Brook K

Question #1: I know there are a bunch of poker players at HTF. Where do you play online?

Thanks to "Action" Dan Harrington's Pacific Poker hat he wore at last year's WSOP, I've played there for the past year. (website 888.com). But I've grown dissatisfied because I prefer to play no-limit tournaments rather than limit "ring" games and their servers are so overwhelmed that they only run tournaments at night after 2 a.m. so I'm looking for somewhere else to play.

Question #2: Also how many of you play online for real $$? I've still stuck to only playing simulated and play for cash only in live casinos. My wife doesn't think too much of the idea of me being able to gamble whenever the mood strikes, fearing I'll lose the house or something. (probably not misguided since I would be in the negatives if I totalled my low-limit casino play, whereas playing much higher stakes limit tables and in no-limit tournaments I've run my online "fake" account from starting at $1K to 80K+ giving me a false sense of "if only I was playing for real $$")

Question #3: Apparently Hold 'em is replacing trivia as the bar game du jour. Have any of you played in bars? I know it's played quite a bit around Atlanta and it would be nice to polish my live skills as I don't get much chance to practice that, but I'm leary of how professionally these games are run. Are the dealers competent, etc? Anyone have any experiences?

Yes, Captain Hammer's here, hair blowing in the breeze. The day needs my saving expertise! - Captain Hammer, Corporate Tool

2002 Sight & Sound Challenge: 313 Last Watched: Time of the Gypsies

Last 10 Films Watched:
Retribution - B / Frontiers - C
The Third Mother - B+ / The Mist - A
Diary of the Dead - B+ / The Invisible Man - B+
Inside - B / The Crazies - B
Lost Boys: The Tribe - C+ / The War of the Gargantuas - B

DVD BEAVER My Collection

Brian Elwood

I play 12 hours a week clearing Crypto bonus's (InterPoker, PokerPlex, UKBetting,TotalBet), and another 5 hours at Party.

If you are just starting out online - Party Poker is the place to go, best software and 40,000 online at any givin time.

Pacific has to many collusion teams for my taste. Seen them in action and don't like it one bit.

I play full ring games 2 or 3 tables at a time in 2/4 games and this year will be filing taxs since I've made $XX,000.

Lets just say a trip to St.John USVI ($300 a night in a cottage) is only putting a small dent in the bank (also known as a wife bribe LOL)

BTW - TV poker is a godsend for limit players. NOBODY should watch those guys if they want to learn to be a winning at poker. They play a totally different game and know each other VERY well. Play like them online and you will learn fast that their bluffs do not work.

The REAL beautey is that SO many people are learning to play badly and STILL win. Play straight up ABC poker, nothing fancy and you can make more then you will believe.

DO NOT play any games with PLAY MONEY. It will teach you many many many bad things. PLAY MONEY and live money are way different games. Real money you will have hidious players that are much better then the play money players.

Grinder2@charter.net

LOL - sorry - I love Texas Hold'm and actually plan to retire 5 years earlier then I had planned.

george kaplan

I've never played poker on-line. I only play it for real in my front room with a group of friends, and always dealer's choice with a lot of different and fun games. Definitely low-stakes, though I always seem to win.

"Movies should be like amusement parks. People should go to them to have fun." - Billy Wilder

"Subtitles good. Hollywood bad." - Tarzan, Sight & Sound 2012 voter.

"My films are not slices of life, they are pieces of cake." - Alfred Hitchcock

"My great humility is just one of the many reasons that I am vastly superior to everyone else." - Ramrod Clerk

Lew Crippen

Agreeing with George, I never play online and have no desire to do so. For me, poker is a game of human interaction. I enjoy playing with friends and acquaintances at someone’s home. Some food, drinks, perhaps music in the background and some raucous and rowdy conservation are all a part of an experience that I don’t think can be duplicated online.

I no longer play for high stakes (which I define as playing for more money than you can afford to lose), so I’m happy to have a beer or a wee dram of whisky as the evening goes along.

