Austin HTF Poker Thread (1 Viewer)

[Hank Frankenberg]

Double post :b

 

[Mark Hayenga]

Jeff what size tweeters do you need? My 3 morels didn't sell @ $90 shipped on Madisound, so we might could make a deal. They're smaller than the standard 104mm faceplates.


I'm going to have to plead ignorance and let Raelene "Teresa" Atkins elaborate on his 57 'positions'. Ahem.

 

[Scott Oliver]

Alright we are full with possibly one extra, but we can always rotate if that is the case.

RSVP's
Me
Steve
Hank
Mark
Robert
Jeff Blair
Nils - probably coming, maybe late
Jonathan - if he doesn't turn out to be a flip-flopping crab bag
Greg - hasn't confirmed that he can make Sat. but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Scott,

I won’t be able to make it for the pre-game festivities as we have some early dinner plans that I only just recently found out about.

I should be able to make it to the game before 9pm possibly even by kick-off time.

BTW: I'm going to be making a trip over to Llano to pick up some of that amazing BBQ from Cooper's. If you want me to bring you back some as well just let me know before Saturday morning.

 

[Humphrey]

(insert Homer Simpson voice)

mmmmmm....... Cooooopeeerrrrs!

 

[Scott Oliver]

Nils let me know if the rest of your chips come/came in. So that we could start with your new chips, I was still thinking of running out to your place to tomorrow to pick them and your tabletop up. Would that be cool?

 

[Jonathan DA]

Dear Hometheaterforum.com members,

This letter is to advise you to ceast and desist any and all references to the term "flip-flopping crap bag" and all likenesses of said term with regards to Jonathan DA aka Doc. Failure to comply with this request will result in the immediate prosecution of all offenders under Texas state statute 127.0.0.1, Section A, subsection 27, paragraph 13, line 42, item b, sub item 8, character 12.

Sincerely,

Law Offices of Waffleman and Schitesack

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Scott,

UPS says they are going to deliver the remaining chips tomorrow. I'll call you when they get in.

 

[Jeff Blair]

When I told my wife about the poker night, she told me "Good, get out". I guess the honeymoon is over.

 

[Jeff Meininger]

I'm alive!

Hank: Thanks for letting me back out of the tweeter deal. :b I ended up buying a dark blue 2000 Audi A4 1.8T quattro sedan... from Dave Elliott. I'll be out of town this week, but I'll give you a ring when I get back.

Mark: Those Morels are exactly the right size... but I don't want 3 of them at $90, either. These speakers are an ultra-tight-budget type project. I got the cabinets for free. I'll give you a call when I get back into town, though. BTW - you never answered my fish question... what kind of wildlife are you going to have roaming around in there with your corals?

 

[Scott Oliver]

Hey does anyone own one of those laser cleaning discs?

I think my 6 year old Sony might need a good cleaning, as it is having more and more trouble reading a disc without a hiccup here or there.

If you have one and are coming to my poker night could you post here that you can bring it over Saturday and then let me borrow it for a spin.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

OK, poker chip update.

Unfortunately there is still a back order on the blue chips, but I did get the 100 black chips today.

In total I have 300 reds and 100 blacks which I'll be getting to Scott this evening for the game tomorrow night. 400 chips should be enough, but just in case maybe Steve or Hank can bring their suited set?

In addition after being sent a sample white chip I was so impressed I went ahead and bought 300 whites as well which should arrive by Wednesday or Thursday.

So after all is said and done I'll end up with the following:

300 Whites
300 Reds
200 Blues
200 Blacks

The first oak case they sent me was so badly damage I sent it right back. The replacement was OK except that the manufacturer failed to properly glue the front panel and there was a problem with one of the latches. I really didn't want to have to keep sending these cases back so I asked Hank for assistance and he was gracious enough to properly glue the panel and latch piece (undoubtedly with some of that powerful 3M glue).

Fortunately the customer service at 5 Star Deal has been amazing. Every time I have had to call I have reached a CS rep in less than a minute and they have gone out of their way to accommodate me and make amends for all the mishaps and back order delays. They have made it a point to ship each item as it became available rather than wait for the order to be complete which has certainly costs them a great deal in extra shipping charges and they refunded my shipping costs for returning the first case. Not only that, but as a way to thank me for my patients they offered me a great deal on those 300 white chips!

They also told me that they are all too familiar with the problem with the oak cases and have already stopped buying from that manufacturer and are switching back to the oak cases with the dowl corner support design (just like the case Hank has). those new cases wont be available for another couple months, but when they come in they even offered to switch cases should I not be satisfied with the case I have now.

Considering what a crazy deal I got on the set to begin with, I am truly impressed on the level of customer support they have offered - a rarity it seems in the online retail business. They certainly get from me!

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Tubes, I've got a laser lens cleaning disc and will bring it. It's made by the same company that made my microfiber CD/DVD cleaning cloth (you do have one of those, right?). Of course, I won't mention the brand.

