Online Poker; still not ready, or regulated

Okay, so I fully recognize this blog is dedicated to “Live” No Limit Hold Em. However, I’m going to admit something to you, I miss online poker. I have always enjoyed the live games, and I think black Friday has certainly injected a little excitement back into the game. If we weren’t battling with a economic issues, we probably would have noticed a sharp increase in attendance at poker rooms across the country. Perhaps even some of the rooms near you have seen this growth, near me, it’s been pretty much business as usual. 

Recently I got bored and decided to check out www.lockpoker.com. I contacted them about their withdrawal options; which seemed reasonable, and decided to make a small deposit. The software worked good, and I was grinding. This was especially exciting for me because remember, I work 40-60 hours per week at a non-poker job. As much as I would like to play live every night, my life doesn’t allow for that type of commitment. Therefore, I was hoping to find some type of poker site to help fill that void.

What a mistake. The software looks great, but something is just not right. I didn’t play thousands, or even hundreds of hands. I don’t think I even played a hundred hands total over a 3 day period. I know there are a lot of conspiracy theorists out there, and honestly I hate to come across as one, but damn. I had multiple hands cracked after the turn, where I was way ahead, and lost. One of those hands I even lost to an all in by me, after the turn, who called a significant amount of chips; which was disproportionate to the size of the pot, on a gut shot, and got there. 

It sure as hell smells like something fishy. I’m not going to cry about it, just blog about it! No, it’s okay, I reminded myself just how important it is to support www.thePPA.org and push for regulation of online poker in the United States. I get the sense its coming soon, if we can just get our government to push this through during an election year. I sure hope so. Until then, I will stick with the live games, and I recommend you do the same!

Pot Odds and Equity

I’m just getting back to the blogs after a tough weekend on the felt. There were things I thought I did well, and things I didn’t do well. I will learn from the mistakes I made, and move on. Sometimes the cards don’t fall your way, so be it.

So you’re making good choices with your hand selection now, right? At low stakes, it’s likely that most of the players around you are not. It doesn’t vary much from the home game, to the charity events, to the casino, at low stakes NLH. There are lots of bad players, who make poor decision with their hand selection, and end up wasting even more money chasing draws that cost them piles of chips over the long run. Wise up, and try not to be that guy.

Where do you begin? Well quit chasing draws! I’m just kidding, well as long as you are getting the right odds. At low stakes NLH, I think more people use “pot odds” as an excuse for making bad decisions. It’s comical. You know what I’m talking about, so don’t kid yourself. There is always someone who peels off a large portion of his stack, chasing a draw, and claims that “pot odds” compelled him to do it. Occasionally, I will ask them, “so what exactly were your odds there?” I don’t recall ever receiving the right answer. Seriously. It’s been my observation that “pot odds” are used as more of a phrase, than as an actual calculation used to make profitable poker decisions.

Pot Odds and Equity, are powerful tools when combined with sound hand selection. Use them to your advantage and keep your stacks going vertical. I’m not going to recreate the wheel here, or plagiarize someone else’s work. Below are two hyperlinks, and I encourage you to visit them. These two links, will explain it a hell of a lot better than me. There are a ton of examples on the web, so if you don’t like these examples, Google has plenty more available!

http://www.pokerlistings.com/strategy/poker-math/how-to-calculate-pot-odds-and-equity-pot-odds

http://www.pokerlistings.com/strategy/poker-math/how-to-calculate-pot-odds-and-equity-equity