casinos… The closest casino would probably be Casino Ray for you. Living on the south coast, I think I’m out of luck, unless I move out…

Answer 2:

The “challenge” becomes to create profiles that play the way you say you play to beat the default profiles. Although it is tedious to “program” the profiles, you can make them *much* tougher if you put in the effort. The beauties of the program are the elaborate profile parameters plus the ability to do simulations. Creating profiles will do more for your game, IMHO than “playing” it as a game.

Answer 3:

I looked at the Casino Ray home page, and it looks like it’s all about pot-limit which of course is a lot better than nothing (I hope the game standard isn’t too high though or I will be crushed for sure). I’ve thought about going toLas Vegasfor a weekend, but because of the airline ticket prices I’m afraid it will be a race against the clock to win back the ticket money. Meanwhile I’m trying to get some of my friends interested of the game, but it seems as though they rather lose their money at the Blackjacks tables in the pubs. I’ve heard about some underground poker clubs here inStockholm, but I think I would prefer a legitimate casino with their security arrangements.

Answer 1:

In a word, No! The pot has been raised. What do you hope to make with 7-2? The only safe flops for this hand with the whole field in are 777 or 222. The likelihood of these flops coming does not warrant even one more bet. Mike Caro doesn’t even recommend calling 1/2 of a bet (in the small blind) with the whole field in with these hopeless hands. If the hand was suited, I would call but proceed with extreme caution. You need to flop a flush or three of a kind to go beyond the flop. Even then, you may make a hand and lose a lot of chips. Your position is terrible and your hand is relatively weak.

Answer 2:

7-4, absolutely!  7-2 and 8-3 only if they are suited, otherwise you’ll need the entire field to make it profitable. I see average players routinely much 7-4, 6-8, or even 7-8 in the big blind to a raise, that’s weak poker. Your pot odds are way too good in the big blind to fold connected cards. Example, player raises in late position and all fold to you in big blind, you hold 4-6 off-suit. In most limit games you’ll be getting 3.5 to 1 on your call, in 2 and 3 chip blind games you get an even better price. A-K is no 3.5 to 1 favorite, and neither is most of the hands that would be raised, you’d only be a big dog against a big pair. Something to think about, the better the player who raised the less often you should call.  Call all weak players, or maniacs, you may be able to outplay the weak, and check and call the maniac when you flop anything. In multi-way pots you are getting a huge price to try ang get really lucky, just don’t marry a pair of 7′s when you flop it, proceed with caution.

Answer 3:

I assume you’re talking about when the first player in raises, a ton of people call cold, and the action is on you.  Getting 18:1, I would play 7-4 because it can make a straight, but not hands like 8-3 or 7-2 that have nothing going for them. I would also call with any 2 suited cards in that circumstance. This assumes I can outplay my opponents post-flop.

Answer 1:

Try theOrleans, they have tourneys there every day for less than $30.

Answer 2:

Many casinos have tourneys for short money. Get the latest issue of Card Player or Poker Digest (or view them on line) for the listings of where they are. I think this is a better way to play some poker if you are new to the game in Vegas. The 1-5 no ante 7 Stud games are, in general, populated by rocks, have a very stiff rake as a percentage of what you win, and don’t really prepare you for winning at a higher level.

Answer 3:

I don’t disagree with this in general, and it sure seems very logical to me. FWIW my 1-time recent experience at 1-5 stud, which was at MandalayBaywhile waiting for a show was exactly the opposite – it was laughable. With no ante and a 10% rake I figure most everyone’s strategy would be to dust off their chips every hour or so. Would you believe there was four or five way action in nearly every pot. I figured the ones playing five out of every six hands would fold when I bet since I played maybe once in 6-8 hands. Heck no, they didn’t seem to notice. True, there were some gimmick jackpots, but not enough to loosen it up nearly that much. Interestingly, one of the (too) many rules for the jackpot precluded a player from verbally reminding another player to stay in the hand to collect the jackpot. I’d be curious to know if my experience was typical or just a fluke. The game broke up at 7:30pm, prime time. I suppose the house “raked” in most of their chips (unfortunately I didn’t get them). I remarked to the dealer I couldn’t believe the action considering the high rake and no ante. He said “look around – notice most of the tables are empty?” He was right the room and tables are beautiful. What a waste. He complained that all 5 (or 6?) Circus Circus Vegas properties (the MandalayBayis one) have the exact same rules, rake, etc. and most of their tables are empty. They refuse to change. He was frustrated at
this and was at a loss to explain why.

