In my $2-$4 Omaha hi-lo home game, we had a disagreement that still needs a ruling for next time around. On the river bet, 1st man to act makes a $2 all-in bet. What is the $ play for player 2 who wants to raise? I voted to have player 2 make the all-in bet a full bet and raise making it $8 to player 3. The table out voted me saying the raise should make it $6 to player 3. What do the pro’s say?

Answer 1:

Find the Best Online Slots UK at Roxy Palace. We never had ‘all-in’ in home games but that was always with close friends. In many casinos, if the all-in bet is half or more of a full bet, it is considered a raise and the next player may then make a full raise so it would be $6 to the next player.

Answer 2:
This is where the Half-in rule is applied. If a player makes an all-in bet or raise equal to, or greater than 1/2 of the current structure it is considered a full raise. The next player may either call that bet, or call and make another FULL raise. The original bettor may raise again if they want. If a player makes an all-in bet or raise LESS than 1/2 of the current structure, it is NOT considered a raise. The next player may either call that bet or complete the raise. The player who is first to act bettor may only CALL the less than 1/2 all-in if no other player re-raises before the action gets back to the first player.
Example: Player A checks (or bets a full bet) Player B makes a less than 1/2 bet( or raise) Remaining players call all-in bet Action returns to player A…he may only call.

Answer 3:

That was a very good description. I did work in one poker room where the next player after an all in bet had to complete the bet or fold. After completing, #1 if 1/2 or more was bet he could raise, #2 if the bet was less then 1/2 he could not. This was only in one poker room.

I went down to my local casino this past weekend to play in the mini hold’em tourney. I had paid already and then the players voted to play Omaha Hi. I have only played a few times but decided to give it a shot. Suffice to say, I was out in about 40 minutes. I need to do some reading up. Are there any suggestions? Is Paradise a good place for practice? Marijuana Seeds Canada.

Answer 1:

Paradise poker is okay if you want to practice reading boards and seeing how your hand compares to the nuts, e.t.c – all the basic stuff It won’t help you much in terms of the betting that goes on and it may even harm your play if you follow the tactics of people at the play money tables. Read Bob Ciaffone’s book, that has everything you need for Omaha high.

Answer 2:

Ciaffone is good, but I wouldn’t rely on one book. Game is very twisty, and requires a great deal of patience and study. If you want to play at PP, don’t go with PLAY games, start at low limit — 2 4, and be extremely careful. There was a good post recently covering a nice starting hand strategy, unfortunately, can’t find it, but you can go into archives. Be especially careful about high hand selection. Playing a court pair with little going for it otherwise is a waste of money, aside from AA, and even then, without a good low or high side card, preferably suited, you can get into big trouble. Nuts are often going to be out there on both ends. Don’t play A 4 or A 5 with little else going on, especially unsuited. Remember that the object of the game is always to scoop scoop. You can play no hands except blinds for many hands, do nothing at all, and then scoop one big hand, which makes the whole evening worthwhile. Don’t waste chips on hope, when nothing backs up the hope. Remember that lows are frequently duplicated, and often counterfeited.

I’ve seen quite a lot of “I could do better” and “if only the game had …” comments about online poker on this newsgroup. So if you had complete control over the features of an online poker game, what would you like to see in your ideal online poker game?

Answer 1:

This is a good way to get a design model for the perfect software, unfortunately I doubt you will achieve the desired effect from your post. I have all the answers you need.

Answer 2:

Paradise Poker charges a $1 rake on heads up games. How many hands per hour can you get heads up online? 200+? So that’s $100+ per hour per player to play heads up?! And until recently, the max limit they had was $10-$20. What are the administrators thinking?! This is the perfect spot to relieve all the fears about collusion, and they make it unplayable. The rake should be no more than a dime max on heads up games. Online poker should be heads up poker; it’s as simple as that.

Answer 3:

On heads up matches, they should charge by time.

