Many experienced players have learned how to play well in pre-flop. They know exactly when to call, raise, or fold. Surprisingly, these same players make horrible decisions post-flop, especially when they are playing in low-limit hold'em games. Their problem is not because they call down too often, but because they fold when they should not. These players probably believed that they should be playing a smart tight-aggressive play. And this is why they fold most of the time unless they are holding a very strong hand or have a good draw. But what actually happens is that they forget to take into account the odds they are getting.
For example, in the big blind, a player has a King and an Eight of spades. One of his opponents raise in middle position and four other players call. This player also calls. On the table, the flop is made up of a King of clubs, a Ten and a Deuce of diamonds. Then, the small blind bets out. Our poker player is inclined to fold. But it is going to be a bad fold. Analyzing his cards, he still has great odds for his money, although his kicker is not exactly the best. He has a top pair and he might even end up getting trips or two pairs. Admittedly, there is a pretty good chance that one of his opponents will win. But the pot has so much money that our player should at least call one bet.
Making a bad fold can be the biggest mistake that a poker player makes. To avoid this mistake, a player must remember that there are actually two major decisions he should make. One is in pre-flop, and second is on the turn.
In pre-flop, the player will decide whether he wants to play his hand or not. In the flop, this player will usually make or call a small bet, thus, flop decisions are not really significant. In the post-flop, on the turn, the player will consider odds, his hand, and his opponents' hands. When this player decides to call the turn, it will be advisable for him to also call the river. When he does both, it means that he is making two big bets. This may seem risky but it will be tragic to fold a winning hand on the river.
Supposed the pot is raised pre-flop and only one bet is made post-flop, a player may fold at the turn. Obviously, he lost. But the money he lost is certainly less than what he would have lost if he had called to a showdown.
Lastly, the river is not a good time to fold. There are only two situations in which a player needs to fold on the river. First, a player must fold when he misses a draw. And second, if there is much betting and raising. This indicates that the player's hand is probably the weakest.
You must always try and add tricks and let's say dishonesty to your game in order to stand a better chance of not getting read by the other players. If you always check when your hand isn't great, but not as bad to fold, and if you always bet or raise when you have a very good hand that requires a risk then you are playing it honest all the way. And this can turn against you, because other more attentive players can figure out your game pattern and they might use their new knowledge to control your game.
When you are on the flop and you are the last or among the last players to take an action, then you can just raise the bet with a drawing hand here. It is very possible that our opponents check when the turn comes and you can also check in this case if you don't get the cards you need or expect. However if you get what you needed you can bet as well here. The whole situation you have created this way will end up saving you money when you check and your hand doesn't become better and it will make you win a lot of money when your hand gets better. If the situation occurs and you are re-raised by another player it will cost you more money than predicted but it would be worth it because you just gained information this way about the other player's hands.
When you find yourself in early position and you have a hand that should require a bet or a raise, it is better to check hoping that one of the opponents that has to act after you will bet and you can raise after that when your turn comes. This way you can get the pot much bigger. Let's say you have in hand an A and a K. When the flop comes you can see an A, a K and a 7. If you are first you will check here. The next two players check also, but one of the players in late position will make a bet. You wait for your turn and then raise the bet that has been placed. This will cause all the other players to either fold or call you bet. But the statistics say you will get more folds than calls overall in your games. If you check and then raise when you are in an early position you get the initiative and you can control the outcome of the hand. However, if some of the other players call, this should give you an insight on their hands and it is still helpful.
Everyone has heard of the World Series of Poker and the huge prize payout for the Main Event, but little do most realize that it is one of many events during the dog days of summer in Vegas where pros have long been playing WSOP tournaments yearly that include Razz, Omaha, Omaha 8b, Stud, Stud 8b, PL Omaha, Pl Omaha 8b, Pl Hold'em and the skill testing HORSE besides the $10,000 main event.
This is the reason why you hear about poker pros that have multiple WSOP bracelets, even though they have never won the main event. Phil Ivey and Allen Cunningham come to mind with several bracelets each. It is a much more daunting task to win the Main Event bracelets, than it is to win the $1,500 Omaha HL PL with 367 competitors! That is why all pros covet the Main Event bracelet most.
For us amateur players in the online world we have a similar outlet now, thanks to the clever marketing minds at Full Tilt Poker. It is called the FTOPS, or Full Tilt Online Poker Series. It sort of works in the same way in that players who participate in several FTOPS events have a chance to collect FTOPS points for placing in any of the events. The points leader is awarded prize money as well at the end of the FTOPS series.
