The Art of Bluffing...or Lack There Of

It comes with the territory in life and especially gambling that some people in the world can bluff they way out of any situation and that some players and it's only a few of them, never bluff. Anyone can bluff but can they win and thats the key to life and gambling. You have to figure out if you can bluff, and know who is your opponent(s).

A lot of people are habitual bluffers. When they bet, you have to call as long as you are holding any reasonable hand. Although habitual bluffers will also make real hands every now and then, the fact that they bluff far too often makes your decision easy.

hmmm...those eyes says she is bluffing, but her body says Royal Flush!

There is no answer of how players who bluff or not bluff, it just happens. Opponents who bluff some of the time are better players than those found at either end of the spectrum. Better players, of course, can keep you guessing about whether or not they are bluffing. And when you're forced to guess, you will be wrong most of the time. Can you learn to bluff of course, but the best bluffers in the gambling world are those who are experienced the pain and hardship of being duped first and learning from those mistakes. That's just the way she goes. The way of the road...

Poker News: Phil Ivey Returns PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau

From Poker News Website (a great article to read up):

It's been awhile since Phil Ivey has graced the poker world with his presence on the felt. In April, when the doom of Black Friday fell upon us, Ivey disappeared from play. In May, Ivey issued a statement saying that he was suing Tiltware, the software and marketing company for Full Tilt Poker, and boycotting the World Series of Poker. The suit was eventually dropped, but Ivey did follow through with his boycott of the WSOP by not playing a single event.

Recently, there were rumors swirling that Ivey was in Macau. That was a fairly believable claim since he's been known to play in some of the world's largest cash games there.

Here is Ivey’s complete statement post on his Facebook:

“For many years, I have been proud to call myself a poker player. This great sport has taken me to places I only imagined going and I have been blessed with much success. It is therefore with deep regret that I believe I am compelled to release the following statement.
I am deeply disappointed and embarrassed that Full Tilt players have not been paid money they are owed. I am equally embarrassed that as a result many players cannot compete in tournaments and have suffered economic harm.
I am not playing in the World Series of Poker as I do not believe it is fair that I compete when others cannot. I am doing everything I can to seek a solution to the problem as quickly as possible.
My name and reputation have been dragged through the mud, through the inactivity and indecision of others and on behalf of all poker players I refuse to remain silent any longer. I have electronically filed a lawsuit against Tiltware related to the unsettled player accounts. As I am sure the public can imagine, this was not an easy decision for me.
I wholeheartedly refuse to accept non-action as to repayment of players funds and I am angered that people who have supported me throughout my career have been treated so poorly.
I sincerely hope this statement will ignite those capable of resolving the problems into immediate action and would like to clarify that until a solution is reached that cements the security of all players, both US and International, I will, as I have for the last six weeks, dedicate the entirety of my time and efforts to finding a solution for those who have been wronged by the painfully slow process of repayment.”'
 

Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/11/phil-ivey-returns-to-poker-at-2011-pokerstars-net-appt-macau-11485.htm

That's right Tiltware I am staring at your soul!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Early Thanksgiving to my gambling degenerates! No blogging the rest of the week until Monday. Enjoy your holidays...make sure you gambling on the three NFL games this Thursday!

Lines for this Thanksgiving Thursday (as of Tuesday Nov 22, 2011 for MGM Grand):

                                           Point Spread                         Total

Green Bay at Detroit:                 -6                              55 1/2 o/u


Miami at Dallas                           -7                              44 1/2 o/u


San Francisco at Baltimore        -3 1/2                        39 1/2 o/u 


*All BOLD are Favorites

What happend to the TV show I Bet You

One the funnest and coolest gambling TV show I seen in a while is a show aired a couple years ago called I Bet You. I Bet You is a show about the lives of best friends and professional poker players Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari (two of my poker idols) as they wandered the streets of America betting and daring each other on anything and everything that inspired them, using their own money. Its a great concept of a show and they win or lose hundreds of dollars on betting on crazy things. This show lasted only 2 years but it was great to watch two professional lose or win money on different things. Check it out or watch the two seasons on Youtube!

http://www.mojohd.com/mojoseries/ibetyou/?videoId=166

Deal of the Week: Stratosphere Hotel for Christmas Holidays

To the Traveling Gambling Degerates:

If you are not doing anything on Christmas (no family, presents, or Santa) then come to Vegas where pretty much on Christmas its the place where degenerates like us hang out on the holidays. Stratosphere Hotel is have a great deal (12Hour Sale 25% Off!...don't worry its not really 12 hours left its been going on since 3 days ago) during the Christmas holidays:

http://www.stratospherehotel.com/

Forget Santa come to Vegas!!!

 Any other deals let us know!!!

Gambling: For the Love or for the Money

Gambling is easy to play and tough to win (no shit huh). Everyday casinos make millions and millions dollars a day just to get gambers to gamble all of their money into their casino. Sure we can say "know when to stop before you start" (thank you Harris for that), but why do we start gambilng and don't stop when we ahead of the game?