Answer 1:

Is this a loose-aggressive player who would raise under the gun with hands like A-8, A-9, A-10, A-J, and K-Q? Or is this a loose-aggressive player who would raise under the gun with middle pairs and up, but not usually with an unpaired hand worse than A- Q? In the first case, I’d say raise. There’s a good chance you’ve got him dominated, and if he’s got a pair you’re usually only a slight underdog (assuming he’d raise with 7s and up, as you said). In the second case, I’d say fold. You’re rarely a favorite, usually a slight underdog, and sometimes a big underdog. Incidentally, most of the loose-aggressive players I’ve seen are of the first type, so knowing only that the player is loose-aggressive, my recommendation would be to raise.

Answer 2:

No need for isolating. Call. Either you are badly bead or a bit ahead. If ahead, you don’t mind callers with their JT/QJ/KQ etc. behind and you certainly don’t want A9/AT/AJ to fold. QQ/AK will call three cold anyway. As Abdul’s sims indicate, you can only profitably re-raise a sane early raiser with AKo/KK/AA. This guy is loose, as you say, so re-raising is an option, but the call is better.

Answer 3:

It’s seven-handed.  Call or raise. I’m not a big A-Q fan, so I call. If it were ten-handed, I might consider folding due to my poor position (eight players, including blinds to act behind me) and marginal hand. Even given the description of the raiser (loose/aggressive) there’s no law saying he can’t pick up a big hand. In addition, if I call and a more solid player re-raises behind me I may wind up being dominated by A-K. I think I’ve talked myself into folding.

Answer 1:

Actually since your bankroll/limit ratio will probably be less than it is now it will probably be much harder for you to exhibit the requisite patience. The last phrase in your sentence must be reduced from a “few times” to *no times*. If you can’t maintain against weak players for small stakes there’s no reason to expect you’re “ready” to move up. Several people recommend that you have a BR of $5k to comfortably play 10/20 and long years’ experience tell me that’s not far off in most cases. The swings are unbelievable in all these games for those who haven’t experienced them – and the runs of “bad luck” are longer than we might care to admit.

Answer 2:

Move up!!! Those lower limits suck. It’s like you aren’t even playing poker. You are just kind of sitting there waiting to catch cards.

Answer 3:

I think once you move up the players are more aggressive with the exception they have a clue. I had stopped playing holdem, but I think you may want to do more studying if you want to hold your own at higher limits.

Answer 1:

Many players prefer to remain silent, lest their tone of voice reveal something. Placing an upward-facing thumb above your “piece”, whether it be a $100 bill in a 30-60 game or a $25 chip in a $10-20 game, and moving the thumb aggressively upward, is generally taken to mean “raise”.

Answer 2:

Well after I posted the original message, I realized I had left out some key information, which is that many people with severe speech limitations over have cerebral palsy or similar disorders and don’t have sufficient control over their hand movements. This was the case with one of the players (I probably should have mentioned that), who struggled even to manage his chips and had to keep them in a rack to avoid knocking them all over the room. I also question whether a dealer accustomed to always hearing “raise” in this situation would be even looking for the hand gesture. This is not a knock on dealers, by the way. It’s just that they tend to go on autopilot after the umpteenth thousandth hand they’ve dealt, especially when they’re tired. I’ve had situations where an experienced but tired or distracted dealer has assumed a player acted a certain way based on the player’s cards rather than by looking at the actual bet or listening to the player.

