opie

I had concerns about the morality of poker when I took it up, so I looked to my own particular faith (Catholic) to see what they had to say about it. The official teaching is "Games of chance (card games, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. The passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement. Unfair wagers and cheating at games constitute grave matter, unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonably c

LHE is about finding small edges and profiting from them. Raising K7s from MP is not a hand where you are ahead of lot. In MP, that's a fold. In LP, if enough people limp in, then it is OK to limp in. The flop is a fantastic flop for you. Now your goal is to shovel as much money into the pot as possible. Letting the turn check around is a disaster. You also check the river, which could have been easily checked behind you and you collect a tiny pot in a hand where you should be collecting a nice big one. Bet the flop, bet the turn, bet the river. That will make you a larger profit

Tell the poker room manager that you would like to play poker, except that you won't sit at a table with a known cheater/scumbag. Given the choice between having you in their game or Howard, they may pick you. To improve your position, get a few other poker friends to join you, which shouldn't be too hard. Now you have a group of people tell the room manager either ban Howard or several other players will not play while he is at atable. This makes it a business decision for them, which they should choose your side.

Joe - best of luck in your fundraising. I have an 8-year-old nephew (who I love a ton) who is Chromosome 18p deficient. There are a variety of problems when a person has problems with their chromosomes - having an extra chromosome 21 is named Down Syndrome. My nephew was exceptionally small as a baby, but has been on growth hormones for several years and is now almost average height. He is just now learning to read. It can be difficult to understand him when he speaks. He is also the single nicest person I've ever met - he just does not have a mean bone in his body. I mention all this

Kind of regretting that decision now, aren't you?

Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?(Note - I stole this question from a Good Book I read.)

Wow, so he is already up to step 8 of his 12 step program:8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

I decided to look it up ... according to the Wikipedia article on the UIGEA (The Safe Port Act - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAFE_Port_Act) ...Among the more prominent Congressional supporters of the Act were Jim Leach, a former chairman of the House Banking Committee and Rep. Robert Goodlatte [R-VA], who co-authored H.R. 4411 (the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act). Bill Frist, former majority leader of the Senate, and Jon Kyl are both credited with expediting the UIGEA's passage through the Senate. Though the SAFE Port Act's provisions related to Internet gambling were drawn

Heres how I learned to play the poker.

Rakeback.

Petey,It sounds like you know what you are doing and are a solid player. I assume this from your tight style and frequent wins. So I'm going to guess it is just variance. Do not rush into the 10/20 game, but you might take a shot at it once. I play in Atlantic City and was scared of the jump, but it turned out the players weren't that much better - they just had more money. There were a few more good players and a few less fish, but the game is still beatable. That being said - my last trip I had awful luck and lost a bunch. So don't play until your bankroll can handle the swings. And w

I'm not sure this is a problem, and I'm not even sure it is accurrate, but it seems that way.When I'm ready to quit and I'm happy that I made a nice win, I usually decide to play util the blinds get back to me, and it seems like I end up in a hand where I lose a few bets much more often than I win a hand. For instance, when I plan on quitting, in those last few hands, I'll get dealt AK, raise, miss the flop completely, and eventually lose the hand, giving away some of the profit I hoped to bank.It doesn't seem like a leak to see hands for free, and I know that I'm playing the hands correctly.

On-line (I play limit poker), I call down a bit too much. I have a read that I'm beat, but it is limit, so "it is just one more bet."Live, I play too quickly. I'm used to playing the fast on-line game, so I can make my decisions quickly. I see a flop and I instantly know if I am going to bet or check. But I often bet quicker than I check, which I think might be a tell that I hit the flop.Good thread Steve.Peace,Opie

I just played a 20 minute session (100+ hands) and lost $5. I only won 3 out of 9 showdowns. But the exact situation above occurred. I had 77 on button and MP raised. I 3 bet. This strategy works GREAT when you flop a set! :-) Villain had AQ.

Guess I should have given my answers, although recently I've been changing them up to see if other choices play better. I tried to invent choices that would be easy ones given a read, but are hard without one.1. UTG raises and you are UTG+1 with KQo. A. fold B. call C. raiseI had been raising, but I kept missing flops and would eventually fold.2. UTG raises and you are UTG+1 with AJs A. fold B. call C. raiseI was raising, but would get callers of my 3 bet, and except for a few donkeys calling with mid to low pairs, no one would call with a worse hand than mine, meaning I had to really hit the