Who in the F'in wears a suit when playing craps?

From the APA testing site this is how they tested subjects when they gamble:

Many gamblers claim that gambling is intrinsically exciting, with money playing only a secondary role. To examine the effects of the expectancy of winning money, the authors randomly assigned 243 male college student gamblers to 1 of 6 experimental or 1 of 3 control conditions. Control participants either simply watched a videotaped horse race or they picked a horse, but without wagering; that horse later turned out to be either the winner of the race or the runner-up. Experimental participants wagered $1 on a horse for a chance of winning either $2.00, $7.00, or $15.00, with half winning and half losing their wagers. Wagering led to increased heart rates and subjective excitement as a function of the expected payoff and of winning as opposed to losing the wager. The study was replicated with 200 female college student gamblers with similar results. These findings support the notion that the excitement of gambling is tied to the expectancy of winning money.

I agree with this test (even though its horse racing). People gamble for the excitement over the money. The thrill of losing something, adrenaline rush of putting something on the line makes us want to do it again and again until well we lose all of our money eventually! BUT we must remember that gambling degenerates like me are people who doesn't have that "thrill" everyday just like some people. Some people risk their lives everyday for their job or personal preferences (i.e. rock climbing, budging jumping, etc.), but for the rest of 99% we just go to work, eat, sleep, (maybe sex)  then repeat. Obviously no excitement there and we need something to break that chain of tedious life. So for some of us gambling is the way to break that life. Now I advocate every time to manage your gambling properly for everyone (gambling of what you have with fun not what you don't have i.e. loans and debt) but its for the excitement and fun that makes it unique to us. Hoepfully you have fun at the tables not there for the money...the money is "icing on the cake"!

Oh yeah..A Chocolate Vanilla Milkshake!

Best Hands for Texas Hold'em

Here is a list of the top ten starting hands and their "nicknames":

Yeah right like that's going to happen every time.

1.    A-A – Pocket aces is hands down the strongest starting hand in Texas Hold’em, and when played correctly you will win with them more often than not.  Nicknames:  American Airline, Pocket Rockets.

2.    K-K – The second most powerful hand is almost always the strongest opening pair at the table, though you do have to be wary of anyone that could have flopped aces.  Nickname:  Cowboys.

3.    Q-Q – Pocket queens fall into the range of hands that you will likely raise with pre-flop regardless of your position, though you must proceed with caution.  Nickname: Ladies.

4.    A-K – Ace-king is one of those hands that can win you a lot of money or send you packing depending on how you play it.  Ace-king suited is a little stronger than its non-suited counterpart.  Nickname: Big Slick.

5.    J-J – Statistically, pocket jacks will win a ten-handed pot approximately 20% of the time.  As long as the flop doesn’t bring an ace, king or queen, you should be good to go.  Nickname: Jesters.

6.    A-Q – Much like J-J, A-Q is expected to win a ten-handed pot around 20% of the time.  It is considered the second best drawing hand.

7.    K-Q – Although you won’t want to call any pre-flop raises with this hand in early or middle position, K-Q is a great drawing pair that can make you tough to beat with the right flop.

8.    A-J – With suited A-J you can call a raise in late position, though with the unsuited variation you will be better off just folding the majority of the time.

9.    K-J – This is mostly a hand to play in late position, and you would almost never stick around after a pre-flop raise unless the table is short-handed.

10.    A-10 – When you are dealt A-10, you are hoping to see a cheap flop where maybe you can get lucky and land a deceptively strong hand that will be hard for your opponents to pick up on.

Way at the bottom: 7-2 Off Suit - Life's little shit nugget for you when playing...

Thank you pokerblog for providing this list!

Blackjack 101 for the Degenerates Beginner

For the beginners in mind here is the rules of playing blackjack...if squirrels can play this game then you can too!

Blackjack is played with one or more standard 52-card decks, with each denomination assigned a point value. The cards 2 through 10 are worth their face value. Kings, queens, and jacks are each worth 10, and aces may be used as either 1 or 11. The object for the player is to draw cards totaling closer to 21, without going over, than the dealer's cards.

The game is usually played at an arc-shaped table with places for up to seven players on the outside and for the dealer on the inside. At one corner of the table is a rectangular placard that tells the minimum and maximum bets at that table, as well as giving variations in common rules.

The standard table layout for blackjack if you don't know...remember you are the player can't stress that enough!

Most games today use four, six, or eight decks. After being shuffled, the cards are placed in a receptacle called a shoe, from which the dealer can slide out one card at a time. 

Play begins when you place a bet by stacking a chip or chips in the betting square on the table directly in front of you. After all bets have been placed, each player and the dealer are given two cards. Either way, one of the dealer's cards is turned faceup so the players can see it.

Once the cards have been dealt, players decide in turn how to play out their hands. After all players have finished, the dealer plays according to set rules: The dealer must draw more cards to any total of 16 or less and must stand on any total of 17 or more.

