ALL IN from the Porch

Brothers Rob Game They Play In (Ohio)

2009-01-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

As reported by the Western-Star

http://www.western-star.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2009/01/15/pjw011509poker.html

West Chester Twp. men allegedly robbed poker opponent at gunpoint
By Dave Greber

Staff Writer

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Two West Chester Twp. men were released from jail earlier this week after being arrested on felony charges when police said they robbed a poker opponent.

Mark E. Mason, 23, of 6200 Strathaven Drive, has been charged with aggravated robbery.

His brother, Matthew B. Mason, 21, of the same address, has been charged with complicity to aggravated robbery.

Both charges are first-degree felonies.

Police said the Mason brothers were playing poker at approximately 2 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 11, at a friend's apartment at 6616 Fountains Blvd.

Joining them was Michael S. Butler, 22, of Hamilton, according to reports, which describe him as an "acquaintance" of the Masons.

At some point during the game, Matthew Mason pulled out a handgun and demanded Butler hand over his wallet, according to Sgt. Steve Oakes, of the West Chester Twp. Police Department.

While Butler was being held at gunpoint, Mark Mason searched the victim's pants and removed his wallet, Oakes said.

The two allegedly stole about $100 in cash from Butler's wallet and threw the billfold back to him on their way out, Oakes said.

Later that night, the two were arrested by West Chester Police at a nearby Waffle House.

If convicted on the charges, the men could face up to 10 years in prison.

Officials from the Butler County Jail said Tuesday, Jan. 13, the two were released on a court order Jan. 11.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2112 or dgreber@coxohio.com.

Poker Players Robbed in Minneapolis

2009-01-20T19:31:00.000-08:00

Video of poker players who were robbed at their friendly apartment poker game.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S744606.shtml?cat=206

APD Shoot Would Be Robber of Illegal Poker Game

2008-12-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

I was just in Austin visiting my old haunts and I got filled in on the recent attempted robbery of a card game in north Austin last month. Seems that one of the robbers had an AK47 and shot at police. It didn't end well. The question is, will there be reprecussions to the underground poker community from this incident? Will APD look at the incident as a mandate to stomp out the games? If you close down the games, they are no longer a target for thugs, and it keeps the violence out of quiet residential neighborhoods.

Despite this incident, I am here to tell you that the Austin Poker Underground is alive and well. In fact, there is a proliferation of games available to play in, if you know who to ask. I am amazed that they all are able to operate. Many whom we thought would have gone away are still in operation, although they may have moved for obvious reasons. Even still, I saw alot of familiar faces and sprinkled with new faces to that seemingly seedy world. Ah, the stories I heard, the action I have missed. Gotta love Austin Poker, it is a society unto itself.

Police Raid Gambling Business

2008-12-06T16:27:00.001-08:00

http://www.limaohio.com/news/lima_31335___article.html/police_gambling.html
Police raid suspected gambling business
No arrests yet
November 26, 2008 - 9:02 AM
Beth L. Jokinen
Published Nov. 27, 2008
LIMA - Recent complaints about gambling activity led the Lima Police Department to shut down a business Tuesday afternoon.
Police, along with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification, executed a search warrant at Northland Palms, 1570 N. Main St. at 5:15 p.m. No one was arrested, but police removed gambling equipment from the building and charges could be coming.
"We received some complaints about gambling going on up there, so we just followed up with it," Lima Police Department Lt. James Baker said, adding that the officials studied the establishment for a couple of months.
The establishment, which sits among a small strip of buildings, appears to have been open for the sole purpose of gambling, Baker said. It opened a short while before the investigation began.
Police removed gaming tables, poker chips, video equipment, video gaming devices, cash and business records from the establishment. The main focus of the investigation was cards, Baker said.
Multiple people are suspected of operating the business, Baker said. They were present when police officers arrived Tuesday.
"They were detained and questioned, but not arrested," he said.
The case will be presented to the Allen County Prosecutor's Office for consideration of charges. Baker suspects the case will not go to an Allen County grand jury until January.
There were a number of patrons in the building when police arrived. Baker would not comment on whether alcohol was being served, saying it is part of the investigation.
Baker said this sort of operation is not uncommon.
"Other communities have had this same type of problem," he said, citing raids performed in the past by the Allen County Sheriff's Office.
Two years ago, sheriff's deputies raided four locations, confiscating 26 illegal gambling machines.

Poker game ends with man shot.

2008-12-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20081126/NEWS/811260928/1014/ENTERTAINMENT02?Title=Poker_game_ends_with_man_shot__not_seriously_injured

Poker game ends with man shot, not seriously injured
By Lise FisherStaff Writer
Published: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 3:51 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 3:51 p.m.
It wasn’t a dead man’s hand, but another man’s poker hand was enough to land a Williston resident in jail for attempted murder Wednesday.

Williston Police arrested Ralph Rackard, 49, for firing a shotgun at another man after a dispute over a five-card poker game. The disagreement occurred Tuesday after Decurtis Lee, 33, of Williston, ended up with the winning hand, police say.
The two had been gambling at a residence in east Williston minutes before Rackard fired at Lee, police reported.
Lee had been walking to his sister’s home in the 300 block of SE 10th Street at about 11:15 p.m. when the shooting occurred.
The victim wasn’t seriously injured. Police said Rackard used a low-powered shot shell that didn’t penetrate Lee’s clothing.
The dead man’s hand comes from the legend of the poker hand held by Wild Bill Hickock when he was killed in 1876 and is two pairs of aces and eights.
Chief Dan Davis said the poker hands in this game were Rackard’s pair of fours and Lee’s pair of fives.
Rackard was booked into the Levy County jail Wednesday morning.
The case isn’t the first poker-related shooting in the area. Earlier this year, Putnam County deputies investigated two shootings. On Feb. 16, the bodies of three men were found at a building that had been the site of a private, all-night poker game. The shooter believed he had been cheated, according to investigators.
Duane Demaris Crittenden, 28, of Palatka, later entered a guilty plea to three counts of first-degree murder and was ordered to serve three consecutive life sentences in prison.
On April 17, another poker game at a Palatka home was interrupted by a gunman who fired shots, hitting one of the players in the hip.

Topeka Gambling Bust

2008-09-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

http://cjonline.com/stories/093008/bre_ownerarrest.shtml

By Ann Marie Bush

The Capital-Journal Published Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 4:31 p.m. CDT

The owner of Deep Pockets was arrested on four charges of commercial gambling Monday, said Topeka police Capt. Jerry Stanley.

Frank Thomas Antonelli, owner of Deep Pockets, 4310 SW 21st, was arrested on four charges of commercial gambling Monday.
Frank Thomas Antonelli, 60, of Topeka, was booked into the Shawnee County jail at 9:10 p.m. Monday, according to jail records.
“It was an extensive investigation,” Stanley said, but wouldn’t say how long it lasted.
Officers seized many items of evidence, including several poker-related items, Stanley said.
District Attorney Robert Hecht said in a news release that items seized include cards, poker chips, poker tables, black jack tables, cash, computers and firearms.
“The district attorney’s office is presently preparing civil cases to seek to cause the removal of Deep Pockets Inc. and its owners Frank Thomas Antonelli and Christine Ann Antonelli from engaging in business at that location, determining that a criminal public nuisance has been created and to seek an injunction and padlock the premises,” the statement said.
The DA’s office also hopes to be able to tell the neighborhood around Deep Pockets that they will “no longer be subjected to the continuing criminal activity that has occurred at Deep Pockets in the nature of homicides, shootings and other kinds of violence that seem to have their genesis in premises where other illegal activities are ongoing.”
The statement also said that Antonelli was arrested on a complaint by the DA’s office charging him with three counts of commercial gambling, a nonperson felony, and one county of misdemeanor gambling.
“The district attorney anticipates adding felony criminal charges to the complaint,” the release states.
The Topeka police narcotics and vice unit served the search warrant and arrest warrant at Deep Pockets on Monday.
Officers with the Topeka police response team, Shawnee Sheriff’s Department, Alcohol Beverage Control, DEA Task Force and Counter Drug Surveillance Operations Group assisted.
Commercial gambling is described in state law as operating or receiving all or part of the earnings of a gambling place; recording or forwarding bets or offers to bet or, with intent to receive, record or forward bets or offers to bet, possessing facilities to do so; for gain, becoming a custodian of anything of value bet or offered to be bet; conducting a lottery, or with intent to conduct a lottery possessing facilities to do so; or setting up for use or collecting the proceeds of any gambling device.

Poker Game Robbed in Alexandria, LA

2008-09-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080829/NEWS01/808290363

38-year-old man was wounded in the hand when two suspects robbed two other men at gunpoint at a pool hall on Wise Street around 11:10 p.m. Wednesday, Alexandria police report. No arrests have been reported.
According to an Alexandria police report, an officer was searching the area of South Yale and Houston for three suspects from a vehicle pursuit Wednesday when he was notified a robbery had just occurred at 2401 Wise St.
Police believed the suspects from the chase were possibly the suspects involved in the robbery, the report states.
Police said the victims said they were inside Lee's Pool Hall at 2401 Wise St. playing poker when they heard a gunshot outside the club. All of a sudden, two unknown men came in wearing masks over their heads and told the victims to get on the floor and then fired another shot.
The suspects told the victims to empty their pockets and put the money on the table, the report states. Another shot was fired as the suspects left out, which struck a 38-year-old victim in the hand.

More South Carolina Poker goes to trial

2008-08-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

News 4 Charleston Coverage

Video Link http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0808/546821_video.html?ref=newsstory

Printed Link

http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0808/546821.html

A Mount Pleasant judge refuses to throw out a case involving an alleged illegal poker game. The hearing comes more than two years after the incident. The five poker players who've been protesting this case say the law they allegedly violated is unconstitutional and it's wording, vague.
It's on TV, it's online, but playing in your own home when betting is involved, not allowed. That, at least is the opinion of Mount Pleasant Judge Lawrence Duffy. The problem, says Defense Attorney Jeff Phillips, "they focused in on the betting, even though the statute does not focus on the betting."
Phillips, a poker player himself, argued with Judge Duffy saying the statute only prohibits playing games with cards or dice in very specific locations.
"The statute clearly says you cannot play any cards or dice in a house of gaming? How do we know what a house of gaming is? This was not a public place, this was a residence that was not, even if it was used to bet in, was not a house of gaming. It was a house to live in," said Phillips.
Bob Chimento was one of 22 players police say gathered at this Mount Pleasant home for a Texas Hold em match. The game was advertised online with a $20 buy-in.
"They were talking about a high stakes poker game in there. That is absolutely the most ridiculous statement I've heard in my life," said Phillips.
Judge Duffy found the law clear enough, stating that the Supreme Court had cited the statute nine times prior. Phillips calls the comparison misleading. This fight, he says, a first to target the law's unconstitutionality.
From here the defendants plan to go trial or they may consider pleading, so an appeal process may then begin. Earlier this year, another major poker bust, where 19 players were arrested in Hanahan after a raid.

South Carolina not folding on taking Poker Players to Trial

2008-08-23T19:04:00.001-07:00

http://www.live5news.com/Global/story.asp?S=8887072

Video link is at the Live5News site.

By Tracey Amick, Live 5 News
CHARLESTON COUNTY, SC (WCSC) - More than two years after a Mt. Pleasant poker game is busted by police, a motion to dismiss the case has been denied.
Most of the players have pleaded guilty since then and paid a fine, but five players are holding out. Friday their attorney said there are three reasons this case should be thrown out altogether.
First, Jeff Phillips says it's unconstitutional because the statute on this law is too vague for the average citizen to understand.
Second, he says if the law is to be taken literally, that means no games or cards can ever be played, and there's no way to enforce a ban so broad.
And finally, Phillips says the law specifically mentions a house of gaming, which he says wasn't there when the card game took place.

Police Raid Poker Game in Tenn

2008-08-15T21:24:00.005-07:00

Looks like Tennessee is CRACKING DOWN on poker!
Printed story below:

http://www.t-g.com/story/1452822.html

Alleged gambling house raided, shut downThursday, August 14, 2008By Brian Mosely
Detective Brian Crews of the Shelbyville Police Department examines a case of poker chips that were seized from the office of an alleged gaming house raided by authorities Tuesday night. The words on the doors at 101 Tillett Circle say "PRIVATE" and "DO NOT ENTER," but those warnings were ignored by local law enforcement Tuesday night when they raided an alleged gambling house.
Following a four-month investigation, Shelbyville police, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the 17th Judicial District Drug Task Force, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol, along with an area FBI agent, executed a search warrant on the building where high-dollar poker games allegedly took place once a week.
"People were bragging that this was like 'little Tunica,'" said Det. Brian Crews of the Shelbyville Police Department.
The two accused promoters, 38-year-old James Chad Tucker and his wife Christina Tucker, 37, of Meadowlark Drive, were each charged with one count of aggravated gambling promotion -- a class E felony -- and one count of possession of gambling devices, according to jail records.
The couple were booked into Bedford County Jail and released on $6,000 bond. Four dealers and a security guard were also arrested and charged with aggravated gambling promotion.
A total of 26 players were also each cited for misdemeanor gambling and released. All are scheduled to appear in Bedford County General Sessions Court on Sept. 23.
Authorities seized $48,000 in cash, gambling paraphernalia, a small amount of marijuana and firearms, according to a TBI press release.
Crews said he headed up the investigation, which began after he received information about the alleged gambling operation.
"We've conducted surveillance on the building on several nights and we've also had undercover agents in the building," Crews said.
Crews said the Tuckers had a doorman, Victor Gill, providing security for the gaming house and video cameras covering the outside of the building. Two-way radios were allegedly used so that the operators could know when a player would enter the structure.
Once inside, authorities found four commercial poker tables, each with room for 10 players plus the dealer.
"It was high stakes poker games where they were playing Texas hold 'em," Crews said, with one table having a "buy in" of $1,000, another at $500 and two tables with a $200 "buy-in."
"It was no limit, from what we understand," Crews said of the games.
Players would allegedly purchase poker chips from a cash office set up in one corner of the building run by one of the promoters, Crews said. A player could buy extra chips from the table, but most cash transactions allegedly took place in the office, he said.
"Compared to our surveillance, this was a slow night," Crews said, adding that as many as 50 people would sometimes be in attendance at the gaming house, most of whom were from out of town.
Surveillance had been ongoing for several weeks by Crews, Detective Charles Merlo and an unidentified TBI agent.
This building at 101 Tillett Circle, directly behind Ascend Credit Union, was the location of an alleged gaming house that was raided by local authorities Tuesday night. Along with the four gaming tables, a number of chairs, two large flat screen TVs, a police scanner, thousands of poker chips and decks of cards were seized, Crews said.
Players were also treated to a full buffet, free alcohol and cigarettes, Crews said. Two air purifiers to keep the building smoke free were also taken.
So much evidence was taken from the building that it took a large U-Haul truck to carry it away, Crews said.
The TBI were called in because of the size of the operation, Crews said. The raid was conducted by over 25 officers from the TBI, the Drug Task Force and the THP. Crews noted that the Shelbyville police department "simply doesn't have the manpower here to pull off an operation like that without their assistance."
Crews said the gaming house "had gotten out of control."
"They were bringing people in from all over Tennessee, the types of people they were bringing into this town ... they were dangerous people, drug dealers from other areas, as well as people that were arrested for aggravated gambling promotion in another city," Crews said.
The detective was referring to a gambling bust that took place in December 2006 in La Vergne, in which 22 people were arrested, including a couple from Shelbyville, Steven Colbert and Cathy McPherson, who were charged with the promotion of gambling and aggravated gambling, according to a press release from the city of La Vergne.
The pair were two of the 26 people cited for gambling on Tuesday. Crews said the early part of the investigation involved comparing notes with La Vergne authorities about the 2006 arrests.
Crews said the department was sending a message that "this won't be tolerated. It presents a problem for the city as a whole."
"A lot of people think this is a victimless crime, but ask a lot of these guys' wives if this is victimless," Crews said.
Crews also said that police know this isn't the only gaming house in town, stating that others have "opened up over the last few months."
"They've taken off like wildfire; we're just hoping to cut the head of the snake off."
CHARGES FILED
A total of 33 people are facing charges in connection with a raid on an alleged gaming house in Shelbyville Tuesday night.
Charged with aggravated gambling promotion are:
James C. Tucker, 38, Shelbyville.
Christina D. Tucker, 37, Shelbyville.
Neal C. Phillips, 27, Woodbury.
Samuel C. Owens, 27, Smyrna.
Victor G. Gill, 48, Shelbyville.
Andrew W. Craze, 26, Oliver Springs.
Christian E. Jeppsen II, 24, Bell Buckle.
Charged with misdemeanor gambling are:
Gilbert B. McCarter, 58, Shelbyville.
Michael J. Swain, 36, Shelbyville.
Terry W. Johnson, 50, Columbia.
Cecil H. Robinette, 52, Mt. Pleasant.
Larry D. Wilson, 50, Smyrna.
Anthony Boyce, 35, Shelbyville.
Sompong Ouanevima, 33, Murfreesboro.
Steven R. Colbert, 43, Shelbyville.
Cathy D. McPherson, 24, Shelbyville.
Linda S. Pogue, 62, Huntland.
Shannon H. Jennings, 37, Murfreesboro.
Kenneth C. Spasoff, 24, Wartrace.
Robert D. White, 29, Mt. Pleasant.
Bruce Y. Peery III, 30, Dickson.
Nathan F. Forrest, 34, Nashville.
Donald G. Patterson, 59, Fayetteville.
Christohper W. Simons, 27, Shelbyville.
Audie W. Stewart, 57, Nashville.
Gary A Coleman, 58, Lynchburg.
Timothy L. Hill, 27, Unionville.
James M. Leazott, 53, Lynnville.
Christopher S. Yokely, 20, Ethridge.
Hugh T. Herrington, Jr., 24, Pulaski.
James M. Warr, 63, Memphis.
Pamela J. Williams, 53, Bell Buckle.
Carl E. Harris, 31, Shelbyville.

Place your bets!

2008-08-15T20:49:00.001-07:00

The guy who invented chips was a genius. But when you don't have chips, try Canabis.

"Little Tunica" poker game busted in Tennessee

2008-08-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

You tube video Link:

http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20080813/NEWS/658567422/1051/YP0101&parentprofile=-1

Channel 5 news video link:
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=8835959
SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. - Police arrested 33 people and seized $48,000 after raiding an illegal gambling operation in Bedford County.
According to a press release issued by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, police raided a Shelbyville building around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday night. They found four commercial poker tables with room for 10 players each.
More than two dozen players were charged with gambling and released.
Two promoters were arrested, who police identified as James Chad Tucker, 38, and his wife, Christina Tucker, 37, both of Shelbyville. The couple was booked into the Bedford County Jail on charges of aggravated gambling promotion and possession of gambling devices.
Four dealers and one security guard were also booked on charges of aggravated gambling promotion.
Investigators seized $48,000 in cash, gambling paraphernalia, marijuana and firearms.
The TBI, Shelbyville Police Department, 17th Judicial Drug Task Force and the Tennessee Highway Patrol were involved in the raid.
Investigators had been aware of the operation for about 4 months, and believed it to be operation for less than one year.

Colorado Bar Raided for Playing Social Poker

2008-08-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

Bar owners challenge state in gambling raid

http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20080813/NEWS/658567422/1051/YP0101&parentprofile=-1

By Mike Petersmpeters@greeleytribune.com

A battle is quickly brewing between the owners of Rafferty’s Bar in west Greeley and the state agencies that arrested five of their patrons for gambling.About 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Greeley police, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the Colorado Liquor Board conducted a raid of the bar and arrested five people on misdemeanor ganmbling charges.Greeley police spokesman Sgt. Joe Tymkowych identified the people who were arrested as:• Kevin P. Raley, 43, Windsor, a table dealer;• Timothy Oullette, 45, Greeley, table dealer;• Mary Lynch Paiz, 57, Greeley, game manager/coordinator• James R. Vaughn, 39, Evans, table dealer• Branden E. Waddle, 30, Greeley, game manager/coordinator They were all booked into the Weld County Jail on charges of professional gambling, then released on $3,000 bond.But the owners of the popular Greeley nightclub said the state officials were out of line with the raid.“This was a poker club” said Rafferty’s co-owner Rich Miner. “The house didn’t take a cut of the money, we didn’t force anyone to buy drinkds, we made sure we met all the state requirments.”The club plays on Tuesday and Sunday nights, Mibner said, and everyone who joins is required to read the by-laws, which qualify it as a club. “There was nothing secret about it,” Miner said. ‘It was on our website and we had posters in the bar.”Miner and co-owner Steve White cited a state law defining “social gambling” as legal if the people have a “bona fide social relationship.” The men say the club members were themselves a social organization, so they met the requirements of social gambling.But, according to Mark Couch, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Revenue, for gambling to be conducted in a place where liquor is sold is illegal in Colorado. “If they have a Colorado liquor license,”Couch said, “games of chance are not allowed.” The exception, of course, are the Colorado towns that allow legal gambling.

Not guilty: Man cleared of holding up Killeen poker game

2008-08-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

I found this story this morning.

http://www.temple-telegram.com/story/local/2008/08/15/51475

by Paul A. Romer - Telegram Staff WriterPublished August 15, 2008215 Views View Map
Map data ©2008 LeadDog Consulting - Terms of Use
BELTON - The Bell County District Attorney’s Office hoped circumstantial evidence was enough to prevail in a case against a man they believe was the getaway driver in a heist that took place in June 2007 at a high-stakes poker game in Killeen.
It found out Tuesday that the evidence presented didn’t warrant a conviction when a jury, convened in 264th State District Court, deliberated for four hours and 20 minutes before returning a not guilty verdict on behalf of Calvin Dewayne Williams, 26, of Killeen.
Williams was exonerated on two counts of aggravated robbery.
“I totally respect the verdict of the jury. What we had was a largely circumstantial case,” prosecutor Mike Waldman said. “I believe Calvin was the driver …What I think happened was the jury did a good job following their oath and I think they found that we didn’t prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Williams’ car was used in the late-night heist, which occurred in 2900 block of Tucson Street in a gated community.
A would-be participant in the poker game drove up to the house and saw men dressed in black run from the house and get into a car.
The man told police he continued past the house with the car following behind him and was able to get the car’s license plate number.
Police tracked the car to Williams, who lived less than two miles from the robbery scene.
When officers arrived they knocked on the front door.
“My client was just at home and didn’t know anything was going on,” said Jack Holmes, Williams’ attorney. “He didn’t even know his car had been used.”
An officer stationed at the backyard of the property said he heard someone scale a rear fence and then saw a man run to a creek bed where he attempted to hide, according to court documents.
Police said that man was 22-year-old Richard Daniel Moaney IV, who pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery in February and is serving a 45-year prison term.
Waldman called Moaney “the main actor.” He said Moaney was the one who kicked in the door and pistol-whipped one of the poker players.
“He did that while he was on felony probation for engaging in organized criminal activity,” Waldman said.
Police reported finding two handguns along with $16,000, wallets and cell phones that matched those stolen in the robbery in a woodpile at a house next door to Williams’ house.
“We didn’t have anyone who could say for sure it was Calvin (driving),” Waldman said. “Our case was nothing more than circumstances that we put together. I think the jury wanted more.”
Waldman said he explained the nature of the case to the victims before it went to trial.
“They are happy with the way we tried the case,” he said. “They understand.”
The homeowner told police that after his door was kicked in two men with coverings over their faces and pistols in their hands ordered everyone to get down on the floor.
A guest who told police he refused to lie on the floor said he was pistol whipped and then slashed across his chest with a knife.
Moaney traveled from the Telford Unit in New Boston to testify at the trial but was never called.
Holmes said Moaney’s story was that Williams was not involved in the heist.
When asked why he didn’t call Moaney as a witness Waldman spoke about Moaney’s felony convictions.
“I sure didn’t want to sponsor him as one of my witnesses,” he said. “I didn’t care what he had to say.”
Since Williams was only charged with two counts of aggravated robbery and there were a total of eight victims, the state could potentially charge Williams with six other counts.
“No other charges are being considered,” Waldman said. “The jury spoke and we totally respect that.”
Police believe four men participated in the heist. The only people ever arrested in the case were Moaney and Williams.

Poker Player is falsely accused by FBI of being bank robber "Waddling Bandit"

2008-08-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

I used to play Poker in La Center a little over 10 years ago. I wonder if we have ever played in a game together before.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/373906_bandit07.html

Poker game gets raided in Hawaii

2008-08-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

It's hard to be certain by this story, but sounds like it was either two separate cash games or perhaps a two table tournament. Either way, they were all arrested. Charges were dropped to all but the guy running the thing.

http://www.molokaitimes.com/articles/884201930.asp

San Antonio Poker Game gets Robbed

2008-08-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a game in San Antonio that was robbed.

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=9907cf41-b531-4c0e-bf23-086ef34fc803

Dallas Veterans Charity Hall Attempted Robbery During Poker Game

2008-08-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

Further reporting on the Dallas Veterans Group that was robbed, or should I say an attempted robbery.

http://cbs11tv.com/local/card.club.Dallas.2.790382.html

Dallas Veterans Charity Hall Robbed During Poker Game

2008-08-09T14:46:00.000-07:00

In Texas, there are many underground poker games held at various veteran and fraternal organizations. One such charity hall was recently robbed and has sparked an investigation.

http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=283511

Police Raid North Nashville Poker Game

2008-07-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.wsmv.com/news/16891752/detail.html

News Video Link http://www.wsmv.com/video/16894031/index.html

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Poker can be fun, but people playing for cash in Tennessee could be breaking the law.

On Monday night, Metro police broke up what they called a sophisticated gambling operation with a familiar Nashville businessman in the mix.
Channel 4's Sara Dorsey was with police during the raid.

At a house on McGavock Pike, cars crammed the driveway, cameras were mounted on each corner and police said the gambling operation was going on inside.
"This isn't your work group getting together and playing cards once a month. This is somebody organizing a game and making money off of it," said an undercover detective.
Police said the man responsible is Paul Eichel, who had an expired business license under the name Casino Royale School for Gambling.
But the undercover detective said the line between business and criminal poker is cash.
"By chance, I was able to get in and play one night. I bought in at $100," he said.
The amount was enough for a warrant, plus neighbors and Metro Councilman Phil Clayburn have been complaining.
Tracey Baggett, who was one of the 14 or so people inside the home, said money is being exchanged but that it's all in good fun.
"It's just a bunch of guys having a good time; it goes on every day all over the place," he said.
Police said they're looking for people generating a lot of complaints and making a lot of money. So, if a few people get together for poker night, police said not to worry.
"We've heard reports of $5,000 or $10,000 being on the table at one time," the detective said.
Police said they seized about $3,000 in cash, a computer, and a gaming table along with a lot of chips.
Detectives said they know this is an uphill battle but if nothing else, maybe gamblers will see that police are serious.
Eichel has been in the news before: In 2005, police questioned him and searched his property in the disappearance of Janet March. March’s husband, Perry March, who was later convicted of Janet March’s murder, had been Eichel’s attorney.
In 2002, when Eichel owned a few troubled clubs in Nashville, he spent time in jail for not filing proper IRS documents on money he made.
In Monday night’s raid, he faces charges of promotion of gambling and possession of a gambling device.
Eichel was the only person charged in the raid. Police said they want to focus on the gaming organizers who are making the money.
The other players were all searched, run for warrants and then allowed to go home.

Lakeland man killed in robbery

2008-07-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=8748627&nav=5kZQ

Lakeland man killed in robbery

July 28, 2008
LAKELAND, GA (WALB) - Police in Lakeland are looking for a couple of killers after a home invasion murder.
44 year-old Norris Miller was playing a game of poker with friends at a home on Talley Avenue just after 1:00 Monday morning.
Police say two masked men kicked in the door and demanded money.
The robbers stole $220 then shot Miller with a 380 caliber pistol.
"We have one black male who had a gunshot wound to the arm. It went through the arm and into the chest. EMS was called and he was transported to South Georgia Medical Center where he later passed away," says Lakeland Police Chief Robbie Grantham.
Police say they don't know why the killers shot Miller but it's an unusal situation for the small city. "This is rare. I know we've had two this year but it's very rare."
Investigators say they have several leads, but none are very solid.
They're asking anyone with information to call the Lakeland Police Department. That number is 229-482-3309.

$40,000 in poker earnings sought from Seward VFD

2008-07-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_580098.html

By Richard GazarikTRIBUNE-REVIEWWednesday, July 30, 2008
The state attorney general wants a rural Westmoreland County fire department to surrender more than $40,000 it raised from poker tournaments it held last year as fundraisers.
The tournaments were organized by Greensburg attorney Larry Burns, who faces misdemeanor gambling charges for allegedly running Texas Hold 'Em tournaments in Seward.
A petition was filed this week in Cambria County seeking $40,814 the department earned from gambling.
State police seized more than $9,000 during an August raid and are seeking forfeiture of the remaining $31,000, which was deposited in the fire department's account at AmeriService Financial in Johnstown.
story continues below

Attorney Jeff Monzo, who represents the fire department, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Kevin Harley, a spokesman for Attorney General Tom Corbett, said: "We just have lawyers fill out the paperwork on the forfeiture. We'll let the state police speak for themselves."
State police Cpl. Linette Quinn in Harrisburg said forfeiture of cash and other assets from illegal enterprises is routine, especially in drug cases.
Tournament poker has gained popularity since ESPN started airing the World Series of Poker, and the number of online poker tournaments has proliferated.
Under Pennsylvania law, individuals and organizations cannot profit from illegal gambling.
Texas Hold 'Em is a seven-card game in which wagers are made on the best five cards held by players.
In April, state police charged Burns, 63, with profiting from the three tournaments in Seward as well as weekly poker games in Hempfield.
Poker tournaments have been sponsored by fire departments, clubs and other groups to raise money or to boost business.
Playing poker for money at a fire hall, club or business that has a liquor license is illegal, according to state law, unless the tournament is a self-sponsored event.
For private clubs, poker is not allowed under the Local Options for Small Games of Chance.
Restaurants can hold self-sponsored tournaments as long as a third party is not involved. The only exception is if the third party is a charitable organization.
On some Web sites, players can learn locations of tournaments in Pennsylvania and can be notified by e-mail of where the games will be held.

Police raid Moose Lodge over gaming

2008-07-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.phoenixvillenews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19847420&BRD=1673&PAG=461&dept_id=17915&rfi=6

Police raid Moose Lodge over gaming
07/12/2008
WEST CHESTER — The commotion of police bursting into the Moose Lodge to seize illegal gambling machines wasn't enough to interrupt a game of indoor shuffleboard.
During a surprise bust about 8 p.m. Thursday, state police Liquor Control Enforcement and West Chester officers seized four illegal knock-off video slot machines and roughly $2,000.During the raid in the first block of North Church Street, police asked roughly 15 patrons to leave the bar while officers loaded up the machines and interviewed employees and administrators.Before leaving, one patron openly blamed Gov. Ed Rendell and the state's new casinos for the local bust."You can thank Ed Rendell for this ... He brings in casinos ... Then he starts cracking down on the Moose Lodge, the VFW," the man yelled.Liquor Enforcement Sgt. William La Torre said his office received complaints regarding the gambling machines. The complaints prompted undercover officers to visit the bar, he said. Once the undercover officers observed customers using the machines, a raid was scheduled, he said."There are a lot of bars that have machines like these and people just need to tell us about them," La Torre said before the raid. "It will help us respond to them."Customers gamble on the machines and then a bartender or employee will pay out their winnings, La Torre said. But, he said, the machines are "knock-offs," so the odds are actually in favor of the establishments."In essence, people pump money in and what they're winning back is so minimal," La Torre said.And, police said, even if an establishment is not paying out winnings for their knock-off machines, just having the machines is illegal.No one was arrested during Thursday's raid. However, after investigators complete a financial audit, criminal charges may be filed, La Torre said."First, we like to see where the money is going, who's managing it, who's responsible for it," La Torre said.If administrators knew about the activity, they could be charged, he said. Or charges could be filed against the establishment itself, he said.Moose administrator Mike Meredith showed up during the raid. As investigators began seizing some of the bar's cash, Meredith asked if anything would be left behind for operation."I want to be able to open tomorrow," Meredith said.La Torre said, "You gotta be able to operate legitimately."Auditing the bar's finances could take weeks, police said. The bar was cleared to reopen after investigators left Thursday night.Similarly, in June, LCE raided Phoenixville's Loyal Order of Moose Lodge for the second time in the past year.After receiving an anonymous detailed letter, LCE revisited the Lodge on June 17, police said.There, LCE seized two poker machines, two video slot machines and roughly $300 after seizing illegal poker machines from there last fall, said Enforcement Officer Frank Spera."Apparently, they put them back in when we left and kept on doing what they were doing," Spera said.Illegal gambling can be reported anonymously at 215-726-6200.
©The Phoenix 2008

Mission police raid 'illegal poker den'

2008-07-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.kgbt4.com/news/video.aspx?id=153230

By Sergio ChapaMonday, June 30, 2008 at 2:11 p.m.
An alleged mini-casino run out of Mission home is closed for business.
Police received an anonymous tip and raided the alleged poker den at 913 Keystrone Dr. on Saturday night.
Mission Police Lt. Martin Garza said investigators found between 40 and 50 people gambling.
All of them allegedly violated state gambling laws by paying an entrance fee to get inside and play Texas Hold 'Em for cash.
"It makes it illegal when the house takes money and recieves money at the entrance and makes money at the end of the night," Garza said.
Many of the alleged gamblers decided to become witnesses for police.
They told detectives that they paid anywhere from $20 to $40 bucks and sometimes all the way up to $150 to get in and play.
The witnesses will not likely face charges.
But homeowners and two others involved were not so lucky.
Garza said they are likely to face criminal charges.
"Right now, we're looking at bringing charges to the people that are actually responsible for promoting this type of illegal activity: gambling," Garza said.