There are a variety of events available including a John Juanda hosted 6 seated NL event that has a guaranteed prize pool of over $350,000. Mike Matusow will be boasting his tournament skills at an Omaha HiLo tournament with a $200+16 entry fee. While the main event, where most Full Tilt Pros will be participating is a $500+35 entry fee and sports a minimum prize pool of $1,500.000. Chris Ferguson is the host of this tournament, and last season's FTOPS winner took home more than $225,000! Not bad for online poker! I am sure this season's FTOPS will top $250,000 for first place while just making the final table will pocket a player about $20,000.
Other pros you will run into at the FTOPS are Erick Lindgren, Jennifer Harmon, Gus Hansen, Phil Gordon, Andy Bloch and Allen Cunningham. Watch out for Cunningham, he is one of the best tournament players around and made the final table of last summer's WSOP record breaking payout.
Hey it is not the WSOP, but FTOPS gives you the next closest thing without the travel and 114 degrees in the shade thing.
Poker Play World
With World Poker Tour becoming such a hit Poker Play World was built as a refuge for adults seeking the hottest gambling and adult entertainment the web has to offer. The
Over a year ago while sitting in front of the computer surfing the web for Adult entertainment when the idea was born to create a true one stop site just for adults only, after seeing how cheesy some of the sites looked. Gambling and adult entertainment exists and at Poker Play World is tastefully shown. There would be only the most reputable and big money games available.
The creator of Poker Play World being a Woodstock baby from the era of Jimi Hendrix,the Rolling Stones (when they were really raw!), Janis Joplin etc. as well as being an avid poker player, had a broader vision. Create an environment where gambling and adult entertainment being intertwined tastefully. The perfect example would be the great success of Las Vegas entertainment and gambling for adults. With this in mind he decided to build entertainment sites for adults only with a unique model.
Only the hottest companies would be placed under one site. The idea was to create a place where not having money wasn’t always an option .The theme of the site is to have fun, therefore there are plenty of free galleries,free adult games, free adult chat,free dating,free movies,etc. for adults to have fun. There is a astrology and meditation section,golf section,advice section,for adult entertainment. The creator of the site stated, ″We don’t advertise to kids, and make it a point to focus on adults only″ ! So far there are over 7000 top adult entertainment and gambling sites like Poker .com, Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler, Adult friend finder, Girls Gone Wild, Poker Room, Full Tilt, etc. This is indeed a true one stop for adults !
New Jersey, also known as the Garden State, is located on the east coast of the United States of America. Its capital is located in Trenton. It is the fourth smallest and most densely populated state. Named after the Island of Jersey in the English Channel, it was settled by the Dutch in the early 1600s. New Jersey’s per capita income is the highest in the nation. Nine of its counties are in the wealthiest 100 in the country. New Jersey’s main agricultural products are horses, vegetables, fruit and nuts and is particular known for its cranberries and blueberries. Hammonton, in the southern part of the state is considered the blueberry capital of the world.
Tourism is a major part of New Jersey’s economy, with New Jersey Casinos making up the lion’s share of the tourism dollar. Atlantic City is famous the world over for excellent casino gambling. The east coast’s answer to Vegas and Reno, Atlantic City has a rich history. The Boardwalk in Atlantic City is world famous and is a source of nostalgia for millions. Atlantic City is home to at least 13 major casinos including the luxurious Borgata; home to the World Series of Poker and several Trump establishments.
Trumps Marina Hotel
So you’ve made your way to the final table of a poker tournament, and even as far as the top two. Now, you’re in a heads up battle for first. Battles like this can be for a lot of prize money, ask Paul Wasicka who lost out on $6 million by finishing second in the 2006 WSOP main event.
With so much on the line, it’s a good idea to understand how your cards stack up as a sarting hand, now that there’s only two players left in the game. Let’s start by looking at the value of the different pocket pairs you can find.
Hands like Aces, Queens and Kings are monsters at any holdem table. They are fantastic in a heads up situation, winning 80% of the time against a random hand.
Hands like Jacks and Tens are less powerful, but against any two cards your opponent may have, they will take down the pot 75% of the time. These cards hold up very well, even against two overcards. If you find yourself with a pair of Tens facing the dreaded AK suited, you’re still not an underdog. In fact, you’re a slight favorite. That’s how powerful a pair of Tens is heads up.
