A hand in which I maybe overly spew? 40/80 Oceans - 11, maybe 6 or 7 handed.

I open 9c9s button - 1, button 3-bets, SB folds, BB calls. BB plays fairly snug, so this is likely a pocket pair 55-TT, or AQ+. He's good enough to fold the dominated aces and the offsuit dominated big cards. Button is a winning pro who supports himself. His 3-bet range is sufficiently wide given my LAG image.

Flop comes ThTd4c. Checked around.

Turn is 9d. Checked to me, I bet, button calls, BB folds.

River is Ax. I bet, button raises, I tank for quite a bit as I can't figure out quite exactly what button has here, before I decide to 3 bet.

Combo wise, I lose to 1 combo of TT, there are no combos of T9s possible as the Th was on the board, 3 combos of AA, and 6 combos of AT. I beat 12 combos of AK, 12 combos of AQ, 3 combos of 44, 8 combos of KT, 8 combos of QT.

3-bet too ambitious? What do we do if button 4-bets? Does this situation not come up enough to matter?

No cap preflop?

Hey everyone from Vegas. Hopefully catching up with merryber in next day or so. Definitely odd trip as it is couple's vacation. May get in a little poker, but much more tourism.

Saw Alibi the Show. Was fun and whimsical. If you like escape rooms, this might be fun. If you hate walking. Don't try it.

"If it's brown, drink it down. If it's black, send it back."

-Homer J Simpson

Google "cash back credit card."

These things change so often that I'm not sure I'd trust any old advice. But one thing I'm pretty sure of - anything that gives you stuff (not cash) is probably not worth the hassle. Frequent flier miles suck. Picking gifts from a list sucks.

If you disproportionately use your credit card at some place and they give an unusually large discount you can consider that. Like if you're eating three meals a day at Fluffernutter Buffet and they have a Fluffernutter Buffet Visa which gives you 5% off all fluffernutter purchases, that might be worth considering over a cash back.

Is there a BBJ?

Is that a FNBBJ?

F'n BBJ more like it.

No bad beat jackpot in 40 game at Oceans.

3/c seems pretty standard.

I wouldn't expect a good player to check this flop with any hand that has value. PP or Tx.

I would put him on Ax and 3b/call if he 4b.

So glad to see someone that agrees with me on this. I see so many websites about getting the most points or miles or whatever BS. A lot of friends of mine make sure to use their airline card to get miles, when they could be getting 2, 3 or 5% cash back. Unless you are gaming the system with free points every year for applying, or buying some obscure product, it doesn't make sense to me to go for any points based system. For strictly purchases only, cash back is the way to go IMO. And you are absolutely right about the best card changing regularly. I had one a couple years ago that I was getting 7% back for restaurants and hotels...where I spent most of my money. Now I get 1% for those.

Damn, I was thinking exactly the same thing. Are you my long lost twin?

How is three bet against a winning pro here anything but standard? Like how can he have something that beats us, unless he's massively FPS?

That was my thinking. So I 3-bet him, only to get insta 4-bet. I called and was shown the quad tens of course.

Recently opened up a card where offer was like 60,000 miles or points f you spend $3,000 first 3 months. Had option to just take like $550-600 in amazon gift cards but best option is to transfer points to ICG (crown plaza group) get about $600 worth if free rooms at commerce which I would have to pay for anyways and also get elevated to their highest tier status whxih is worth ankyher free room or two + some other perks.

Ok top of that, like 2 days after i get card I play a live tourney with 3k buyin that allowed you to register with credit card early for no extra fee. Pick up some extra points, lay off card for tourney I was playing anyways and enjoy free equity.

As previously mentioned, with JP, I like the check, but without, it's bad, and he should feel bad. You played it well IMO. The check makes no sense, but he could be raising a lot of aces here.

The one thing I'm thinking about is what is his flop check back range three ways? qauds? lol.

I'm in an NCAA basketball pool where you send in picks for each round. Basically, you put a confidence value on each pick. The way it is set up, you basically have to nail the last few rounds.

Top 3 get paid (50%, 30%, 20%). Going into the final 4 I was in 12th place, so I needed to take a chance. I guessed at least 6 would take KY and Duke so I went Wisconsin Duke and got lucky. Now I'm in 4th place. I can't decide who to take in the final.

If there were a big favorite in the final, I'd pick the underdog since the top 3 would probably go with the favorite. But I think it could be a close game. I'm not even sure who the favorite is. The worst case for me is if I pick a team and all 3 above me pick the same team and I have no chance to win anything. My play depends on my opponents and I'm not sure what they will do.

What's my play?

Great, so he feels smart now because he got you to b/3b/c. When you were going to b/3b/c turn anyway.

Not sure what you're play should be, but the early lines are a pick 'em.

You gotta read the fine print. Credit card companies only take 3.5% (V, MC) or 5.5% (AE, D) from vendors, so anything where they offer more than 2-3% cash back has some strings.

You can game the signup bonuses but be careful of your credit rating - opening a new card hits your rating twice (once when they check your credit, once when you open new liabilities).

The most important one is: Pay it off every month. Credit card debt is vicious.

Cash offers more flexibility so there's no multiplier on the rebate. If you travel a lot (especially if you use the same airline often), you can get more value from cashing in your points as miles or hotel nights. I was skeptical but did the math. Nerdwallet is a good site for comparison shopping credit cards.

Now, on the merchant side, rewards programs are probably the nail in the coffin for any hope of getting more people to pay cash and avoid transaction fees.

daveopie, I think you've got to go with Wisconsin, since if I'm understanding this right, you can only get in the money if you pick the winner and the other front-runners don't.

If the line is pick'em like Leo Doc said, my guess is that your coworkers will go with Duke because they're a traditional powerhouse, Coach K's record in the tourney, etc. (Although you should scout your opponents: any Wisconsin/B1G homers, any weasel-face haters, etc.)

+1

All my advice is predicated on the assumption you pay it off every month so that the interest rate doesn't matter.

Credit card interest rates are only slightly better than what you'd get from Tony Soprano and credit card companies are only slightly less aggressive at collecting too.

In grad school, there was a foreign postdoc who ran up a ****load of credit card debt before leaving the country. They'd call like 4 times a day asking for him, then started sending people to physically look for him. They threatened his advisor with lawsuits, I think tried threatening the university, and then sent some more goons to actually try to physically track him down CSI-style. At some point someone pointed them to the Internet where the guy's name was plastered on the University of Berlin's "Welcome New Faculty" page and they finally laid off.

Apparently he let them stew for a little and then settled for 1/3 of the principal (and like 1/10 of the total bill) in return for having his American credit wiped clean ... in case he decided to return later in life, lol.

I'm such a nit about money (besides my lolspew at poker) that I don't even own a credit card. If I can pay for it with cash, and I have a very good credit score, why would I need a card?