Assistant principal accused of running gambling ringJune 30, 2008 - 8:58PM
By Ryan Holeywell, The Monitor
MISSION - A McAllen assistant principal who allegedly ran a gambling ring from his home was arraigned on criminal charges Monday.
Police say Jose Luis Esquivel, 38, hosted high-stakes Texas Hold ‘Em poker games in his home for months and took a cut of the winnings.
Esquivel is an assistant principal at Castañeda Elementary School in McAllen, said school district spokesman Mark May.
Police executed a search warrant on Esquivel's residence in an upscale Mission neighborhood Saturday night, where they recovered $4,000 in cash, as well as two small bags of cocaine that patrons had left behind, said Mission police spokesman Lt. Martin Garza.
Garza said 40 to 50 people were at the house at the time of the raid.
Monday afternoon, May said McAllen school district leaders were on summer break and had not yet disciplined Esquivel. Administrators will likely address the situation after they return July 14, May said.
Esquivel was charged with promotion of gambling, a class A misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
A woman who answered the door at Esquivel's home Monday said he was not home and the family had no comment on the matter. Esquivel's attorney, Carlos Ortegon, did not return after-hours phone calls Monday.
Garza said that patrons of the home-run casino are cooperating with the police investigation. He said police were led to the gambling ring after anonymous complaints indicating the gambling ring had been operating for eight months.
Home poker games are generally not illegal, Garza said, but Esquivel took a cut of the winnings - a fee known as the "rake" in casino terminology. Card dealers also received tips, Garza said.
Of the $4,000 seized Saturday, $1,800 was hidden in the bra of one of Esquivel's family members.
The house, at 913 Keystone Drive, is in a quiet Sharyland neighborhood south of Expressway 83 near Stewart Road.
On Monday, neighbors said they had no idea what was happening in the house almost every Saturday night, but sometimes as many as 60 cars clogged the streets around the neighborhood.
"This is about the community working with the police, addressing issues involved in their neighborhoods," Garza said.
He said it was fortunate police were able to bust the gambling ring before it spiraled out of control.
Given the presence of drugs, alcohol and gambling in the house, it was an "unsecured environment," Garza said.
"A dispute or a fight could take place," he said. "Someone could wind up getting hurt or murdered inside (the) residence... the main thing for us is to prevent any unwanted incidents from occurring in our local neighborhood."
Garza said Esquivel will likely be the only person involved in the gambling to be charged with a crime.
Esquivel's wife and three children were asleep in a bedroom when police raided the home around 11:30 p.m. Saturday.
"The intelligence we had is that Mr. Esquivel is the person responsible for promoting this activity," Garza said.

Hagerstown man charged in holdup of illicit poker game

2008-07-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=198094&format=html

July 8, 2008
Hagerstown man charged in holdup of illicit poker game
Maryland state trooper was one of the victims
By HEATHER KEELS (heather.keels@herald-mail.com)
HAGERSTOWN — A Hagerstown man has been charged in the May 30 holdup of an illicit poker game, where police say he and another man took about $4,000 from 18 people, including a Maryland State Police trooper.
Michael Joseph Campher, 22, of 960 Security Road, Apt. A, faces a total of 52 charges in the case, Washington County District Court records show. He was being held Monday at the Washington County Detention Center on $400,000 bond, a spokesman there said.
Trooper 1st Class Michael A. Ford of the Hagerstown Barracks confirmed to investigators that he was one of the victims, according to charging documents for Campher filed by Maryland State Police Cpl. Carl R. Hager of the Combined County Criminal Investigation Unit in Cumberland, Md.
Asked about possible repercussions for Ford, state police spokeswoman Elena Russo said the matter was under investigation. She said she could not comment further because it was a personnel matter. She confirmed that a number of gambling activities, such as the Texas Hold 'Em game described in the robbery case, are illegal in Maryland.

Ford was not working Monday and his voicemail box at the Hagerstown barracks was full.
According to interviews with five of the victims, the robbery happened shortly after 10 p.m. during a poker game in a building at 223 N. Prospect St. in Hagerstown, Hager wrote in the charging documents.
The victims said that just after the first break, two men in ski masks walked in and ordered everyone to put their money on the table, Hager wrote. One of the men pointed a gun at one of the players, and everyone reached into their pockets and put their money on the table as the other man gathered it up, according to victim accounts in Hager's report.
The victims heard the man with the gun address the man gathering the money as "Mike," and several of the players noticed that the man addressed as Mike had distinct-looking greenish eyes and a bulge under his mask that could have been created by dreadlocks, Hager wrote.
Afterwards, the players discussed these details and reached a consensus that the man gathering the money was a man with dreadlocks and green eyes who had played with them there before, known to them as "Mike," Hager wrote.
One of the victims identified this person as Campher, Hager wrote. That victim told investigators he was the one who introduced Campher to the poker games and said he immediately suspected Campher was the one gathering the money, Hager wrote. He also provided police with Campher's address.
Campher told police he had heard he was being accused, but he denied any involvement in the robbery, Hager wrote. However, Campher's brother told police Campher had admitted to him that he was involved in the robbery, Hager alleged in court documents.
Campher faces counts of first-degree assault, armed robbery, robbery, second-degree assault, theft, use of a handgun in the commission of a felony, reckless endangerment, and conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery.
A preliminary hearing for Campher was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. July 30 in Washington County District Court.

News Clip on Shooting during a Poker Robbery in NY

2008-04-12T07:39:00.001-07:00

News Segment on Texas Poker Game Robbery (02/26/08)

2008-04-12T07:38:00.001-07:00

News Clip on Yonkers, NY Poker Raid (03/24/08)

2008-04-12T07:21:00.001-07:00

[FL] News Clip of Gambling Raid Aftermath at Bar (033008)

2008-04-12T07:20:00.003-07:00

News Clip on Indiana Texas Hold'em Tourney Bust (03/13/08)

2008-04-12T07:20:00.001-07:00

We're the Government -- and You're Not

2008-03-31T09:21:00.001-07:00

Learn to How to be a good American Citizen.

News Segment on Poker Bust in Clayton County Georgia

2008-03-15T16:50:00.001-07:00

News Segment on Roswell, GA Poker Bust

2008-03-15T16:48:00.001-07:00

Thug Hating on Cops:

2008-03-15T06:06:00.001-07:00

KARK News 4 Covers NPC Raid

2008-03-15T05:54:00.001-07:00

News Clip on Indiana Texas Hold'em Tourney Bust (03/13/08)

2008-03-15T05:47:00.001-07:00

News: NC Police Raid Illegal Casino

2008-03-15T05:43:00.001-07:00

News Clip on Poker Room Raid in Houston, TX (10/05/07)

2008-03-15T05:39:00.001-07:00

Georgia Poker Bust HomeOwner Interview

2008-03-15T05:37:00.001-07:00

News segment on Arkansas Poker Raid (11/19/07)

2008-03-15T04:53:00.001-07:00

News Segment on Legality of Poker in Michigan (11/30/07)

2008-03-15T04:50:00.001-07:00

News segment on Michigan Poker Raid (11/28/07)

2008-03-15T04:48:00.001-07:00

News segment on Arkansas Poker Raid (11/19/07)

2008-03-15T04:45:00.001-07:00

News Clip on Clearwater, FL Gambling Bust (01/17/08)

2008-03-15T04:41:00.001-07:00

News Clip on Pennslyvania Gambling Bust (02/01/08)

2008-03-15T04:38:00.001-07:00

News Segment on Delware Poker Raid (02/27/08)

2008-03-15T04:37:00.005-07:00

News Segment on Texas Poker Game Robbery (02/26/08)

2008-03-15T04:37:00.003-07:00

News Clip on Poker Home Game Robbery and Killing

2008-03-15T04:37:00.001-07:00

OT: Did you know?

2007-04-05T09:21:00.001-07:00

Played little poker in the last few weeks. Spent alot of spare time setting up our entrepreneurship.

Anyways, I came across this little nugget and thought it was interesting. One could say that the same is happening in the poker world.

New Haven, CT Police officer gets busted running poker club

2007-03-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

You know I've been to dozens of home games, but not one like this one. The game was operated by a police officer who was playing on stolen drug money the FBI had planted in a motel room.

Poker Club busted in Indianapolis

2007-03-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

Northeastside Poker Club was raided after a yearlong probe. 60 players were issued citations, including a state trooper. 3 operators were arrested. News video here.

Second bust of Austin Home game at different locale

2007-03-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

I received a couple of phone calls and emails letting me know that another Austin Home Game was "broken up" last night. Actually, this game had been broken up once before when it was being held in an apartment complex in North Austin. At that time, uniformed officers broke up the game and they were evicted from the apartment complex. It didn't take long for the game to move locations to a quiet neighborhood of single family homes in north Austin - minutes from it's previous location.

I'm told that a 5/10 nlhe game was underway when 4 plain clothed men approached the door of the house where the operation was moved to. The game girl didn't recognize any of the men, so the game operator answered the door. The men identified themselves as police officers and the game operator allowed them entry. My understanding is that they did not have a warrant and that they were believed to be part of Austin Vice Squad.

Upon entry, they questioned all the players, the game girl, and the operator. They took down everyone's id, and then let everyone go. There were no arrests, no tickets issued, nothing was confiscated.

The police officers went on to say that they weren't sure what was going on here, but that basically, it had to stop. Apparently, neighbors had been complaining of too many cars on the street. Parking is always an issue when you run a game in a residence, especially when you run a game several times a week. This group would routinely run 2 table tournaments, which equates to 20+ cars lining the street.

A game that I have been to a few times up here in the northwest suburbs of Chicago tries to alleviate this problem by having players park at a nearby shopping center. I personally won't park there though, as I think there is a greater risk of getting towed. I am not really sure what the answer is, except maybe to pay off your neighbors. Apartment complexes afford you a bit of anonymity that you don't get when you run in a single family home, but even still players will always park closet to the apartment where the game is held, leaving residents in nearby apartments hoofing it to carry the groceries in.

All good things must come to an end

2007-03-05T13:31:00.000-08:00

I'm on my last day of this Vegas trip, and I'm currently sitting in a small blind nlhe game at the Venetian. I have a few hours before my flight out, so here I sit, hoping to steal a stack or two before I head to catch my flight.

I have played at the Venetian, Bally's, MGM, Caesars Palace, and Harrah's this trip. I had 5 winning sessions, and 3 lossing sessions this trip. Despite losing some very large pots that would have made this trip a huge winfall, the weekend had more good times than bad. Yet it always seems that one hand will define the over all trip for me and this time was no different.

I never really have been one to post all of the gory details of a bad beat, so I won't start now. Truthfully, I try to put most beats out of my mind, but when the hand is for a few dimes, it's hard to forget it. I took a significant break and went over the hand in in my mind for hours. How could I have played it differently? The truth is, I wouldn't have played it any differently - I was a 77% favorite to win the hand on the turn with the nuts. Run it twice, and we split the hand. Some times nuts, some times peanuts.

The main reason for this trip was that my wife was invited to a free roll tourney held at Bally's this past weekend. She made it through the first 1100 players of a total field of 1600, earning the chance to go on to the final day. She outlasted another 350 players, but busted well short of the cash, as only the top 10 made the money. Still, a good effort and I believe a better one than I would have done. Blackjack is her favorite game, having paid all of her school debt with the proceeds in the past. She posted modest wins and loses, never able to put together a string of wins. She typically plays very small limits as she enjoys the social aspect of the game more so than the rush of playing for big money. I am always amazed at how much she learns about the other players when we meet up after one of her sessions. She never seems to meet a stranger. She left early today, heading home to Chicago. Lucky her. While I get to stay and play a little longer,I am heading to Denver for another trade show the rest of the week.

We went to the Price is Right Live show at Bally's. It was fun to watch, although it would have been nice to have heard " Mike K.! Come on down! You're the next contestant on the Price is Right!" But alas, neither of us got to make the trot down the aisle. Probably a good thing too as I think I might have embarrassed myself having not been able to figure out all the pricing of the products correctly. The game is interesting as they use a combination of clips from the real game show such that you have to guess the price of an item....in 1972 or 2001 or 1998, along with current prices of items on stage.

The Venetian Poker room has become my favorite place to play now. The action is good and there sooo much more room than at my old favorite - the Bellagio. In fact, I never even set foot in the Bell this trip. Can't remember ever not playing there when in Vegas before.

The National Heads Up Championship to be aired on NBC was played at Caesars this weekend. We sat in the galley a while, but frankly, I find watching someone else playing poker rather boring. So do many others as they had a hard time keeping the gallery full during the demi-finals - that is until Shannon Elizabeth played. Wonder why that is.

Got to catch up with Hendo (AKA Asian John) while here. For those of you who know him, go buy a cup of coffee at the coffe shop at the shoppes at the V. He is doing well, and although we didn't get to hang out more than a few minutes, it was great to catch up.

Amazingly, I didn't run into anyone else this trip. I usually run into about 3 or 4 but not this trip. I know some players that were in town this week, but I never ran into anyone.

Given the current state of on-line poker, I am here to tell you that the live action seems to have no end. Every room continues to fill up - although tourneys bring the greatest draw. Even O'sheas has a dedicated poker room now instead of a couple of tables right at the door.

I ran into many new players to the game, which is a good barometer of the state of poker. Take Steve E. from Charleston, SC. This was first experience in a real casino. He and his Navy buddies came out for a fun trip and I played with him and Doug S. Steve has only played for a few months, and seems to have a pretty good grasp of the game. Of course, being relatively new to the game, they heard many new terms when they got here to Vegas. Kill, Horse, Razz, were a few that come to mind. But hey, no one knows everything, and I'd say these fellas are well on their way to becoming accomplished players. I wish them good luck as they have many years of playing ahead of them. Maybe we will cross paths again some time.

While there were some ups and downs this weekend - and even though I haven't even left yet, I'm thinking of when I can get back here again. Hopefully, sooner than later.

Why we play

2007-02-20T09:28:00.001-08:00

I think this is a well written commercial that sums it up rather nicely.

Vegas Baby!

2007-02-19T19:13:00.000-08:00

March 2nd - March 5th. Staying at Harrah's. Hope to see you there!

Home Game Host Retorts about Bust

2007-02-19T16:13:00.000-08:00

Game Host speaks out about the Austin Home Game Bust mentioned in an earlier post and also posted over at Pokerati and Mookie99.

I had a rather long conversation with the Host who had much to say about what has been posted regarding this bust. The game Host tells me that many of the things posted about the circumstances of the game and it's demise are seriously misinformed. Below is the Hosts rebuttal version regarding the incident and to the various claims that were posted.

He believes that the game's compromise was caused by a Rival tournament director (hereafter referred to as the Rival). Apparently this story starts months before the Austin PD ever knocked on the door.

There used to be a monthly tournament held at the Marriot in south Austin hosted by Let's Poker.com. The tournament was originally called the Barton Creek tournament, but as it became more and more popular, they moved it to the Marriot to accomodate more players. I played in this tournament a few times taking 2nd one month. After several successful months of running, the tournament grew to the size of 200+ players and was paid a visit by Austin PD who were obligated to investigate following a complaint they had received. The officers showing up was a bit unsettling, but the tournament continued unabated and no one was ticketed or arrested. However, following the visit, the tournament was suspended indefinitely pending the results of the investigation. Consequently, the hotel opted to turn away the tournament regardless of the outcome of the investigation. At about the same time, theRIVAL had decided to try running his own tournaments and the first one was cancelled as it coincided with the hotel's decision to walk away from holding any poker tournaments.

Fast forward. I am unsure where the Rival first started his tournaments, I had heard at the Omni downtown, but that is unconfirmed as I never played in any of them. I do know after several months, the RIVAL was holding his tournament at the Holiday Inn at 183 and Mopac. It was when he invited the HOST to come play in his tournament (and hopefully tap into his player pool) that things started to fester. The Rival explained to the Host that the tournament was self-dealt (fashioned after the old Barton Creek Tournament). The Host suggested the Rival provide dedicated dealers to make the tournament more legit. The Rival said he didn't know any. The Host tells me that this is when he first provided the Rival 5 dealers for the tournament a few months ago. When the Host showed up to this first dedicated dealer touranment, he discovered that the Rival was using the hotel's round banquet tables for the tournament (much like the old Barton Creek tournament did). The Host told the Rival he needed to get true poker tables to make the most use of dedicated dealers. The next month, the Rival did just that and provided oval poker tables for the tournament and had even asked if he could borrow one from the Host should he need one.

The Host then went on to say that the Rival was skimming the prize pool to the tune of several thousand dollars. The tournament buy in was $100. Unlimited rebuys for the first hour were also $100, and an add-on during the break was also $100. The Host suggests that a conservative figure for the tournament prize pool was $10,000. (50 $100 buyins = $5000, 25 rebuys=$2500, 25 add-ons=$2500.) The pay out was usually around $8,000. The Host says the Rival told him he paid ~$350 to the hotel for the room rental and the hotel would make additional income off of bar/food sales. As you can see, there was some serious skimming going on. The Host believes that the total money collected was proably closer to $12,000, considering the typical number of rebuys/add-ons he noted at each of the tournaments he attended.

The Host noted that players were complaining of the high RAKE of the Rival's tournament and that the Rival didn't disclose the number of rebuys and add-ons (a classic move to hide how much is taken off the top). The Host felt he could provide a much better tournament, ensuring that more money actually made it to the prize pool, provide competent dealers, better chips/cards, and a much better blind structure. After all the Host had significant experience in running tournaments and cash games since he had been doing it since September '04. With his large player pool and tons of experience, should be simple, right?

Thus the stage was set. The Host arranged to do have the tournament at the Holiday Inn. The Rival apparently didn't like this, or at least that is what it seems as you will soon see. Everything was set...until....the hotel called the Host to inform him they had been contacted by the TABC concerning a poker tournament that they had heard was being held and that they would be there to investigate. The TABC went on to state that if the tournament is in any way illegal, the TABC would revoke their liquor license on the spot. The hotel caved and the tournament was cancelled.

Because of the TABC letter, not only was the Host's tournament cancelled, but so was any future touranments held by the Rival. The Host then tells me that Wednesday February 7th, the Rival called the Host and commenced to speak to him in a threatening manner, telling him that "You are fucking done!" The Host said he told the Rival if he couldn't speak to him with some respect he would hang up....which he did.

On Sunday the 11th, the Host game was raided by APD. APD confiscated all of the gaming materials - tables, chips, cards, prize pool, a laptop, and a desktop. No tickets were written or arrests made.

We then hear over on Mookie 99, that a letter from the HOA was sent to the neighborhood where the Host held his game at his home. The Host believes this letter was written by the Rival as a way of knocking him off. A careful analysis of the letter would suggest that it is not something that someone from a HOA would write. Think about it.

1. IF the HOA received a complaint, why wouldn't they contact the home owner instead of putting out a flyer in the neighborhood which gave the address of the house?

2. Why ask other neighbors to call the police/DA instead of contacting them directly?

3. Attach a flyer that was never printed by the Host? (The Host would EMAIL the supposed flyer to known players. He says he never used flyers....Flyers bring undesirables....like robbers and the police.

4. Does this sound like a "concerned neighbor" or an angry Rival?

Other items that are in dispute.

Estranged Wife factor: The Host has been divorced for 15 years, is not currently married and is still friends with his ex who by the way is unemployed and was never employed by APD.

Garage Fire: The Host did not ever have a garage fire. He did however have a vehicle fire. The Austin Fire Department said while inconclusive, they did not believe the fire was started by Arson. Rather, the Host had a stereo recently installed with an amplifier in the trunk - which apparently is where the fire started. AFD believes the installation was faulty.

"I'm taking everyone with me": This is the furthest from the truth. The Host denies ever saying such a thing.

Dealer hiding in closet: One of the dealers was dealing at a table upstairs when the police came in. He thought the game was being robbed and went to hide in a closet. Apparently, when he heard it was the police, he came out.

The Host states that he was told by another player that the Rival was seen with a copy of both the HOA letter and the game schedule on Thursday February 8th. Things that make you go, HMMMM.

The Host states thata player that was playing at another game held on that same Sunday Night Feburary 11th, heard the Rival announce "The Host's game is getting busted right now." Apparently knowing by osmosis, since it was before anyone at the Host's game had informed anyone outside that they were being raided.

According to the Host, the police told him he can get his computers back in a month or two, as for the tables and other equip, he would have to take that up with the County Attorney. They left telling him to not start up again, or they would be back.

Until the Texas Legislature wakes up and realizes that poker isn't going to go away, this kind of underhanded ratting out of games will surely continue. Makes you wonder if the two games which were raided by APD in two separate apartment complexes in north Austin last November/December were caused by the same kind of "complaint".

As for this poker player, I've packed up my wagon and taken it north where I can play poker legally!

Dancing with the Queen of Hearts

2007-02-13T12:03:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Valentine's Day.

Help! She didn't know what to do. They've been going out for months. They get along so well. He is smart, resourceful, driven. Could he be the one? I don't know. He worries me. Some times he answer his phone. He won't call me when he is suppose to. When I go over to his place, he is always distracted. He spends all of his time playing poker. What should she do?

Write to Ellie. She will have the answer.

Please buy my house

2007-02-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

January turned out to be an ugly month for me in poker. I was only able to log 6 live sessions in a busy month of travel. But it appears to be my good fortune that the number of times I played was low since I ended up 0 for 6 in the month The good news is that the average loss was small enough that one good win will overcome the string of loses. Of course, that is what all gamblers tell themselves’, isn’t it?

After so many loses though, I have put myself on the rail temporarily while I try and figure out what the hell the problem is. I know I have leaks in my game, doesn’t everyone to some degree? Of course, some of my leaks are deliberate and can occasionally let me stumble into some monster hands….well, rather, monster pots. A little bit of gamble with a mediocre hand in the right position and it can turn into a juggernaut of a hand….but I digress. Right now, there is something that is killing my game, and it isn’t my known leaks.

After a bit of soul searching, data crunching, and analytical view of my stats for the last couple of months, the problem has become blatantly clear to me.

I need you to buy my house.

Well, that actually isn’t the problem. But it would help fix the problem. The problem is: I’m playing with scared money. Since I am currently paying two mortgages while I wait on my house in Texas to sell, you might make a logical conclusion that my cash flow is a bit strapped at the moment. Factor in that I haven’t booked a winning session in a while, and you have the recipe for my problem.

All of this is true, and while it is certainly a valid argument I have to tell you, that isn’t why my play of late has been with “scared money”. No the reason is because my money is currently in Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo does not operate in Illinois. They are in Wisconsin and Iowa, but not Illinois. And while I can access it at any ATM (for a fee), I am now limited to my daily ATM withdraw limit. I intend to sever all ties with Wells Fargo and move my money to a bank I can use locally, but I haven’t done that yet, and frankly, it is killing my game.

Guess what happens to you when you come to the game with $400 in your pocket with no ability to get more and the average stack on the table is over $500?

Austin Home Game Raided

2007-02-11T21:16:00.000-08:00

Sunday February 2nd, 2007.* It was a 3 table $40 buy-in tournament held at a private home in north Austin. The tournament started at 6pm and there were 3 full tables. At about 6:30 a loud knock was heard at the door. One of the tournament players said, “That sounds like a knock of a cop.” Sure enough, the house was soon filled with 10-12 uniformed Austin Police Officers.

Eye witnesses say that they did not draw their weapons. An anonymous witness tells me that they took everyone’s picture, identified them, questioned them, and then made them leave. My witness heard another player ask one of the officers, “What is going to happen now?” The officer told him that they may be charged with class “C” misdemeanor gambling and receive a ticket. Asked if anything else, and the officer told him no. One officer mentioned that they were there because a neighbor had complained. But then another officer was asking a lot of questions like, “What is the rake?” and “Where is the dealer named “XXX”. This would lead you to believe that even if this was started over a complaint of a neighbor, the police knew more than they were telling. When the witness left the premises, it was noted that there was a paddy wagon type of police vehicle outside and it was believed they were going to confiscate all of the poker related equipment. No arrests were noted, or tickets at the time of the raid or at least by the time this particular witness left the scene.

This comes somewhat on the heels of a couple of home games in Austin being “broken up” for lack of a better term. A small 1/2 NLHE game held in north Austin was robbed in November. The host called the police and when they arrived, they basically confiscated all of the poker equipment. Two other games which were played in two different north Austin apartment complexes were ‘visited” by uniformed Austin Police Officers in October/November, broken up, and evicted from their respective apartment complexes. The games presumably moved to different locations. Pokerati reports a game in Houston being raided only days ago. And of course several games were raided in the Dallas area over the last couple of months.

Is there a state wide crackdown on poker games going on?

*Correction: Sunday February 11th, 2007

He won it fair and square

2007-02-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

The Children's Oncology Services were the benefactors of a recent charity poker tournament in Chicago. The winner received an all expense paid trip and $10,000 buyin seat to the Foxwoods Poker Classic Tournament in April. The event was organized by the Majestic Star Casino and held at a local arts center. What a stroke of good fortune for the winner! Since he is banded from stepping foot into a casino in Illinois. Read HERE.

Hershey's to sponsor WSOP this year

2007-02-08T07:05:00.000-08:00

Hershey's the most recognized name in America for chocolate bars has partnered up with Harrah's to sponsor the WSOP in 2007. Apparently, Hershey will be printing WSOP labels for their chocolate bars and giving away 2 seats this year to the main event. Go HERE to read more.

PokerTek gets slapped with Law suit

2007-02-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

Lawfuel.com reports that a suit has been filed against Pokertek Inc. , the manufacturer of automated poker tables. The suit claims that Pokertek, Inc. failed to compensate Tellis (a Texas software company) for developing the software for their table.

You are on NOTICE!

2007-01-28T01:36:00.000-08:00

Lucky You - Movie. Are you gonna see it?

2007-01-26T16:45:00.001-08:00

I deleted my first post because I hadn't realized this movie hasn't been released. It is due to release on May 4. Are you going to see it?

Will it become the next Rounders?

Charity Poker event at Sundance Film Festival

2007-01-26T16:10:00.000-08:00

Reporter Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times Columnist talks about attending the Sundance Film Festival and one of his highlights is playing poker in the tournament sponsored by DoylesRoom.com, an on line poker site.

"Last Sunday afternoon, I played in a charity poker tournament in a mansion tucked into the mountains. After watching the Bears manhandle the Saints on the flat-screen TVs, I bluffed Todd Brunson out of a pot. Behind me, a woman survived an all-in with 2007 World Series of Poker runner-up Paul Wasicka, as "That '70s Show" star Danny Masterson looked on. At the next table, Lance Bass was facing off in a hand against WSOP champion Jamie Gold.

Some of the best Sundance moments have nothing to do with the movies. "

The next Texas Hold'em?

2007-01-26T15:34:00.000-08:00

After living in Texas where sometimes you see and hear things that make you scratch your head, I am comforted in the fact the same is true in the Midwest. Granted, not as often, but it's nice to see it is everywhere.

I refer to the article "This game is no child's play" published in The Courier News, a member of the Sun-Times News Group (“STNG”)serving 120 communities across Chicago.(www.thesuntimesgroup.com).

In the article the writer refers to a popular game in the midwest called Cornhole as "The next Texas Hold'em". Wow. Have you ever heard of the game Cornhole? Ok, I can tell you I never heard of the game cornhole until a friend of ours started a business to manufacture and sell them on the internet. The game is basically trowing bags full of corn kernels at a board with a hole in it. In Texas they play a game very similar called Washers or sometimes called Texas Horseshoes. You guessed it, they throw big washers across the yard at a board with holes in it. Guess what? I hadn't heard of that game prior to moving to Texas and I'll bet many of you reading probably have never heard of it before.

I am just wondering if "the next Texas Holdem" will ever catch on like the first one. I just can't wait to be able to watch the tournaments on ESPN while I am playing at my next Texas Holdem Game.

Felony poker playing in Washington State might change

2007-01-26T14:50:00.000-08:00

If you are playing online poker right now in Washington State, you are committing a Class C Felony. That's on the same level of crime as child pornograpy.

Hopefully, HB1243 will change that.

HB1243 was referred to committee in the Washington State Legislature January 15th, 2007. The bill can be read here.
Sponsored by Rep. Chris Strow, the bill would essentially allow you to provide an affirmative defense to procecution if you get busted, when you were playing in your primary residence for your own entertainment. It doesn't prevent you from getting busted in the first place, though.

Representative Strow says, “Most certainly choosing to gamble, or play a game of skill such as poker, should not have been made a crime equivalent to possessing child pornography or threatening the Governor.”

Strow goes on to say in this press release from the Washington State House of Representatives, “While I have requested a hearing on the bill, people need to call and write the chairman of the House Commerce and Labor Committee, Representative Steve Conway, and ask him to schedule a hearing for House Bill 1243,” said Strow. Rep. Conway can be reached at (360) 786-7906 or Conway.steve@leg.wa.gov.

When I lived in Washington, there wasn't any such thing as internet poker. I remember having to drive a good bit to play. I kind of miss that State. It was a great place to live...of course, if I did, I'd probably be a felon now. =)

Skill? Chance? Virgin Poker says let's find out.

2007-01-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.womanpokerplayer.com/news/index.php?/archives/116-Virgin-Poker-issues-challenge-to-prove-that-poker-is-a-game-of-skill.html

I wonder how they prove the person doesn't know how to play.

Underground game busted in NY

2007-01-24T07:48:00.001-08:00

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01242007/news/regionalnews/russian_mob_3_in_poker_bust_regionalnews_stefanie_cohen.htm

Poker Game Leads to Double Homicide - Lee County FL

2007-01-22T20:51:00.000-08:00

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070122/NEWS01/701220334/1075

Eight is Enough

2007-01-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

When is enough, ENOUGH?

An interesting line of thinking came back to me the other day after having played in a 2/5 NLHE ring game at Potawatami Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. During the course of the game there was a player who played with us and was making sure we knew that he had only been playing for 3 months. 99% of which was online.

First off. When a guy sits down at the table and tells me that - I first think….angle shooter. I guess that’s cause I’ve seen so many of them. But after watching him for a bit, it became rather apparent that his statement was indeed true. He wasn’t acting when he didn’t know it was his turn to act.

He called down some hands with …what?!? 7 high??? Did you see that? He called that guy in seat two who has played 3 hands in 2 hours - AA, KK, and KK - when he went all in! With 7 high?!? Please poker gods!! Give me a hand that I can gut him with!

It never came. I had to sit there in agony as player after player gutted him for his stack. “Players Checks!” The good thing about this tournament….unlimited rebuys!

This guy was paying like a broken slot machine. He’d run out of money and he’d say, “I’ll be back”. $400, $200, $300, $250, $200, $200. He finally said he had to go. He said he wasn't happy that he had lost, but that he learned a lot and was still ahead overall. He said next time, he would bring more money. (Here's my cell phone number....call me when you want to play again.)

After he left, one guy says, “Man, I was feeling bad for the guy. He didn’t know what he was doing. I was hoping he wasn’t going to come back.” Wow. REALLY? I must be missing something.

So after pondering this story, I ask; When is enough, enough?

The question is on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin.

When have you lost enough? (Session, week, month, year?)
When has your opponent contributed enough? (or can he?)
When have you won enough? (session, day, week, month, year? To move up to?)
When have you played enough? (hours, days)
When have you sucked out enough? (can you?)
When have you learned enough? (to move up to the next level?)

Ever really thought about these? I haven’t in a while. I think I need to revisit some of them.

Upon Further Review™

2007-01-22T17:53:00.000-08:00

New Poker related Product coming to an airport near you. UPON FURTHER REVIEW™ The new privacy product for your laptop. Play poker at the airport without revealing what you are doing to those around you! Essential when traveling through Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) and Spokane (GEG)!

So I am sitting at Logan International Airport waiting for my departure to Chicago. I've been here all week for business and had planned on getting away a bit early yesterday so I could slide on down and play at Foxwoods. Unfortunately, the combination of getting out of work late, snow fall, a 2.5 hour drive each way to get there, oh and having to ensure I made it to my early morning flight on time was just enough reasons to forego the ride down.

So what does any poker player do when he has a lap top...has an internet connection....is sitting in the boarding area with an hour and a half to kill?

I sit down to play Full Tilt and low and behold I get involved in a hand with a double gutter/flush draw and some guy is lead betting top pair on the flop....with an all-in move in first position. Of course I just have to call his last $34.00. The turn brought my straight and the river brought my flush. I think to myself...sucker...and then I hear a little cheer from behind me. (OK, maybe it was just a groan, but it clearly was in response to the outcome of the hand.) It seems that I had attracted a little crowd who was sweating my play.

Well if you have ever played with me, you will know that I just HATE someone sweating me. Call it superstition; call it insecurity; call it trying to keep my play a mystery; what ever you want to call it...I call it annoying. Not only does it make me feel like my every move is being scrutinized, it also let's people get poker lessons for free.

The next thing I know, this guy is telling his collegue that he wouldn't have played it that way, that I was a typical internet player who gets rewared for bad play. Huh? I'm not quite sure how I could have played it any differently other than to fold. And if I had done that, I wouldn't have learned how inexperienced you are. You can play with me anytime.......

But now I had to move, because I wasn't giving this guy anymore free lessons. Funny thing is, I kind of think he would not have learned anything from me as it was....since he clearly didn't get the concept of how the game works. Or is it I have a warped sense of how to play...maybe that's it.

Let's check the replay.....

Alien vs Predator Poker

2007-01-20T09:02:00.001-08:00

Wonder what they would do if they took a bad beat.

News Clip on Jacksonville Poker Game Bust (1/15/07)

2007-01-20T09:01:00.001-08:00

Robbery of poker game leads to game being busted.

Why did you raise so much? Donkey.

2007-01-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

I was recently playing in a 2/5 NLHE game. The table was fairly tight until we accomodated 11 players when we squeezed in 2 Asian kids who were known to give lots of action. Up until this point in the game, a $25 pot was a large pot. After about 20 mins, the game began to loosen up, and it was becomming the kind of game in which my style of play works best.