Answer 3:

This is something of which I am familiar. I frequently play with a mask (to keep out cigarette smoke).  So I, effectively, can’t speak. When I play 5/10 with a $2.00 bring I try to make sure I have plenty of white chips in case I want to make my raise to $5.00 clear. But if, for some reason, I have found myself with only $5.00 red chips then I just gesture with my thumb
upwards until the dealer says “RAISE?” and I nod. There are some interesting things about this. First of all, unlike the mute people you refer to, I could always just lower my mask for a second and say raise.  I use to do that on those infrequent occasions that I wanted to raise the bring in and only had high denomination chips. But I found that there is an advantage of making an elaborate showing of the need to raise. It really helps me steal the antes (if I am so inclined). This especially worthwhile if I am at a higher stake game like 20/40 (when I use to play that). If there were a couple of callers and the rest folded to me I would look at my stack of only green chips, grab one hastily, hold it to the dealer and make my hand gestures rather frantically. This coupled with generally tight aggressive play before it usually won me the pot even if I had nothing.

Answer 1:

Bet/raise, re-raise, re-re-raise and cap it with this flop.  No, a spade draw will not fold here, but you want to make them pay as much as possible to make them see the last two cards. If there are other people in the hand they’re probably playing stuff like AJ, KJ, maybe even crap like T9 and 65. (They’ll suck out on you once in a while; try not to scream too loud.) One of the blinds might have gotten “lucky” holding J7 or J3. There might even be two spade draws out there, which is great, because then their odds of making the flush are that much smaller.  Basically, the only hand you’re afraid of is JJ, which is quite unlikely.  If someone does have it, you’re going to lose a lot of money here. But if no one has it, you’re going to make even more money, and it will be well worth it in the long run. The beautiful thing about your set is that AJ, KJ and QJ are drawing dead; if they hit another jack, you make sevens full of jacks at the same time they make trip jacks. If they hit their kicker to make two pair, you’ve still got them beat.  A lot of times players will draw dead, make their hand and they’ll keep raising you until you’ve made it perfectly obvious your hand is better. And then they’ll pay you off anyway.

Answer 2:

There is an old hold’em axiom that says that if you flop a set and lose the pot, you played it wrong if you didn’t lose a lot of chips in the process. Generally, and especially with a suited flop, you should put maximum heat on the pot to reduce your opponents’ pot odds and maximize your return if you win.  Of course, you need to use your judgment if there were three or more bets (re-raiser) before the flop and the flop contains all faces and aces (possible straights and/or set over set).  However, generally play VERY aggressively. Remember, KK & QQ are only pairs with which you can flop a set and still end up with the nuts without improving (i.e., not be facing a possible straight or flush).

Answer 3:

Well, you’re not a big favorite over the field if they flopped a straight or a flush, but you do have a reasonable draw. You have 7 outs on the turn. If the board doesn’t pair on the turn, you have 10 outs on the river. This, I suppose, works out approximately equal to a flush draw. It’s almost never right to slow play a set in limit holdem.

Answer 1:

I think the most obvious consideration is the different blind structure in 15/30 — usually the small blind is $10 (or 2/3 of the big blind amount rather than half of the big blind amount as in 10/20 or 20/40). This tends to create slightly more multi-way pots since it is more often correct for the small blind
to call. In the new edition of HPFAP, page 45, M&S state: “[I]f it costs only one-third of a bet to enter the pot, every hand should be played. In this spot, it is just too cheap to throw away your hand, no matter how bad it is. The one exception occurs when the big blind is a frequent raiser. Why waste even one-third of a bet, since you have to fold if he raises.”

Answer 2:

If the small blind is $5 then tighten up a little, because the pot odds start out lower. If it’s $10, you can be a little looser, because you’re getting better pot odds at the start. When you’re on the small blind in a 2/3 game, you can now afford to call just about anything, because it costs you so little. Conversely, if
you’re small blind in a 1/3 game, then you would fold more hands than in a 1/2 game.