The middle pairs, from Nines down to pocket Fives, have more weaknesses. But, if you’re pushing against any random hand, the odds are still in your favor. Even 55 is nearly a 60% favorite against an unknown hand.
The small pairs, Fours down to Twos, are where pocket pairs lose their power. Even so, they are still favorites. They just aren’t strong favorites anymore. These cards present what is essentially a coin flip against most hands. The mighty Big Slick is no favorite over a pocket pair of Twos.
Now that you know how strong the different pocket pairs are in a heads up situation, you should be able to make more informed decisions at this important point in the tournament. Remember, good poker players know the odds.
Welcome to the fourth in my Texas Holdem Strategy Series, focusing on no limit Texas Holdem poker tournament play and associated strategies. In this article, we'll examine the ″Sit and Go″ tournament - the most popular online poker tournament format today.
When I first started playing in Sit and Go tournaments, I was beginning to think they called it ″sit and go″ because you sat down, played a little, then it was time to go do something else since you’d just been whacked and knocked out of the tournament! These tournaments can be really tough, since they’re effectively like being at the ″final table″ of a regular tournament.
The recent popularity of playing online Sit & Go tournaments sometimes amazes me. On any given evening, you can try to jump into a Sit and Go (SNG) table on Party Poker, for example, and easily find yourself competing just to get into a seat before that table fills up, forcing you to go find another table (especially on lower-entry fee tables). I’ve seen times when it can take up to 10 attempts to get into a Sit and Go tournament table during prime time. That’s because there are literally thousands of players across the world who are hungry to get into these tournaments and hopefully win some money.
All of the major online poker rooms now offer Sit and Go format games now, so you can find a place to play just about everywhere. You can think of these games as being very similar to small ″satellite″ tournament games that surround the bigger poker tournaments at traditional poker tournament venues. They also somewhat resemble play at a final table in a regular tournament, with one key exception - nobody at this table earned their way to this tournament table - they simply paid their entry-fee to play there. Because of this, the broad range of players and skill levels you’re likely to encounter varies wildly - one of many challenges you’ll face in Sit and Go play.
Generally, there are two types of Sit and Go tournaments offered. Single table and multi-table tournaments. Nowadays, there is also a faster game, sometimes referred to as ″Turbo″ mode SNG tournaments. In these games, the tempo of the tournament is much faster (blinds go up every 5 minutes instead of 15 minutes), with the blinds increasing much faster and less time allowed to make your decisions. This is a very challenging game format, but it does move along much faster than a traditional Sit and Go tournament.
You can also get into 4-player and heads-up (2 player) games, which just effectively puts you into the poker tournament final table, short-handed mode of operation immediately, so you can play the end-game out from there. I don’t really prefer these games, though, since there are far fewer players and therefore the pool size available to win is much smaller and not as worthwhile.
In general, two-table Sit and Go’s are much more profitable, since they begin with more players (18 to 20), making the prize pool larger and more attractive. Once you know how to play and win in these Sit and Go tournaments and can adjust your play appropriately, the number of tables and players really doesn’t matter as much, since you’ll be able to adapt your play quickly as the situation changes around you.
Some of my favorite places to play Sit & Go tournaments include Party Poker, Poker Stars and PrimaPoker’s Captain Cook’s poker rooms. There are many awesome poker rooms out there, with a wide range of players frequenting each of them. They are all very similar.
There are a number of different entry-fee levels to choose from, typically ranging from $5 up to $5,000. There is very little difference in playing in the lower limit games in the $5 to $30 range. When you get above the $30 threshold, the level of players you’ll encounter improves dramatically. The poker room site typically takes a ″rake″, a fee of around 10% for hosting the tournament, and the balance of the funds go into the prize pool. In single-table SNG tournaments, the payout goes to the top 3 finishers. In two-table games, the top 4 places are generally paid.
In higher entry-fee games, you’ll be playing against some very good players. In these high tier games, you’ll encounter some of the best, most dangerous players around. If you’re interested in getting into these high stakes games, one way is to win enough at the lower stake games so that you earn, or leverage, your smaller entry-fees into the bigger games, a traditional way that satellite games work and a good approach to take.