Boys, you don't know how much I need this comic relief from my rediculous job responsibilities. Only a hot woman could keep me away.:b

 

[Steve Stogel]

Hey, Nils. If you read this, put me down for some BBQ. What do you recommend? Get me $10 worth I like ribs and sliced beef. Not real fond of sausage, so anything in the ribs/brisket area will suffice.

 

[Robert_Z]

Unfortunately I'll be unable to make it tonight. See you all soon.

 

[Jeff Blair]

Now y'all have gone and done it. I'll have to stop and get Rudy's on the way. See y'all there.

 

[Jeff Blair]

grumble..grumble..Mark...grumble.. Thanks for having us over Tubes. And, thanks for wetting our palet Nils with the BBQ. It was a fun time, I think, for all. Well, except for Tubes in the last 2 min of the game. So, when is the next tourney there Steve?

 

[Mark Hayenga]

So how was she Hank?

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Hey, I was channel surfing and stumbled on some Vegas tournament poker! And, it was from the Tower downtown hotel where I stayed during C.E.S. Very cool, and I didn't think I could get any tourney poker on my Basic $10.21/month cable.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

[c]Congrats to Jeff[/c]
[c](aka Man-with-the-ever-changing-poker-moniker)[/c]

We didn't plan on a tournament style game, but after the dust settled Jeff was the last man out the door with everyone's money - including my wife's!

Thanks for everyone for joining and I'm glad we were able to put the game together in only a couple hours notice. Hank, thanks for bringing over the high class beer. The poker play was very good, and the winner deserved every lousy chip he got.

Interestingly enough last night's game turned into a litmus test for a few things.

Single Chip Denomination

It was our first game using only one chip denomination and I think it went very well! It certainly made comparing chip stacks easy to do and with all-in bets there were no necessary conversion for unmatched denominations. Similarly there was also no need for chip change during the game.

I still like the idea of using two denominations especially with eight or more players, and possibly three for larger tournaments, but it was also nice to see it work well with just one denomination.


$50 Buy-In/Re-Buy Chip Count

Basically each buy-in/re-buy got you 50x$1 chips with $1/$2 blinds and it could not have been simpler or more effective. I think those of us at the table all agreed that having $500 in chips was too unrealistic which is probably also why Steve, Mark, and others would consistently refer to the chips by their actual value rather than their assigned value - with the exception of the bets over $100.

If you think about it, there really is not much of a difference in game play between $500 in chips with $5/$10 blinds and $50 in chips with $1/$2 blinds with the exception of the perceived value.

We had the same level of action and chip movement as in previous games, but the value seemed far more realistic and thus also apparently improved the emotional impact of making and calling big bets.

Next game though, I'd like to try buy-ins with $100 in chips and two denominations = 50x$1 chips + 10x$5 chips with $1/$2 blinds and maybe bump the blinds later in the evening should the stacks get too high from re-buys.


Best Hand Wins Big Blind

The way this works is when players fold their hand they still hold on to their cards, then after the hand is decided everyone shows their cards. The player who would have had the best hand after all five community cards are dealt out wins the big blind.

For friendly low stake games, I’ve played this rule before and it not only is fun, but can really help those who are just learning the game to get an idea of smart ways of playing your cards. In many ways it makes it like what you see when watching WPT, WSOP, and other poker tournaments where you see everyone’s hole card – but of course in a game this is done after the main hand is finished.

For obvious reasons you would never do this in a tournament or high stakes game, but it worked really well for our game last night, and I believe it would be a positive experience for all our games - not only for the entertainment (as the results can be quite entertaining), but it would also really help improve the game play of those who are new to the game.

This may also help encourage some of our fellow HTFers who are on the fence about learning poker and joining our games to jump on board. After all, I think we can all agree that once they get started they will realize very quickly why we all enjoy our games so much, and not just the poker.


Hosting Games at the Luehrmann Residence

Another experiment was once again hosting games at my place which I had not done for some time due to my concerns over family duties and the noise level in the house with sleeping children.

Neither became an issue and in fact my wife enjoyed joining the game and so I even got her endorsement for future games at the house.


Larger Poker Table

I was also curious about using our main dining room instead of the poker table as it can be configured to fit anywhere from 8-14 people quite comfortably. I had not considered it before because I was not happy with the quality of the felt that I bought to cover the table as it had a tendency to catch cards when dealing. We ended up using an extra table cloth and that seemed to work just fine.

Eventually though I would still like to consider making a DIY professional poker table as discussed before. Doc had a recommendation for a good fabric provider, and we discussed some good ideas for a padded cover which the felt/velour fabric would get attached to.


Bottom-line

The game was not only fun, but educational and will hopefully lead to me being able to host more games and with perhaps a more comfortable setting than my poker table top.