I've had to shy away from spending a lot of time planning this meet because of a heavy work load. That said, I agree with Hank Frankenberg that we should not do the HT tour just yet, since three HTs are still under construction and won't be ready to show by the 8th. (I propose we do the HT tour in June or July ... by then everyone will want to be indoors in an air-conditioned home theater.)

If we go forward with the May 8 meet, we could make it an informational meet, combined with HT enjoyment, food/drink, and poker at Hank's (since Hank already has offered his place for the meet). I remember some posts a while back about Hank's uber-cool outdoor grill, so perhaps everyone could bring something they want to grill and eat (as steaks, burgers, chicken, etc.).

Any thoughts on whether this will work? Does anyone want to cook up a quick demo or presentation??? If we don't have any volunteers, we could make this a purely social meet and get back to the technical stuff in June or July...

[Hank Frankenberg]

Colin: My place was to be for the poker guys at 7:00 pm, not the meet, BUT, you just talked me into making it earlier, so everyone is invited, and we will grill fajitas at 5:00. Arrive early if you want to help prep. Here's the deal: I'll furnish the tasty H.E.B. marinated chicken and beef fajita meat. You guys furnish the sides and beverages of your choice. I don't have a high-end HT, so don't get excited. This will be a social thing and HT discussions are encouraged. If Doc will let Igor out of his chains, maybe he can give us a rendition of his room acoustics 101. If everyone wants to do a mini HT tour or a couple of stores before the early dinner, that would be cool.
Termination promptly at 7:00 so the hard core poker playin' eight can get down to bizness.

Mark H: I need to get my poker table top and chips. Give me a call, please.

[Greg Risley]

Hey Hank,

I haven't got any of your emails. I'll try to give you a call Fri.

Thanks
Greg

[Gomez]

Ok sorry for the non HT question but being that there seems to be quite a few poker players in this group and being that we just got through playing cards, I thought I'd pose these questions regarding Hold em "rules".

Ok say you're down to "x" amount of players and you've just completed the last round of betting after the river. Player 1 shows their cards, Player 2 shows their cards and then Player 3 says something like "take it down you won" but doesn't show their hand. Is there a rule that this player has to show their hand if everyone else has shown their hands after completing the last round of bets? I thought it was essentially a call and basically you're paying to see everyones hand including the player that knows they have lost? Is this true?

2nd question can 2 players use the flop for their best hand? if so does the pot get split between the 2? or does high card win the pot?

Looking forward to the unofficial meet next week. Hopefully I won't be too sore ater the Chuys 5k.

[Steve Stogel]

Hey, Gomez. You asked:

Quote:

I thought it was essentially a call and basically you're paying to see everyones hand including the player that knows they have lost? Is this true?

According to the "letter of the law," if someone calls a bet, you are allowed to ask to see their hand even if they lost. Poker etiquette, though, is to let that person muck (throw in their cards without showing). The only time anyone should ask to see someone's hand after they've called a bet, seen their opponent's cards, and then tries to muck theirs is if they think that this person is in "cahoots" with someone else at the table and is betting for reasons other than trying to win the pot him or herself. There's just no need to ask to see their hand in 99.9% of cases.

Question 2:

Quote:

2nd question can 2 players use the flop for their best hand? if so does the pot get split between the 2? or does high card win the pot?

I'm pretty sure you mean can two or more players "play the board," which is all five community cards. The flop, technically, is the first three cards dealt after the first round of betting (the fourth card is "the turn" and the last card is "the river," btw). Yes, you can play the board. If no one can improve on the board (like if there's already a club flush out there and no one has a club higher than the lowest club on the board), then whoever is in the pot after the final round of betting would split the pot. This tends to happen most if there's a full house on the board or, say, four sevens and a K. Four of a kind with an ace kicker on the board would always be split as there's no improvement to be had on this hand (even if you had one or two As in your hand, as the best hand is still the four of a kind and the A kicker).

Hope you can find your answers in my long responses.

Steve

[Scott Oliver]

Short of your questions are: Best five card hand wins, if two players have the same hand they split, 6&7th cards are a non-issue.

Only two people have to show their hands at the end of a hand, the person that was called, and then someone else has to show their winning hand if they can beat that. Also if there is no betting, then typically everyone shows their hand, not sure if their is a hard and fast rule on this or not.

[Steve Stogel]

Man, I guess I could have summed it up like Tubes. Read his answer.

Steve

[Scott Oliver]

Back to the meet, Hank I think I am going to run down and ask that one supplier today about the left over acoustic treatment stuff that you believe they would still have. Was it Sonex? Anyhow, might get lucky if I do I will purchase a few panels of it and perhaps we could add Acoustic treatment DIY explanation and project to the mix of activities. At the very least I know I would like to take one and cut it up into triangles for ceiling corner treatments.

2nd Hank is your retro system ready for unveiling yet? I have got lots and lots of good recent vinyl purchases to bring.

[John Prator]

Quote:

John you said you had ML Odyssey's, Sunfire TGIII, Mesa Baron tube amp and much more. Are you kidding? Of course I (We) would want to see your home theater, in fact you might have a hard time getting ME to leave.

Well Thank you Scott.:b I am actually excited about getting you guys to come over and check out my HT but I did do things my own way so it's a bit different. I wanted to try and make this room great for music as well as movies so there are a few "compromises". And by the way, your welcome to stay as long as you want. I plan on also having it set up for vinyl too!!

[Scott Oliver]

John, those would be improvements then, compromises are when you sacrifice the music for movies sake.

[Gomez]

Steven thanks for the info and yes I meant after the river card and not the flop, was a little buzzed when I wrote the email early this morning. May have to make a house rule on the call issue next time I play. It was more of an annoyance last night that this friend of mine didn't ever want to show his cards, it was annoying everyone so I just wanted to get the "official" rule on this move.

Thanks again.

"If you can't spot the sucker in the first 5 min's of the game...You are the sucker!"

[John Prator]

Scott,
Well I hope they are improvements! This is all going to be very close, big tall speakers on either side of the screen. Equipment on a rack just below(I hope)the screen. Projector a mere inch or two from the ceiling fan, etc. I can't wait to see if it all works out correctly but I am a little nervous. We shall soon see.............stay tuned.