I play in a lot of Sit and Go tournaments and regular tournaments, both online and in casinos and poker rooms. Throughout all of this, I have finally learned how to win consistently at Sit and Go tournaments. There are some key areas that you must focus on and shore up in order to properly ″shape″ your play and end up in the money.
You’ll need a well-rounded approach, though, to place in the money consistently at Sit and Go tournaments, including:
* Playing Position Correctly - you’ll need to know how to use position in the Sit and Go tournament to your advantage, which hands to play in which positions and how to keep from losing your chips from poor positions. Earlier in the tournament, it’s best to be more conservative with your play by only playing the best hands from the best positions.
* Adjusting to Changing Conditions - the key to winning Sit and Go tournaments is adjusting your play style and approach as the blinds and number of players increases. Done correctly, you’ll end up in the final 3 in the money up to half of the time (no approach you can take will allow you to win all of the time). As the game progresses, you must adjust or the blinds will eat you up.
* Winning Heads-up Play - arguably one of the most misunderstood, yet most fun part of any tournament, is playing heads-up against another good player. Learning to play winning heads-up poker means the difference between being the Winner and 2nd Place - a huge difference in payout in all tournaments goes to the winner, along with the recognition as the champion, so you must learn to play great heads-up poker. In general, you must play much more aggressively heads up than you would otherwise.
* Beating Aggressive Players - see my article on playing vs. aggressive players, which will definitely make a difference for Sit and Go play, as it explains how to take advantage of aggressive and wild players, without losing all of your chips in the process.
* Online Tells - there are many different special tells that you can use when playing online. Do you know them? Do you use them? If not, chances are they’re being used against you! For example, when players use checkboxes online and make a lot of their decisions ahead of time, then suddenly they’re not using the checkbox (because they’re taking longer), that could be a tell that they’re having to think things through more, which could be a tell. If they use checkboxes and act instantly, chances are they don’t have a very good hand, so didn’t even need to think about it (just clicked the checkbox and now waiting on the next card).
* Successful Bluffing and Blind Stealing - one of the most important moves in poker is bluffing the opponents, and in tournament play, you must be capable of successfully bluffing in order to survive the blinds and antes and to win heads-up. You can’t bluff weak players, so don’t even try. You’ll need to learn how determine the style or type of the players, so you’ll recognize who to bluff.
The next time you’re thinking about playing a poker tournament, give the Sit and Go a try. It’s a fast-paced tournament, where you’ll have the opportunity to experience first hand what it’s like to play at that Texas Holdem poker tournament final table. You’ll go through a sequence of fast play and changing conditions, starting from a full table of 10 players, progressing rapidly to only 5 to 6. Then, if you’re a good enough player, you’ll find yourself in the most dangerous position of all - where you’re one of only 4 players remaining, so you’re only one seat out of the money. The key goal is surviving to the heads-up phase, so you get a shot at being the tournament winner, who receives the bulk of the prize pool.
So, you can practice for bigger tournament events by playing in Sit and Go tournaments and that way you’ll be very comfortable when you do make it that final table in a big Texas Holdem poker tournament, and you’ll have a lot of fun and gain some great Texas Holdem tournament poker experience along the way.
People wear all sorts of disguises at the poker table: weakness, strength, bluster, naivety. It's the nature of the game. So it only makes sense that new forms of deception at the poker table would evolve as the popularity of the game's newest innovation — poker online — spread. It's no wonder then that, when you can't see the person you're playing against, there's a good chance they're not who they profess to be — like male or female.
It's an honest to goodness phenomenon, with its very own name — Betrosexuality: presenting oneself as the opposite gender at a poker online table.
Now, to be fair to the term, and its history, Betrosexuality was actually coined prior to its use in poker online, and occasionally with slightly different implications. Here are a couple of alternate definitions of the terms:
- Betrosexuals wager on both men's and women's sporting events
- Betrosexuals sell sexual favors by lottery
Recent research analyzed by Nottingham Trent University Professor Mark Griffiths reports that 23% of female British poker online players pretend to be men and more than 10% of British male poker online players pretend to be women. British betrosexuals are reportedly wagering an estimated 213 million pounds sterling at poker online rooms.
