Sorry folks I haven’t written on my blog for some time, you know how life can be sometimes…

But this story I just have to share with you, because its not often that something like this happens.  Last night I was playing in our poker club.  Do you have a poker club?  A bunch of guys have got together and decided to form a poker club, its mainly fun, social poker and we meet once a month. You should give it a go and form a poker club, if you haven’t already.

We bought a fancy poker table and the buy-ins are $20, all the money goes to the top 3 finishers.  So far we have only played no-limit Texas Hold’em, but as the players get more experienced, I think we will introduce other types of poker.

Our table was 6 handed, 2 new players who knew a little about poker and 4 old hands… play was a bit slow in the beginning because we were explaining a lot about how things worked – but that’s the whole point of the club, to meet interesting people and play poker, no matter what level you are.

Anyway, the 4 old hands were having a serious attempt to out-do each other, whilst the 2 newcomers were playing very cautiously… so it was kind of a weird game.  After an hour my stack was bleeding bad, because I had been taking some seriously crazy gambles.  I had a heads-up with Terry, who always wants to beat me!  And, he mostly did last night, until I took him out with this hand…

I got dealt a 2,3 of hearts and thought ok lets have a go with this, lets see if I’m a gonna get me some more hearts… I slowed played it cautiously to the flop…

…and bang down they all came on the flop… I couldn’t believe it!  Whats more, not just any old hearts, but a 4,5,6 of hearts… oh boy!!!  I struggled to contain myself… to keep a straight poker face.

Terry had the better of me all night and it came down to me and him again. He had a pair of something or other, who cares… but he was worried about the hearts… he thought he was in with a chance, until I went all-in.

“Do you have hearts?”, he asked with a smile.

I replied whilst putting my hand on my heart, “Oh yes, a big heart” and gave him a smile back.  Actually it was probably more of a leer!

He thought I was bluffing, I think my smile worked… sold him down the river. He was convinced I was still hurting after my loses and so he decided to take me on and also go all-in.  Ha.. big mistake!!  Don’t know why he didnt just call.. ego I suppose.  When I turned my cards over, none of us could believe its a straight flush and on the flop too!!

Bye – bye Terry, home early to bed for you tonight.

Heh dealer shuffle dem cards properly

The Ante Up for Africa charity is an excellent cause and something a lot more poker players should get involved in or then start their own project.  So much is said about the wrongs and rights of playing poker on the internet, gambling laws and responsible gambling etc.  But if poker players were seen to be doing even more good, than what some of them are already, then maybe people would keep quiet.

Ante Up raises funds for much needed charity work in Darfu.  Then theres also the Enough Project which raises awareness about genocide and crimes against humanity.

Ante Up gets great coverage through the WSOP who have been great at promoting it.  Poker players have raised lots of money by doing something they all love doing, playing poker.  The added bonus is they have made people more aware of some of the humanitarian crisis taking place around the world and have actually done something to help, instead of just talking about how terrible it is.

Speak to the old time poker players and they will say ace-king is a trap hand.  But nowadays playing online poker, the young guns will fire away with ace-king no problem, they won’t even think twice about playing them.

All I will say is, watch out when playing ace-king, in my mind they fall into the trap hand category and I would play them with caution. You have to focus hard on what the other players are doing post flop.  I suppose the aggressive play just pushes most people out of the pot, so if you want to play poker like that then chances are that you may win more hands.  Suppose it depends on who you’re playing with.

What do you think about ace-king?

Some players get some backing from either companies or individuals.  The backing helps them make the step-up to the next level and gives them the confidence to take on better poker players.

Lets face it all sports have coaches and some even have a whole team that will help their players from psychologists to physiotherapists.  So why not poker?

Sometimes we just need a little help from outside, someone who will look from a different angle and tell us what to work on to improve.  Thats if you will listen to it of course.  So if you are  a good poker player and want the extra help to fast-track your progress to the top tables, look around for someone who will back you.

Let me just warn you though, its not for everyone, some people don’t like playing with other people’s money and get nervous.  Then again you also get people who don’t play well when the high buy-ins and bets are coming from their own pockets.