One of these players was in early postion and raised preflop to $15. There were 4 callers in front of me and so when the action came to me, I found As9h in my hand and smoothed called. Two more called behind me.

The flop came 10s. 8s. 7s. The initial raiser led bet with $51. Two players reluctantly called and 2 dropped out. Having the A high flush draw and open end straight, I decided to narrow the field as the original better only had another $80 in front of him - so I raised the pot to $250.
The two players behind me quickly dropped and the initial raiser called all in with his $80. The two remaining players in between us each folded, albeit reluctantly. It was now heads up and I was guaranteed to see the next two cards without putting in anymore money.

The player turned over Js7h - having the NUT flush draw and bottom pair. He was currently ahead but by my calculations, I was a favorite to win the hand. Unfortunately, I didn't hit and the younger player more than doubled at my expense.

It was then after the hand was over that an older gentleman immediately in front of me who was in to see the flop said, "Why did you raise so much? Weren't you afraid of getting called?"
I said, "He only had $80 more to call with."
To which he replied, "yeah, so why raise it so much? There were people behind you."
To which I said, "yeah, and they only had $15 committed to the pot."
To which he replied, " not the guys who already called the $51."
To which I replied, "you said behind me, not in front, sir. "
To which he said, "You weren't afraid of them calling?"
To which I just said, "No".
He then went on to mumble something like about being a moron, who didn't know I was beat and was just throwing away money.

Yes, that's it...I was throwing away money. Or could it be that he doesn't understand how to play NLHE? NO, couldn't be that....I must just be a big DONKEY.

What do you think?

Illegal Casino Raided In North Carolina

2007-01-12T09:29:00.000-08:00

http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=251702

Poker Tournament Robbed in Pittsburgh

2007-01-12T09:18:00.001-08:00

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06362/749592-56.stm

Poker Game Robbed in San Marcos, Texas

2007-01-12T09:16:00.001-08:00

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA121406.05B.armed.robberies.2efb930.html

Police Raid Poker Game In Gainsville, GA

2007-01-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/stories/20070111/localnews/149188.shtml

Denver Poker Bust

2007-01-12T09:09:00.000-08:00

http://www.cbs4denver.com/video/?id=25624@kcnc.dayport.com

Chicago - my kind of town

2007-01-12T08:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've put anything here. I wonder if any of you even come here anymore. No matter. I never really cared who read or didn't read this blog anyways. Although I know of at least on person who would email me regulary to tell me to update. But even he has stopped emailing me as my blog wasn't updated for months. I guess I never wanted this thing to be a chore, but rather an outlet for the creative side of my brain. Not that I was very creative here, but it did allow me to throw some thoughts on paper so to speak.

At any rate, alot of changes have happened in my world since I last posted. I've accepted a transfer within the company I work for and have moved from Texas to Illinois. I will miss Austin for a few reasons, although the one that tops the list is I will miss all of the friends and poker players I have made and played with in my time in that town.

I now reside in the very far northwest suburbs of Chicago. In fact, we are so far out, I sometimes wonder if saying we live in Chicagoland is even accurate. I'm not sure what the official radius of Chicagoland incorporates, but I would have to think we are either outside it or right on the edge.

In my short time here, I believe I already have a fair picture of the poker scene here. There are casinos all over the place, but not all offer live poker. Within about a 2-3 hour drive there must be 8 or 9 casinos, some of them are indian, some are not. Of course the closest one to me doesn't offer live poker...go figure. But within a 2 hour drive there are 2 casinos that do. The shortest drive would be to Potawatimi Casino which is actually in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The only casino in Northern Illinois that has poker is Hollywood Casino in Aurora, but it is a small room of 6 tables and about a two hour drive for me. Probably the best casinos for poker action are in Indiana: Resorts (formerly Harrahs, formerly Showboat) and Majestic Star and Majestic Star II. However, these could be anywhere from 3-4 hour drive for me depending on traffic in and around Chicago.

There is also Rockford Charity Games, which is a traveling casino night for various charities. I've been to several of these and they offer lots of action, both tournament and cash games. This is a great way for charities to raise funds and allow poker players to play poker. They are usually held in the northwest suburbs of Chicago or in and around Rockford. They tend to be the closest organized games for me to go to.

Lastly there are home games. Home games here seem to be a tad different than in Texas, but fundamentally the same. I've been to 4 different locales since I have been here, and all of them leave something to be desired. There are loads more, but I seem to be having a hard time finding any way out here where we live. The closest I have found is about 15 miles from me, which isn't a bad drive at all, but it is on a night that I can't always play.

I haven't found a single home game that has any kind of security. But I guess not enough games here have been robbed to necessitate game runners from instituting it. Besides, if you want security, I guess you can just go to a casino. And there is always the unlikely chance that a home game will get raided too. Of course, I am told no one can remember a home game getting busted here in many years.

Until....

Just this week, a home game was busted in Loves Park, Illinois (west of Chicago outside the city of Rockford). I don't know much about the game or who ran it, I've never played there. Of course "home game" is a bit of a misnomer here as I believe this game was operating on commerical property. Players tell me that the police took all of the poker items - tables, chips, etc. - and all of the cash....including whatever players had in their wallets and pockets at the time of the raid. (I wonder if all of the money actually made it into evidence. ) Some players believe another game turned this game in...eliminating competition. I can't say for sure, I don't really know, so your guess is as good as mine, but it does sound likely. The incident hasn't gained any press but you can be sure it is talked about quite a bit in poker circles.

It seems to me, that we will be reading and hearing about more and more busts as time goes on, since poker has become so popular. I also expect to hear about more robberies as would be robbers find poker games to be an easy target.

I'll take a shot

2006-06-05T00:23:00.000-07:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 9704796

Is it hot or is the heater on?

2006-06-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

I played at Sandia Casino and Resort last week while in Albuquerque on business and while sitting in a 1/2 NLHE game, I heard a fellow make an interesting comment. I should probably fill you in on a bit of detail so you can understand the significance of his comment.

The game was mostly tight with a maybe three loose cannons in the game (myself being one of the three). The game being 1/2 NL had a min buy in of $50 and a max of $200. The table was being fed by a must move game, so the stacks were relatively large compared to the must move table. I think most players had $400+ in front of them. The gentleman in question was definitely a solid player with plenty of experience. When I came to the table, he was the chip leader with about $900 in front of him. He wore glasses and a ball cap, and his facial features were so similar to a celebrity that a new player that took a seat next to me asked me; “Are we playing celebrity poker?”. I asked him why and he said, “Cause that guy down there looks just like Steve Martin.” Looking again, I had to agree with him, he did look like Steve Martin. He certainly seemed to have the demeanor of Steve Martin, constantly smiling and joking. Except for the fact that he had all of the money on the table, I think he was a pretty likable fellow.

Steve Martin seemed to make some pretty remarkable connections too. For example, he top pair, but made a gut shot straight on the river while an opponent had flopped top two pair. He later made another straight on the turn when his opponent had flopped a set of Aces. Resistance is futile and their stacks were assimilated. Sitting on about, $1500 now, he was all smiles.

The fellow beside him is a regular at this casino, I’ve played with him on every business trip to Albuquerque now. He is an average player in my opinion, who’s strongest point is playing aggressively in position. He leans over to Steve Martin and says, “You’re pretty lucky tonight. It’s been a while since I’ve had that kind of luck.” Steve Martin turns and says, “I think people make their own luck.”

Later that night, I sat and pondered on that statement, “… people make their own luck.” After some reflection and observations, I am inclined to agree with Steve, at least in part. People do make their own luck, good or bad.

The statement is true in everything, not just poker. Take if you will a person who loses their luggage on a flight. Bad luck, right? Maybe. I fly quite often and every once in a while, my bag is mishandled. In fact, on the return trip from Albuquerque, I sat at the carousel to no avail. My bag was somewhere in baggage land. My wife says that I am unlucky as my bag does seem to get mishandled a lot. But, am I unlucky or not? If I didn’t check my bag, there is a very good likelihood that my bag will not get lost. However, I chose to check my bag, therefore I provided the opportunity for it to get lost. Additionally, I fly a lot more than the casual flyer, therefore, there is a greater likelihood that my bag will get lost because I fly more often. Additionally, I had a connection in DFW. Anytime you fly with a connection, and especially in a major airport, you again increase your likelihood to have a bag get lost. So was I unlucky? Probably; but I suspect not as unlucky as one might think.

In poker, a player can influence how their game is going to be just by their demeanor and table image to the other players. If I bet more aggressively and with such authority that I instill fear in my opponents (because “he must have the nuts”) I have a much greater likelihood of winning this hand and the next with this image. However, on the flip side, if I am making crying calls and show a sullen despondent table image, I am more likely going to lose as weaker hands who would otherwise have folded now are inclined to call.

Have you ever been on a Heater? You know; when it doesn’t matter what cards you have, you are going to win this hand and the next 4 of 5 hands. Is it luck? Maybe. A skilled player will recognize when the conditions are ripe for a player to go on a heater. It usually happens when there is a large pot and the player who is a severe underdog to win the hand, makes an incredible call to win a huge pot. Was he lucky? Maybe, or maybe he had the right pot odds to call. In either case, he is setting the stage to go on a heater. After winning a large pot, he plays the next hand regardless of what it is. He catches a bit of the board and bets aggressively. He narrowly wins, but wins this pot all the same. All of a sudden the chemistry is just right for a heater to happen. Players are back on their heels; the hero has a large infusion of confidence and bets accordingly. Others who enter the pot on draws throw away piles of chips when their draws don’t come to fruition. Starting hands of the opponents are less than desirable, so they start to tighten up and start mucking more often. Yet the guy on the heater continues to gain more confidence and bets even more aggressively. Both have the effect of reducing the field and increasing the chances of winning. He continues to win pot after pot. The next thing you know, he wins like 8 out of the next 10 pots and his chip stack grows exponentially. It happens, I’ve been on them, I’ve seen others on them. But why does it happen? Is it just dumb luck? Or maybe the player made his own luck by being aggressive, narrowing the playing field, and making draws exceedingly expensive to try and hit. What do you think?

Legal Public Competitive Poker in Texas

2006-05-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

Will it happen any time soon?

Greg Abbott, State Attorney General of Texas, issued an opinion nearly a year ago on June 20, 2005 regarding the legality of playing poker tournaments in bars and restaurants. The opinion was prompted by a letter from the Ector County District Attorney, John W. Smith, requesting the Attorney General’s opinion on the legality of playing poker tournaments in two distinctly different scenarios.

In the first scenario, a bar hosts a poker tournament in which all of the entrants pay an entry fee or buy in. The fee being of equal or greater value than $25, is pooled and then divided among the winning entries; be it 3, 5, 7 or whatever, depending upon the total number of entrants. In other words, you pay $25, which goes into the pot to be won by the top 3 or more. In this scenario, the bar or house does not remove any money from the pot – every dollar which was paid in is paid out to the winners. Is it legal?

No. Why? Because, the bar would be operating a gambling place according to the opinion, in which players are placing a bet on a game in which the outcome is determined by chance or at least partially by chance (until proven otherwise).

How about scenario 2? In this scenario, the same bar hosts a poker tournament in which the entrants do not pay anything. It costs nothing to enter. It’s free. The tournament maybe a one time tournament or a progressive one in which the winners of each qualifying tournament earn seats into a final tournament. In either case, winners receive gifts of varying value. It could be a t-shirt; it could be a gift certificate. In a progressive tournament, the overall winner could win a seat into a major tournament event such as the WSOP. Is it legal?

Yes. Why? Because the bar operators are not operating a gambling place since the entrants did not bet anything (entry was free!) and therefore were not gambling.

Alright! We can legally play in free bar tournaments.

This opinion is a good thing for poker as an industry in Texas. These free tournaments introduce many players to the joys of playing poker for only a little investment of time. It is a breeding ground for new players when you think about it. It’s a great way to learn how to play, have fun, maybe win a prize, and you can’t lose anything. Even well experienced players enjoy playing them because it’s an easy way to try and win prizes as one might feel their skill and experience will give them the edge to beat out their novice opponents.

The opinion however would seem to seal the fate of buy-in tournaments in a public place in which players can win money. The same is likely true for ring games. Although the opinion does not directly address ring or cash games, one might figure that if an entry fee into a tournament is considered a bet, so would the buy-in to a ring game.

Has anyone in this state taken a look around? Poker is everywhere. Competitive LEGAL poker is being played all around Texas. Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, and now Mexico have legal competitive poker being played for money. Yet Texas remains staunchly committed to stand up against the evils all around our borders. Texas is a state of high moral fiber, devoutly religious, and considers gambling to be wrong, immoral, and sinful.

Well, except horse racing. We’ll let you do a little betting on the track. But there can only be so many tracks allowed. We don’t want them all over the place you know.

Oh, and we do have a heart, so you can spend all you want on a chance to win those money prizes at your local charity bingo hall.

What’s that? The lottery? Well, yeah; I forgot, we have one of those too, with scratch off tickets available also. In fact, we know poker is so popular; we named one of our scratch ticket games after the popular game Texas Holdem. The TEXAS lottery – TEXAS Holdem; see the similarities? It’s almost as if the poker game was named after our State! Besides, you can’t loose your house playing those. I mean they are only a dollar or two, right?

I still am trying to figure what it is about gambling that is so immoral.

Is it because it is immoral to win something for nothing based on a game in which the outcome is determined by chance, or at least is determined partially by chance? Wait, that can’t be defined as gambling because you didn’t make a bet if it was for nothing. See the Attorney General of Texas opinion, previously mentioned.

Maybe we don’t allow gambling because it is immoral to make a wager to win more than what you wagered on a game in which the outcome is determined by chance, or at least is determined partially by chance. No, that can’t be immoral. Otherwise, all of our churches who have bingo halls would be doing something immoral and we know that isn’t the case. Otherwise, we would then have to classify bingo as a game of skill with no possibility of chance determining the outcome.

Perhaps it is because it is immoral to make a profit from operating a game in which money lost on the outcome of a game that is determined by chance, or is at least partially determined by chance. In other words, it’s immoral to make a profit from the loses of participants for hosting or providing the opportunity for such a game to take place, regardless if the profit was made directly or indirectly from the game. That’s it, the profits are immoral.

OK, let me get this straight, if you make a profit off of operating or providing the opportunity for gambling to take place it’s immoral, UNLESS we call the profits charity or taxes, in which case everything is ok.

Isn’t all of this just so very silly?

Will poker ever be legal to play in public card rooms in Texas similar to other states? Not as long as we fight over whether poker is a game of chance or a game of skill. I personally think it is a game of chance played with skill. What does that mean? It means that a skilled player can use the tools of the game more effectively to gain advantage and win than a player who is not as skilled in the same situations.

Skill or chance, who cares? Defining poker as a skilled game will never happen. So it isn’t even worth anyone’s time in trying to do so.

The only way to get legal public card rooms in Texas is to change the law. Let’s do a little education. Remember school house rock? http://www.school-house-rock.com/Bill.html

The law which needs to be changed is part of the Texas Constitution. The Texas Constitution is not an easy document to change. The process goes something like this:

Someone writes a bill which hopefully becomes law one day. A State Senator can sponsor a bill to the Senate. Likewise, a State Congressman can sponsor a bill to the House of Representatives.

Once the bill is submitted, it goes to committee. A committee is made up of legislators who then decide if a bill is worthy of being sent to the floor for a vote. They can edit the bill, send it back to be re-written, or submit it to the floor. Most bills die in committee. The floor could send it back to committee or vote to pass it or kill it. If they vote to pass it, it gets sent to the other house for consideration and goes through a similar committee process. Once a bill is approved by both houses, it goes to the Governor for signing. There are time constraints all along the way. For example, the Governor has 10 days to sign it. He can either veto it, or not sign it. In either case, it would go back to the Legislature which would require a 2/3 majority vote to override the veto. After all of that, it goes to the people to vote on.

I have left out a lot of details to simplify the process. Even still, you can see that to change the law will require a monumental effort. Can it be done? Yes, but not likely in the next session, and perhaps not in the session after that. Why?

Because our legislators believe that the voting public does not want poker to be legalized. Did you read that last line correctly? I didn’t say the public, I said the VOTING public. Are you registered to vote?

Poker players tend to be very passionate people, especially when it comes to poker. But the truth is, most of them aren’t even registered to vote. If all of the poker players united, under one voice or organization, donated tax deductible money to the organization to generate the funds to hire lobbyists, and more importantly, these players were ALL registered to vote, we could change things.

The organization would give the players an orchestrated voice, the direction to move as an organized body. However, it is the individual REGISTERED players who would have the most influence.
If every Texas resident poker player did these four things:

1. REGISTER TO VOTE!
2. Write or call your legislator and told them you want them to legalize poker.
3. Tell your legislators that to receive your vote for their re-election depends on them voting for pro-poker legislation.
4. Join a common organization who’s fundamental purpose is to legalize poker in Texas.

We could legalize poker in Texas.

