With "LOST" on hiatus, a familiar face made a return to the table. Adam was one of seven players to compete in the regular TNP at the B & B. And while it was good to see him playing again, the star of the show last night had to be Duke, Nick's puppy schnauzer. He became the good luck charm for some. Cute as a bug in a rug! Now, let's break down the action from last night's game.
Also making a return after a few weeks absence, Crystal made an early exit with 1 point.
After discovering his new, tight sun glasses might be contributing to his headache, Justin soon followed Crystal with 2 points. We all need to pray for Justin as he is likely to be bruised and battered after imploring Mark to adopt Duke.
After being pushed around by Shane all night, Deb finally succumbed and, after issuing a few choice swear words, left with 3 points.
Shane was next to fold from the game, garnering 4 points.
Making it to the top 3 after his long absence, Adam kept drawing cards at the opposite end of the flop. Still, he earned 5 points for his efforts.
Playing his best game to date, getting great cards and surprising the table with his skills, Nick made the heads up portion of the game. He held the chip lead for much of the night and ended in second place with 7 points.
For the third week in a row I emerged victorious after a long night of poker. The game finally finished around 11:45. Deb, after dropping Shane off, came back by to deal. I'll add 9 points to my total. Here's a recap of the night.
NAME__________PLACE__________POINTS
Crystal___________7__________1
Justin____________6__________2
Deb_______________5__________3
Shane_____________4__________4
Adam______________3__________5
Nick______________2__________7
Jeff______________1__________9
See you all next week for another thrilling addition of "The Admiral's Poker Challenge at the B & B"!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Spring Fever
It's in the air, along with pairs, trips, boats & flushes. Let's see who can get the best of them tomorrow night at the B & B. Stevie's working nights, so he'll be absent for a while. This presents a chance for those at the back of the pack to make a move towards the top. Let's see who can capitalize on the opportunities.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
On this first day of spring......
Once again, laughter, food, fellowship and cards were the order of the evening. Myself, Markus, Deb, Shane and making a return after a 2 week abscence, Tanner. Nick dropped by later to observe. Deb & Shane brought pizza and it was delish. Here's how the events unfolded.
Tonight we inaugurated our first DOT on TNP. It was a smashing success. However, not everyone was successful, and bowing out first tonight was Shane with 1 point. Something Deb found particularly satisfying.
Next out was Markus, leaving the table with 2 points.
Deb, playing well and making it to the top 3, still had to concentrate on the Omaha part of DOT and ended her run with 3 points.
Heads up tonight came down to Tanner and myself. I peaked early, but held in there. Tanner was running late to meet friends so played a little loose at the end, costing him the game but leaving him with 5 points.
For the second week in a row, I ended the night with 7 points and my second victory in a row. After telling Wes of my success, he mentioned that it might have something to do with home field advantage. He cautioned that I might find myself home alone with everyone returning to Sassy's! I hope he's wrong. Here's how the night looks by the numbers.
NAME__________POINTS__________PLACE
Shane______________1__________5
Markus_____________2__________4
Deb________________3__________3
Tanner_____________5__________2
Jeff_______________7__________1
And that's the way it is, Thursday, March 20, 2008. This is Walter Cronkite, CBS News, good night.
Tonight we inaugurated our first DOT on TNP. It was a smashing success. However, not everyone was successful, and bowing out first tonight was Shane with 1 point. Something Deb found particularly satisfying.
Next out was Markus, leaving the table with 2 points.
Deb, playing well and making it to the top 3, still had to concentrate on the Omaha part of DOT and ended her run with 3 points.
Heads up tonight came down to Tanner and myself. I peaked early, but held in there. Tanner was running late to meet friends so played a little loose at the end, costing him the game but leaving him with 5 points.
For the second week in a row, I ended the night with 7 points and my second victory in a row. After telling Wes of my success, he mentioned that it might have something to do with home field advantage. He cautioned that I might find myself home alone with everyone returning to Sassy's! I hope he's wrong. Here's how the night looks by the numbers.
NAME__________POINTS__________PLACE
Shane______________1__________5
Markus_____________2__________4
Deb________________3__________3
Tanner_____________5__________2
Jeff_______________7__________1
And that's the way it is, Thursday, March 20, 2008. This is Walter Cronkite, CBS News, good night.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Let spring begin!
