Erasa

After reading the threads regarding the possible use of bots I noticed one of the points being made is that just the rakeback by itself could make it worth it if the owner of the bot broke even. Although I don't have a bot, I could use the rakeback dollars. Thus my (first) question; is it available for PokerStars?How does it "work"; i.e where does the money come from? The site itself? What would their incentive be to making that available? Are there any drawbacks to using it - are you forced to watch pop-ups or banner adds or other annoying content?Thanks in advance for your insights!RegardsEr

One of the first things I did when I decided to play for money was to invest in a license to Poker Tracker (and PAHUD, PokerSpy and Pokerbility) - that program is pure genius. I do spend some time analyzing my hands and very rarely do the net outcome of a poker outing of mine swing on a bad beat - invariably it will be questionable starting hands (I have really firmed up in this department in the last month) and falling in love with OESD and flush draws that doesn't get there (trying to get better but it is hard - probably the biggest hole in my game (that I can spot)).The answer - if there is

I have been playing poker for money for about 6 months (not as a living; just a hobby) and the first 5 months I was a net loser (some days up; some days down - but net down for each month) but this last month I have been doing really well and I have been considerably net up for the month of April (still got another 19 hours to change that but I don't think that will happen). I'm still net down for the entire playing period and I sure don't consider myself a winning player yet, however I do feel my game is improving and the results seems to bear wittness to that. I play cash games almost exclus

I guess I am missing the basic premise of how it works? Could you walk me through a hand and show me how the betting works. Do you get dealt your two cards and then decide whether to bet or not? Then basically whoever calls you (or raise and you call) you play against that person and whoever gets closest to 21 or 21 without busting wins?Sorry for being all retarded, but I have only ever played regular BlackJack.[Edit: just did a quick search on royal holdem; completely different game than Ultimate - sorry never played it]If Royal holdem is the same as Ultimate Texas Hold 'em (not sure it is),

I went by my local B&M casino today to play some Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em; it is a table game that is a take off on the real game and it can be quite addictive. Anyway one of the pit bosses asked me if I wanted to be in a BlackJack Tournament over the week-end; its free; first prize $15K - first seven spots pays and there are only 100 players invited, so of course I accepted.I obviously know how to play regular BlackJack against the house, but I have never been in or watched a BlackJack tournament. I figured it couldn't be all that much different, but I decided to scan the flier for the tou

I have played it quite a bit - it is pretty addictive but like any other casino game you will lose in the long run. However if you play optimally you can get close to breaking even although you should expect a big variance.Check out this web-site for the "correct" way to play (disclaimer: I have nothing to do with the site):http://wizardofodds.com/ultimatetexasholdemHave fun and always bet Trips ....Erasa

I know it has been mentioned a 100 times, but green dot or yellow dot? If green, I noticed they have a MasterCard as well - does anyone know if that works? Do you get the ones with a fixed amount or the reloadable ones?ThanksErasa

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/20...ng_N.htm?csp=34

I am not entirely sure what you mean by this line but my suggestion would be that you take your 401k money and put it into a ROLL-OVER IRA. That way when you get your next job with a 401k plan, you can roll that money back into your new 401k plan without penalties. Although I am sure you are very concerned about the short term, please don't lose sight of the long term either. I think it is great that you have started a 401k; at your age it can become quite large without you killing yourself with contributions month to month.Good luck on the job hunt. Like peeps have said before; it happens to

Regarding the taxes;I have obviously never had this "problem", so I will just show my ignorance.How would the IRS ever know that you had made that money? Are they totally relying on you self-disclosing? I gather those of you who have to pay taxes on your winnings keep meticulous records of how much you spend - is PokerTracker sufficient for that or do you keep all receipts/emails confirmations for deposits?To OP; very nicely done sir - enjoy the spoils of your victory!RegardsErasa

I could be wrong, but ..... if this is your wife/girlfriend/grade school teacher/mother then maybe you shouldn't have posted the picture. It looks like her name is Kelly with her SSN listed on the top of the picture. Amazing what people can do now a days with a SSN.Otherwise good joke...RegardsErasa

I suspect he was being sarcastic and that a NLHE player could indeed benefit from reading SSHE. I thank you all for your input; I have already read HoH, SS II, the Theory of Poker and Positively 5th street (not really a strategy book but still a good read)... I figured I would slog my way through the "classics" when I'm away from home and can't play ... After that I got Sklansky's Hold 'Em for Advanced Players. Any other "classics" I am missing (thought about Chen's book "the math of poker" or something like that, but it has been many years since I have taken a math class )?RegardsErasa

I thought this would be the perfect book for me; being relative new to Hold 'Em and all.Not until I read the intro did I realize "Small Stakes Hold 'em" deals with LIMIT Hold 'Em as opposed to NO LIMIT Hold 'Em. Since I play exclusively NLHE, should I even be reading this book? And no, I don't have enough time to pick up a "new" game, so I would like to stick to NLHE as opposed to learning to play Limit (at least for now).What do y'all think?ThanksErasa

