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  • Sports & Gaming Moderators: ghostfreak

Cards Poker (Texas Hold'em)

Yes there are plenty of free sites, I believe Pokerstars still allows downloads for U.S. ppl for their play money sites, I believe. Someone else may know better. Also, there are plenty of rudimentary learning sites if you Google it. We are always trying to grow the game, so there should be plenty of sites out there to get you going.

One more thing...if you have a casino nearby that offers poker you can always stop in the poker room and inquire whether they give a free lesson for beginners. You should find most poker room managers (competent ones anyway) to be very helpful to get you going.
 
was once a winning poker player. hopefully - if my brain starts working - i'll stack some cash in the 0.02/0.04 games. i haven't researched the proficiency of bots lately but assume they can beat most decent players by now. years back i read a report of bots beating NL400 ($2/$4) which, online, is extremely difficult.
 
where's the poker players at?

i've been tracking my performance since the start of the year. i was down $325 in january. i'm up $895 in february for a +$570 net on the year.

my play is all over the place. i am playing some of my best poker and some of my worst poker. need to focus.

i am getting absolutely hammered on all-in races with the best hand. in the last week alone, i have had AA cracked by QQ. AK cracked by KQ. KK cracked by JJ.

in another hand, i had a 44466 boat (pocket 66) on the turn cracked on the river when another 4 came for quads on the board. i had been betting the whole way and i bet on the river. my opponent called me with Q-high and, as usual, he wasn't really sure why he bet. he actually said "i thought i was beat but i called anyway". sigh.

alasdair
 
anybody watch the main event?

i am just wrapping up heads up. there's no doubt blumstein was playing aggressive, big stack poker - and ott looked so beat down - but man he was just getting hand after hand after hand. i guess that's how you win the main event...

alasdair
 
Yeah, you definitely have to throw your weight around when you are the chip leader. I watched the whole thing. Not as good as last years. Kind of boring.
 
i have watched about 13 main events and it's taught me that you have to be good but also really lucky to win. some main event champs (e.g jamie gold, jerry yang) got a ridiculous run of cards but you have to play well and run well.

alasdair
 
I use zynga poker on my android. There no adds and no need to use real money, but you can buy chips. The only down side like with any free app is you'll get the people who make ridiculous bets or go all in all the time. Just keep switching tables till you find a good game.
 
i've been on a tear over the last 2 weeks. i have played 7 times (6 small casino tourneys and my regular wednesday home game) and i have 5 wins and 2 second places for a total of $1990 won.

i've been really focusing on patience and position. also, telling a more consistent story with my bluffs.

is anybody playing?

alasdair
 
i played last night. down to 4 - tourney paid 3 places. i was in the cut off. the big blind raised 3 times the bb. i look down at pocket aces and re-raise all-in for about 12 bb. the button to my left moves all-in. the original raiser tanks for about 2 minutes then utters the words i dread hearing at poker - "ok. why not?"

i have AA. button has QQ and the original raiser in the bb turns over 99. she hits a 9 - on the river of course - for the double knockout :(

that's a pretty loose call after the all-in re-raise and the second all-in...

"oh well".

alasdair
 
Like the story. Heard those phrases a few times at the tables. I don't play often anymore.

Every once in awhile some off us from work get together and have a little tournament.
 
my local casino has a $230 buy-in tourney every six weeks. they had a $65 satellite last night which i won so i get a seat to the $230 and i get 5k chip bonus so i start with 20k chips instead of the usual 15k.

the tourney is sunday evening. $50 bounties and the winner usually walks with $1500 to $2000 for first. wish me luck :)

alasdair
 
played in the 'big' tourney last night. played the best poker of my life for 6 hours and cashed in 4th place for $250 so i came out ahead.

final hand i was all in on the turn with two pair - AA22 and he had KK1010. he hit a 10 on the river for the 4 outer and that was that.

alasdair
 
home game last night. it's a $20 rebuy tourney format so, for a home game, there's money to be made. i've walked out of there with over $400 for first but $250 is typical.

last night i flopped a straight flush! my hole cards were:

kc.gif
jc.gif


i raised standard 3x bb before the flop in late position and got two callers. flop comes:

9c.gif
tc.gif
qc.gif


first to act bets big. guy to my right calls. i call.

turn is a blank. first to act bets huge. guy to my right calls. i call.

they seem to be focused on each other and barely register my call. i have a reputation for bluffing a lot so perhaps they just assume they're ahead and i'm going to take a stab.

river is a blank. first to act bets huge. guy to my right calls. i come over the top all in but i only have about a 1/5th of the pot. i'm trying to make it look like a desperation bluff.

both guys call. utg guy shows
4c.gif
5c.gif
. he looks so excited because he's totally convinced he trapped me. second guy turns over two other clubs - can't recall which but no ace surprisingly.

i reveal my hole cards for the straight flush and take down a big pot. the utg looked utterly shell shocked for about 5 mins and was gone about 3 hands later...

:)

alasdair
 
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Damn that’s like one of them there Hollywood movies.

Seriously though. I’ve never flopped a straight flush in my life (IRL). Congrats.
 
Bringing this back. Anyone play online poker still. Please come join me on Poker Stars. Team BL. But we won't be a team we'll be against each other. + I want your money.
 
crazy hand at last night's tourney.

poker01.jpg


i was in sb at a 9-handed table. i think 6 people limped. i look down at 89 off and, even though bb is a threat to raise to thin out the herd, i'm priced in so i call. one guy in middle position is all in for about 3 bb.

the flop comes 889 and i've flopped a boat - unbelievable! i check and there's some middle position action with a couple of calls and a couple of folds. i put in a decent 3x raise and get 3 calls!

turn is a 6 which i thought might have got somebody to their straight. utg checks. next guy moves all in for about 20bb. next guy is already all in. gets to me and i put it all in and utg tanks for about 90 seconds then calls all in.

i had no idea it was going to be this crazy!

- the guy under the gun flopped an open-ended straight flush draw (although only one of those outs remains)

- the next guy had 66 and turned a weaker full house!

- the guy who was all in from the start had qq

i flopped a boat and everybody in the hand was still alive after the turn!

river was meaningless and i chipped up from about 12.5k to 65k and took out 2 of the 3 people in the hand!

amazing hand.

and here's the 'poker is crazy' part. i played or another 2 and a half hours and never won another hand. i bubbled in 5th place :(

alasdair
 
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