Answer 3:

Stating the obvious: 15-30 has a 2/3 small bet small blind ($10), whereas 10-20 and 20-40 have a 1/2 small bet small blind ($5 and $10, respectively.) As others pointed out, this means you can play almost any two cards in 15-30 in the small blind if there is no raise. I don’t subscribe to the 2+2 mantra that you can play literally any two cards, feeling that hands like T5 and 72 are in such trouble even if they flop two pair that they are not always worth it. However, it’s pennies one way or the other and not worth arguing about. When there is a raise, you still have to play relatively tight, but implied odds hands like 86s are easier to find spots to play versus a raise when in a 2/3 small blind than a 1/2 small blind. When outside the blinds, there’s not a huge difference in strategy, but in a tight 2/3 game you should be less inclined to limp-re-raise with big pairs than in a tight 1/2 game.

Answer 1:

Each house is different. Here at CasinoArizona, the same ruling would have been made. Just about the only time a mis-deal is called here is when the first card to either the small blind or the big blind is exposed by the dealer. But, as always, circumstances may warrant a different call( (to preserve the integrity of the game) as decided by the Floor man.

Answer 2:

Different casinos have different rules ………even in the same state!!!! InConnecticut…..at Foxwoods the misdealt card would have been picked up and mucked. At mohigan sun the entire hand would have been dealt to the dead seat ….and then mucked.

Answer 3:

Did you mean that the empty seat dealt in was one of the blinds? If so, then the dealer made a mistake. Technically blinds should be posted or
at least must respond to the dealer about posting them before being dealt in.  If the empty seat was not a blind, then I think the Trop’s decision was correct.  There is no need to slow things up by calling for a misdeal.

Answer 1:

I have played at least 500 hours on both internet sites and I haven’t had even one problem. Both are safe. All of the negative talk is mostly from people that haven’t played. Some people do try there little collusion larceny but it is
rare. Most of the players are the same people day after day. I have been playing at Paradise lately,Omaha which Planet Poker doesn’t have.Paradise is growing in leaps and bounds. They had over 400 players both Fri. and Saturday night. Soon they will have over 500.Again it is completely safe in my opinion

Answer 2:

Lots of people do apparently; there are literally hundreds of people playing there each week. Personally I think that they would have to be really dumb to run a crooked game. There is a lot of money to be made from just running and honest game. But then again, crooks are dumb. Somebody at one of these places could always decide to kill the goose. That’s a risk that you take. RegardingParadiseand Planet Poker’s integrity, the only thing I ever really worry about is what will happen if Congress cracks down on them. Will I be able to get my money out? I play 3/6 a lot onParadise. Sure, I have had some moments when I really suspected that two players were trying to drive me out of the pot. It has always turned out that they both had legitimate raising hands. I continue to keep my eyes open. Ultimately, for me the decision came down to this. I was playing IRC poker between 10 and 20 hours a week and beating that game fairly easily. I figured that if I put those hours into Paradise Poker instead, even if I am only able to be a moderate winner (1 SB/ hour) I stand to make $1,500 a year from something that I am already doing anyway. So I invested $200 with the hopes of earning $1,500 return. The $200 is just part of my regular bankroll, so that is money that I would have spent gambling anyway. So far, everything is going smoothly and I have taken my initial investment back. If I have been the victim of collusion or other forms of cheating, the steady stream of fish in these games have more than made up for it. Is it a risk? Sure. Poker is always a risk, but consider the rewards waiting for a winning player.

Answer 3:

Paradise Poker has superior graphics and the program seems to respond quicker. I’m in agreement that the operators would be stupid to kill the golden goose. It isn’t cheap to open up a ‘net card room, probably costs a minimum of $500,000 once licensing is paid to Costa Rican Government, hardware, software, and support staff. I’ve gotten excellent response from tech support, and my requests to cash out have been processed in the timeframe promised by the company. I don’t particularly worry about the collusion.  If partners want to lay 2-1, 3-1, etc…To beat me, then let them. So long as the game is on the square, which I believe it to be, I’m game. If you’re worried about your credit card, apply for one with a low limit 100-200 dollars. Use it for your online gambling. You’re responsible for only $50 of fraudulent activity anyway, so long as you report the fraudulent use per the terms of your credit card agreement.