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July 21, 2006
Possible FBI Misconduct in Gambling Executive Arrest
This article raises the possibility that the FBI misused passenger lists given to them by airlines in order to arrest David Carruthers of BetOnSports.com this week. These lists are made available to federal authorities to allow them to screen flights for potential terrorists.
This would be a clear violation of the trust placed in us by our allies and may ultimately end up hurting our anti-terrorism efforts.
One reassuring note is that the British Government has said that it will not extradite any British person charged in connection with operating a gambling site because they actions would not be a crime in Britain.
In any case, on what planet does the FBI have the right to arrest an executive of a properly licensed and publicly listed company whos business activities are conducted entirely outside of the United States.
What would the US administration say if China started arresting american tourists because of the content of their personal websites ?
Posted by terry at 06:49 AM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2006
Utter domination.
It's been some time since we put a true Hammer post up. Since I was semi-short-stacked in a freeroll and needing to go, I pushed with The Hammer and had a caller. You can guess what happened next:
Full Tilt Poker Game #791457239: .COM $200K Giveaway Rd. 1 (4930906), Table 85 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:24:51 ET - 2006/07/12
Seat 1: puckett101 (2,064)
Seat 2: Spydertoezzzz (8,985)
Seat 3: JoeFU2 (1,165), is sitting out
Seat 4: irishhammer (6,117)
Seat 5: papamark82 (6,725)
Seat 6: stewdog187 (3,280)
Seat 7: trckery2001 (4,244)
Seat 8: typeRintegra (1,520), is sitting out
Seat 9: TonyD83 (640)
Spydertoezzzz posts the small blind of 30
JoeFU2 posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #1
trckery2001 is feeling confused
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to puckett101 [2d 7c]
irishhammer calls 60
papamark82 folds
stewdog187 calls 60
trckery2001 calls 60
typeRintegra folds
TonyD83 folds
puckett101 raises to 2,064, and is all in
Spydertoezzzz folds
JoeFU2 folds
irishhammer folds
stewdog187 folds
trckery2001 calls 2,004
puckett101 shows [2d 7c]
trckery2001 shows [Ad 7s]
*** FLOP *** [2s 4h 7h]
*** TURN *** [2s 4h 7h] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [2s 4h 7h Tc] [Kd]
puckett101 shows two pair, Sevens and Twos
trckery2001 shows a pair of Sevens
puckett101 wins the pot (4,338) with two pair, Sevens and Twos
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,338 | Rake 0
Board: [2s 4h 7h Tc Kd]
Seat 1: puckett101 (button) showed [2d 7c] and won (4,338) with two pair, Sevens and Twos
Seat 2: Spydertoezzzz (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: JoeFU2 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: irishhammer folded before the Flop
Seat 5: papamark82 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: stewdog187 folded before the Flop
Seat 7: trckery2001 showed [Ad 7s] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 8: typeRintegra didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: TonyD83 didn't bet (folded)
As we all know, The Hammer was clearly a dominating favorite in this hand before the flop. That ace might as well have been an anchor.
Remember - you must commit to The Hammer in order to experience flops like this. By committing, I mean all-in. The Hammer rewards those who dedicate themselves to it.
For the record, two hands later, I was knocked out by the player who lost this hand. They rivered a flush holding 5h-2c to crack my K-J suited and the pocket aces of the player who called my all-in re-raise. Go figure.
Posted by puckett at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2006
The WTO Vs. The USA - Why Prohibiting Online Gaming Is A REAL Problem
Isn't it odd that, instead of allowing financial services to transfer money to casinos and allowing U.S. citizens to use gaming services located off-shore to comply with the WTO rulings, the U.S. is taking action to further hinder financial services from transferring money and criminalize online gaming in flagrant violation of the WTO ruling? How about calling your representatives at the state and federal levels to ensure that your state isn't violating the WTO ruling and pressure your federal representatives to make sure that we comply with the WTO ruling at a federal level?
Posted by puckett at 04:33 PM | Comments (0)
Slowplaying The Big Boys (And Why You Shouldn't).
First, an instructive example.
