2008 November 24

Get ready for some laughs as The Comedy Festival returns November 20-22 to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for its fourth year. Scheduled to appear at this year's event are headliners Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Dane Cook, Katt Williams, Tracy Morgan and Jeff Dunham, who will be joined by Mike Epps, David Alan Grier, The Kids in the Hall, Russell Peters, Jim Breuer, Andrew Dice Clay, Jim Norton and John Oliver. In addition, Caliente Comedy will feature comedians Gabriel Iglesias, Pablo Francisco and Anjelah Johnson.

It happens all the time. A player peeks down at two strong starting cards and begins mentally counting the pot he's about to win. Whether it's because of ego, an inability to read his opponents, or just plain bad judgment, he becomes convinced his hand is unbeatable-ignoring any and all warning signs that this might not be the case. Swept away by the sweet promise of those beautiful hole cards, he won't realize his mistake until his chips are being swept away by the dealer, right into someone else's stack.

Professionalism is "the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person," according to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. In the game of poker, what then distinguishes a professional from a non-professional?

I was speaking with Mike recently about mistakes that serious players frequently make.

Just about every poker player will tell you that chasing is a bad thing. Yet, just about every player chases hands in poker. Some will tell you about the worthiness of chasing when the pot odds are bigger than the odds against making your hand. However, in low limit-a game in which just about everyone will chase with anything-luck often makes them a winner, at least in the short run. In no-limit games, pot odds are even more notable. However, there are no-limit hold'em players that will see the flop with any two hole cards and then decide whether to stay or not.

Hi, I am Sarah Hale otherwise known in the poker world as Oklahoma Sarah with an "h." I like the letter "h" because the word "help" also starts with an "h" and that's what my dad's been doing with me and my poker game since I was just a little girl.

I spent a few days in Las Vegas and was able to play some poker in between meeting with friends and clients. The poker included a session at Bellagio playing in their $2 - $5 blinds no-limit game with my good friend Adam.

I need to set the stage for this story. We've all seen instances of lusus exiliter parvus. I managed to avoid that condition-common tilt-when I was all in before the flop with pocket queens and lost to pocket jacks. It's poker, and bad beats will occur. That's the attitude you need to have to avoid this condition.

Fanatics are totally indifferent to the sanctity of human life. -Mohandas Gandhi

[This is a work of poker fiction set ten thousand hands in the future. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.]

Last column's review of Colorado poker covered the Gilpin Poker Room. This issue begins with The Lodge Casino, owned by the same company that owns the Gilpin. The Lodge has no tournaments; only live cash play with $2-$5 blind and $5-$5 blind hold 'em.

TAG = tight-aggressive... a style of play characterized by playing few hands and doing very little calling. This style of play is extolled by many poker authors. When reading about the way that tight-aggressive play is described in the poker literature, you may feel like being TAG entitles you to massive profits. Play tight-aggressive poker, and your opponents might as well just hand you their cash directly to save the time it would take for chips to travel from their stacks to yours. If this is how you feel about poker then it's time to adjust your thinking.