I get a bit tired of all the comments calling players donkeys.  Sure, there are some dumb moves sometimes, but we also can make mistakes and mis-read hands… even good players get it wrong sometimes and that is what is so great about poker – everyone has a chance of winning!

Inside real casinos, people hold back on their comments but it seems they get braver in online poker rooms.  Most likely because they don’t have to face the person face to face.  Its a bit like road rage, people’s characters change when they are in their cars, they get all aggressive.  But put them out on the street, without the protection of their car and they become more timid.

We all had to learn poker somewhere and we have all played the game at different levels.  To progress to the top you have to push yourself and jump into a bigger pond and play with the big fish.  Along the way we all make mistakes.

Give the donkeys a break!!  Quietly take their money, snigger to yourselves, but there is no need to go out braying about your victory (sorry… couldn’t help myself….).

Sometimes heads up poker comes down to a flip of a coin – heads or tails.  Heads you win, tails you lose.

Only playing hands when you have good cards, is not the way to play poker in my opinion.  Don’t get me wrong, a tight strategy is good, but I wouldn’t recommend playing tight all the time.  You have to take a few chances otherwise your opponents will read you and play you by the book.

So when you put your neck out and wait to see what cards you get on the table, keep your cool and enjoy living on the edge.  Who said poker had to be boring???  It comes down to a coin flip and who has the strongest nerve…

I don’t pretend to be an economist, and nor a politician.  But this cash for clunkers program where the government subsidizes you buying a new car, just doesn’t make sense to me.  I mean, I know that they are trying to boost car sales and keep the car industry going, so that manufacturing and sales continue and people keep their jobs.  Sure that makes sense to me.  And to consumers it looks like good deal that you wouldn’t want to miss.

But isn’t this just another way of propping up an inefficient industry with money that we don’t have?  Aren’t we just getting deeper and deeper into trouble?  Surely the money has to come from somewhere, will they start taxing us more now?

I realize that if the government does nothing, then the GDP will shrink further, people will lose jobs, less will be spent and the whole thing becomes a vicious circle.  So they try and stimulate the economy by pouring money in and making credit available, making it attractive to buyers and keeping companies afloat.  But shouldn’t these companies also try and improve and innovate to get themselves out of trouble.

Are we really in a free market still?  Or is it owned and controlled by government?  I just don’t get it anymore?

Whilst I was playing poker this weekend, I remember a useful little tip a friend once gave me and that was, always keep an eye on how players play when they are having to pay the blinds.  Some people just hate putting in the blinds and will sometimes try and play their hand, even though they have nothing.

If they are tight players and haven’t been playing many hands, then their stack will slowly go down because of the blinds.  Watch to see if they always play their hand when they have comitted chips to the blinds.  Then call them and see if they have the goods.

What do you think of sports pros making a comeback?  Lance Armstrong trying to win another Tour de France… sports people having to face up to retirement must be hard enough, but coming out of retirement and training again to get to the top must be very dificult.

Psychologically you know that you used to be able to do it, but it must be hard to get to the top again.  Everyone knows what it is like to try and regain your fitness after a long layoff… its tough!!

Nice thing about poker is that you can be any age and still play.  Look at Doyle Brunson, he is still as sharp as ever!  And no-one is ever going to take that experience away!

I bumped into a friend on the weekend, he is an old gaming friend and I asked him if he was now an online poker player.  I was surprised by the answer because he said no, he had tried it and given up, then went back to his computer gaming.

So I asked why?  Too slow was the answer.  So I said, why not try multi-tabling?  But he was adamant, online poker just didn’t do it for him and as for real life poker tournaments – they were dullness in the extreme.

Oh well, you cant please them all – different strokes for different folks!  What some people just dont get is the grinding it out, especially at poker tourneys, you have to grind it out and be extremely patient.  And, grinding is not for everyone, some just dont have the patience to wear out their opponents, they want quick results and action.

But those poker players that do learn how to master grinding will be sure to win some big prizes because it is the key to poker tournaments and winning at online poker.