In my continued effort to rationalize the coincidental occurrence of my worst losing streak in 20+ years of playing poker and my virgin foray into online play, I ask the following question: How do we know that “Big Louie” from Tucson is actually a real person and not a computer shill with “supernatural luck” created by Paradise to enhance their return on capital?

Answer 1:

You do not. They don’t provide a means to verify that electronic shills aren’t used. You can’t even ping an external IP address (for privacy reasons, I’d surmise), and if you could Ping and just get a response time, instead of seeing the IP address, that could be easily faked. Short of having access to actual traceroutes of the players, and asking them directly “are you playing Paradise Poker”, about the only way one can tell a player is real is by Turing-testing the player in the chat window. Players that tend to chat it up are probably human. Players, who have NEVER been seen chatting, may be suspect. If you wonder, try to ask a player a random question, like “How’s the weather in Tucson” (one which you can readily verify), and see if you get a response.

Answer 2:

I know of several people (myself included) who tried Paradise Poker and reported the same results as many who post here.  They won at first; then started to lose.  They all report an unreal number of bad beats and fantastic draw-outs.  We all reached the same conclusion:  we’re sticking to playing in real casinos.  Nobody knows if everything is on the square or not, but if you don’t play, you can’t lose.  I, for one, am done with on-line poker at this time.  Of course, I have access to several card rooms here in so. Cal., so it’s easy not to play on-line.

Answer 3:

I think that if Paradise,  the # 1 online poker site was crooked, Doug Grant would have exposed them by now.

I’m very interested in non-verbal language. Do you think Caro’s Pro Poker Tells Video will be interesting to me, or is it only interesting for a poker player?

Answer 1:

Some of the specific examples apply to poker only, but the general indicators will no doubt be helpful in real life. I know I have used my poker experience in real life to determine when someone is lying or attempting to deceive me.

Answer 2:

i know this is krazy but ,here i go…on discovery (late nite)there was a guy who discovered 4 tells (body)signals of horses. He could communicate based on the horse tells…what this enabled him to do is break a unbroken horse in less then an hour. Other then corralling it in(horses are pray animals and don’t like that)he broke them with no discomfort to the horse.

Answer 3:

The only reason that I passes a Russian history class in college is because the prof used 100 question – true/false verbal tests. I had a great tell on him when he was giving a false answer. I guess he felt so bad about lying about history that he would immediate glance up and see who he tricked.

I’m heading to Lousville next week on business and may have a nite or two free to hit the tables. Am I right in assuming that there is poker room at Ceasars, just across the river? If there is…could anybody fill me in any details about the room? Is Ceasars a boat with specific boarding times or can I just walk in(and out) whenever I please.

Answer 1:

I was up there about three weeks ago for business and went to Ceasars. The actual casino is in Indiana. It was about a 25-30 minute ride from downtown Louisville. Hard as hell to find as it is out in a cow pasture, but it was a pretty good casino. The poker room is on the bottom floor and isn’t much. I didn’t get to play but there were about 4 tables going. This was on a Wednesday afternoon. You can only get on the boat every two hours. I believe that we got on at 3:00. The cost was about 5$. Alcohol was not free. Slots run off of tokens and were pretty tight. Food was pretty good though.

Answer 2:

Hard to find? Take I64 toward Indiana, get off at New Albany, IN. 111 take you directly to the casino. Boarding at odd hours – 1, 3, 5, etc. Poker is loose, rake is horrible. I’ll be there on Saturday from the 1pm cruise until god knows when. I’m the old guy in the bright blue jacket (take a jacket – it gets cold in the casino) with all the babes hanging on him (I wish). Incidentally, if they find you are a tight player, they double the rake, so
remember to play loose!

