Russ Fox

My good friend Aaron was playing in a great $2 - $5 no-limit hold’em game at the Venetian. Of his nine opponents, three were calling stations, two were maniacs who would only raise when they did not have anything, three were weak-tight, and one was a good player.

I was playing a $100 live “deep stack” tournament. The blinds began at T25-T50, and we all started with T7,875 chips. (If you’re asking why we started with such an odd number, I can’t help you; I’m still wondering about that myself.) I put deep stack in quotes because while the initial levels did feature true deep stack play, the blinds quickly escalated so that after two hours the play was anything but deep stacked. However, that’s irrelevant for the hands in question.
 

When I started to play no-limit hold’em, the standard raise was usually three times the big blind. Today, though, that’s definitely changed—especially in tournaments, and even more so online.
 
I was watching a friend of mine playing in a major online tournament. Many players were making minimum raises while others were raising just slightly more than that. Raises of three times the big blind were few and far between. I had to ask myself if this new practice makes sense.
 

I spent parts of four weeks in Las Vegas during the World Series of Poker and saw several items worthy of further discussion.
 
I believe it was Mike Matusow who said that one of the most important skills in tournament poker is table selection. Of course, you are supposed to have no control over that. I ran really bad in table selection this year. My first starting table had Joe Sebok and Marco Traniello; I then ran into Daniel Negreanu early in my next tournament. My last starting table had four internet pros.

I sometimes wonder how I can handle various poker situations and maintain my sanity. We all hope to hold big hands such as pocket aces; however, we hate to be put into a situation where the best results of a session are the hands we made good folds on.

In my day job, I’m required to follow various ethical guidelines. I have a license, and the Office of Professional Responsibility, the agency which administers my license, could  revoke it if I don’t follow the rules.

When you play poker sometimes luck is with you and sometimes it’s not. Take this hand played by my friend Scott. We were in a $2-$5 blind no-limit hold’em game at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Scott looked at pocket threes in the small blind. There was a limp and the button raised to $25. Scott and the limper called.

With tax season over, I'm thrilled to be able to actually play some poker. Perhaps the more things change, the more they stay the same. Well, that and the big raise have returned.

With tax season over, I'm thrilled to be able to actually play some poker. Perhaps the more things change, the more they stay the same. Well, that and the big raise have returned.

This article is limited to the one or more Federal tax issues addressed in the opinion. Additional issues may exist that could affect the Federal tax treatment of the transaction or matter that is the subject of this article and the article does not consider or provide a conclusion with respect to any additional issues. With respect to any significant Federal tax issues outside the limited scope of this article, the article was not written, and cannot be used by the taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer.