Learning is Winning

The other day, I was caught by a friend who asked me about the ABCs about Texas Hold'em. I was eloquent in explaining to him about poker glossaries, poker hand rankings, so on and so forth. But the cat got my tongue when it turned to bet structure.

The thing is, I can play comfortably in the game, but I took it for granted that I should have known therefore the poker rules and other "small" things.

So I logged into my poker room account, observed every step during the round, and took notes of what I was missing before.

Note 1

First of all, on the table there is a position called "Button". Basically it's the reference subject in the poker game. And this button rotates clockwise after each round of game.

The first player next to the button clockwise chooses to bet the small blind. Small blind is half of the big blind. Don't blame me if I am a little off the subject... For example, Room XYZ 3/6NL: No limit for bets, with 3 as small blind, and 6 as the big blind and minimum bet.

The second player next to the button clockwise chooses the big blind. As soon as he bets the big blind, which equals the minimum bet at one time, the 2 hole cards are dealt.

From the next player to the button, they have the privilege to see their hole cards before they decide to call the bet, raise or fold. So the button always is the last person to act. And he/she can see all other players' moves before making his own decision. So the button has an utmost advantage.

Then the ball rolls to the small blind. He can choose to call the blind, raise or fold, which in his position, would mean the loss of small blind.

Remember it's always the first person next to the button who has the first speak.
I am into my game once again... My hands are hot right now. I'll be inspired to do the teaching another day, I think.

Recommendation for those who know little about side pot

Scenario:

Player 1 goes all in $50
Player 2 calls with $50
Payer 3 sees the $50 and raises player 2 $50
Player 2 calls the raise and this money is put into the side pot
Player 1 has the best hand and wins the pot

Question:

Do player 2 and 3 still compete for the side pot with their hands or since player 1 had the best poker hand does the side pot money just go back to player 2 and 3 evenly.

Answer:

It is a very interesting part of poker rules. The purpose of the side pot is to allow the remaining players in the hand who have money to wager it. This wagering is considered outside of the all-in person's hand. What happens when there is a side pot is that whoever has money invest in that particular pot has a right to win it if their hand is the best. So let's go over some options with the example you gave above.
Player 1 has the best hand - he only gets the main pot since he doesn't have any money in the side pot. Who wins the side pot depends on Player 2 and Player 3 (since it's their money).
Player 2 has the bet hand - he takes everything. Notice he had money in both pots so he was competing in both.
Player 3 has the best hand - same as above, he takes everything.

So the bottom line is that if you have money in a pot you have a chance to win it. If you have three side pots, you could have three different winners. There has to be a winner for each pot, no one gets their money back unless they have the same hand.

Who Moved My Chips

I am not saying that I am reckless. But sometimes I just didn't know where my money has gone.

If there is someone I have to blame on, some of these flashy poker rooms are on my list. Quality of graphics is always these online card rooms' selling point, which however leads to the negligence of clear indication. At the end of a round, I even don't know who the winner is. I don't know if the server is unstable or something and I have to admit internet bandwidth is one of the elements involved. What I can see is the "montage" of poker hand actions in the twinkling of an eye. And then, a new round begins!

The story doesn't stop there! I don't know how much money I am offering to the poker room—the rake.

As luck would have it, I had the honor to chat with Robert Border, a WPT champion. He is obviously one of the best. "Professional poker player", that's the only title I can find for people like him. "Usually casinos don't put that (the information about rake) where most people can find it, it's buried in back pages…" Now I learned another inside rule! But not the exact percentage, still searching!

I wonder some guy in another corner of the world may meet the same problem. After all, these things are not registered in official poker rules.

Just now, news told me the French people pay 6,000 euro a kilo for a black mushroom—truffle. It really takes my thoughts away, and my breath, too.

Retrospect

I always try more luck than my knowledge when sitting at the poker table. As soon as my butt touches the chair, I forget those golden rules and calculation theories. Everyone did that, the consolation thought told me time and again. This time, after-thought urges me to write about my experiences and lessons.

Pot odds mean little to me when I was holding a 6c9c, with a board containing Kc3c4c4dTh. At that moment, my priority is the application of slow play, rounding in more players with more money. Flush is so big a hand, at least for me, so rare—my "professional" experience of Texas Holdem is no more than 300 hours!

Oh my! I just wish I was as clear-minded as when I mucked my hand and saw the playing as an on-looker. I bet right that a flush defeated a straight once. That hand made me once proud of my know-how of this game: not novice any more; I can type out my pundit-like opinion with "lol"s following my talk without the feeling of self-mockery.

My story: Last Friday, I spent the whole afternoon in one poker room, with my 8 other long-time "comrades". That round, my gut feeling told me to all in with 260 bucks. At that moment, I temporarily put my money's fate in the hand of luck, and luck just let me down …

Hall of Fame

Who are the best poker players in the world?

Here below offered by certain experts are a few of individual selections in a handful of categories.

Best all-around players - the late Chip Reese.

He is widely regarded to have been the greatest cash game poker player that ever lived.

Reese collaborated on the seven-card stud section for Doyle Brunson's Super System, the best-selling poker book of all time. In it, Brunson describes Reese as "one of the two finest young ... poker players in the world" and the best seven-card stud player he had ever played. Reese would later become the card manager at the old Dunes Casino in Vegas.

As a tribute, from 2008 onwards the H.O.R.S.E. event winner at the World Series of Poker will receive a trophy named the "David 'Chip' Reese Award".

Honorable mentions are also given to Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson.
Best poker tournament player - some pundits claim it's Stu Ungar.

He is the only person to have won World Series of Poker Main Event three times and to win Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker three times, the world's second most prestigious poker title during its time.

Laureate candidacy does go out to Phil Hellmuth and Mike "The Grinder" Mizrachi. Negreanu is also named again.

"Best cash game players - David Benyamine, Patrik Antonius, Jen Harmon, there are just so many great players you could argue until the cows come home," Some net professional says.

Small Macau—Big Fortune

Texas Hold 'em poker is coming to Macau.

Officials in the booming southern China gambling enclave have authorized local casinos to offer the popular card game for the first time, and the territory's leading gaming operator said Friday that it's rolling out the game at its main property.

Grand Lisboa, the flagship of casino mogul Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau or SJM, has inaugurated four new tables dedicated to Texas Hold 'em, a company spokeswoman said.

Interest in poker, particularly Texas Hold 'em, has exploded in the United States in the past few years with the advent of televised tournaments such as the World Series of Poker. It has also gained popularity in mainland China, a major source of punters for Macau.

"We are confident that Texas Hold 'em will become very popular here. It is popular in Europe and in the U.S. and there are international Texas Hold 'em Poker tournaments every year," Louis Ng, SJM's director and chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Macau's government issued the rules approving Texas Hold 'em earlier this week.

The new rules allow the house to collect a commission of 3 percent to 5 percent of the betting pool for each game.

Ho held a monopoly on casinos in Macau until 2002. Since then, the government has handed out other gaming licenses, which attracted top Las Vegas operators to open luxury resorts in Macau targeting China's newly wealthy.

Las Vegas casino operators Wynn, Las Vegas Sands and MGM Grand did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment on whether they will offer Texas Hold 'em at their Macau properties.

Macau, a former Portuguese colony about 60 kilometers (40 miles) west of Hong Kong, returned to Chinese rule in 1999. In 2006 it raked in more gaming revenue than the Las Vegas Strip, according to regulators in the two locations.