2008 September 29

Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night? -Jack Kerouac, On the Road

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

Thanks so much for joining me back here for the second article about poker etiquette. These are the remaining five of the top ten rules that novice players should be mindful of at the poker table.

Rule No. 6-Act in Turn. Poker is a game based on position. Poker should be played clockwise after the blinds. The game's basic premise is that position is paramount.

Acting out-of-turn provides other players at the table with an unfair advantage. Players are more likely to contemplate making a move when they know they have fewer opponents left to act behind them.

In my last two articles I wrote about the largest tournament in Colorado history and how a regular Colorado casino player went deep in the WSOP Main Event, winning almost $80,000. In addition, it was recently announced that enough (and several thousands more) signatures were obtained to place an initiative on the ballot this fall to increase cash game maximum bets from $ 5 to $ 100 dollars. If this passes, expect to see quick and extensive growth in the number of Colorado destination casino resorts.

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) finally stepped into the UltimateBet cheating scandal to issue a statement in late July, more than seven months after a cheating scandal that featured superuser accounts able to see everyone's hole cards was allegedly reported to UB. The company that issues and regulates the gaming licenses for UB and numerous other online poker sites told the public that it has been integrally involved in the investigations.

At 11 a.m. the remaining 150 players from the Winstar World Championship Series River Event began their battle for the title of first WWCS champion. The winner would receive a cash prize of $700,000 and gold bracelet, plus a bit of fame to boot, as it was a televised event.

OK, that's a little hokey but after spending my second year at Mickey's Camp (http://mickeyscamp.com), I just felt like getting silly and Kumbaya for a title was even worse! Mickey's is a summer camp for adults that raises lots of money for the less fortunate.

T he priest was playing cards with the man propped up in the hospital bed. The man took the discard from the pile and declared, "Gin!"

"You wouldn't be manipulating the cards on me would you, Frank?" the priest asked as he mucked his cards on the portable bedside table.

"You mean like this?"

The man in bed gave the cards a professional shuffle and proceeded to deal the four aces off the top of the deck.

"Exactly," the priest said.

I had a very pleasant surprise yesterday when I walked into the Isle at Pompano Casino poker room in Pompano, FL. It's a magnificent room, located on the second floor, well spread out, with a great atmosphere. I sat down with poker room manager Mike Smith who has been in the business 30 years, and with the Isles on and off for the last decade.

Mohegan Sun Poker Director Bruce Dixon says it was just one of those things, him being at the right place at the right time to discover a life changing opportunity.

He was wandering through one of the Atlantic City casinos shortly after poker came to the casinos there on June 25, 1993. Dixon was about 20 at the time and not a gambler. Neither was anyone in his family, but how could he resist the inviting noise and crowds associated with the big casinos?

We begin today with 1,336 remaining starting hands that comprise 1,279 profitable hands-those averaging a net win of a dollar or more-43 that are marginally profitable, those with net wins under a dollar, and 14 unprofitable hands. When we began with 11,995 unique starting hands our goal was to develop a set of rules that would eliminate all the 10,061 unprofitable hands, and as many marginally profitable hands as possible.