The first game of spring is scheduled for tomorrow night. We'll start a new variation of the regular Texas Holdem. This time, we'll begin a rotation of draw, Omaha and Texas. We've done this before, on a smaller scale, with much success. We'll try it and see how it works out, hopefully doing it once a month. Hope to see Stevie & Tanner make a return to the table. Until tomorrow night, may all your cards be live and your pots be monsters!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Poker 101
Since we're going to start a couple of new games this week, I thought I'd post the rules for each. Draw is easy, not much to it. And while Omaha is about the same as Texas, it's harder than you think. And one variation on draw. The way we've played it before, you could only exchange 4 cards if you had an ace. We'll play according to the rules posted here, even though I've seen the 4 card max on several different web sites. So now you can trade in all 5 cards if your hand is that bad.
5 CARD DRAW
Draw Poker is the basic form of Poker and the place to start when introducing new players to the game. It's fairly uncommon these days in the casinos, but it is the form from which all other Poker games are derived.
The essence of Draw Poker is that the player builds a hand from 5 cards. After the initial round of betting the player may discard some or all of their cards and receive replacements. The players cards should never be revealed until the final Showdown, and are only then if absolutely necessary (more on that later). During the game, all cards are dealt and discarded face down.
There are two main things to learn when it comes to Draw Poker. The first is Poker's 5-card hands and their ranking. The second is the course of play including when and how to bet.
Poker Hands
A poker hand is made from the best arrangement of five cards and are ranked as follows, highest first:
Royal Flush: A-K-Q-J-10, all same suit
Straight Flush: any five consecutive cards, all same suit
Four-of-a-Kind: four cards, same value (eg. four 7's)
Full House: Three-of-a-Kind and a Pair
Flush: any five cards of the same suit
Straight: any five consecutive cards
Three-of-a-Kind: three cards, same value
Two Pair
Pair
No Pair: five dissimilar cards, mixed suit
There are no wild cards in Draw Poker. All suits are ranked equally.
The Course of Play
A round of Poker begins with determining the Dealer. The Deal usually rotates around the table from the right: if you've just dealt then the person on your left deals next.
The Ante
Once assigned, the Dealer receives the deck and shuffles. Each player pays the "ante" which is a small, flat fee you pay to purchase the right to play that round. If you don't ante it means you are "sitting out". These monies and all others in the game go into the center of the table in a pile called "the pot". Once the antes are in, the Dealer deals one card at a time, face down, to each player around the table, beginning on the Dealer's left. Then the second card is dealt to each player, and so on until each player has 5 cards, all face down.
Pass, Bet or Fold
Players pick up their cards and assess their hand. The player to the Dealer's left opens the betting round by either placing a Bet, indicating a Pass by placing no bet, or Folding by discarding their hand.
Call and Raise
The next player to the left now has the opportunity to Bet. Or they can Fold. If the previous players Passed then they can Pass too or place a Bet of their own. If other players have Bet and they wish to stay in the round they must Call by matching any outstanding bets. They can then Raise by placing a bet of their own.
The betting then moves to the next player on the left, then the next, and so on back to and including the Dealer.
Once the Dealer has placed their bet, the other players must Call any outstanding bets or Fold. Generally speaking, no Raises are permitted once the betting has passed around to the Dealer.
Discarding
Players may now Discard any or all of their cards based on their hopes of building a better hand. Cards are discarded face down and collected by the Dealer.
Replacements
The Dealer now deals each player, starting on the left, their replacement cards, face down.
As before the Player on the Dealer's left begins the betting and the betting proceeds around the table.
Again, the Dealer gets the final Raise. Then everyone else must Call or Fold. Finally, the remaining players are ready for the Showdown.
If at any time there is only one player left in the game they take the pot. This player is encouraged to keep their cards hidden and muck them to the Dealer.
Showdown
After the final betting round, and all the necessary Calls, the players still in the game have reached the Showdown. The player's hands are revealed. The best hand wins and the winner takes the pot.
If there are tied winning hands then the rank of the individual cards determines the winner. For instance Full House of Aces over Jacks beats a Full House of Kings over Jacks. If it's still a tie and there are no kickers (spare cards not used to build the final hand) then the pot is split.
If the rank of the individual cards doesn't determine the winner, then the kicker(s) of higher rank determines the winner. If it's still a tie, the pot is split.
If there are no "name" hands (all players have No Pair), then the highest ranking single card is declared the winning hand. If it comes to a dead tie (no clear winner, all cards same rank) then the pot is split.
Suit is never used to determine a winner in Poker.
OMAHA
Omaha Hi is a version of Texas Hold'Em where players are dealt four hole cards instead of two. But there's a catch: two and only two of the hole cards can be used in making the final hand. Omaha Hi is also known as Omaha Hold'Em or simply Omaha.