I had mentioned in a previous post a few organizations that were working on this endeavor of legalizing poker in Texas. The first was Texans for Poker. The organization floundered and I believe it is now defunct. The second is the Texas Card Players Association. (Website still under construction.) This group formed last fall and have only just elected a board of directors. Lastly, there is the Texas Poker PAC. They have partnered with the TCPA in a joint effort to legalize poker. These two organizations are still somewhat in their infancy. Considering the TCPA formed nearly 9 months ago shows slow progress, but progress none the less. While I am hopeful that they will champion the cause, I am cautiously hopeful.

In the mean time, if you are a poker player who is not registered to vote you can help out immediately by going and getting registered. And don’t give the excuse that you don’t want to register because you will get snagged for jury duty! The truth is that you can get snagged for jury duty even if you aren’t registered to vote.

We all need to band together to even have a chance to force change!

This confirms I belong in Ireland

2006-05-13T03:28:00.000-07:00

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions.
You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Farewell to a Great Man. George Stephen

2006-05-13T02:02:00.000-07:00

I am sure those who knew George, also knows he passed away April 27th. His obituary was printed on Sunday May 7th in the Austin American-Statesman. I've also posted it below.

I met George at a poker game probably 7 or 8 years ago and have played with him many times since. He was a very respected man whom I found to have a great sense of humor, a fierce competitiveness, extremely intelligent, and out right fun to play with. While my only interactions with him were primarily poker related, I knew him to be a man who I am sorry that I only knew in his twilight years.

One of George’s friend (and long-time fellow poker player) and I were reminiscing about him and some of his poker antics tonight. He was telling me about his conversation with George when he last saw him not long before his passing. George stated, “You know, if I hadn’t chased all of them damned straights and flushes all those years, I’d finished a winning player.”

George; in my book you did finish a winner. Farewell. Fair winds, and following seas.

George A. Stephen died at his home in Austin in the company of his family on April 27, 2006. He was a nationally-recognized tax lawyer and authority on civil and criminal tax fraud. Until his final illness, he was in private law practice in Austin and Washington, DC. He had retired in 1973 as Chief, Intelligence Division, United States Internal Revenue Service, based in Austin. During his 25 year career with the IRS, he was twice given Outstanding Performance Awards and at retirement received the Albert Gallatin Award, the Department of Treasury's highest career service honor, conferred by US Treasury Secretary George P. Shultz. He earlier received a Special Commendation by US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy for outstanding achievement in the extended federal investigations of the US Task Force on Racketeering and Organized Crime. George was a visiting lecturer on civil and criminal tax fraud at the University of Texas School of Business and Texas Junior Bar Association and a seminar instructor in financial investigative techniques for the Texas Department of Public Safety Investigative Training Schools. He was past chairman of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and former chairman of the Board of Directors of the Government Employees Federal Credit Union. George received a BBA degree from the University of Texas at Austin and completed all accounting courses for an MBA there. He received a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from South Texas College of Law, Houston. He had earlier completed 3-1/2 years of Texas A&M's 5-year petroleum engineering degree program when he was drafted after Pearl Harbor. He was commissioned by the US Army Air Corps as a Bombardier Navigator at Kelly Field, San Antonio. After graduating from Pan American World Airways Advanced Navigation College at Homestead, Florida, he flew in bombers and multiengine aircraft in combat in every WWII theater of war. He also served as a special consultant on fuel-conservational transoceanic and transpolar route planning. Later, he was among the volunteers who flew the "Hump" over the Himalayas between India and China to supply Chinese and Russian Allies. Following the end of WWII, "five years, a wife, and one baby later," as he often said, he began college anew at UT while working full time as a radio news and sports announcer. George was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, July 14, 1920. As a youth, he lived in five Texas and Oklahoma cities as the family followed his father's oil business. He attended San Jacinto High School in Houston as a freshman, where he drew attention on the track team as a prospective Olympics high hurdler. When the East Texas oilfields boomed, he moved with his family to Kilgore, where he starred as an all-regional basketball player and left end on the championship football team at Kilgore High School and met his future wife, LaVerne Anding. He was preceded in death by his parents, John Earnest Stephen and Vida Klein Stephen; his wife of 53 years, LaVerne (MiMi) Anding Stephen; and his son, David Darden Stephen. Survivors in his immediate family are his brother, John Erle Stephen of Austin; granddaughter Sarah Stephen and daughter-in-law Jeanna Hamilton Stephen of Bulverde; niece Leslie Stephen and her husband, Anthony L. Renzi, of Austin; nephew Kurt Stephen and his wife, Victoria Shawn Stephen, of McAllen; and great-nieces Elyse Stephen and Sophia Stephen and great-nephew Alexander Stephen, all of McAllen. George was admired for the intelligence, insight, and integrity he brought to all his dealings and relationships. He had a fun-loving spirit and wit, and his wisdom and generosity enriched the lives of many friends and relations. He was a fierce competitor at bridge, chess, and poker, which he played regularly until a few weeks before his death. He supported many charities as an Honorary Member of the Stephen F. Austin Chapter-Order of DeMolay, Honorary Lifetime Member of the Elks, 25 year member of Hill City Lodge No. 456 AF&AM, Scottish Rite Mason-32nd Degree, and sponsor of activities of the Austin Area Boy Scouts and Vaughn House, Inc. He also was a director of the Austin Area Garden Council and organized the Austin Rose Society, serving three terms as its president. A Life Member of the University of Texas Ex-Students Association and Member of the UT Longhorn Club, his other memberships included the Travis County Bar Association, American Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, American Judicature Society, Association of Former Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service, Austin Chess Club, Texas Chess Association, and US Chess Federation. George's family is grateful to all the dedicated professionals who cared for him over the past eighteen months, most especially to Angie Richter, Ida Sparks, and Ernest Valle, and to the huge circle of friends and professional associates who showed their love and respect for him in so many ways. In keeping with his wishes, George was cremated and his remains will be buried privately by the family at Lake Side Cemetery, Eagle Lake, Texas; a farewell gathering of his friends and family will be held in Austin on June 7th at 4:30 p.m. in the Amphitheater at Laguna Gloria. Memorial contributions may be made to Vaughn House, Inc., of Austin; Houston Shriners Hospital for Children; or Scottish Rite Learning Center of Austin. Published in the Austin American-Statesman on 5/7/2006..

You're so Jaded

2006-05-13T01:46:00.000-07:00

I am sometimes amazed at how poker players think. In some ways, we are so jaded when it comes to the value of money. Perhaps the old adage fits the bill here: Penny Wise - Pound Foolish.

Case in point: Sitting at a table in Las Vegas last week and the conversation turned to oil and the rising prices of gas. Players at the table offered up the amounts they had recently paid for a gallon of gasoline. The players being from different locations around the country clearly showed that gasoline prices were higher all over. Regardless of location, prices are clearly reaching $3.00 a gallon and more in some areas.

“It used to cost me about $35 to fill up my tank. I just filled up on the way to the airport before flying to Vegas and it cost me almost $50! It’s ridiculous how much money these big oil companies are making!” The player making this statement was clearly angry for having to spend so much more money to fill up his gas tank.

Let’s assume that his vehicle gets 400 miles between fill ups. I believe most vehicles get between 350 and 450 miles between fill ups depending upon their size and function. 400 seems like an appropriate number to base our assumptions on. In real terms that would mean he went from paying 8 cents a mile to fuel his vehicle to 12 cents per mile, or…$15. Come on! Are you serious? $15? Hell, how far will a taxi take you for $15?

Yet these same players were buying and re-buying into the game for HUNDREDS of dollars. I made a point to ask the guy when he bet $75 into me on a particular hand, “$75? Your hand is worth a tank and a half of gas?” To which he replied sheepishly, “uh, call me and I guess we’ll see.” I didn’t call him, but some else did, much to his dismay.

I guess it all comes down to how much value you place on things. Apparently bluffing at a pot for $75 must have more value than the extra $15 it cost him to fuel up his vehicle. Luckily I can see the silver lining for him. At least when he bluffs off all of his money, he is guaranteed to get home from the airport since his vehicle has a full tank of gas. Surely having that feeling of security is worth the extra $15. Don’t you think so?

Are you drunk or do you always talk this much?

2006-05-12T12:06:00.000-07:00

I was playing at a game last night where there was an older gentleman who was rather inebriated. He was having a good time and winning some big pots. He also was VERY talkative. His slurred words and unsolicited opinions seemed to be annoying a few players at my end of the table. I personally liked him being this way – he was providing all kinds of action, raising pre-flop, straddling, and betting with apparent abandonment. He was definitely playing loose, but I think some of the players were underestimating his ability to discern where he stood in hands and he was cleaning up rather nicely – or at least his growing chip stack seemed to support such a notion.

At any rate, after a rather long diatribe about something which none of us could quite comprehend I stated, “Well; it could be worse.”

To which a fellow player asked, “What? Like if there were two of them?”

A Wiggly Good Time

2006-05-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

I recently returned from a family trip to fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. We took our daughter and her Grandparents joined us for 4 of the 6 days we were there. We kind of scheduled this trip around taking our daughter to see The Wiggles in concert. They were performing at the Thomas & Mack Center.

If you don’t have kids, you probably have no idea who The Wiggles are. I can tell you I didn’t know who they were 2 years ago. Kids are addicted to their funny antics, catching songs, and wiggly dances that they perform. They hail from Australia and families came from all over to see them. We heard one woman “bragging” that they had come from Virginia just to see the Wiggles. Their US tour will take them to many cities, but Las Vegas was just the right place for us to see them.

We arrived on Sunday and while I watched our daughter, my wife went off to play blackjack. She loves to play blackjack and doesn’t get to do so very often, so I wanted to be sure she could get some play in. We later learned that it is not at all uncommon for parents to just leave their kids unsupervised in their hotel room while mom and dad run off to the tables. Personally, I think this is criminal and couldn’t imagine a parent doing such a thing.

At any rate, it wasn’t until 9am on Monday morning that I was able to play my first hand of poker. I walked over to the Bellagio and signed up for a single table satellite to their $500 buy in daily tournament. The buy in was $130, and the top two received a seat. I busted out 4th. Incidentally, John H. was in the same satellite and we were able to catch up on his adventures since moving to Vegas last summer.

After I busted out, things seemed kind of slow at Bellagio, so I headed over to Caesars where the World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit events were taking place. I really wanted to play in Event 8. ($1000 +60 buy in NLHE on Wed) They run single table satellites all day every day so I entered a $130 single table which paid the winner 2 $500 tournament entry chips and $170 in cash. Unfortunately, I busted out 4th again. This trip was definitely not starting out the way I wanted.

After busting out of my second satellite, I decided to try my hand in the cash games and promptly bought into a 2/5 NLHE game. A couple of buy ins later, I walked out of Caesars having lost nearly every hand I played. I was beginning to question whether I should even play anymore the rest of the trip.

I walked back over to Harrah’s were we were staying and decided to play some blackjack. While blackjack is not my favorite game to play, I do like to play occasionally. After a couple of hours of playing, I doubled my money and cashed out. Even so, I was still down over $700 for the day.

My wife’s parents flight was severely delayed, so while we waited on their arrival, we decided to take a stroll on the strip. We walked from Harrahs north to the Wynn and back to Harrahs taking in sights along the way. We then headed south to Belagio to see the fountains and maybe catch Leslie on a break while there.

This was Monday May 1st and the illegal immigrant march was taking place as we started to head to Bellagio. There were so many people in this march, when you stood on one of the bridges over Las Vegas Blvd, you saw a sea of people in both directions. I don’t know how many showed up, but there had to be in the neighborhood of 100,000 marchers. The march lasted nearly 2 hours. I wonder how Las Vegas would operate if all these people were “sent back” as some have suggested.

I awoke Tuesday morning (Wiggles day) and decided to head down to see what was going on in Harrah’s poker room. But on my way, I heard it calling to me. You see I don’t really play slot machines. Truthfully, they are nearly the worst thing you can play in a casino, but there is one machine which calls to me and I must answer the call. I usually play $100 a trip in these machines and as I had to pass right by them to get to Harrah’s poker room, which means I had to stop. WHEEL OF FORTUNE! There is just something about getting that wheel spin. After 20 mins and blowing the $100, I walked into the Harrahs poker room just as they were starting a $50 tournament. So I bought in. I didn’t realize that this was a re-buy tournament and that there was absolutely no way I could finish it (if I were that lucky) since the concert started in 3 hours. It’s a good thing anyways, as I couldn’t stand this tournament. The dealers treated the players like morons. Well, that was because half of the table was made up of very inexperienced players who had no clue as to what was going on. Normally, this would be a good thing, as they have virtually no shot at winning the tournament. But I found that my patience was worn thin as every hand was a lesson on how to play a tournament. I know you have to start somewhere, but damned this was just too painful to sit and play. There were 3 ladies at this table who had only seen poker on TV and had never actually played before. You can imagine how slow and agonizing the hands were. All the while, knowing that I had to leave before the tournament would finish, I decided I was not going to re-buy and that I should probably just bust out for my own sanity’s sake.

I went back to the blackjack table and waited on the family to come down for lunch. When they came down, I cashed out (for a loss) so we could eat lunch before we headed over to see the Wiggles. If you are trying to keep track, I was down over $1100 for the trip. Thankfully, my wife had booked some wins at blackjack, so we were positive overall, but the losses weren’t helping my ego any.

After the show, Grandma and Grandpa took over babysitting so we could both go play. I headed over to Caesars and my wife stayed to play BJ at Harrahs. Still wanting to play in Event 8, I entered another single table satellite. This one was for $200. The winner got 3 $500 chips, plus $310 in cash. When we were down to two players, we chopped the pot. I took 2 $500 chips for my tournament entry into event 8 plus $140 in cash, the other guy got the other $500 chip and the rest of the cash.

Feeling good about my win and wanting to get plenty of rest before the tournament, I headed back to Harrahs where I found my wife still playing BJ. We hadn’t played “together” yet, so I sat down at her table and bought in for $500. She was up quite a bit, so we played together for a while. After some brutal shoes and dumping all of my $500, we cashed out her winnings and headed up for a good nights rest before the tournament.

I entered event 8 and was hopeful to make the money as were the other 210 people that entered. Sadly, it was not meant to be and I went down in a blaze of glory, AKs losing to a gut shot Q on the river to KJd. I am not even sure how far into the field I lasted, there were still more than 100 players left, so I wasn’t even close. Oh well, I’ll try again next time.

After losing so much at no limit, I decided to try some limit poker. I prefer 15/30 and 30/60, and as I hadn’t been to the Wynn poker room, I decided I would give it a shot. I stopped by Harrahs and Grandma, wife, baby, and myself headed over to Wynn. Grandma hadn’t been to the Wynn before and said she wanted to go check it out. We stopped for lunch on the strip and then strolled over to the Wynn. I think Grandma was impressed, as anyone would be. The Wynn is a beautiful casino with perfect attention to every detail.

I got on the list for 15/30 and bid the girls adieu. After about 20 mins, I settled down into the 15/30 game to play. There were some very aggressive players on this table and I had to get out of no limit mode and back into limit poker play. The table was a must move game and the whole time I was there (maybe an hour and a half) the table was short handed. Players were moved to the main table, others sat out, walked away, or just cashed out. At one point we were 4 handed for about 20 mins with 2 players missing from the table. I finally decided to book the win before I blinded it all off. I cashed out +$106. Wooohooo! I finally won at poker. Hell, that only left me down -$1900 for the trip. Things were looking up!

I left the Wynn and jumped into a cab to head back over to Caesars. When I arrived, the room was packed. The tournament was down to about 15 or so players, plus they had started the second chance tournament at 7:00pm. It was nearly 8pm and I decided to try my chances at no limit again. I bought into a 2/5 nlhe game for $300. As players busted out of the tournament, they would fill seats that were occasionally vacated by busted players in our 2/5 game. I was doing ok, up about $180 or so around midnight. I considered calling it a night, but this guy sat down at our table and I saw him make a bold steal. He showed his hand of 67o and I decided I was going to take his stack.

Reminiscent of my trip to Vegas in March of ’05, I ordered a chilled Tuaca to loosen things up. One of the players at the table then turned me on to a drink called an oatmeal cookie (Baileys/Butterscotch Schnapps/Goldschlager). After a few of these, I wasn’t feeling any pain. I then proceeded to go on a run of cards you get when the deck hits you square between the eyes. What made things even better is that many of the players thought I was being “over aggressive” in my inebriated state – how wrong they were. A local who was playing with us said, “You are unbelievable! You’ve knocked out like a dozen players.” My chip stacks steadily grew. One player even pointed out that I had a “dirty stack”. I responded by saying, “I know. That’s my nickname. Dirty Stacks.”

I must have tipped out over $400 to the dealers/chip runners/floor people. One particular chip runner named Tej, became a personal assistant of mine if you will. I informed him that every time we had an empty seat, it was his job to get it filled. I rewarded him handsomely and his tokes were probably better than he had ever received as a chip runner.