There are a few ways gender is represented at a poker online table that may elude some players, they're so subtle. But as much in the background as they are, they make a potent impact in people's gameplay. They are:
Screen Names: A poker online player's chosen nickname has always been a prime indicator of their demeanor (or posed demeanor) — so The Terminator would connote aggressiveness and Bill Gates might suggest a limitless bankroll; poker online screen names can also connote gender (ie. Poker Daddy, Hot Mamma, Club Girl, Mr. Poker);
Avatars: If your poker online room uses avatars (3D human or humanoid figures) to represent the players, you could easily throw your fellow players off kilt (if you know how to use this advantage, that is — more on that in a moment);
Chat: The chat window is always a popular part of the poker online experience as this is where people often betray themselves. That said, still others, knowing this fact, only pretend to do so.
But using this form of deception effectively requires far more than simply misrepresenting yourself. For, once you've planted the seed, you need to know how to nurture and grow it. You need — in other words — to know how gender plays into poker online and off alike, and you need to know how to play the game based on this knowledge.
So let's get to the two basic considerations in questioning your betrosexuality in poker online:
Why would a woman pretend to be a man?
Many women believe men tend to play more aggressively against women but less so when playing against other men.
Why would a man pretend to be a woman?
Many men believe players loosen up their gameplay when they believe they're playing against a women as they expect the woman to be a poorer player and therefore not know the value, or lack thereof, of the cards they are holding.
As you can undoubtedly see, both misconceptions are poison at a poker online table. You might as well just hand over your chips to the other players than allow yourself to succumb to foolish and stereotypical attitudes about how gender influences poker ability.
That said, as we see it, there are two ways to beat Betrosexuals at the poker online tables: Keep your poker online strategy consistent and gender neutral, or become a Betrosexual yourself!
Being a dealer I have seen many interesting games of poker along with many strange people at the table. Out of all the weird and wonderful people and all the memorable games one particular day stands out above the rest.
I had been in an irritable mood all day. This was mainly due to a work shirt that was too tight, plus the fact that I had to miss lunch because the mentioned shirt was too tight. Someone spilling a drink over my tight shirt, forcing me to wear the spare shirt at work that was tighter still, capped this off.
Near the end of my shift I sat down to the poker table to deal I did the only thing I could do, stick my head down and deal. But as always I found myself being drawn into the game and soon forgot about my missed meal or the shirt that was constricting my now empty stomach.
It was shortly after I had relaxed that a slight surge went through the casino causing all the lights to dim and then flicker for a few seconds. The game went dead and everyone looked around nervously but I reassured everyone that it happened from time to time and not to worry. The tension being relieved on the table, we continued the game.
A few hands later a seat became available after some gentleman made a bad play resulting in him losing the remainder of his chips. As the player walked away another man walked up and sat down, immediately causing everyone to stop what he or she had been doing.
Dressed entirely in black, he wore an expensive looking suit, silk shirt and a pair of sunglasses that where blacker than a moonless night. With his sleeked back snow-white hair and all the jewelry worn, the man just oozed wealth. There was something else about him too that was just that bit unsettling. From the way the table had reacted when he sat down I wasn’t the only one. It was his smile that really unnerved me.
Taking a seat, the man in black proceeded to place a large amount of chips in front of him. At the sight of all those chips a number of players gave a big grin and forgetting their unease, welcomed him to the table. Others just looked worried, figuring they might be in over their head.
Looking at me with his soulless glasses he asked, ″So what are we playing here then?″
″Err, $1/2 no limit holdem,″ I stammered.
Giving that unnerving smile of his again he said, ″Excellent, just what I need to relax with. And what would our dealer’s name be?″
Not comfortable with the attention I was getting from him I again mumbled ″Michael Sir.″
″Excellent, excellent. My friends call me Luc.″
I could tell by the look on everyone else’s face that they where thinking the same thing that I was, I wouldn’t want to be this guy’s friend. It didn’t take long though for everyone to come to the conclusion that they didn’t even want to be near Luc.
The first incident came when he came down to the river card and it was heads up between Luc and one other player. Luc had just pushed a huge stack of his chips in and it was obvious the other player was about to call. But before the gentlemen had a chance to call the bet Luc turned to the man and asked, ″so how is your wife Claudia?″
Caught slightly off guard the man replied with a confused look, ″um she’s well.″
″Excellent.″ His eerie smile returning he asked, ″and Mrs. Hampshire, how is she these days?″
Eyes boggling, the man just sat there slowly looking around the table. He then stood up, announced he was folding and walked away from the table as quickly as possible. Everyone else on the table just looked at each other confused. I just groaned, and it wasn’t from the tight shirt.
