California Hold'em Tournament 9/1

[californiaholdem 0]

Great chance to learn with $2,000 in free money. Only 31 entered so far!It's 6:30 PDT, 9:30 ESThttp://events.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseac...3CF215572286296

[loxo 0]

Spammo!

[IQCrash 1]

This was the most informative spam ever, because I stumbled upon this myspace profile through it:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendID=53613364I wonder if they give you head after a bad beat. Maybe tickle your balls?- Crash

[BPV 0]

I read this post for a solid 5 minutes, solely to look at IQ's avatar

[bossyrossy 0]

This was the most informative spam ever, because I stumbled upon this myspace profile through it:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendID=53613364I wonder if they give you head after a bad beat. Maybe tickle your balls?- Crash

Ummm not really that fit though are they???

[HangukMiguk 8]

not spam. i'm in tonight.

[invulse 0]

has anyone tried this variation on holdem yet?? Here are the rules: www.letspoker.com/howtoplay_cali_holdem.html it says it reduces bad beats by 20%, but I dunno if i believe that.

[HangukMiguk 8]

has anyone tried this variation on holdem yet?? Here are the rules: www.letspoker.com/howtoplay_cali_holdem.html it says it reduces bad beats by 20%, but I dunno if i believe that.

Trying to catch a two outer after the flop in Texas Hold'Em: 8% chanceTrying to catch a two outer after the flop in California Hold'Em: 4% chance

[Socrates 0]

This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I'm guessing the math geek who figured this out was a poor player and felt they were getting drawn out on all the time? Dude, if you don't want people chasing then you shouldn't be playing poker. I may be completely off here, but ever since I saw these rules last year or longer ago I always thought it was stupid.

[StrippersNBlow 0]

No one cashed/and or cashed out in the last one?

[Robert Melendez 0]

I'm in.

[finztotheleft 0]

No one cashed/and or cashed out in the last one?

I'm curious on this point also....is the poker site cashing out ?

[Flushgarden 0]

After playing in 2 tournaments I can say that I do not like that game. It's just too slow...and too hard to come up with a hand. Top pair is the nuts...

[californiaholdem 0]

After playing in 2 tournaments I can say that I do not like that game. It's just too slow...and too hard to come up with a hand. Top pair is the nuts...

That last statement is just not true. If you played top pair like it's the nuts, it explains why you didn't like the game. I have nothing to do with the operation of that site, but there are two things they did wrong that made this tournament drag. One was the very slow blind structure. The first tournament's structure was way too fast and they overcompensated. Plus, they started the tournament with $2,500 chips. The combination of those factors made this a very slow tournament over the first few levels. This would also have been the case with Texas Hold'em.The game by its nature appoximates deep stack poker, so to start with a deep stack and have slowly increasing blinds is not the optimal environment. That being said, the same group of guys tend to win these and they are very good players. There were a couple of crazy beats over the last two tournaments that are more dramatic than Texas Hold'em. There was a set over set beat near the end last night. The week before quads beat kings full. Overall, if you play tight, aggressive poker you'll do well in this game. Unfortunately, too much patience was required for the first two hours or so last night because of the structure. But most of the players who have been frequenting the tournments enjoy it. Several of them have told me they prefer it.To each his own. Hopefully the game will soon be on a site where it's easy to get a game at any level.For those who gave it a try, like it or not, I appreciate it.

[Flushgarden 0]

If you played top pair like it's the nuts, it explains why you didn't like the game.

I'm not bragging but I'm a fairly good tournament player, I know what I'm doing. I came in both of them determined to play a solid tight agressive style, not get out of line but when I had something push it hard...but I just never made any hand at all. I said top pair is the nuts because I never even got top pair. After about an hour and a half of nothing but folding I just got frustrated and started being more agressive and going after pots, and I ran into walls. Not the best thing for me to do, I know. Maybe I was really more card dead than everybody but it seems like its much harder to make a hand, and in turn much harder to know where you stand when you're actually in a hand against somebody.

[TrulyRaNd0m 0]

How is this even poker? Don't all poker games use the standard 52 card deck? Also, I still don't see how this helps people from "sucking out". All this does is change the game where AKs is a much weaker holding than before, and pocket pairs are much stronger. Otherwise, I don't get it.And what's the point of having unsuited cards? It just looks like a home game.

[californiaholdem 0]

I'm not bragging but I'm a fairly good tournament player, I know what I'm doing. I came in both of them determined to play a solid tight agressive style, not get out of line but when I had something push it hard...but I just never made any hand at all. I said top pair is the nuts because I never even got top pair. After about an hour and a half of nothing but folding I just got frustrated and started being more agressive and going after pots, and I ran into walls. Not the best thing for me to do, I know. Maybe I was really more card dead than everybody but it seems like its much harder to make a hand, and in turn much harder to know where you stand when you're actually in a hand against somebody.

