The Official Poker Thread

Okay, so who plays?

Discuss the issue here.

I enjoy poker. Curious if any players here had been playing before it became very popular with espn, and whatever else is on cable these days…

I play craps.

To be fair to us newcomers, pardicat, technically it’s been on ESPN for going on 20 years now.

I do. A lot. Way way a lot. I would love for people to share some good site/blogs on poker, for I’m always looking to improve my game.

I can mention Sharkscope.com (v. neat stat site)

I guess I’ll let you know what I play: I beat consistently the 2-4$ (six handed) limit games. And I’m waiting to build up a nice bankroll to play multi-turbo NL SnGs (3 max) at the 15-30$ limits; which I think are fairly easy to cash in (if one doesn’t tilt and wins at least one race).

Poker advice?

Big hand, even with a tight image, re-raise quick and, often unexpecdely big, against limpers and raises from late and blind positions. Why? Makes people think you are making a move against them because they’ve shown weakness, thereby getting their egos involved, leading to their money in your pocket when your AK hits the flop, etc etc.

Anyone want to comment on checking blind when defending BB and/or SB against a raise? What hands to do it with, if any? My pref are low pocket pairs, suited connectors, and just about all junk.

My most recent memorable hand:

I have AKs. I raise from under the gun. Some douche re-raises me from the button. Everyone else folds. I go all-in. He calls.

Idiot has A6o.

Flop comes 7, 3, 10.

Turn is an 8.

Needless to say, I’m like, don’t you dare put a goddamn 9 up there. Give him a six, but I’m not losing this hand because this idiot sucks a straight off his worthless six.

River comes 9.

My tournament is over.

:blush: :laughing: yes, well, I did begin my career at 3 years old you know…

Daybreak, what was your stack size relative Button Player? And how late into tourney?

Any pair, of course, unless the raise is 4x the BB, then I’ll usually want 7’s or better. If I don’t have a pair, I want suited connectors 7 or better, or at least a K.

I wanna say I had about 12 BB’s left. He had me covered, obviously, but I don’t remember by how much - he didn’t have twice my stack, I remember that much. This was roughly midway through. Why?

But you do understand, poker seems to have become very popular very quickly. Or maybe I feel this way because it ‘became popular’ when I started paying attention…

The cliche is that ever since the movie Rounders came out - when Matt Damon proclaimed to the world that it was a game of skill and not luck - it’s been way more popular. Then there’s Chris Moneymaker winning the Main Event at the WSOP and everything from there is history. To answer your question, yes, I am a newcomer in that sense. :slight_smile:

Is that right? Moneymakers tournament was my first exposure to poker. A happy accident. Funny that my interest and the ‘worlds’ should coincide so succinctly.

Daybreak,

Mathamatically you are a 4:1 favorite against an unsuited A6 (75%) and a 70% favorite against a suited A6. Button player needs, at the very least, about a 52xBB stacksize to make the raise-call against you (unless he was absolutly convinced you had aces). 48xbb stacksize if suited. And one hell of a willingness to gamble. I prob would make that play if I had 60-70xBB+ in the middle of tourney, putting you on KK, QQ, JJ, and hoping it’s not AK AQ AJ A10 AA.

Yeah, I figured that’s what you were getting at. No, he didn’t have anything like a stack like that. That’s why I called him an idiot. He needed to fold to my all-in. When I saw his A6 I was thinking he was about the worst player at the table and that I was certain to double-up. Hence why the hand sticks out to me. That’s the very definition of a bad beat. Would you agree?

I got interested in poker after Rounders, which I saw at 14. I hustled 240 bucks from a kid at school, but let him off the hook because my conscience got to me. I kept up with poker on the travel channel about two years before it became popular. Now, quite possibly, an addict.

One thing very interesting to me was playing live at a Casino.
I could not help but notice the link between aggression and sex when playing live. Anyone care to comment?

lol, sorry man. I feel your pain. Damn, do I have stories as well. But actually, I’ve learned to love it when a player puts a bad-beat on me (seriously). It just reinforces my notion that I’m playing the game correctly and will win in the long term. Bad beats are the last things to make me tilt, bad plays (on my part) are a whole different story. If anyone has an answer on how to get over yourself making a play you know better than to make – share. Where are you Zenophiles when I need you?

Daybreak,

Perhaps it would be best to push AK all in from first pos? That’s what I do, fairly often, from pos 1 - 3, hoping to pick up the blinds and stay in the tourney, or hoping to catch a fish call with AQ/AJ etc., … A6 lol… though, admittedly, one will run into AA KK every now and again, cursing him/herself for pushing…but, most of the time, would one back down to a re-raise?

I have a Question: Loaded questions to pick up tells on oppenents? Usu., when I’ve talked-up a player, I tell them I have a strong hand and ask them, say, for example, “Do you have kq?” If they respond quickly, naturally, with a “maybe,” I know they don’t have kq. A slow response of “maybe…” i’m not certain about. And this is for players who are friendly.

Also, online, durring a hand, a player goes, “zzzzzzzzzz” when you take your time to make a decision; my assumption is that they are strong. I’ve been bluffed once that way, but more often than not, I think I made the right laydown. Anyone care to comment?

I started playing online right around when I very first came to ILP.

I sort of see poker as the ultimate game… so many variables… anything can happen in NL.

I have played sort of every second day online since then… so like a good 3 odd years. I’m not so good IRL, but online I’m alright.