Excellent -I was writing my previous post while you posted this one. Lots of good information; yes - I'm talking cash games. I have done a lot of SnG but I am completely new to cash games so right now I'm doing the newbie tables $0.5 - $1.0 - so far about even but wide swings.Thanks againErasa

My apologies; I was afraid that might be the case. Unfortunately I don't have as much time as I would like to be real hard core in reading this forum so I am sure I miss alot. If I may make a suggestion: I used to manage large software development teams and it was always a pain bringing new developers up to speed. So when a situation like this arose where somebody asked a "newbie" question the quick response from the tenured developers would be "RTFM" (read the f.... manual). Same thing here; create an FAQ and put the consensus answers to the top 5 most often asked questions in there. That way

I am sure this has been debated a few times, but I don't recall seeing it recently.Can one of you point me to a good site or recommend a (recent) book that talks about what size roll is needed for different levels?Or maybe there is a rule of thumb? When people talk about buy-in is it automatically assumed that we are talking about the max buy-in for a particular level?Are any accommodations made for whether you are typically a TAG or a LAG (I would assume the variance is bigger for a TAG) when deciding on what level you can play with a certain roll?I'm obviously a newbie (to ring games), so an

Wow - dangerous piece of advice if you live in the US. You forgot to mention D, if despite B you should end up requiring medical insurance you usually cannot get it (at least not without being fleeced) because of "pre-existing condition". I would advise you to keep at least some health insurance and keep it current at all times; then it becomes a lot harder to deny care because of pre-existing. And because of HIPAA, if you have health insurance and a serious medical condition, you can keep your coverage even if you switch to a job where you are covered. Then they cannot deny you because of pre

This is great; I was looking for the exact numbers - not what my chances of actually winning the hand are (that requires a subjective look at the numbers and obviously can't be computed). I was thinking about writing my own odds calculator as an exercise in picking up another programming language (time to make the jump from C++ to .NET/C#).Thanks TheMathProf!Erasa

If this has been discussed before here or elsewhere, I would appreciate a pointer...I know the answers (from using odds calculators) but I am interested in the exact formula (no "rule of thump" or approximations plz)1) Let's say I flopped a four card flush; how do I calculate the probability that I will fill my flush after the river. I understand that the probability is 9/47 to do it on the turn and 9/46 on the river, but what is the combined probability - it is obviously not the sum of the two.2) How do I calculate the probability of hitting runner-runner after the flop (i.e. a pair becoming

Daniel - Good for you.Unfortunately the backlash is just as predictible - and unfortunately as happens with most serious debates it almost immediately turn personal. Who cares how he gets around - this issue is much bigger than a single person and his behavior (which I happen to find quite reasonable but even if I didn't that doesn't make the climate change any less of an issue) - let's debate the ideas regardless of who promotes them and how they live their life. I suspect this debate will follow a similiar pattern as the tobacco issue - an issue where Gore and his family were clearly in the

Apropos collusion, I have been meaning to ask;It is well known that many top players find their best friends among other top players; what are the chances that they would be willing to put a serious hurt on their best friend?For instance (I have no idea whether they collude or not); Phil Laak vs. Antonio Esfandiari .... Phil Laak vs Jennifer Tilly .... DN vs. Jen Harman ... Doyle Brunson vs. Todd Brunson ... Dutch Boyd and his crew ... Brandi Hawbaker vs Capt. Tom Franklin (ok maybe they wouldn't)I doubt they would do anything stupid like chip dumping as that could be spotted pretty easily but

I am a newb as well so this thread has been informative for me. I have a question with a slightly different twist; say I buy in for $500 at a $200 min table - I quickly donk off half and then spend the next couple of hours getting back to even. Is it then permissible (from an etiquette point of view) to get up and leave then? By that time, there are likely to be new players at the table that didn't see your original buy-in so they may be thinking you are doing a "hit-n-run".Just curiosErasa

There are several paper poker magazines out there; Bluff, Card Player, Poker Pro etc. etc. I wonder which ones you would recommend and why - and likewise which ones to stay clear off. I realize that most if not all the material can be found on-line, but it can be hard to read on a business trip, in bed, waiting for the dentist etc. etc. so I was looking for a recommendation or two.If this has previously been discussed I would appreciate a pointer ...Thank YouErasa

I am certainly not a lawyer so I could be all wet on this, but I am not sure it would constitute money laundering. My understanding is that money laundering happens when you transfer money to be involved in an illegal activity on either end. However it is not illegal for me as an American citizen to play poker on-line in the US; it is illegal for an American financial bank institution to facilitate the money transfer - I don't see how they could deny a foreign financial institution to do something that is legal in that country. If that is the only thing they arrested the Neteller guys for doin

Is it possible/legal to create a bank account in another country; get a VISA/MasterCard/Diners Club card associated with the account and start using that account? I guess the question is; does PokerStars/VISA use your PokerStar personal identity or does it use the country of origin of the VISA card to determine whether it will let the transaction go through?This option may not be available for everybody but I have family in Europe, so creating a account - even with a c/o address in Europe - should be relatively easy for me. The question is just whether I will be able to use it on PokerStars (o