Which poker book?

'How to hit a two-outer' by Harry Houdini.

I'd better get a copy bec it's been proven: Everyone can do it except me.

Get him a terrible book so that you can destroy him HUHU.

You flop sets all the time!

As if.

It’s pretty simple, just call down with all your pocket pairs

Lol. Yup we played blizzard football. Now I’m looking forward to snow. I like how everything slows down when it’s stormy. Plus, skiing!!

I have, without exaggeration, folded more sets these last two months on straightened-out or flushed-out boards than in the last two years combined.

Stats are ****ing weird.

Wa-wa-wa-chusett!

You should come out here to the Sierras for a ski vacation. It's pretty epic - some of the trails overlook the Nevada desert, the first time I saw it I just stopped mid-trail, sat down, and just admired the view for a few minutes.

Thanks for this.

Adding Sierras to my bucket list of places to go with my wife next year.

4/8, full kill is on

Three bets preflop four ways holding 99 in the SB

Flop K44

We check, three-bettor checks, bet, fold, call, call

Turn 9

Check, check, bet, we call, three-bettor RAISES? Original bettor folds, we call

River 8

Check, bet, call

KK obviously

An orbit or two before the hand above, same game

77 UTG, capped preflop four ways

Flop TT9

Checks through

Turn 7

SB bets, we raise, dude oop raises (wtf?), other dude calls, SB re-raises, I flat the four bets because I'm a ****ing idiot

River 8, one bet, all call



I got this consolation prize though

not Raising the turn in hand one is gross.

I played table games in California for the first time ever this year. Can someone explain why they have a separate person banking the game and not the house? It seemed really odd/strange and overkill. I'm guessing it is some oddity to get around California gaming laws.

yeah the folks paying out the bets work for a seperate company called a "corporation" that takes all the action because a cal card room isnt supposed to take any action just deal the cards and take a fee for that

The house is not allowed to have any interest in the game in California rules. So they can't back the games, only take commission.

The cardroom can only collect a service charge for dealing the games and are not allowed to play against the players. Technically any player can bank the house side and have an edge in the game, but in reality the cardroom will kick you out if you try to do so.

So they have the “corporation” bank the games, and I’m pretty sure most/all cardrooms get some kind of kickback from the “corporation” that are banking the games.

I don't disagree, but I'm gun-shy. Coming to the 20 game at CP to parlay my carnival game win and donate to more flopped quads, see you this week.

Right, it's because the govt is afraid the evil casinos will take advantage of ignorant players and rig the games to have too big an edge. This is taken to such an extreme in cities like San Jose that promos like bad beat jackpots or comps are forbidden, so that players are not unfairly enticed to gamble when they shouldn't.

This would be less funny if you didn't spend half your posting life complaining about how evil casinos take advantage of ignorant players and take too big of an edge.

The government is right to fear that. Unfortunately, the laws do nothing in that regard as they're too antiquated and recent lawmakers either don't care enough to fix them, don't understand the system themselves, or are corrupt.

I agree. But if I have a problem with an evil business, I don't have the (unrealistic) complaint that it should be responsive to the public. On the flip side, when I have a problem with the government, I have the (realistic) expectation that it should be responsive to the public.

It's mind boggling to me that people have exactly the opposite expectations, that a for profit company is going to sit down with critics and work out a compromise solution, while the government should tell critics to go **** themselves.

I mean basically we elected a bunch of people that represent us pretty well.

Honestly, what percentage of voters could accurately identify the number of zeros in a million/billion/trillion? Like if in the Austin Powers movie where Dr. Evil wants to blackmail the world for ONE MILLION DOLLARS and his son tells him that's not a lot, and Dr. Evil revised his blackmail to ONE BILLION DOLLARS, half of the audience would be confused.

So when we elect dumb ****s that can't balance a budget, it's not a huge surprise.

If we want reasonable legislation on gambling, we have to elect people who understand math.

It's not an expectation that it's opposite, it's reality. No one in the general public will ever base their vote on a minor issue that has such a small impact on their lives. But the businesses can spend a lot on lobbying and contributions to sway legislators. Regulators know they have cushy private sector jobs waiting for them in the companies they regulate, and this is totally logical since they will be the best experts in compliance.

Businesses can be held accountable by they consumer's power to choose their best deal from all the competing businesses, but this does not work if the government stops competition outright, or limits it with expensive licensing and regulatory compliance costs. Basically it's the government that allows certain types of businesses to be evil.

As for the million/billion/trillion thing, yes most people have trouble with it, mostly when figures are presented that just get lumped into the "****-ton of money" category. I.E. NASA spends 500 million on a probe, that's a ****-ton of money, maybe we should cut that to help balance the budget. Meanwhile its just a little more than 1 ten-thousandth of the federal budget (another ****-ton), and won't make a dent.

But I don't think there are too many people who don't know that being a billionaire is better than being a millionaire, or that don't understand when the Powerball jackpot is big, or would be confused by that Austin Powers gag.

It is funny that the entire casino business in most relies on government regulation to ensure their existence. The mountain casinos around here are desperate that there's no legal gambling in Denver -- nobody drives up there if there is legal gaming in the metro. The full casinos must be on tribal lands in many places? You then get anti-gaming lobbying from the existing players, often with cynical moralistic names on their PACs. I'd love to see the "Vote against proposition 134, funded by the protect our lucrative monopoly committee".


Happy holidays, everyone.

Thanks Doug you too.