The four hole cards make Omaha a nine-card game and having more cards to choose from means players will typically finish with stronger hands. Poker players being the people that they often are, the possibility of higher hands typically means that players stay in longer and the pots will grow accordingly.
In practice, Hold'Em players will find that the focus in Omaha Hi tends more towards playing the cards than playing the other players.
Basic Rules
For the basics of Omaha, see our Texas Hold'Em rules. The only variations are:
the player is dealt four hole cards.
the player makes their final hand from two of the four hole cards and three of the five community cards.
Strategy
Since the name of the game in Omaha is to assemble the killer hand, it essentially becomes a drawing game. You take the possibilities you're dealt with the hole cards, determine what you can make out of it, watch the community cards as they fall with a careful eye on what they're doing to your chances and bail if it becomes clear that things are going sour. You can burn off a lot of chips hanging around to see if things improve.
The strategy guidelines for Omaha run into the dozens because of the number of cards in play and the two-from-four rule. To make a long story short, it's generally advised that you stay in if your hole cards integrate well --that is, they form the beginnings of several good hands-- and muck them if they don't.
Rookie Omaha players are often suckered in by a solid pack of hole cards or a strong string of community cards. Remember, Four to a Flush in the hole is useless because you only get to keep two of them. Ditto with the community cards. There is no point to betting on cards you can't keep so remember: two hole cards, three community cards, no exceptions, period.
Watch out for busted hands in the initial deal: two cards might start a Straight and the others a Flush, but there's no crossover in that you can't recombine the cards to form yet another hand, like a Straight Flush for instance. To avoid chasing rainbows, muck pairs of orphans unless they're top-nut beginnings.
Beware of "second nut" hands, those where even if you got what you needed it still wouldn't be a boss hand. Many an Omaha player has gone home with empty pockets and the haunting feeling that they should've learned something from the experience. Second nut is second place --if you're lucky-- and you should play accordingly.
Finally, don't stay in hoping things will get better. If the flop goes against you, muck out because if those three cards haven't helped you the chances are that nothing else will. The smart money says keep your chips for the next hand.
5 CARD DRAW
Draw Poker is the basic form of Poker and the place to start when introducing new players to the game. It's fairly uncommon these days in the casinos, but it is the form from which all other Poker games are derived.
The essence of Draw Poker is that the player builds a hand from 5 cards. After the initial round of betting the player may discard some or all of their cards and receive replacements. The players cards should never be revealed until the final Showdown, and are only then if absolutely necessary (more on that later). During the game, all cards are dealt and discarded face down.
There are two main things to learn when it comes to Draw Poker. The first is Poker's 5-card hands and their ranking. The second is the course of play including when and how to bet.
Poker Hands
A poker hand is made from the best arrangement of five cards and are ranked as follows, highest first:
Royal Flush: A-K-Q-J-10, all same suit
Straight Flush: any five consecutive cards, all same suit
Four-of-a-Kind: four cards, same value (eg. four 7's)
Full House: Three-of-a-Kind and a Pair
Flush: any five cards of the same suit
Straight: any five consecutive cards
Three-of-a-Kind: three cards, same value
Two Pair
Pair
No Pair: five dissimilar cards, mixed suit
There are no wild cards in Draw Poker. All suits are ranked equally.
The Course of Play
A round of Poker begins with determining the Dealer. The Deal usually rotates around the table from the right: if you've just dealt then the person on your left deals next.
The Ante
Once assigned, the Dealer receives the deck and shuffles. Each player pays the "ante" which is a small, flat fee you pay to purchase the right to play that round. If you don't ante it means you are "sitting out". These monies and all others in the game go into the center of the table in a pile called "the pot". Once the antes are in, the Dealer deals one card at a time, face down, to each player around the table, beginning on the Dealer's left. Then the second card is dealt to each player, and so on until each player has 5 cards, all face down.
Pass, Bet or Fold
Players pick up their cards and assess their hand. The player to the Dealer's left opens the betting round by either placing a Bet, indicating a Pass by placing no bet, or Folding by discarding their hand.
Call and Raise
The next player to the left now has the opportunity to Bet. Or they can Fold. If the previous players Passed then they can Pass too or place a Bet of their own. If other players have Bet and they wish to stay in the round they must Call by matching any outstanding bets. They can then Raise by placing a bet of their own.
The betting then moves to the next player on the left, then the next, and so on back to and including the Dealer.
Once the Dealer has placed their bet, the other players must Call any outstanding bets or Fold. Generally speaking, no Raises are permitted once the betting has passed around to the Dealer.