Hit: If you hit, you take another card or cards in hopes of getting closer to 21. If the player's total exceeds 21 after hitting, the player is said to "bust" and loses the bet. Verbal calls to hit are not accepted -- signals are used for the benefit of the security cameras above the table, so a taped record is on hand to settle any potential disputes.

Stand: If you stand, you elect to draw no more cards in hopes that the current total will beat the dealer. Signal a stand by holding a flattened palm over your cards in a faceup game or by sliding your cards under your bet in a facedown game.

Double down: You may elect to double your original bet and receive only one more card regardless of its denomination. Double down by taking a chip or chips equal to the amount of your original bet and placing them next to your bet.

Split: If your first two cards are of the same denomination, you may elect to make a second bet equal to your first and split the pair, using each card as the first card in a separate hand. For example, if you are dealt two 8s, you may slide a second bet equal to the first to your betting box. The dealer will separate the 8s, then put a second card on the first 8. You play that hand out in normal fashion until you either stand or bust; then the dealer puts a second card on the second 8, and you play that hand out.

Insurance: If the dealer's faceup card is an ace, you may take "insurance," which essentially is a bet that the dealer has a 10-value card down to complete a blackjack. Insurance, which may be taken for half the original bet, pays 2-1 if the dealer has blackjack. The net effect is that if you win the insurance bet and lose the hand, you come out even. For example, the player has 18 with a $10 bet down. The dealer has an ace up. The player takes a $5 insurance bet. If the dealer has blackjack, the player loses the $10 bet on the hand but wins $10 with the 2-1 payoff on the $5 insurance bet.

Many dealers will advise players to take insurance if the player has a blackjack. This can be done by simply calling out, "Even money" -- because if the dealer does have blackjack, the player gets a payoff equal to the player's bet instead of the 3-2 normally paid on blackjack.

These are the steps involved: Player bets $10 and draws a blackjack. Dealer has an ace up. Player makes a $5 insurance bet. Dealer has blackjack. The player's blackjack ties the dealer's, so no money changes hands on the original bet. But the $5 insurance bet wins $10 on the 2-1 payoff -- the same as if the original $10 bet had won an even-money payoff.


Thank you How Stuff Works for the lesson.

Results of the WSOP Final Table

2011 WSOP November Nine Final Table Results:
1st - Pius Heinz (Germany) - $8,711,956
2nd - Martin Staszko (Czech Republic)- $5,430,928
3rd - Ben Lamb (USA) - $4,019,635
4th - Matt Giannetti (USA) - $3,011,661
5th - Phil Collins (USA) - $2,268,909
6th - Eoghan O'Dea (Ireland) - $1,720,396
7th - Badih “Bob” Bounahra (Belize) - $1,313,851
8th - Anton Makiievskyi (Lithuania) - $1,009,910
9th - Sam Holden (U.K.) - $782,115

Point of Notice: Where are the Asians? No Asians in that matter in the top nine...I am declaring this racism (BTW I am Asian).

2011 World Series of Poker Champion... Again Why Do They Tell Us The Result One Week Before the Show?

My Magic 8 Ball says the winner of the 2011 WSOP Main event is PokerStars Pro Pius Heinz.

I don't get you ESPN and WSOP. With the results given to the world by news one week before there is no point in watching the main event. Don't get me wrong its great to see the final table, whole competition itself, the great commentary from Norman Chad and Lon McEachern but come on they should have the final table as a live TV event. If ESPN is scared of having people curse out the dealer (which I frequently do at the table thank you very much) then get a 5 sec tape delay. Our WSOP is the granddaddy of all for us degenerate, our Super Bowl, our Mecca, our Shangri La of television events. This is the opportunity for us to see the winner live and maybe gamble on who is going to win in real live TV! So ESPN do us a favor, stop being scared and give us our live event or I am going to boycott women soccer on ESPN 3.

And So It Begins...

This world is rough the man must be tough in order to make it - Johnny Cash

Welcome to the start of something new and exciting! Today is the day in which a blog is born where the voice of the gambling degerates or wannabees who want to learn about poker or whatever games they fancy (blackjack, pai-gow, strip poker whatever). Wheater you are playing with your friends in the basement (no pun intended), playing all alone on the computer (easy there on the keyboard buddy), or wanted to play in a casino table but too chicken to play, you control the topics here and discuss anything related to gaming casinos. Its your forum to discuss. I just provide a topic and my opinion about it. For those collective of gambler so called "experts" who would love to share their own opinions, this site would be for you to express your options about the poker or gambling world.

Ah but this blog is not just about gambling, its about going to these places to play in this games. Wheater if its a good deal on a hotels, shows, restaurants, the buffets, or just a great sightseeing places you want to share, this is the place to be to find that special deals on the web instead of signing up 50 players cards from different casinos or share with us your experiences. Plus upload some of your photos from your trip! (We would love to Photoshop bomb it and make fun of you!)

Last but not least I will update the degenerates of what happening in the poker or casino news around the world about our "stars" in the poker world.

Yeah that me alright.

So join me friends (feels like I am start a cult) and degenerates...welcome to the mad house of cards and gambling...