Oct 23, 2010

Another Poker Player Was Created

Thanks to Deb for sharing his personal experience with me. This is one of her great time experience while playing poker. Here is the whole incidence :

We were in the Sahara, my daughter, Starla and I. I had been playing blackjack and had won 155 dollars. All from a lone twenty. A good win indeed.

We were on our way out to the side door to the parking garage when suddenly fate stepped in. A most charming man took a few small steps from the poker room area and said " Good evening ladies, how about a little poker tonight? I have seats open."

Well now, I had never played poker in a casino, had never even thought about it. At Thanksgiving we always had a fun poker game with pennies and nickels. I couldn't play a lick, didn't hardly know what beat what.

But here I was in one of my manic the-world-is-my-oyster states. So I thought "Why not?" Before I knew it I was in a plush poker chair, Starla in the same sitting behind me. The game is 3 to 6 dollars 7 card stud. I had to have been crazy.

The cards were in the air. I was in the game. Wow!

A cocktail waitress appeared and I ordered a whisky and water, Starla a coke with lots of ice. Drinking at the poker table is something you should never do. Not ever. I can imagine today how happy the "sharks" were to see me drinking. They had a real "fish" with a 100 dollars on the green felt. And brand-new to the game, a "fish" ready to be eaten alive. Happy days were here again.

The drinks kept coming. The cards were in the air, I played every hand, every card clear to the river. I was riding' high. I won hand after hand: two pairs, straights, flushes, full houses. I could do no wrong. The Jacks and Kings were smiling and winking at me. Some of the pros ceased to be so friendly and they started cussing and throwing cards at the dealer. One man was laughing his head off.

That fantastic night I won 365 dollars at that poker table. Old Sahara dealers still talk about it. I was hooked for life. Some say the "Poker God" wanted to create another player that night. He made two. Starla went on to become a professional player and holds two world titles.

Sometimes fate "deals out strange cards" into our lives.

Oct 17, 2010

Stages of Play in Game of Poker

The poker game is developed in a clockwise direction. Each player starts the game with a certain amount of chips. The dealer button is indicated by "D".
In each game, the button moves from player to player, clockwise.

The two players sitting to the left of the dealer shall pay a mandatory mail-called "blind" (dark). On his turn, each player, clockwise, took the floor and announced his intentions. When it's turn to speak, you can:

    * Change (check): Do not make any bets, but remain in play. You can pass only if no other player before you has made a bet (so if anyone has opened)

    * Point / Open: Be the first to make a bet

    * See (Call): Point the same amount of the player who made the opening to stay in the game

    * Raise (Raise): Responding to the current bet, making a bet with an amount higher

    * Respond to raise (Re-Raise): Make a raise on a raise

    * Fold (Fold or drop): Exit the game and then giving up the stakes in the pot already paid during the previous betting rounds

Each turn of speech ends when all players still in the game have put the same amount.

If no player can "see" or "raise" bet, the player who opened wins the pot (the total bets). The winner can then show their cards to other players, even if it is not obligated to do so.

If at the end of the last betting round, several players are still in the game, hands are compared to each of them. Wins the game of poker, the player holding the highest hand, that the best combination of 5 cards among the seven cards available to him (5 discoveries and 2 blankets).

The tour ends and the button that indicates the dealer next player (clockwise). It can thus begin a new game of poker.

Oct 10, 2010

The Rules of Poker Game

At a poker game can take part from 2 to 10 players. The aim of each player is to win the pot, ie the total of the bets made by players during the game. To win the pot, there are two ways: having the best hand or bluffing, in other words to convince the opponents have the best hand, causing them to abandon the hand. A player who has the combination of higher value cards or with the best poker hands rank, win the pot.

*Order value card poker: Poker is played with a deck of 52 French cards. The cards have the classical values. Poker in the cards are ordered from lowest to highest, as follows:
 
                  2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, Ace
 
The value of the order of combinations is the same for all variants of poker. From highest to lowest, the value of combinations of cards Poker is as follows:




Royal Flush (4 possible hands in 2,598,960. Chance to get one: 0.000154%)



 Straight Flush (36 possible hands in 2,598,960. Chance to get one: 0.00139%)










Four of a Kind (624 possible hands in 2,598,960. Chance to get one: 0.0240%) is the preflop betting round. Like most games of poker, players can call, raise, or fold.


 Full House (3744 possible hands in 2,598,960. Chance to get one: 0.144%)


 Flush (5108 possible hands in 2,598,960. Chance to get one: 0.197%)








 Straight (10,200 possible hands in 2,598,960. Chance to get one: 0.392%)








 Three of a Kind (54912 possible hands in 2,598,960. Chance to get one: 2.11%)







Two Pair (123,552 possible hands in 2,598,960. Chance to get one: 4.75%)








 Pair (1,098,240 possible hands in 2,598,960. Chance to get one: 42.26%)









 High Card (1,302,540 possible hands in 2,598,960. Chance to get one: 50.12%)

Oct 6, 2010

James Bord Wins WSOP Europe Championship!

James Bord, from Stanmore, U.K., won 2010 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event title at the Empire Casino in London. Bord is the first British WSOP Europe Main Event champion and third British player to win a gold bracelet in London.

"I never thought I would win a bracelet," said Bord. "Being so close, you just never know when it's going to come again. And it's even more special to win it in my hometown. It's just something very special."

Bord was behind in chips during most of the final day until he was heads-up against Italian-born Monte Carlo resident Fabrizio Baldassari. Bord won a huge pot late to take a slight chip advantage and closed out his dramatic victory a short time later when his pocket tens defeated Baldassari's pocket fives.

The turning point in the matchwas when Bord snap-called the all-in move by Baldassari who held a meager, but live, Q8s; Bord held AK. The flop brought more drama to the hand when Baldassari picked up 4 more outs to a gut-shot straight, but Bord’s AK held-up, and the two players virtually switched chip-stacks. With the wind out of his sails, and Bord’s cheering section growing louder by the minute, Baldassari seemed resigned to his runner-up fate.

Prior to playing for a living, Bord worked for international banking giant Citigroup. He decided to leave his conventional job to focus instead on playing poker for a living. Until this victory, Bord had been far better known among his peers as a cash-game player. When in Las Vegas, he routinely plays $300-600 and $400-800 stakes in the biggest poker rooms in the city.

Bord collected £830,401 for first place, equal to about $1,316,550. He was also presented with his first WSOP gold bracelet.
Eight of the nine final table players were poker pros. Here is a look at the complete final table standings for the 2010 WSOPE:

1.    James Bord  — £830,401
2.    Fabrizio Baldassari  — £513,049
3.    Ronald Lee  — £376,829
4.    Roland De Wolfe  — £278,945
5.    Nicolas Levi   — £208,119
6.    Daniel Steinberg   — £156,530
7.    Dan Fleyshman   — £118,643
8.    Brian Powell   — £90,617
9.    Marc Inizan   — £69,754

2010 WSOP -  UK TOURNAMENT HEADLINES

Event #5
Main Event Championship
Buy-In:  £10,000
Number of Entries:  346
Total Net Prize Pool:  £3,460,000
Number of Places Paid:  36
First Place Prize:  £830,401
September 23-28, 2010
The King James Version:  Bord Wins
James Bord Wins WSOP Europe Championship!
British Poker Pro Becomes First WSOP Europe Main Event Champion
Italian Pro Fabrizio Baldassari Falls Just Short in First WSOP Appearance
2010 Edition of WSOP Europe in London the Biggest Yet