High Speed Slots

Anyone looking to be part of one of the biggest bad beats around try the President Casino on the Admiral.  It is locate on the St. Louis Riverfront, and the phone number is (314) 622-1818.  As of today the Jackpot on Stud was $104,000.00 and growing.  Four Jacks need to be beat and $25.00 in the pot. It is a little tough to hit, but way over due.

Answer 1:

This bad beat has been going for almost a year. It be nice to hit but who can stand 1-5 seven stud for very long, bad beat or no bad beat.

Answer 2:

It may  be a little easier to win than you think, as it is likely that if challenged  the jackpot would have to be awarded once the pot reaches the point that a jackpot rake is taken.  At most casinos the jackpot rake is taken when the pot hits $5 or $10 and gaming commissions and courts have ruled that this is the point at which jackpot eligibility begins. The interested reader can check Dejanews.com for an earlier thread on this topic. Regardless of this point, it remains true that these huge jackpots are good news for Uncle Sam and a handful of the luckiest among us, and terrible news for poker in general.

Answer 3:

If they are in fact such bad news then why do poker rooms continue to offer them? Obviously they think the benefits outweigh the liabilities. Whatever the arguments against jackpots (which I understand and agree with in principle; you need not reiterate them here for me) the fact of the matter is that it is unlikely that most every card room in existence is wrong (I suspect that a significant majority of those card rooms that are allowed to have jackpots do have them). Jackpots must work, or they wouldn’t be used. Evidence of this isCalifornia. Jackpots were declared illegal. After some months w/o jackpots card clubs figured out a loophole in the law (finance the jackpots not via a specific jackpot drop, but from their revenue stream) and started up jackpots again. They would not have gone through the trouble and potential legal challenges if they didn’t feel it was a significant boost to their business. Now, it is certainly possible that if NO card room had jackpots the industry as a whole might be better off.  But just like frequent flyer miles, once someone’s come up with the idea everyone has to have it to maintain competitiveness.  And this wouldn’t be the case unless a significant percentage of a card room’s clientele LIKE jackpots. It would seem hypocritical to suggest outlawing jackpots for the ‘good’ of the masses and the well being of the economy. The same argument is used to suggest outlawing card rooms and gambling in general.

I’ll be playing the 5-10 at the Taj this weekend and have heard there is a large bookstore in town that sells gambling related merchandise. I’m hoping to pick up some of caro’s tapes and reports as well as Sklansky’s video. Could someone give me the address of the place.

Answer 1:

There is one atPacific Ave(the main street nearest the beach) and Martin Luther King Blvdon the NE corner. This would be halfway between Resorts and Sands. There was also one in Ocean 1 Mall across from Caesars, but I don’t know if they are still there.

Answer 2:

The other one was at the Ocean One mall but is now ON the boardwalk between the Trop and the Hilton. They specialize in chip collecting but have a large selection of poker books. However the newsstand/bookstore on Pacific has the best selection.

Answer 3:

There is a book store at Pacific Ave. & Dr.Martin Luther King Blvd.(formerlyIllinois Ave.) caddy corner from the Post Office. They should have what you want. It’s about 7 blocks from the TAJ.

I have been playing poker in ring games for a short while, and I am interested in trying some tournaments but I have a small issue. I am not sure what the difference is between a freeze out and a free roll or basically any other term which might describe a tournament style.

Answer 1:

Freeze-out and free-roll are two things that have nothing to do with each other. Freeze out is how the tournament is structured — play continues until one player has all the chips, “freezing out” the other players. The one I’ve never been clear on is “shoot-out” Free-roll is a tournament with no buy-in — a casino that has a free-roll tournament puts up the prize money, and the players usually qualify by playing a designated amount of time in the week or month prior to the tournament.

Answer 2:

Adding to the information provided by John: I have also seen Free Rolls where there is no original buy-in but Re-buys and Add-ons may exist. Just so you know you or your opponents do have the opportunity to add chips, in some cases. The best advice I can give you is to ask!! Asking is free, not asking and finding your opponents taking the re-buy or add-on WILL cost you money.

Answer 3:

A shoot out is where you need to win your table. Then you advance to the next set of tables which consist of all the other individual table winners. Depending on the size of the event (# of entrants) the “finals” then determines the winner. Some are winner take all, but usually have a payoff schedule where anyone who makes it to the finals is in the money.