First of all, you were card dead, it sounds like. I played breifly. I got home from work and decided to play for an hour or less. Even though I have nothing at all to do with the operation of the site, it wouldn't look good if I monied and after a hard week, I wanted to relax. Since I'd have to throw it even if I did happen to make the final table, I ended up going all in with like Q6 at the end of the hour.But the bolded part above contradicts what you said about pushing with top pair like it's the nuts. If you don't know where you stand, isn't it dangerous to push that hard? You have to be more guarded and bet properly in the game to know where you stand. Because of this, there are less all ins and more feeler bets and reraises. It's just different.In the hour I did play, I was rivered twice. One hand I had pocket jacks and decided to slow play after a flop of three low cards. (12 was the highest card on the board.) I called a moderate bet on the turn and the river was the 12. I ended up paying off a value bet when my opponent hit trip 12s. In the same hour my two pair beat an opponent's lower two pair. I also caught a straight and flopped a set. If you say you never once hit top pair, I'm telling you you were card dead.

How is this even poker? Don't all poker games use the standard 52 card deck? Also, I still don't see how this helps people from "sucking out". All this does is change the game where AKs is a much weaker holding than before, and pocket pairs are much stronger. Otherwise, I don't get it.And what's the point of having unsuited cards? It just looks like a home game.

Poker was born on riverboats in Louisiana early in the century with a 20 card deck. There's nothing written in stone that the traditional deck should be used. In fact, the reason I made the changes to the deck are because I wanted to maintain the exact rules of Texas Hold'em but adjust the odds.As far as the sucking out question... If I am trying to draw out on you with improper pot odds, there are eight more cards in my deck that will not improve my hand than there are in a normal deck. So, I have less of a chance of hitting one of those cards than I would with a normal deck. Less suckouts.Unsuited cards were necessary. If I added cards without adjusting for suit, it would be harder to get a straight than a flush. I also feel that in Texas Hold'em the high value of a flush versus the ease in getting one make it the most likely manner by which an inferior player sucks out. How many times have you seen a donkey with absolutely nothing but 9 outs on a flush draw call an all in or go all in only to catch? Sure, in the long-term, you want bad players making bad calls, but if you're six hours into a tournament and that's the hand that cripples you, you'd rather have more of an advantage that means if that call is made it's less successful or because opponents know it's less successful they'll fold more often.

[eYank 0]

First of all, you were card dead, it sounds like. I played breifly. I got home from work and decided to play for an hour or less. Even though I have nothing at all to do with the operation of the site, it wouldn't look good if I monied and after a hard week, I wanted to relax. Since I'd have to throw it even if I did happen to make the final table, I ended up going all in with like Q6 at the end of the hour.But the bolded part above contradicts what you said about pushing with top pair like it's the nuts. If you don't know where you stand, isn't it dangerous to push that hard? You have to be more guarded and bet properly in the game to know where you stand. Because of this, there are less all ins and more feeler bets and reraises. It's just different.In the hour I did play, I was rivered twice. One hand I had pocket jacks and decided to slow play after a flop of three low cards. (12 was the highest card on the board.) I called a moderate bet on the turn and the river was the 12. I ended up paying off a value bet when my opponent hit trip 12s. In the same hour my two pair beat an opponent's lower two pair. I also caught a straight and flopped a set. If you say you never once hit top pair, I'm telling you you were card dead. Poker was born on riverboats in Louisiana early in the century with a 20 card deck. There's nothing written in stone that the traditional deck should be used. In fact, the reason I made the changes to the deck are because I wanted to maintain the exact rules of Texas Hold'em but adjust the odds.As far as the sucking out question... If I am trying to draw out on you with improper pot odds, there are eight more cards in my deck that will not improve my hand than there are in a normal deck. So, I have less of a chance of hitting one of those cards than I would with a normal deck. Less suckouts.Unsuited cards were necessary. If I added cards without adjusting for suit, it would be harder to get a straight than a flush. I also feel that in Texas Hold'em the high value of a flush versus the ease in getting one make it the most likely manner by which an inferior player sucks out. How many times have you seen a donkey with absolutely nothing but 9 outs on a flush draw call an all in or go all in only to catch? Sure, in the long-term, you want bad players making bad calls, but if you're six hours into a tournament and that's the hand that cripples you, you'd rather have more of an advantage that means if that call is made it's less successful or because opponents know it's less successful they'll fold more often.

yeah ummm thats not really trueand yeah i dont think anyone is realy going to switch to this game, look @ the only way u r getting ppl to play it, by having freerolls, yes i know u dont work for the site but come on, noone wants to play itA good texas hold em player is good enough that a few bad beats isnt going to kill them, it seems like this game was invented to jjust try and catch on to the poker craze and make a few bucks.