January 16th, 2012

by David J. Valley
 
Hobby and I were driving to the downtown Palm Springs casino, about a ten minute drive from his villa. “I noticed you at your desk today, scribbling away. Were you writing your last will and testament?”

 “No,” Hobby said with a chuckle, “I was working on my New Year’s poker resolutions.”

by Diane McHaffie

 Contrary to many players’ thinking, desirable games are not necessarily those with the largest pots and an abundance of raising. In fact, the most-profitable tables are usually those with many players participating, but not much raising.

 Mike teaches that if two games of the same structure have similar average pot sizes, the one with more participants paying less money to chase the showdowns is usually more promising. There are exceptions, such as no-limit games where you can coax just one opponent to call a huge bet with a nearly hopeless hand. But in general, large pots in a game with many callers are more profitable than large pots with one opponent calling a large raise.

by Russ Fox
 
 Yes, I’m alive. For those wondering why I haven’t penned more articles, I have been busy with a move from Southern California to Las Vegas.
 
 But in the middle of my move I found some time for watching the Bears lose while playing poker $2-$5 nolimit hold’em. It was a quiet game (sort of like the Bears offense), and I was either up a few dollars or down a few dollars. Then John sat down.
 
 It was an hour before noon, but John carried two open beers and smelled of alcohol. While at the table, he disposed of five more Coors Lights (my brother, a beer drinker, says that shows bad taste) and a couple of mixed drinks. We also got some poker in.
 

by Roger Rodd
 
“Ya big galoot! Ya gummed the works!” —Spoken by an angry mobster to a flunky mobster in an episode of “The Three Stooges.”

 The recent WSOP final table drew my distracted attention as I conducted the Graduate Tournament for the CCUP, aka The Commerce Casino University Of Poker. Small crowds gathered by the overhead HDTVs, as it was airing on seemingly every flat screen in the Commerce.

by George 'The Engineer' Epstein

With so many poker books available (including my own two rather unique books), I hesitate to write about any. But Thomas M. Green’s Texas Hold’Em Poker Textbook is very different. So is Mr. Green. I have never met the gentlemen, except through correspondence. He is a retired math professor who knows the game of poker quite well, and uses mathematical concepts to perfection.

by Tom "Time" Leonard
 
My last column dealt with bad beats, so what better topic to discuss as a follow-up than keeping one’s composure in the face of poker adversity? Equanimity at the poker table is one of your most valuable assets. If you let bad beats, the noisy joker at the end of the table, your lost sports bet that was just confirmed on TV, or anything else affect your play you are headed to the felt—as in tapped out. Today, let’s discuss how to remain stoic when suffering a stinging loss at the table.

by Barbara Connors
 
If ever a concept appeared to be a perfect fit for the game of poker, it’s schadenfreude. A German word now commonly used in English, there’s no precise translation but essentially it refers to feeling pleasure from the misfortune of others. Schadenfreude is the opposite of compassion—instead of experiencing pity and a desire to help when we witness a fellow human in distress, we feel a secret (or not-so-secret) sense of delight.

by Stanley R. Sludikoff, Publisher
[Read Part 1 Read Part 2]
 
There is no doubt that the United States of America has unclean hands in this mess. First Congress failed to protect its citizens when they knew that millions were playing poker on the internet. Instead a small minority of senators and representatives, who were seeking to legislate morality as they saw it, looked for a simple way to stop people from gambling on the internet.

by Paul "Dr. Pauly" McGuire
 

by Ashley Adams
 
In my first part of this three part series I covered the journey with my friend Andrei to poker rooms in eastern Kansas. I continue my account in this second part with our Oklahoma poker adventures.

 Oklahoma is full of poker rooms—including some of the largest and best in the United States.