I’m next to the BB, with 5d 6d call  $10, 4  callers , SB, BB call, pot is $70.
flop 3d 8d 4s,  check, check, I bet $10 , raised to $20, call, BB raised to $30, sb folds, I fold. Turn Ad, River Qc BB wins with trip treys. I folded respecting the probability of a higher flush draw, was this an error ? I guess these cards were probably too weak to have called from early position in the first place ?

Answer 1:

It was a huge error. You had as many as 15 outs (did you miss the nut straight draw?), the pot had $130 and it would cost you $20 to call. The player who called 2 cold should make you a bit suspicious, but there are plenty of players who’d call 2 cold with over cards or a weak pair, particularly in a loose game. Your draw is strong enough that
you should be getting as much money into the pot as possible on the flop, and you should be glad to pay 4 bets. Not if seven-handed pots for no raise pre-flop was the norm.  In a
loose-passive game, 65s is fine, but you need to play well post-flop in order to play these more marginal hands.

Answer 2:

The BB’s play seems to indicate a set or big diamond draw, sometimes two pair.  Against a set or two pair you have 15 outs, even if BB has a redraw.  Against a diamond draw, you still have the straight to hit and position on the BB. If you were sure of your read then you should raise again to knock out the other guy (who could have A8 or even 34). In fact, raising looks to be the way to go in either case. If you play small suited onnectors, then you have to play them as if your flush will be good, otherwise you might as well start tossing them at the beginning. I realize that this isn’t etched in stone, but it
should be a good start.

Answer 3:

If you can see 5 diamonds between your hand and the board, then there are 8 diamonds available to place in your opponent’s hands. There are thus 8*7/(1*2) = 28 possible two card diamond combinations. Of these, one, the 4D,2D is worse than your 6D,5D. Thus there are 27 possible better two card diamond combinations out of 990 possible hands. 27/990 = 0.02727 That’s the probability that, if you were only playing against one opponent, your opponent would have a better diamond flush than you. (However, with $70 in the pot before the flop you must have six opponents). If you have six opponents then the probability that at least one of them has a better diamond flush is about 0.15. That means it’s about five and a half to one that no one has a better diamond flush. You shouldn’t (or at least I don’t think you should) count too much on the math once you get into the heat of the battle. If a tight player is betting like he has a pair of aces, even though the odds are against it, he probably has a pair of aces. That being said, and in the absence of betting  that would seem to indicate someone has a hand with two diamonds, and calling after the flop hoping another diamond is yet to come, it’s likely (five and a half to one) that none of your opponents is also hoping for a diamond. (Maybe someone holding the ace of diamonds would like to see *two* diamonds, but that’s an unlikely occurrence). If you’re going to see the flop holding 6D, 5D, then you really should see the hand through, after there are two diamonds on the flop – but warily, since you won’t have the nuts if another diamond comes up on the turn or the river. 6D, 5D is in Sklansky’s group 5 for starting hold ‘em hands. Somewhere or other he implies that you can play group 5 hands under the gun in a loose game. Thus it’s a marginal hand under the gun. By the way, although it’s unlikely in hold ‘em that any of your opponents will also have two cards to make a flush; inOmahathe opposite is true. It’s about four to one that one of your opponents *would* also have a diamond flush, if you made one, and in this case certainly a better one. InOmahayour 6D, 5D would be a considered a liability.

Does anybody know the answer to this? He was one of the best pro No Limit Holdem players in Vegas during the late 70s early 80s. Seemed to be very successful and seemed to have it together in terms of discipline and life style control (while so many of his contemporaries were using themselves up with drugs or bad pit or sports betting habits). Did he just walk away with the cash or go down in flames like so many others?

Answer 1:

George was and is a great player.  I remember playing with him in the 70′s and the 80′s but in the 90′s I have missed him but I did play with a few times last week at the Mirage.

Answer 2:

I heard George Huber was dead. I think I mean the other George. He always wore those hats? Had a lot? Played Pot Limit with Pat C. and them at Dunes?

Answer 3:

I, too, hadn’t seen George Huber in years, but he did indeed play in the Omaha Hi-Lo second chance tournament at the Orleans the other day.