Continuing on I found the game had changed slightly with most players folding out immediately anytime Luc came in. I could see a few people getting a bit annoyed by him and this was made more apparent when he pulled a cigar and proceeded to light it up.
Immediately the man to the left of Luc got upset. ″Excuse me sir but you can’t smoke those here.″
As the dealer on the table I knew it was my job to enforce the rule of no cigars, so I jumped in before it got out of hand. ″I’m sorry sir but it is the house rules, no cigars.″ Trying to lighten things up I smiled and added, ″Besides those things will kill you.″
Turning from the complaining player to me, Luc lowered his sunglasses slightly to reveal his ice blue eyes. My smile vanished. Cocking one eyebrow he just stared at me. ″Really?″
Seeing Luc’s eyes the complaining player immediately grabbed his chips and left the table along with one other player. Luc replaced his glasses, shrugged and returned the cigar to his pocket. ″Wouldn’t want to upset anyone would we?″
Not long after this another incident occurred. Luc turned over a pair of kings to make four a kind and win a big pot only to have another player complain that he had thrown away a king and that it was impossible for Luc to have four of kind. Checking through the cards we found no extra king and all other cards accounted for. Apologizing the man left along with the lady who lost the hand.
Leaving only one other player it only took a few hands before he too got up and left. Luc looked at me and smiled. ″Don’t worry, I have a… colleague of mine coming along shortly to join me. Should be an interesting game.″
True to his word within a few minutes an absolutely stunning lady walked up to the table. She was dressed in a mostly plain white dress with hints of gold and silver in the sash she had around her waist. She had long flowing jet-black hair and deep ocean green eyes. Amazingly I couldn’t even begin to guess her age and seeing her a funny warm feeling came over me and it wasn’t from the guy downstairs. She sat down with a large stack of chips of her own not looking very impressed. ″I see yet again we have a table all to our own.″
Luc just smiled back at her. ″Yes its funny how that always happens. Don’t know what it is really.″
Squinting at him she said, ″Right! Now none of your funny business and don’t try anything with the dealer either,″ she looked to me and gave me a warm smile, ″He’s one of mine.″
″All right. You really do try to take the fun out of things.″
With that they proceeded to start the game and even though I realized something wasn’t right with things I managed to deal the game. The game went back and forwards for a while with them chatting mainly about religion and philosophy. There where very few incidents, though I could swear at one stage in a pot that Luc won, that I had seen a chip slide across the table from one of his stacks into the pot before the end of the hand.
After a while Luc stopped the game and turned to the lady in white. ″I’m getting bored of this. Why don’t we play for something a little more interesting, spice up the game a little eh?″
Looking at Luc cautiously the lady asked, ″so what do you have in mind then?″
″I was thinking maybe we could play for a church or two.″
The lady in white shook her head. ″You know I don’t like playing for churches, there is always a lot of mess involved.″ Looking thoughtful for a moment she asked, ″how about we play for the world?″
″No. Every time we play for the world you always seem to win. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were cheating″ said Luc, giving his opponent a suspicious look. This went on for a while, neither player being able to agree on what the other suggested. The whole time this was going on I was starting to get seriously worried as I was getting a very suspicious feeling that the two in front of me were people I shouldn’t have to have in front of me for a number of years yet. I was also coming to think that I shouldn’t have Luc in front of me at all… ever!
It was just as I was thinking about trying to sneak away from the table that Luc suddenly looked at me. ″How about we play for him?″
Giving me a quick look over she said, ″I might be inclined to put him up but what are you willing to stake against him?″
″I win then he’s mine. If you win then…″ Luc waved his right hand around in the air a bit ″… then he gets one of his wishes granted without all the - you know - usual attachments that come along with it.″
The lady in white thought about this for a short time before nodding, ″Then its agreed. But no cheating or any of your usual tricks.″
″Yes, yes, yes. I will be on my best behavior.″
Waving a finger at Luc the lady added, ″you break any of the rules and he gets his wish.″
I know he was wearing his sunglasses but I could swear that he was rolling his eyes at the lady. ″Excellent. Then we have a deal and a game, shuffle away Michael.″ This was about the point I came to the realization of who was playing in front of me. I started dealing the game even though I was having a hard time with the cards, what with my soul on the line and all.
They had both agreed to a no limit, heads up style game of holdem, each starting out with 1500 in chips. Once again the back on forwards of the previous game started up. Ever so slowly Luc was gaining a lead on the heavenly white figure to my left. At one stage my heart stopped when she went all in, to my relief Luc folded out that hand.