Just a comment on real money. Poker, unlike almost all other card games is not much of a game, unless you are playing for money—or something of value like your clothes (actually not a very good analogy, as the object here is to get your clothes off ). Further I would go so far as to say that it is at its best when played for substantial sums (see above). You want to be able to make someone think hard about matching a bet—and if this is only putting another 50 cents into the pot—many won’t care.

I’ve never done this, but I do think that it falls into the category of ‘never play pool with a stranger who wants to play you for money—he is better than you’. I did play extensively when I was in the Army, often with strangers.

As an aside, I love card games, especially bridge which I have not played much for years, but expect to pick back up again soon. And games of all types—I am a game player over many years.

I only mention that to give my (perhaps gratuitous) next piece of advice some minor credibility: if you decide to play in some of these games in bars and you don’t soon know who is better than you at the table—you are in the wrong game. Get into one where you can learn (by playing against strong players), but where you won’t be overwhelmed.

¡Time is not my master!

Lew Crippen

Brian has nailed it—and your post indicates that you already know this.

Unless you have ice water instead of blood in your veins, you will bet very differently when spending ‘real’ money.

¡Time is not my master!

Brian Elwood

I've played over 85,000 hands this year and I STILL get my heart pounding on big hands. Won't happen with fake money.

Poker is a huge rush and I am SURE I have so many tells I could not play in a live game with anybody that knows the game.



actually there are some good games out there in the .5/1 range. Many people start very low and work there way up. Once they hit 300 Big Bets they go to the next level.

In fact the few live games in casinos in the $10/20 range are WAY WAY worse then the online .5/1 games.

But you are basically right.

I'll shut up now - get ne started on Hold'm and I can't keep quiet:b

Brook K

Thanks Brian, I'll check out those sites.

I hear what you guys are saying, but that's why I like to play tournaments. In a tournament setting, you aren't playing with real money whether your buy-in was real or it wasn't. I know there is no rush like there is with real $ but the strategy (after the first few yahoos go out in the first hand after going all-in with whatever they have) is similar. I'm still trying to do whatever I can to cash/win the tournament and play appropriately. I don't randomly bet 46 offsuites just because it isn't real money.

But that is also why I don't like playing ring games with fake $$. That is very boring as most everyone stays in for the flop, you can't bluff anyone, and it's just a drawing contest. I still usually stick to premium hands but will get bored and play with anything sometimes. You are right here, in that I will certainly bet differently than in live play where I can be really, really tight.

I understand the social aspect, when I go to the casino and play it is almost always with one or more friends, but I've had fun playing by myself too. You can usually find someone to talk to at the table (then again I'm a pretty shy person who has no problem not talking at all). In any casino or tournament setting you are going to be playing against a lot of people of unknown skill levels, part of the fun is figuring out who is tough and who to take advantage of.

I've been reading more theory and working on improving things I know I'm weak at, like playing too many marginal hands and not being aggressive enough. Chomping at the bit for Nov. 6th to roll around so I can go back to St. Louis and play and see if it's helped at all.

Yes, Captain Hammer's here, hair blowing in the breeze. The day needs my saving expertise! - Captain Hammer, Corporate Tool

2002 Sight & Sound Challenge: 313 Last Watched: Time of the Gypsies

Last 10 Films Watched:
Retribution - B / Frontiers - C
The Third Mother - B+ / The Mist - A
Diary of the Dead - B+ / The Invisible Man - B+
Inside - B / The Crazies - B
Lost Boys: The Tribe - C+ / The War of the Gargantuas - B

DVD BEAVER My Collection

Charlie C

was unemployed for a month so I played in the holdem tourneys at local pubs. had alot of fun. you learn how to shed bad hands fast and how much ppl BS. I prefer taking my freinds money though.

Brian Elwood

As Mason Malmuth says. IF you are at a table with an unknown, consider him a fish until he proves otherwise.

I've only played in one live tournament, 300 players and came in 8th. Can't complain.

Play Party Poker for good tournaments. as low as $2 I think.

email me if you have questions!