… at pokertables.
I’ll give you the rundown of a hand I almost cried about.
I have AK suited under the gun and I raise 4BB. I flop the nuts with QJT with two of my suit too so I’m on the royal draw on a jellyroll. I bet out knowing one guy behind me is a calling station — bet 70% pot. I get two callers. Turn is a blank and I check. Player behind me bets and I shove all in for about two pots. Player behind me calls with jack and the blank that fell. River pairs the board with another 5 (the blank) to make donkey a full house.
I busted him two hours later.
Ha!
Twice a month I sit down in the restaurant of the casino I usually play at with a friend I met at the blackjack tables and now plays in the same poker room on a regular basis to talk poker. We discuss our results and talk about key losing and winning hands and about how we could had minimized losses or maximized wins on them… It’s good, as it keeps us focussed on the game but also allows both of us to talk openly about playing hands badly and letting go of these hands once they’ve been discussed.
Anyway, this time we ended up discussing something that was clear to me but my friend wouldn’t believe/grasp — the huge difference between AT and A8 as a starting hand. He generally folds AT’s and A8′s in early position due to the difficulty of these hands after the flop, while I usually raise the AT and fold the A8 — why? Not only is the ten a kicker, it also opens straight possibilities. The Ace-Eight looks for an eight-high board or an ace. The Ace-ten looks for an ace, a ten-high board or even an ace with two high cards. It opens chances of sucking out on better aces with more than just your kicker-cards — the 3 out you have with the A8.
It might be a small difference, but to an aggressive player like me that’s enough to go ahead and raise it up. 
Alright so David Sklanksy has mentioned the Gap Concept in quite a few of his books but Phil Gordon does a good job explaining it a little more in this video… I haven’t seen Phil’s Learn Poker with Phil Gordon “Final Table Poker” in full but I’m planning to do so… His green book was pretty ok.
Like every poker player, I dread the days on which I know I play bad, or on which I realize afterwards I was tilting without actually realizing it, thus losing way too much money due to donkeyplay.
Anyway, last night was such a night. Playing $2/$5, luckily, so only losing about $200 in the process. A perfect hand:
I’m in early position with A9 suited, and decide to raise 3BB (a play I don’t usually make). I get minreraised and nobody calls — I do. A play I usually wouldn’t make again. Flop comes AJ3 rainbow. I bet right out (a play I would usually make hehe) and get re-raised about 3/4pot. I call.
Turn comes a queen — I check, villain checks behind me.
River comes a ten. I check, villain bets 50%pot, and i call. Villain had AK.
MEH. Tilt play.
I don’t speak ANY Italian, but for anyone looking to see Porsche-winning Dario Minieire in a “I just got beat in the first round mood, you’ve got to see this movie! 
In the end the tournament was won by Andrea Binda (whoever that might be) — but like I said, the fun is in the defeat of Dario.
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Full Tilt does such a great job in making poker look glorious — making poker look glamorous — making poker players look and sound like rock stars.
Pros in the video: Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Erick Lindgren, … and the whole crew in the final cut.
I ate a steak at the poker table today, and I wish I hadn’t. Let me tell you a painful story:
Walked in with about $2000 in my pocket, went straight for the 5/10 game, my favorite at the casino here. Started off playing aggressive, making button-raises, following through on the flop most of the time. I bought in for $600, and after about an hour I was up to $1100. Not bad, seeing as I hadn’t been involved in any big hands. At that point, I went into a period of severe card-deadness. Best was like 67os.
Alright, so I got hungry. I asked the cardroom manager if I could have a steak, and he said: “sure my friend!”.
Took a mushroom-sause one. Very good.
While eating, I pick up AA. Nice! I raised 3BB, and another guy shoves right away. He had like $400. I instacalled. He had 99. Nine came on the turn.
Okay, he didn’t have too much cash. No disaster.
3 Hands later I picked up QQ. I raised 4BB, and got two callers. Flop came AQ9. I bet out, I get raised, I shove, I get called. Villain turns over JT, no flushdraw. King hit the turn and I got no help on the river.
Broke.
Rebought for $700. Asked for the stake to be taken away. Tripled up the next hand when I flopped a set of tens and filled up on the river to take the pot. JT-villain had Aces. Ah sweet Irony!
… without a really strong hand …
You might get called with nine high, obviously making two pair…
Final table of a $100 SnG. Bleh. Luckily I had him covered, but as you can see not by much.
Quite the funny find on the net today — website owner asking Sam Farha out to the casinos. I’m not sure if this is cute or opportunistic. It’s funny though. xD
You might have heard about the fast food method of entertainment on Internet, that is online bingo. If you will taste it once, you will get addicted by its flavour throughout your life. It is a fact that online bingo is like tempting dish and until you will not get enter to enjoy it, you will start suffering from spasmodic epilepsy which can only be cured by hearing the excited voice of ‘Bingo’ calling from bingo halls.
Online bingo is a great game, especially for those who want to combat their loneliness, crave for monotonous, and hunger for bankruptcy. But fortunately, bingo does not fulfil any of these things.
For most of the people, bingo is a medium to convene new friends, to spend money happily and to have huge fun in their leisure time, and people also feel that they get good return from it whether financially or emotionally. Online bingo is played in greater number because people enjoy their favourite game by seating at home and thus making themselves accessible to meet many new people from all over the world. Anybody, men or women, old or young are playing bingo now a days in the privacy and comfort of their own place.