Answer 3:

Once past Cincinnati, I cross over the Ohio river into Indiana. i pass the aurora casino in lawrenceburg (ken’s poker page has told me there’s no poker here, and he’s right). A sharp right turn, across the railroad tracks, a sharp left turn, and I’m cruising down Indiana route 56, the scenic route along the river. Ten or fifteen miles down the road, I’m in a sleepy little town (the brochures call it “historic”) named rising sun. There’s *nothing* here but the grand Victoria riverboat casino.

If one wanted to be a professional poker player. Where would be the best state for one to live in?
Answer 1:
Rumor is that when CA opens big integrated site in fall/summer that it will be resmoking. I have no idea how valid this rumor is, but I wouldn’t move here right away. Plus the games I’m in are real tough..
Answer 2:
Your criteria should be:
#1 No smoking.
#2 Good games (either tourists or poker is new to area)
#3 Low rake.
Answer 3:
At Casino Arizona, there are anywhere from 1 to 3 tables of 20/40 holdem….usually a table or two of 15/30 stud. On the weekends there are sometimes higher games.

Can anyone recommend a good poker magazine? I do enjoy the freebie “Card Player”, but I am sure there are more out there that may have good articles. (Or maybe they suck! That’s why I ask.)

Answer 1:

If you are from Europe, then Poker Europa is a good read. You can find articles at www.european-poker.com or eppa.bigfoot.com (same site, two URLs).
Answer 2:
It’s not unusual for what are known as “controlled circulation” magazines — if you don’t live in the free zone, you pay for them. I work for a magazine that has free distribution within metro Toronto. If you live outside Toronto, you have to pay to subscribe. It’s a perfectly normal industry practice.
Answer 3:
Probably for the same reason that casinos like Foxwoods overcharge so much for the cash price of a room or food at their restaurants. They know most will be camped. And they want those who get the comps to feel as if they are getting something really valuable free. Also the casinos who give you the magazine free are the ones paying for most of the ads. With a high nominal price, they can think that they are handing out valuable magazines. (Wonder what they pay per copy distributed, if anything?)

Besides Rounders and the Cincinatti Kid any good, poker-centered movies out there?

Answer 1:

It’s a *great* movie! The poker in it is terrible, but the movie is great. The scene where everyone looks at their hands when Henry Fonda is forced to go all in is my favorite.

Answer 2:

We run this thread about once a year here’s the most recent list. BTW, The Sting is not a movie about gambling — it’s a movie about conmen and cheating at gambling (Newman rigs the initial cardgame, and there is not actual betting on horse racing, just another set up.) And the consensus is that the poker scenes in the Maverick film are ridiculous, which they are, from that perspective. Jodie Foster is charming, though.

Answer 3:

I watched The Grifters about a month ago for about the sixth time. A favorite. How does it fit? There are no poker scenes in it, and the subplot about fixing the odds at race tracks is kind of tangential.

What is string-raising and why is it usually not allowed?

Answer 1:

String-raising is when you put the money in to call and then put more in to raise without calling anything. I think this is not allowed because players behind you will act upon your first move and it would be unfair to be able to see a caller behind you and then raise. If you say “RAISE”, then you can basically put the money in one chip at a time if you care, although you may get your ass kicked for slowing down the game. For example, if you are playing 5-10 HE, and you put a $5 chip past your cards…that is IT…that is your call…you can not raise after that. If you do, it is a string bet. In the movies, you sometime see people say, “I’ll see your $5 and raise you $5″…that is not allowed in casinos…once you say I’ll see your $5, that is it…no raising.

Answer 2:

The other reason is that the string-raiser may be making his raise conditional on the reactions he picks up. Generally, you’re required to make unambiguous moves, the string-raise and overvalued chip rules are added to enforce this. Once you make your move then you are allowed to read your opponents.

Answer 3:

However, a “reverse” string-raise is legal. This is where you pick up enough chips to raise, place your hand full of chips out in front of you, check the reaction of others, and then either leave just enough chip out there to call or raise, depending on the reaction you get. Never have understood why the string-raise is illegal, but the “reverse” string-raise is not.