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Update

Joe — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:45:34 +0000

Been skating a bit; not as much at I would like. Got a few new boards (pintail, pool, slalom, dervish). Went to a race at the mount. Another race coming up in Wellington.
Stopped playing online poker. Was profitable, but the time was a drag. It paid for a few skateboards though. Still have a small bankroll for live games.
Changed jobs. Working in the Health sector, still for government. Basically I’m a project manager, but there’s more to it and the explanation is really long so I won’t bore you.

Poker: skill or chance

Joe — Wed, 23 May 2007 06:32:05 +0000

There’s lots of debate, particularly in USA because of the anti-online-gming laws. Basically it’s an attempt to prevent money from leaving US casinos. The argument put forward is that poker is a game of chance, and therefore not legal.

My argument is this: a single hand of poker is a game of chance. A session requires skill.

Think of it this way: Roulette or crapps are pure chance. Even if you play to lose you might still win. However, poker is a game of skill, because if you play to lose, you will lose. The converse of this is: if you play to not lose, you might not lose (not if you play to not lose you will win)

Texas Holdem starting hand cheat sheet

Joe — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:17:30 +0000

I couldn’t find a single source for all this info so I decided to collate it all for myself. It’s based a few books and websites, most notably Lee Jones Winning Low Limit Hold’em. Remember there is an element of chance at every stage of a poker game and it’s up to you to decide for yourself what cards to play.

Early

Position	Action	Cards
Small Blind	Raise	AA-JJ, AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo, AJs, KQs
Small Blind	Call	TT-77, AXs, KXs, QXs, JTs-65s, QTs-86s
Big Blind	Raise	AA-88, AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo, KQs, KQo, KJs, QJs
Big Blind with a raise in front and a few players in	Call	77-22, AXs, KXs, QXs, JTs-65s, QTs-86s
Other Early	Raise	AA-JJ, AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo, AJs, KQs
	Re-raise	AA-JJ
	Call	TT-77, ATs, A9s, KQo, KJs, QJs, JTs,

Middle

Position	Action	Cards
Middle, 3 or fewer callers	Raise	AA-88, AKs-QJs, AKo, AQs, AJs, AJo, ATs, ATo, KQo, KJs
Middle, 3 or fewer callers	Call	77-55, AXs, KTs-K8s, KJo, QJo, QTs, JTs-98s, JTo, J9s
Middle, 4 or more callers	Raise	AA-88, AKs-QJs, AKo, AQs, AJs, AJo, ATs, ATo, KQo, KJs
Middle, 4 or more callers	Call	77-22, AXs, KJo, KTs-K7s, QJo, QTs, JTs-98s, JTo, J9s T8s, 87s, 76s
Middle, a raise in front	Raise	AA-JJ, AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo
Middle, a raise in front	Call	TT, 99, AJs, KQs, KJs, QJs,
Middle, a raise in front with a few players in	Call	TT-77, AJs, ATs, KQs, KJs, QJs,

Late

Position	Action	Cards
Late, 4 or fewer callers	Raise	AA-88, AKs-QJs, AQs, AKs-A8s, AKo-A9o, KQo, KJs
Late, 4 or fewer callers	Call	77-55, JTs-54s, QTs-75s, AXs, KXs
Late, 5 or more callers	Raise	AA-88, AKs-QJs, AQs, AKs-A8s, AKo-A9o, KQo, KJs
Late, 5 or more callers	Call	77-22, JTs-54s, QTs-53s, AXs, KXs, QXs
Late, a raise in front	Raise	AA-JJ, AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo
Late, a raise in front	Call	TT, 99, AJs, KQs, KJs, QJs
Late, a raise in front with a few players in	Call	TT-77, AJs-A9s, KQs, KJs, QJs

Blogger Poker Tourney

Joe — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 05:55:44 +0000

I’m in. Anyone else?

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 8694463

After all that I forgot. Still, I posted and folded to 467th out of 1400+. Not bad considering I didn’t sit.

Back into Poker

Joe — Sat, 03 Jul 2004 06:41:21 +0000

I haven’t played poker online in a while, but a site gave me $10 free on my birthday. The unusual thing is that Paradise Poker which is usually full of good players I am winning at (no limit too, which I usually suck at) , while I’m losing at Ultimate Bet in the tournaments (which I normally profit from). I earn less per hour than I do at work, but its fun too.