Discarding
Players may now Discard any or all of their cards based on their hopes of building a better hand. Cards are discarded face down and collected by the Dealer.
Replacements
The Dealer now deals each player, starting on the left, their replacement cards, face down.
As before the Player on the Dealer's left begins the betting and the betting proceeds around the table.
Again, the Dealer gets the final Raise. Then everyone else must Call or Fold. Finally, the remaining players are ready for the Showdown.
If at any time there is only one player left in the game they take the pot. This player is encouraged to keep their cards hidden and muck them to the Dealer.
Showdown
After the final betting round, and all the necessary Calls, the players still in the game have reached the Showdown. The player's hands are revealed. The best hand wins and the winner takes the pot.
If there are tied winning hands then the rank of the individual cards determines the winner. For instance Full House of Aces over Jacks beats a Full House of Kings over Jacks. If it's still a tie and there are no kickers (spare cards not used to build the final hand) then the pot is split.
If the rank of the individual cards doesn't determine the winner, then the kicker(s) of higher rank determines the winner. If it's still a tie, the pot is split.
If there are no "name" hands (all players have No Pair), then the highest ranking single card is declared the winning hand. If it comes to a dead tie (no clear winner, all cards same rank) then the pot is split.
Suit is never used to determine a winner in Poker.
OMAHA
Omaha Hi is a version of Texas Hold'Em where players are dealt four hole cards instead of two. But there's a catch: two and only two of the hole cards can be used in making the final hand. Omaha Hi is also known as Omaha Hold'Em or simply Omaha.
The four hole cards make Omaha a nine-card game and having more cards to choose from means players will typically finish with stronger hands. Poker players being the people that they often are, the possibility of higher hands typically means that players stay in longer and the pots will grow accordingly.
In practice, Hold'Em players will find that the focus in Omaha Hi tends more towards playing the cards than playing the other players.
Basic Rules
For the basics of Omaha, see our Texas Hold'Em rules. The only variations are:
the player is dealt four hole cards.
the player makes their final hand from two of the four hole cards and three of the five community cards.
Strategy
Since the name of the game in Omaha is to assemble the killer hand, it essentially becomes a drawing game. You take the possibilities you're dealt with the hole cards, determine what you can make out of it, watch the community cards as they fall with a careful eye on what they're doing to your chances and bail if it becomes clear that things are going sour. You can burn off a lot of chips hanging around to see if things improve.
The strategy guidelines for Omaha run into the dozens because of the number of cards in play and the two-from-four rule. To make a long story short, it's generally advised that you stay in if your hole cards integrate well --that is, they form the beginnings of several good hands-- and muck them if they don't.
Rookie Omaha players are often suckered in by a solid pack of hole cards or a strong string of community cards. Remember, Four to a Flush in the hole is useless because you only get to keep two of them. Ditto with the community cards. There is no point to betting on cards you can't keep so remember: two hole cards, three community cards, no exceptions, period.
Watch out for busted hands in the initial deal: two cards might start a Straight and the others a Flush, but there's no crossover in that you can't recombine the cards to form yet another hand, like a Straight Flush for instance. To avoid chasing rainbows, muck pairs of orphans unless they're top-nut beginnings.
Beware of "second nut" hands, those where even if you got what you needed it still wouldn't be a boss hand. Many an Omaha player has gone home with empty pockets and the haunting feeling that they should've learned something from the experience. Second nut is second place --if you're lucky-- and you should play accordingly.
Finally, don't stay in hoping things will get better. If the flop goes against you, muck out because if those three cards haven't helped you the chances are that nothing else will. The smart money says keep your chips for the next hand.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
A New Hope
Laughter, clean air, no tension or stress, comfortable seating, could it get any better? YES, cause I won! For the first time in recent memory. Let's look at how it played out.
Making his TNP debut, but certainly no new comer, Justin, sporting green hair and nails, finished the night with 1 point.
Next out was Deb, who graciously dealt the rest of the night, with 2 points.
Nick, having made the top 3, ended up with a near anxiety attack, 2 cups of coffee, severe ADD, coaching tips from Adam and 3 points.
The heads up came down to two old nemisis. Also making his TNP debut and leaving with 5 points was Mark. Ask him how to play 6-3 off suit next time you see him.
Well, I finally did it. Winning for the first time since I kept score on my cave wall I added 7 points to my total to take first place! WOOT!