The dealers were all my friends too. (Funny how that happens when you are throwing tokes around.) On one particular hand, I was getting a massage from one of the massage therapists that work the room, and I looked down to find KJd in my hand. I raised preflop and the board came QJ8 with 2 diamonds. I made a small bet and my target stack raised me. There were 3 callers when it got back to me so I went all in to isolate. He called. I told the dealer (Patches) if he hits this hand he was getting 10%. I wonder if he believed me as he was getting pushed as soon as the hand was completed. There was no waiting for the diamond and I told him I’d get him after I counted the size the pot. It took a while to count the pot down as my manual dexterity seemed to be non-existent at this point in the night. With the help of a couple of the players, we determined that I owed Patches $65.00. So I cut out $65.00 in red chips and walked, err, stumbled, over to the table he was on and plopped the handful of chips into his shirt pocket with the familiar clanking that only true clay chips can make. I then said, “I told you, 10% - I’m a man of my word.”

Later still receiving my massage, Patches came over to join in giving me a massage. I am sure all of the players at my table were either entertained by all of this or completely in raged that some drunk ass is winning all of the money, and getting all of the attention. I didn’t care what they thought though – in fact, I probably wasn’t coherent enough to even know that anyone was steaming.

After winning another large pot, I decided I was going to toke ALL of the dealers and stumbled to every table in play and toked every dealer dealing, and then the girls at the cage, and then the floor persons, the girl who maintained the wait list, even a nice Hispanic fellow who was wiping down tables. Hell, “It’s not my money!” I exclaimed. “Share the wealth!”

Around 3:00am, I determined that I should stop drinking as my trips to the rest room became more frequent and more difficult….as I couldn’t walk straight anymore. I decided it was time to call it a night and go. How much did I win? I wasn’t sure as all of my stacks were dirty and I wasn’t in any condition to rack them up. So my personal assistant, Tej, racked up all of my chips for me. I told him I had bought in for $300 and he said, well, you’ve had a good night – I count you at $3,120.00.

Call it $3,100 and keep the $20.

Finally, I was in the black, for the trip.

But then came the time to pay for my foolishness. I exited out an emergency exit as a short cut and the wave of alcohol hit me like a tidal wave. After puking 3 times in the bushes, I staggered back to Harrahs to sleep it off. It’s a wonder I actually made it. Wondering through the casino, I ran into my wife and family. Thank goodness. She guided me up to bed.

Well, I didn’t really get any sleep. I was soooooo sick for the next 12-14 hours I could barely do anything but run back and forth to the restroom. We were scheduled to fly out this day and there was just no way I could fly. So we extended our trip for another day. (Maybe that was my plan all along!)

The rest of the trip was rather benign, although I did get to play one more 3 hour session Friday night before we headed off to the airport. It was a worthwhile session as I booked another win for just over $500. So all in all, it was a good trip. Baby got to see the Wiggles, Grandma won playing BJ with my wife, Grand parents spent time with their granddaughter, I won, my wife won, we paid for our room and Grandparents room in cash, covered all of our expenses and came home with more money than we left with. What more could you ask for on a trip to Vegas?

Breakfast of Champions

2006-04-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

There is a certain poker player that plays in Austin: whom many of you know. I recently heard a story involving this player which happened many months ago, but I have only just heard it and thought it was humorous.

A group of players made a road trip from Austin to play in New Orleans for a few days. After a rather difficult night of playing poker and busting out, our hero found a buddy at another table and said something like this:

“Hey man, I’m kind of hungry, can you spot me some, so I can get breakfast?”

The player looked up from his cards and said “Sure, man. How much do you need?”

To which our hero replied:

“$200.”

The Sky is falling.

2006-04-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

Well, it’s been a long hiatus, for those of you that venture back here occasionally. I think the biggest reason I stopped posting was that I was beginning to feel that my postings really didn’t fit into the poker blog world.

Most poker blogs focus on personal play, strategy, bad beats, and poker in general. I wanted this blog to be about poker, but I wanted to focus more on the political, social, and economic aspects of the industry, with of course my own opinions on the issues, solicited or otherwise.

And then there was the issue of writing something that was worthy of posting. When I get started, I can be a real conversationalist. However to talk about something and to write about it are two entirely different things. It takes me entirely too long to write a post. I write, and then re-write. I go away and come back and re-write it again. I tell myself it is because I want to be sure that what I write is clear and concise, and if you know me, I am anything but concise.

So here is a post. I won’t promise that I will post everyday. I won’t promise I will post every week. But I will post….eventually….and who knows? Maybe we will both be surprised Comments always welcomed.

Some one mentioned to me the other day that the “poker fad” has reached it’s peak. I was surprised to hear that. Maybe it has, maybe it hasn’t. All I can tell you is that I run into new poker players all the time, and often asked things about poker from people who don’t play. I sat down and decided to put down a few anecdotes for you and let you make your own conclusions.

Yesterday we went for a walk in my neighborhood and we noticed a man doing some wood working in his garage. It was evident he was making a poker table. We didn’t know the neighbor, so we walked up and exchanged pleasantries. I was curious to find out more about the table and maybe find out about a game I was unaware of.

It turns out this man doesn’t even play poker. He only makes the tables because he enjoys woodworking. He builds these as a sort of a hobby, making a small profit. He built one and next thing you know, people kept calling him to build one for them. He now has 8 on order. Clearly there is still a need for poker tables, an indicator that the industry is still growing.

I too ventured into the table building business. I’ve made several tables. Each one was a bit better than the last. What I discovered was it is difficult to make an affordable table without mass production. A sentiment my neighbor also agrees with. The amount of labor involved makes it hardly worth the time, unless you do it as a labor of love – either for love of wood working or love of poker.

I also made a proto-type folding table. The table was 9’x4” oval (10 players/dealer), but you could fold it up into a 3’x2’ square and fit it into the trunk of your car. It had inherent problems, but it did work. We played poker on it for greater than 6 months. The biggest problem we found was it just weighed too much to make it reasonably portable. I had visions that this kind of table would do well in charity events where portability was a very important feature. I tell you this because when you see the cost to build one versus the cost of mass produced tables imported from China, it would be a very hard sale. Yes, it will store in a broom closet, but it would be 4x the price and the set up would be 4x as complicated

When a game room furniture store in Austin closed, I went by and looked at their inventory of poker tables. They had a few high dollar tables and dozens of the low cost tables imported from China. The focus of their business was on billiard tables, but clearly they had thought there was a market for poker tables. The fact that they went out of business could be an indicator that the fad is slowing.

I also learned that a gambling supply house in Austin is likely to close. I somewhat find this remarkable, but then maybe not. Clearly you can obtain many of the items that they carry from internet shopping. In fact, if you know what you want, you can find almost all of the items they carry for a better price online – so long as you can wait for it to be shipped to you. This too could be an indicator that the supply has outpaced the demand. Forcing smaller margins and reducing or even nullifying any profits from operating a brick and mortar retail outlet.

Legalize poker in Texas. There are at least 3 groups that I am now aware of in Texas who’s intent is to legalize public poker card rooms in Texas. This is a hot issue that I think I should discuss in more detail in a later posting. But suffice to say, the fact that these groups are organizing and that there is more than just one of them, suggests that poker is still gaining momentum.

I am also privy to some local poker television that is in the works. Will it make it to the airwaves? Who knows? It is however, an indicator that there are still some people willing to gamble that poker hasn’t reached its peak just yet.

There is a new poker site that is in the works and will hit the internet very soon. I too thought that the number of onsite poker rooms had reached its peak, but this would suggest maybe not.

Venetian® Resort Hotel Casino recently opened a new 10,500 sqft - 39 table - poker room. Are you kidding me? 10,500sqft? Do you know how many slot machines you can put into that kind of floor space? The fact that the casino industry recognizes poker is hot and is dedicating large chunks of precious Las Vegas Strip real estate to let people play; well, that has to indicate something. Las Vegas Casinos don’t usually make multimillion dollar gambles like this one unless they feel reasonably assured it will make a return and a good return at that.

I saw a player wearing a t-shirt the other day that depicted Snoopy and all of Snoopy’s brothers playing poker. (Do you know all of their names? I didn’t.) I was in Garden Ridge this weekend and they had Texas Holdem door mats. I went and got a haircut last week (I get one every 6 weeks or so, whether I need it or not.) My barber was sitting outside smoking a cigarette and playing an electronic hand held TEXAS HOLDEM game. Go figure.

Maybe it has peaked, maybe it hasn’t. Apparently, there is still plenty of money being spent whether it is still on its way up or down. I just hope I can get some of it.

OT 10 Months!

2005-11-19T14:52:00.000-08:00

Did I tell you it's been 10 months since I had a cigarette? From 2.5 packs a day to zippo...cold turkey no less. Sorry folks, but I had to toot my horn on that accomplishment.

WinStar

2005-11-19T09:04:00.000-08:00

The other casino I visited was the WinStar just across the Oklahoma State Line. This place is significantly closer than Bossier City, hurricane stricken Lake Charles, or you better know how to speak Spanish Eagle Pass.

I was in North Texas on business when I made the trek north of Ft. Worth to visit this new casino. Word has it that Bossier City casinos are taking a beating as most of the DFW crowd have switched allegance to the new casino, not because it is better, not because it is prettier, but because it is closer. WAY CLOSER than driving to Bossier City.

So I arrive at the TENT casino at about 6pm. The Sun was still out when I arrived. The significance to this is that the everything above about 8 ft is painted flat black. When you first arrive, your eyes will take a lot of time to adjust to this. I found it to give me an uncomfortable feeling. It made it feel like you were hiding from someone. Personally, I like the bright and airy feeling you get when you walk into a well lit casino.

As I hadn’t eaten in a long time, I made my way to the deli area. I ordered a hotdog and drink then went to sit down. As I was dove into the dog, I notice something moving on the floor near the trash can in the corner. It was a Rat. Yes, Rattus norvegicus. I went to the counter and informed one of the employees. They sent out this snaggle toothed dude to check it out. As he approached the trash can, the rat took off out onto the casino floor and they guy just shrugged his shoulders, “Sector 12 secure”. I guess that is why it is so dark, they don’t want you to see the rats.

I then make my way to the poker room. I sit down in a 5/10 game as I waited for a seat in the 10/20 game. A few hands in, the board comes: K Q J A 10 rainbow.

It was heads up and when the 10 hit the river the guy in first position made a beat. The guy in second position was about to lay down the hand when the dealer intervened, pushed back the bet from the bettor and said the board played. She made the person in second position turn over his hand as she began splitting the pot. If that wasn’t amazing enough, I waited for someone to say something and no one did. Are you kidding me?

After about 15 mins, I moved to the 10/20 game. I found this game to be so soft, I couldn’t really believe how many hands I stole. After only about 3 hours, the game broke, much to my dismay. I was up a little over $500 and I had only shown down 3 hands.

I thought about getting on the 5/10 no limit game, as there was this guy who had about $6K in front of him, but I didn’t bring that big of a bank roll with me, so I sat down in the 2/5 game. Another rock garden. I am beginning to think I just don’t have the patience anymore to play no limit cash games. I’m tired of players who sit, sit, sit, get AA and go all in. I donated $300 to their cause as I went all in over the top of a guy with AsKc when he bet $80 the turn. The board read 7s, 4s, 10h, Ks. He thought about it for like 4 minutes then reluctantly called. The river was a blank and his Js, 3s flush held up.

Where have all the posts gone?

2005-11-19T08:37:00.000-08:00

The poster is back…well sort of. I want to thank you all for your kind words encouraging me to post again. Especially you Duck. What will life be like without that email every other day telling me to post something? I mean, after all, if Eston can post an entry….

Since I last posted, I have certainly played some poker. Mostly in town, but I did make a couple of trips to casinos when nearby on a business trip.

The first place I went to is the Sandia Indian Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I happened to get there after a weekly tournament started, so the room was packed. They have about 15 tables and the room seems to be fairly organized.

I ended up playing 10/20 limit with a half kill. There was tons of action and quite a few players who were somewhat novice. I had built a somewhat tight aggressive table image…yeah, can you believe that? Me? Tight? LOL. Well these players didn’t know me, so once that image was put into their minds, I was able to make some pretty bold but successful moves. I played for about 3.5 hours and took home a win of $545.

I played the next night when there wasn’t a tournament at the same 10/20 with a half kill game and found it to be a very still rock garden. There was one loose cannon in the bunch who would have the tremendous swings. I played until they closed -4am. (Yeah, for some reason they close at 4 am during the week.) I did have a chance to cash out on a postitive note if I had just cashed out. I pulled the classic “I’m in the dark” play which resulted in a pot worth about $450 being pushed my way when it was over. I made some shitty two pair and snapped off AA and KK. Nice. Should have cashed right then. But that hand loosened up the table a bit and I thought this is starting to look like my game. Unfortunately, I then had AA, AK, and QQ cracked. At any rate, my previous night’s success was not relived and I donated back about half of what I had won the night before.

Still, it was a successful trip and I will definitely be heading back sometime soon.

The Golden Age Of Poker

2005-09-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

Remember the old sitcoms with the guys smoking cigars and playing poker? Poker isn’t your granddad’s game anymore. Thousands of new players are entering the poker nation. Universities are becoming breeding grounds for the next group of professional poker players. Bars and Restaurants host weekly tournaments, casinos are opening poker rooms, and home games are a dime a dozen these days.

Ask any player about why poker is so hot and you will hear one of three fundamental reasons. Number one is Television, Number Two is the Internet, and Number Three is the World Series of Poker. These three vehicles have propelled poker into what many people are calling The Golden Age of Poker. The interesting thing is that the three vehicles are all intertwined with each other, such that without anyone of them, poker probably would never have reached the popularity it garnishes today.

Television.

ESPN has been filming the World Series of Poker for many years. The series would usually air late at night when ESPN needed to fill air time. It was boring programming to watch as we could only speculate what each player was holding unless there was a showdown. Watching poker was kind of like watching grass grow. Truly, the filming of the WSOP was not what brought about poker popularity…..or was it?

Enter: the table video camera. Contrary to popular belief, the World Poker Tour is not the first television series to use a camera to reveal the players cards to the audience. The first television show to use this concept was Late Night Poker, a British poker television show which first aired in 1999. The WPT began airing on the Travel Channel in 2003.

The use of the camera allowed the audience to “sweat” a player’s hand, analyzing how he plays relative to the information available to him. The viewer now had a “stake” in the game. In fact, it was more than that. The viewer now knew what all of the cards players were holding.

Thusly, the “secrets” of the pros were revealed. We could see when a player was bluffing, or when he was slow playing. I think it was like when a magician gives away the secrets of a few tricks so you will come back for more. We could see how someone can skillfully affect the outcome of a hand. Viewers were able to learn how a bluff in one hand will win a pot but in another hand might cost a player a lot of money.

The WPT might not be the first show to use the table cameras, but it can take the credit for catapulting Poker into the spot light. I believe the cameras were a large reason that the show is successful, but I also think the hosts need to take some credit. Late Night Poker had the camera, but British commentary is considered very boring in the United States and wasn’t received with as much gala as the WPT. Think what you will of Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten, but they have been a well received team and are in no small measure a rationale for the shows success.

Internet.

While television has brought the high stakes game of poker in to every living room across the country for us to watch, it is the internet that has been responsible for getting all of those players together to play. With the advent of online came instant player pool. You could play from the comfort of your own home with players from across the world. The greatest thing about the internet is there is ALWAYS a game at ANY TIME you want to play. Additionally, you have the largest choice of the type of poker game you want to play from triple draw low ball to the evermore popular, Texas Holdem.

The internet made playing tournaments a breeze. There is no easier way to run a large field of players than to do so using the internet. No one ever would have believed that 4000 players could be playing simultaneously in the same tournament. The internet made that possible. As more and more players log on, tournaments buy ins were reduced to affordable levels with large pay offs. A $30 buy in could now net you thousands of dollars for a first place win.

World Series of Poker.

The WSOP has been happening since 1970. There have been a lot of changes since then, but the biggest change of all is the ability of the average Joe winning the big one. It used to be that the $10,000 buy-in was so enormous; it prevented the average or even an above average player from entering. That all changed Chris Moneymaker turned $40 into $2.5 Million dollars. The on-line sites began running satellite tournaments that allowed players to earn a seat to the WSOP with a small investment. Moneymaker was one of 839 entries in 2003 $10,000 buy-in main event. Since Moneymaker, the number of entries has exploded such that in 2005 there were an unprecedented 5619 entries in the main event. No one has ever hosted a live tournament with so many entries. The sheer volume of players makes running a tournament of this size a logistical nightmare. But the popularity of the tournament shows no signs of slowing down and early estimates are that 2006 will exceed 8000 entries.

As you can see the three vehicles are intertwined and continue to propel Poker to the forefront of recreational activity. Don’t believe me? Go look at PP, PS, and UB sites right this minute. I don’t care what time of day you are reading this, there will be thousands. In the evenings, the numbers are staggering. Flip through your television guide and you will find dozens of poker programs during the week. Watch the television commercials and you will notice that a significant number of them are using a “poker theme”. Poker has arrived. The question everyone wants to know though is, how long will it last?

Where have all the fish gone?

2005-08-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

The funny thing about fish is that most of them know they are fish. I mean, if you have played on line for any amount of time, you know what I am talking about. You flop top set and your opponent calls. You turn top full house, and your opponent calls your huge bet. The river comes and gives your opponent a one outer hitting quads. Bad beat. What is your next move? If you are anything like most of the players out there, you begin to berate your opponent for his fish like calls.