I was a little nervous too, when Luc raised the lady in white with an all in of his own. She sat there for a long time looking at her cards as well as taking a long look into the bleak sunglasses of Luc. Finally she laid down the hand increasing Luc’s lead considerably. I exhaled not realizing that I had been holding my breath.
Slowly though the Lady in white made a steady come back until once again they were about even. After dealing out their hole cards for another hand there was suddenly a very serious tension in the air. Luc raised the ladies blind bet and she in turn called.
I slowly dealt out the three flop cards, an eight of hearts, an ace of spades and finally a six of diamonds. Staring each other down Luc was quick to bet with the lady in white smiling at him the entire time.
It was very obvious that this was most likely going to be the hand that decided my fate for the rest of eternity. I was starting to really hate the shirt I was wearing along with the bottle of water I had before coming to the table. Those two factors and the tense situation I was in really put a lot of pressure on my bladder.
Crossing my legs under the table I dealt out the turn card, which was a jack of diamonds. Again Luc pushed out a decent portion of his stack. With little hesitation and the same wry smile on her face, the lady called.
Another pause was needed to keep a hold of my bladder before I dealt out the final card, another six. Luc knocked the table, checking to his opponent who immediately announced, ″All in,’ before pushing her remaining stack of chips into the middle of the table.
I groaned audibly at the obvious ploy. Luc looked at both of us with that damned (no pun intended) smile of his. ″Well it looks like luck is on my side today, I call.″
Standing up Luc through his cards face up into the middle of the table, ″four of a kind, sixes.″
Turning over her cards to show two eights, the lady announced. ″Four of a kind, eights.″
Luc’s face scrunched up, ″Hang on one minute. You can’t have four of a kind because there is only one… two eights.″
There was a slight pause on the table as Luc scratched his pure white hair, somehow managing not to move a single hair. I was looking at the same thing he was, the first card I had dealt out. What I had thought had been a six of diamonds was in actual fact an eight of diamonds.
Immediately Luc turned on me. ″You switched the card didn’t you?″
This wasn’t good but all I could do was tell the truth. ″Um why would I switch the card when I don’t know what she was holding?″
Scratching his head Luc looked a little confused, it was the way his sunglasses scrunched up at the middle, ″Umm… well you see…″ he paused for a moment. ″Ah shit.″
Not entirely impressed Luc grabbed the rest of his chips and walked away from the table. The lady in white stood up and smiled once more. ″Next time Lucy!″
Luc stopped, clenched his fists for a second, mumbled something and then walked off. Looking to me the lady said, ″well it seems you get to keep your soul.″
″Not to be ungrateful or anything but I get a wish too right?″
″You already got it. Take a deep breath,″ she replied.
Looking at her quizzically I did just that. To my surprise there was no strain around my waist. I now had a shirt that fitted like a glove and surprisingly that made my day. As the lady started to walk away I had to ask, ″that was a six wasn’t it?″
The lady turned around and winked, ″might have been.″
″I thought you weren’t allowed to do that?″
Walking away she replied, ″How do you think good always triumphs over evil?″
Ever since that game I have always tried to do a little good each day, that and I wouldn’t curse next time I got a tight shirt.
Internet Texas Holdem poker gives players the chance to play around the clock. It provides an option of practicing and learning the game online 24/7. For beginners needing practice and for those wanting to improve their poker skills this is a great opportunity.
In online poker rooms one can play against actual people with actual money. All over the world, millions of people play poker on the web. There are hundreds of different online tournaments and games going on at any given moment. The online payment systems are used to buy chips and place wagers. One can play for very small stakes such as $0.01, or go in for larger stakes of $100.
But there is a dual viewpoint on all of this. Some poker players say that they find online poker just does not give them the same thrill as home games or playing in a casino. The obvious difference is that you are not sitting right across from your opponents. You miss the chance to watch your opponents’ reactions and to read their mind and body language. In traditional poker, you get to observe your opponent’s playing style, because every move your opponent makes could be useful to you. In the online game one can only watch and analyze the speed at which an opponent plays. You don’t see the player in person.
But there has been a spectacular growth in the number of online poker players in the last few years. Millions of people all over the world now participate in online poker tournaments and games. With Internet poker growing more popular each day, this new form of poker is here to stay.