Here's how it looks in graph form:
NAME__________PLACE__________POINTS
Justin____________5__________1
Deb_______________4__________2
Nick______________3__________3
Mark______________2__________5
Jeff______________1__________7
Making his TNP debut, but certainly no new comer, Justin, sporting green hair and nails, finished the night with 1 point.
Next out was Deb, who graciously dealt the rest of the night, with 2 points.
Nick, having made the top 3, ended up with a near anxiety attack, 2 cups of coffee, severe ADD, coaching tips from Adam and 3 points.
The heads up came down to two old nemisis. Also making his TNP debut and leaving with 5 points was Mark. Ask him how to play 6-3 off suit next time you see him.
Well, I finally did it. Winning for the first time since I kept score on my cave wall I added 7 points to my total to take first place! WOOT!
Here's how it looks in graph form:
NAME__________PLACE__________POINTS
Justin____________5__________1
Deb_______________4__________2
Nick______________3__________3
Mark______________2__________5
Jeff______________1__________7
Friday, March 7, 2008
Something to consider
Although we've been playing at Sassy's for several years now, what is your opinion of seeking another place to play? We have to move tables around, sit on uncomfortable stools and deal with barely adequate lighting. If we decide to, I could talk with David at 212 or Steven at Whiskers and see if they'd be willing to host. Or I could have it at my house. Only thing with that is no smoking, no drink card or keychain, and it would be BYOB. Leave me comments and we'll see what the consensus of the group is.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
And blow they did!
The forcast was for wind, and blow they did. The winds of change have blown Tanner off the top spot for the first time since record keeping started and tonight we have a new leader. Here's how the storm developed, matured and ended.
With so many nipping at his heels, the worst thing Tanner could do tonight was go out first, yet that's just what he did. I think he was having sympathy pains for Stevie, so Tanner left the game with 1 point.
Stevie should have stayed home, as he was sick and barely able to stay awake. Take 2 points Stevie and call me in the morning!
Making a return visit, since she was off today and it was before her bed time, Crystal nevertheless could only muster 3 points tonight.
Shane made an appearance tonight and garnered 4 points.
Lisa started out slow, built up quite a few chips, but had to leave the table with 5 points.
I made the top 3 this week, much improved after last weeks dismal performance, and added 6 points to my total.
Once again, Deb made the heads up match with Chris. Her style of play this week was much different from recent games and for a while looked like the power player of before. Battling back from several all in bets, playing much more aggressive, she was done in on her last all in by Chris and was able to net 8 points.
The new leader, winning for the second week in a row, with 10 points, was Chris. He got this forcast right!
Here's how the night broke down.
NAME__________PLACE_________POINTS
Tanner____________8_________1
Stevie____________7_________2
Crystal___________6_________3
Shane_____________5_________4
Lisa______________4_________5
Jeff______________3_________6
Deb_______________2_________8
Chris_____________1_________10
The top 5 are still running neck and neck so expect more changes soon. Until next time may all your cards be live and your pots be monsters! Have a great weekend everyone.
With so many nipping at his heels, the worst thing Tanner could do tonight was go out first, yet that's just what he did. I think he was having sympathy pains for Stevie, so Tanner left the game with 1 point.
Stevie should have stayed home, as he was sick and barely able to stay awake. Take 2 points Stevie and call me in the morning!
Making a return visit, since she was off today and it was before her bed time, Crystal nevertheless could only muster 3 points tonight.
Shane made an appearance tonight and garnered 4 points.
Lisa started out slow, built up quite a few chips, but had to leave the table with 5 points.
I made the top 3 this week, much improved after last weeks dismal performance, and added 6 points to my total.
Once again, Deb made the heads up match with Chris. Her style of play this week was much different from recent games and for a while looked like the power player of before. Battling back from several all in bets, playing much more aggressive, she was done in on her last all in by Chris and was able to net 8 points.
The new leader, winning for the second week in a row, with 10 points, was Chris. He got this forcast right!
Here's how the night broke down.
NAME__________PLACE_________POINTS
Tanner____________8_________1
Stevie____________7_________2
Crystal___________6_________3
Shane_____________5_________4
Lisa______________4_________5
Jeff______________3_________6
Deb_______________2_________8
Chris_____________1_________10
The top 5 are still running neck and neck so expect more changes soon. Until next time may all your cards be live and your pots be monsters! Have a great weekend everyone.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
The winds of change
Well, surely Tanner can't withstand another onslought with so many now within easy striking distance. Tomorrow night will tell. All top 5 positions are in jeopardy, so by the end of play tomorrow night, the top 5 may be in a completely different order. Until the results are posted, may all your cards be live and your pots be monsters!
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