I've been playing a lot of Full Tilt Rush poker (.50/$1 limit 9 handed). I've been enjoying it, although just barely beating breaking even. One aspect of it is that you basically have no reads at all off of opponents (except the few I have notes on, or unless you have PT3, but I have PT2). This means that you have to decide on a starting hand strategy and stick to it. I have a few starting hands charts from various books and a print out I keep by my computer from when I was learning the game several years ago. I think the game has changed in the past few years with players being much more

Swoly,That's a scary board. I started to list possible hands that beat you and the list is long. Most Aces beat you (and you chop a couple more), any Q beats you (now that river was a T), and 2-pair seems quite possible. The good news is that the villain has to be putting you on the same range of hands.If you bet, you won't be getting value from K-x hands, since I think he might be scared of the straight and fold. You could use your river lead as a bluff (at having a Q or 2-pair), but I don't see him folding legitimate hands that he raised the turn with. I'm torn between a c/f and a c/c.

I bet that river.If you check, villain (with a big pair) often checks behind, which sucks. If he bets at it with a bluff, he'll fold to your c/r, so you get one more bet.If you bet, sometimes he folds, but sometimes he calls with a big pair figuring you might be bluffing.Now - to cap or not cap AK preflop - that's an interesting discussion. I've seen people be deceived by the 4 bet, putting the capper on a huge pair and folding to a flop c-bet (although presumably they aren't often folding big pairs). I'd also suggest that for the average .50/$1 on-line full ring player, Swoly's 3-bet range

Yeah, you would think so, but that happened to me on-line on a similar hand just yesterday. I had a big pair (maybe Aces), someone turned a straight against me. There were lots of raises up to that point in the hand. I just called his river bet, but a third player who had been calling all along then raises the river after the board pairs on the river. The guy with the straight calls, and I fold. The raiser had called my 3-bet preflop with 34s and all he had by the river was a pair of 3's.That was at .50/$1 Rush poker at Full Tilt. Peace,Davep.s. Has anyone tried Rush. It is friggin' awes

I would probably play it the same. Looks like a cooler hand to me. I really don't like the button tagging along for all those flop and turn bets.But you said the turn bet was made to see if villain would raise you again. And he did. So how did that change how you played the hand? You bet to gain information, and got some information - what did you do with it?I like the flop cap - you are ahead of all but sets and 53 (which seems unlikely unless UTG limps in any 2 cards) and Aces (which we can mostly rule out due to no preflop raise). After turn raise, a set seems more likely, so slow dow

The funniest quote was Phil Ivey, one hand after getting Helmuth to fold after a preflop 3 bet, throwing his hand away and saying "these were the same cards as last hand."

And then 52 minutes later, I get this hand. (And yeah, I think I should have bet the flop.)Hand InformationFull Tilt Poker Limit, 0.5 BB (9 handed).Hand History converter courtesy of pokerhandreplays.comTable InformationSeat: 1 Player 1 ($33.95)Seat: 2 Hero ($20)Seat: 3 Player 3 ($107.05) DealerSeat: 4 Player 4 ($43.55) Small BlindSeat: 5 Player 5 ($44.95) Big BlindSeat: 6 Player 6 ($50)Seat: 7 Player 7 ($33.6)Seat: 8 Player 8 ($40.05)Seat: 9 Player 9 ($59.45)Dealt to Hero Preflop (Pot:0.75)Player 6 FOLD Player 7 FOLD Player 8 FOLD Player 9 FOLD Player 1

This is totally a brag post ... but I want to share 2 hands that occurred within an hour of each other that turned out kind of nice.HAND 1:Hand InformationFull Tilt Poker Limit, 0.5 BB (9 handed).Hand History converter courtesy of pokerhandreplays.comTable InformationSeat: 1 Player 1 ($31.45)Seat: 2 Player 2 ($50) DealerSeat: 3 Player 3 ($21.75) Small BlindSeat: 4 Player 4 ($6.1) Big BlindSeat: 5 Player 5 ($28.25)Seat: 6 Player 6 ($13.8)Seat: 7 Player 7 ($17.4)Seat: 8 Hero ($23.2)Seat: 9 Player 9 ($28)Dealt to Hero Preflop (Pot:0.75)Player 5 FOLD Player 6 CALL $0.5Player

I raise this. First of all, I hardly ever slow play anyone (of course, I play lower limits). You don't want to slow play hands that are just good in case you get out drawn (I hate giving free cards), and on a huge hand, like flopping quads, when you come out betting/raising on the turn, people notice and really slow down or fold. If you come out firing initially with a huge hand, it looks like you are trying to protect it. In this case, a flop raise looks like 55, 88 - AA, Axhh or maybe even A8. Who knows - it is a wide range of hands. And most of those are not scary for the villains her

What is his greatest strenght and weakness ... on a golf course?