Good tip deadmoney. Facing a turn raise is probably a very good spot to always take a few seconds to act since it might be one of most common tough decisions, usually resulting in speedy call but like you say those times that you are thinking about folding or raising you don't want to be so obvious.

I witnessed possibly the grandest and most poetic of all hands the other day. Not sure that I can do it justice, but here goes.

If I was younger, I would have referred to the gentleman on my left as a "giant douche" or similar. Since I am not, let's just call him a crusty, old curmudgeon. Now typically this doesn't bother me (headphones ftw), but this guy is slowing down the game. He takes 15 seconds to act preflop (and almost always folds). He stops the dealer once per hand (whether he is in it or not) to clarify obvious actions. And worst of all, he bitches to no end about minor, incidental crap (like someone mistakenly folding out of turn pf). Heaven forbid someone sucks out on the one hand an hour he plays, cause they will get an earful (how do you call that, you are terrible sir).

So it folds to this guy on the button and he makes the most obvious string raise in the history of string raises. The dealer cringes because he knows what is coming, but calls it anyway. The guy makes the most inane arguments for a full minute (he didn't go back to his stack, he "meant" to raise, etc.) to no avail.

So the SB completes, the BB checks and the flop comes AA6, two spades. The guy angrily checks and glares at the dealer when the action is on him.

Turn A and again checks around.

River is a 9, SB checks, BB checks and the SB flips over 92o.

Guy flips out saying "I didn't check, I never acted" - which in this case is actually true. The dealer is about to address the situation when he finally yells "oh fine" exasperatedly and rolls over.......A6.

Live games officially dead no money in live poker etc.

What do we think about this situation? A dealer is chatting with the player in the one seat while a hand is going on. This is very typical for this dealer - likes to converse with the players and do things like comment on hands in progress. Action gets fouled up and someone ends up putting two bets out when the bet was actually more. Action is halted and the floor comes over. The dealer recounts the action to the floor incorrectly. A couple players attempt to intercede and correct him. He is adamant and silences the players. Floor (who is pretty new and inexperienced) rules that the bets have to stay (incorrect given what actually occurred).

What do you do if you are this player? FWIW, he seemed pretty new and not likely to raise a stink either at the time or afterward.

I think the theory is relevant to expanding school systems, who need more capacity yet have facilities sitting empty for 25% of the year. Instead of everybody getting Jun-August off, 25% of the school/class gets a quarter off. BAM. You've automatically increased your brick/mortar capacity by 33%. Just have to cough up the extra operating expenses. Which is still cheaper than building/staffing a new school.

Holmfries story reminded me of my favorite karma hand of all time (posted in a foxwoods TR in micrs LC thread about 3 years ago)

Foxwoods 4-8, guy at the table is the most obnoxious I've ever seen, before or since, caps the flop with a wheel gut, hits on the turn, and at showdown slams his hand on the table and yells "bada bing! That's the way we do it" and other nonsense. Makes other similar plays while making stupid loud commentary about the marlyand-NC game on the TV. He wins 3 huge pots in a row with K2o, J5o, and A3o, obnoxiously yelling "bada bing" each time.

A couple orbits later he check-caps the flop for like the 3rd time, apparently this is his standard play when he has a gutshot or bottom pair. Lot of action on the turn when he hits a gutshot straight and he bet-calls the river which put a 3rd club on the board. Opponent tables JJ, there is a J on the board, and he yells loudest ever "bada bing! I was afraid you hit the flush, but the straight is good! YES!" whole table is laughing because there is also a pair of 3's on the board. Guy actually bends forward to reach into the middle of the table to grab the pot instead of waiting for dealer to push it. Everyone yells things along the lines of 'not so fast acehole' and waits for him to figure out what happened. When he finally realizes it the table erupts in a chorus of "bada bing"s. He is so pissed he storms away to the restroom and we all continue to yell "bada bing".

Priceless. I still laugh thinking about it.

I lost value a few months ago in a hand after which the villain informed me that "my face lit up with the turn card (which gave me 2PR). She insta-mucked to my bet. Since then, I've made a concerted effort to look towards the flop, but not at, it on the flop/turn/river, if I'm in the betting lead and others are likely watching me. I'll try to glance across the board as I then shift my focus towards my opponents. If I'm not in the betting lead, I'll watch the person with the lead and then glance across the board when it's my turn to act.

Jesse -- you wrote this in your blog yesterday:

Can you elaborate? How can somebody's account have a bigger tax liability than balance? Me confused.

^^ I assume because they'd withdrawn a lot of the money already.

Yeah there are gonna be dudes who cashed out 10s or 100s of thousands who under-reported.

I have solved the problem of looking at my smart phone while playing: Have an incredibly hot girl in the game.

I've read that Jungleman never withdrew and that his balance is $5MM accumulated over several years. If that's true he'd going to be in for it.

27th

Even worse because he sold some (all?) of it.

If he got .8 or .9 to 1, given the time value of the money he didn't do horribly. If he sold at .5, it would be pretty much sadpanda given what we know now. Still, given the BT deal and how horrible it was, the actual outcome (as we think it goes now) is on the side of positive variance.

I'm not sure why anyone would be rooting for tax cheats. If dude ran up 6MM and never paid a dime, he deserves whatever happens. Grown up people pay taxes. If he wanted not to pay, he needed to move to England or somewhere that you don't owe taxes on gambling winnings. I'd have more money if I didn't pay my taxes, and likely you would as well. It is part of living in our society. You can be mad in the amount you pay, but straight up "forgot to pay at all" guy isn't a victim.

Yeah I'm pretty much in favor of everyone but me paying as much as possible.