After years of playing, I have seen it all. I have had my quads beaten by quads, I have had my straight flush beaten by a bigger straight flush. I have had quad kings beaten by a Royal Flush. And all of that happened in live games. Online play is even more brutal. Online bad beats happen more because of two reasons. There are more fish, and the hands per hour are significantly higher. If you can’t get over those beats, you need to find another hobby, because no matter how good you are, you are going to find someone will make unbelievable calls and catch unbelievable outs to beat you. It will happen, over and over again.

What I really want to talk about today is belittling those fish for making those bad calls.
Why? Why would you get mad at him for calling? Because he hit a one outer on you? Get over it. That is poker. If he paid to get there and actually did hit it, good for him. In the long run, I want those fish calling all the way. Keep calling me, please!

We used to have a player that played with us every week. This player wasn’t very good, in fact, he was down right terrible: The quintessential big fish. Each week, this player would dump $300-$500 into the game - EVERY WEEK! On the rare occasion, this player would book a win. Well, that just meant that next week, the player had even more money to dump into the game. This player played religiously every week for years.

Then one night, Mr. Fish put a bad beat on a guy who’s ego barely fit into his cranium. I will admit that the beat was pretty bad. After calling all the way, when the river came, our Fish made a bet. We all knew he had made a big hand, but Mr. Ego couldn’t believe it, so he raised Mr. Fish. Mr. Fish re-raised - clearly indicating that he had the nuts. Mr. Ego called in disgust and turned over his full house. Mr. Fish turned over his gut shot straight flush to win the pot. Definitely a bad beat.

“You are a fucking idiot! Didn’t you know I had the full house? How the hell can you call with that fucking hand?” Mr. Ego yelled going on major tilt.

Mr. Fish usually played all night…or until he was out of money. So with this win, it was a guarantee that he would be playing all night. That is until Mr. Ego wouldn’t stop running his damn mouth. Mr. Fish, being quite offended, simply cashed out (a winner no less) and we haven’t seen him back in over a year.

Thanks Mr. Ego.

Police Bust Poker Game in South Texas

2005-08-11T04:37:00.000-07:00

In Brownsville, police bust a poker game where the operators were charging patrons $5 an hour to play tournaments. The police say the operators were making between $5,000 and $10,000 a night. Some more police propaganda if you ask me. $5000 a night? Please. Do the math. $5000/$5=1000. If the operation was open say for 12 hours, 6pm to 6am, that means you need at least 83 people paying $5 for every one of those 12 hours or 166 people to make $10,000. Not likely, especially since there were only 11 patrons when the place was busted. Go here and here to read more about the bust.

This makes me angry. You see the news organizations have it both ways. I was watching TV last night and one of the local TV stations is using a gambling theme in their commercial to promote their sports coverage. The commercial dipicted the sports casters rolling dice, playing black jack, slot machines, and various other gambling references. No doubt that gambling is hot right now, but it is these same people who will blow a poker bust so far out of proportion that it is just sickening.

When the Austin Poker Club was raided a couple of years ago, the news put up file pictures of slot machines and rolling of dice as a way to "spurce up" the bust. In actuallity, all that was going on were a bunch of people sitting around a table playing cards. But you see this just doesn't give the sensationalism that they need. So they juice it up. "They were making tens of thousands of dollars!" IF that were true, do you really think that all of the casinos would have closed their poker rooms over the years? They only started re-opening them in the last year or two because of public demand, not because they make significant amounts of money. The only people making any decent money in poker are the poker players who are skilled. Am I saying game operators don't make money? NO, not at all. I am saying they aren't making $5000 a night.

5th Austin Home Game Robbery since Nov 2004

2005-08-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

I learned Tuesday night that Austin’s 5th poker game was robbed Monday night, August 8, 2005. The robbery took place at an apartment in south Austin. My sources who were present at the time of the robbery say there were two black suspects who simply kicked in their dead bolted door, brandished a weapon and robbed the game. It is not known exactly how much cash they absconded, but it was at least several hundred dollars, including the buy-ins and various wallets. Apparently one player was not in the main room and fled out a window, called police, and tried to give chase to the suspects. The police arrived quickly, but the bandits had already made their get away. The police did pull over a suspect, but the description of his clothes did not match those given by the players and they were forced to release him without searching his vehicle because they did not have probable cause to do so.

Here is the interesting thing about this robbery. This game had been robbed previously this year when the game was at a different location in central Austin and it was known as “The Blue Room”. It had been running at this south location “temporarily” for about 6 weeks or so. But that isn’t the most interesting thing. No, even more interestingly, is the fact the game runner announced he is getting out of the business and moving back to Dallas. I am not saying this is the case, but what if I play the devil’s advocate and suggest that it’s possible the host had his own game robbed? Is it possible?

With so many games running, you can expect that more robberies will happen since most poker games are easy targets. The reason these games are easy targets is quite simple. Most game runners are “former players” who needed a way to increase their bank roll because they couldn’t do it by playing poker. They love poker so much, how can they consistently stay close to the game if they are not consistently winning? After all, eventually your bank roll will disappear with out winning. Solution: Start your own game. The game hosts only have dollar signs in their minds and security is the least of their priorities. In deed, so many games have popped up, because the game runners know that they can make money by simply having a table, some chairs, chips, cards, and dealer in the cheapest apartment possible to reduce the overhead. (The problem with this is that the apartments tend to be in areas that have a higher crime rate…that’s why they are so inexpensive!)

I feel if you are going to host a regularly run game, you ought to be worried about how to make the game safe for your patrons. A notion that is easily overlooked in this “get rich quick” attitude many game runners seem to have.

Well, if you want my advice, find a game where the operators have taken security very seriously. The problem is security means different things to different people. In some games, the game hosts have decided to have an armed security person at their games. This seems to be the prevalent solution in the many games I have been to lately. Why? The reason is simple. It is the least expensive solution for the game runner. He can have his buddy hang out all night with his gun and throw him a couple of Franklins and voila…security. Besides, many of the younger players think it is “cool” to have a guy walking around with a 9mm strapped to his hip and have whole heartedly embraced this solution. I personally think it gives players a false sense of security and will likely end up being a tragic ending if something does go down at a game where someone is packing heat.

I certainly hope that no such tragedy happens, but if it does, it will mean the end of live poker in Austin as we know it. Why? Because you can bet that the incident will get unparalleled press coverage. When that happens, there will be an outcry from the religious zealots that these games shouldn’t be running in the first place. Law enforcement will be forced to start cracking down on the multiple “Dens of Iniquity”, not because they in and of themselves are illegal, but rather to prevent them from being robbed by criminals looking for an easy score which will prevent such tragedies from happening again.

In the mean time, games that are still running will have a hard time making a table because the patrons will disappear in fear of either being robbed, or being busted by law enforcement. The game runners will find themselves in a precarious situation as the games that do make won’t make the kind of money that they currently do. How then can they pay rent, keep playing, and all the other things that they currently do with the kind of money they are used to? You know that they aren’t about to go get a job. Hell that would mean they would have to actually work for a living. “Oh, I know…let’s raise the rake. The players won’t know the difference.“ The sad truth is that most players won’t notice the difference. They will just start wondering why it is so hard to win anymore.

So how can you help prevent all of this from happening? Well you could just play on the internet or travel to a real casino in another state. OR, you could force your regular home game to start taking security seriously. How you ask? Tell the game runner you aren’t playing anymore until they do something or tell them you are playing somewhere else that provides better security. There are places in town that have some fairly stout security measures for their games, and I’m not talking about a guy with a gun.

Some ramblings from Vegas

2005-08-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

During the Orleans Open $200 NL Re-buy Event, the woman pictured below was in the big blind when the button made a blind stealing raise pre-flop.

It was readily apparent that her choice of clothing was purposeful in trying to use every tool at her disposal to win, including distraction. While the photo is blurry (sorry, used my camera phone) you can immediately recognize her largest assets in this psychological war of poker. She smiled often, batted her eyes and made sure everyone got an eyeful. I have to admit, it was definitely a DISTRACTION.

When the button raised, this woman re-raised with such authority that the button decided to fold instead of playing heads up. After scooping the pot, the woman says with a chuckle,

“You can’t have my chips. Nope - not my chips. You can have my body - but you can’t have my chips.”

There were a few chuckles from around the table and then right as the table was quietly viewing the next hand as it was dealt to them, a small player of Asian decent said quite calmly:

“You can have all of my chips if I can have your body.”

I nearly fell out of my chair as did the rest of the table. You just can’t find that kind of entertainment when playing on line.

While playing early one morning at the Bellagio, a fight broke out at the table behind ours. Apparently on player told the other player to “Go fuck yourself”. The offended player stood up. The offender (a regular in the Bellagio room – actually, he is regularly barred from the Bellagio poker room I was told) having seen the other player stand up, stood up quickly and rushed at him. They had locked horns when about 6 guys jumped up to separate them. A flurry of superlatives was echoed as we just sat and watched the show. Security showed up almost instantaneously (you have to love the eyes in the sky) and they separated the two players. In the end, both players were removed, their chips picked up. Our table kind of sat and reflected on the episode asking each other and the other table what had happened.

I was playing 15/30 in another session, when I checked raised my 10/10 from early position on a K10 4 flop. The better re-raised me to which I took a moment to think and then re-popped him. I then hear this 24-ish year old say to his buddy in the seat next to him, “Fucking tourists. They see the WPT on TV, read a couple of books, play a little on line, and think they are professionals.” He then folded and the pot was awarded to me. I wanted to tell him, “I was playing poker while 1000 feet under the world’s oceans when you were still wearing your Underoos, watching Sesame Street, and learning why the letter A and the number 4 are not the same even though they do both have points on top." But what came out was, “You got me.” This happy individual then proceeded to display his male dominance by over betting his hands or overcalling out of position. I think he re-bought twice and then stood up declaring that he was moving to another game. Too bad, I kind of liked playing with that guy.

Even with the recent insurgence of players into the world of poker, I still think it is a relatively small circle as I run into people I know or have played with over the years when ever I go to a casino. Aside from the Austin players I ran into, I sat down at a table with a guy who I immediately recognized, but couldn’t remember from where. We played for probably an hour before I finally confessed to him that I definitely remember playing with him but could not figure out where. Turns out, I knew him from when he used to be a dealer/player at The New Phoenix and The Last Frontier in La Center, Washington, nearly 10 years ago.

The Luxor
We stayed at the Luxor for a couple of nights. I won’t be staying there again. You would think being the world’s 4th largest Hotel (a distinction they like to ensure you are aware of) they would have a better idea of customer service. Here are some things that I disliked:

Valet parking.
If you are out of the hotel at another casino and get back late, forget about Valet parking. They only have 800 spots and regularly have 10,000 guests. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the problem here. Self parking is a hike, so you may want to hail a cab to get back to the hotel entrance.

Check-in.
Unless you are an “invited guest”, plan on camping out at the registration booth for at least 30 minutes to an hour.

Tram:
If you want to go return to the Luxor from Excalibur, you must ride the Tram to Mandalay Bay first, then change trams to go back to Luxor.

Poker Room:
They spread 1/2, 2/4, and 4/8 Limt and a $50 buy-in NL game. I didn’t play here. In fact, I didn’t gamble a single dollar at this casino.

Food Court:
We bought a chicken wrap, a Philly cheese steak sandwich, with two orders of fries and an order of bite sized hot dogs, two soft drinks, total $29.00.
We ate at the Mexican Restaurant. The service was absolutely awful from our main waitress. However, the person who brings water was very good as she was far more attentive to our needs. You will find when you travel with a baby, you have a lot of needs!

Rooms:
We reserved a King, we received a room with Two Queens.
The rooms are somewhat run down, showing signs of age and abuse. This wasn’t just our room, I know this because we saw three different rooms, one in each tower and one in the pyramid.
The beds were very uncomfortable. They were lumpy and extra firm.
THERE ARE NO SAFES IN THE ROOMS.
Cell phone reception is almost non-existent in this casino/hotel.
The room smelled moldy.
Don’t even think about asking for a late check out.
There is no refrigerator in the room, but you can request one for an extra daily charge. ($15/day) Traveler’s secret: Tell them you are diabetic or you need to store breast milk if you have a baby, they’ll waive the fee.
When our crib was delivered, the person delivering it made us feel we had put her through a huge inconvenience in the way she told us that this room had also requested a Fridge and she had to go get that now.
When our bags showed up, they weren’t our bags.
For our $400 we had a beautiful view of the North Valet Entrance.

Just so I am not totally one sided, they did do some things correctly.
When I was able to Valet, I did get the same car I left.
They waived the fee for our Fridge so we could store Milk for our baby.
They charged my credit card for the correct full price.
The A/C worked well.
During the day when you are sleeping, the curtains did a great job blocking out the Sun that couldn’t reach our windows because it was blocked by the other tower.
The separate shower with hand held shower head was nice.
You can do an express check out, but then you can do that at all of them.

The Rio

General
Our stay was complimentary, yet there are a few things that are worth pointing out.
All of the rooms at the Rio are Suites.

Check-in
If you check-in after midnight, you have to use the main registration regardless of total rewards status. The front desk was manned by only one or two people.

Phone
It is difficult to reach a person by phone after midnight. The room service button on the phone and the extension to room service did not work. This required us to call the operator and after being on hold for 15+minutes, they were able to connect us.

Housekeeping
Expect to be woken by the phone ringing at 11am so they can find out when you want your room cleaned, regardless of the “Do not disturb” sign. Especially on the day of check out.
They only supplied one wash cloth, lots of towels, but only one wash cloth.

Room
Each room has at least one refrigerator. This worked out well for keeping baby Milk from spoiling.
The windows are large, so the curtains don’t totally block out all of the sun if you are sleeping during the day.

Poker Room
I didn’t play at this poker room. I did go by several times. There was zero to 2 tables going at any one time.

Casino
Most of the blackjack tables are single deck games and had minimum bets of $25 or more.

Seafood Buffet
We ate at the Village Seafood Buffet. If you like seafood, you might want to check out this buffet. At $35, it’s a little pricey, but worth it, especially if you have comp dollars available.

The Wynn
I didn’t stay here but wanted to let you know that I did check it out. To me it is the Bellagio plus. The décor and painstaking attention to detail is easily noted.

Poker room
The poker room has some pluses and minuses in my opinion.

Very comfortable chairs. They are using swivel, castered chairs, which are more comfortable than the ones at Bellagio.
Cramped. Like almost all of the rooms, they have put too many tables in too small of a space.
Rail. The room is located just outside of the Ferrari shop, which creates a lot of Rail Birds. It can be very distracting as there is a lot of noise from kids screaming, people walking/talking, etc.
Computer screen. They use a computer program to keep track of players waiting for various games. This is similar or the same as used in a few other places I have been to, namely the Borgata in Atlantic City and Harrah’s in Kansas City.
All tables have shuffle machines.
All in all, I’d say the room is very comparable to Bellagio.

Klingons and the Collective
The Star Trek Experience at the Hilton is worth doing. We enjoyed it. If you are a Trekie, you will probably enjoy it that much more, but you don't have to be to have a good time. The actors are very serious in their roles, so try and play along. I'll have a photo or two to post when I get them developed. (sorry, SLR, not a digital camera)

Wedding.
We attended a family wedding at the Hyatt in Lake Las Vegas. This is a beautiful hotel and the resort area is breathtaking. If you are interested in getting away from the strip and want a nice place to stay, check it out.

Elvis stopped by to wish the newlywed couple his best wishes and cronned some love songs for them. Hopefully the photos will come out. He looks great for his age!

Gold Coast Casino Poker Room
The Gold Coast Casino has a tiny 6 table room, but has one of the best action low limit games in town. They spread a 4/8 with 1/2 kill that may be worth checking out. Apparently, there is so much action, the pots are bigger than a 10/20 game. I went over to check it out, but couldn't get on the table as it was full. I sat down into a feeder game for about 25 minutes when it broke leaving me stuck for $40. The players at the main table had all pitched their tents for the night, so I didn't see any point in hanging around after that.

More to come.

Quick and Dirty Update

2005-08-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

OK readers, here is a very quick update from Candy Land. I will have a more detailed follow up when I return to Austin and I'll have a few photos to post as well.

Orleans Open.

Thursday, 148 entires, 323 $200 buyins/rebuys, Paid top 18, busted out 41st...KK beat by AQ.
Sunday, Only 209 entires ($1000 buyin)$202K prize pool. Paid top 27...busted out 101, AK beat by AQ. Yeah,AQ again.

Guess I can't fade the draws.

Played first cash game on Saturday (15/30 at Belagio)...cashed out up 23 big bets.
Played second session Monday morning (15/30 at Belagio) ...cashed out up 26 big bets.
Played third session Monday afternoon (15/30 at Wynn) ....no cash out, lost 16 big bets.

Austinites I have run into, Applied Math, Adel S., Leslie (our favorite dealer at Belagio), Big, and Will.

Stay tuned, more updates coming.