In a 90-player freeroll which had a prize of exactly one entry into the next tournament, the following hand decided the match:
Full Tilt Poker Game #785277592: .NET Satellite to Round 1 (5202652), Table 1 - 500/1000 - No Limit Hold'em - 10:42:11 ET - 2006/07/10
Seat 6: puckett101 (78,320)
Seat 7: mandrake11 (33,640)
Seat 8: smpchicana77 (23,040)
smpchicana77 posts the small blind of 500
puckett101 posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to puckett101 [Ah Ac]
mandrake11 raises to 2,000
smpchicana77 calls 1,500
puckett101 raises to 78,320, and is all in
mandrake11 calls 31,640, and is all in
smpchicana77 calls 21,040, and is all in
puckett101 shows [Ah Ac]
mandrake11 shows [Ad Jh]
smpchicana77 shows [Kh Ks]
Uncalled bet of 44,680 returned to puckett101
*** FLOP *** [4s 4c 6s]
*** TURN *** [4s 4c 6s] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [4s 4c 6s 8h] [2s]
puckett101 shows two pair, Aces and Fours
mandrake11 shows a pair of Fours
puckett101 wins the side pot (21,200) with two pair, Aces and Fours
smpchicana77 shows two pair, Kings and Fours
puckett101 wins the main pot (69,120) with two pair, Aces and Fours
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 90,320 Main pot 69,120. Side pot 21,200. | Rake 0
Board: [4s 4c 6s 8h 2s]
Seat 6: puckett101 (big blind) showed [Ah Ac] and won (90,320) with two pair, Aces and Fours
Seat 7: mandrake11 (button) showed [Ad Jh] and lost with a pair of Fours
Seat 8: smpchicana77 (small blind) showed [Kh Ks] and lost with two pair, Kings and Fours
I was lucky in that I happened to catch the absolute best starting hand at the same time that the other two players, both of whom were covered and then some, caught hands that allowed them to call my all-in bet. I had also been pushing them around a bit which allowed them to think that I might be bluffing. This is not a particularly subtle play - the raise makes decisions easy. My opponents must call or fold. There is no opportunity to re-raise or play games to see a flop and perhaps make a hand at the flop or turn. They must define the strength of their hand, put me on a range of holdings (which, at that point, could have been anything from 9-10 suited on up) and determine whether their hand was strong enough to call. I suspect that if the player holding pocket kings was immediately to my left, the player with A-Jo might not have called the all-in. As it was, with two all-ins ahead and pocket kings with the opportunity to triple up, calling my all-in made sense. My aces held up and I eliminated both remaining players to win the only seat offered in the freeroll. The key lesson, stated often, is not to slowplay the big boys.
Here's another example to illustrate what can happen when you try to slowplay the big boys by limping in and extracting more money after the flop:
Full Tilt Poker Game #785289679: .COM Satellite to Round 1 (5202644), Table 3 - 800/1600 - No Limit Hold'em - 10:52:31 ET - 2006/07/10
Seat 4: puckett101 (22,640)
Seat 5: JAMax (38,025)
Seat 6: usarmyproperty (28,540)
Seat 9: mrrobert (45,795)
puckett101 posts the small blind of 800
JAMax posts the big blind of 1,600
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to puckett101 [8h Tc]
usarmyproperty folds
mrrobert calls 1,600
puckett101 calls 800
JAMax checks
*** FLOP *** [9h Js 7s]
puckett101 bets 1,600
JAMax folds
mrrobert calls 1,600
*** TURN *** [9h Js 7s] [6d]
puckett101 bets 1,600
mrrobert raises to 3,200
puckett101 raises to 6,400
mrrobert raises to 9,600
puckett101 raises to 19,440, and is all in
mrrobert calls 9,840
puckett101 shows [8h Tc]
mrrobert shows [Ad As]
*** RIVER *** [9h Js 7s 6d] [Ah]
puckett101 shows a straight, Jack high
mrrobert shows three of a kind, Aces
puckett101 wins the pot (46,880) with a straight, Jack high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 46,880 | Rake 0
Board: [9h Js 7s 6d Ah]
Seat 4: puckett101 (small blind) showed [8h Tc] and won (46,880) with a straight, Jack high
Seat 5: JAMax (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: usarmyproperty didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: mrrobert (button) showed [Ad As] and lost with three of a kind, Aces
In short-handed play, my opponent limped with pocket aces. I limped in the small blind with one-gapped off-suit cards. After the flop, with a possible straight, my opponent merely calls my blind bet. At the turn, with two possible straights on the board, he begins re-raising me. Based on his tricky play, I put him on 8-5 and a smaller straight at best. The re-raises further confirmed my belief that he had a hand, but that it was unlikely to be as strong as mine. While Phil Gordon is right in that the fourth raise means aces, the fifth raise after the flop seems to be the one to be concerned about. By that point, after all the re-raises, he had the pot odds necessary to call my all-in and he obviously believed that his slow-played aces were good, probably putting me on a jack with a medium kicker.
In the parlance of our times, oops.
This is why you don't slowplay aces or kings. The times you only take the blinds will more than off-set the times you double someone else up because they flopped a monster and you think you're trapping them. It is better to win a small pot with a big hand than lose a big pot with a big hand.
As it is, I doubled up on the hand because I flopped the nuts and he over-valued top pair when my betting history should have indicated to him that he was beat. Then again, aces are hard to get away from and he had me covered and then some.
In that freeroll, we both finished in the top 3 to win entries into the next round so the point became moot, but let this be instructive to you. Don't slowplay the big boys. You might lose big because of it.
Posted by puckett at 03:52 PM | Comments (0)
July 05, 2006
And I'm free ... freerollin' ...
Having played more than my fair share of freeroll satellites lately (hey, they're cheap - when a donkey makes a horrific call to crack my hand, I can't complain much), I've made a few observations about them that may help you survive them.
1. Don't play the early stages. The first few rounds bring nothing but misery. If you do play, understand that it will suck out if it can and your monster starting hand will likely get cracked. I'll spare the gory details of bad beat stories, but I've had aces cracked by 7-6 off-suit hitting a full house and a big pre-flop bet called by 7-4 off-suit. I just pushed with A-J suited before the flop and was called by 8-2 off-suit which won when a deuce hit the river. That's the level of donkery we're talking about.
2. If you must play the early stages, understand that there really is no playing involved. Follow a straight push and pray mantra. If it's good enough to play in those early to middle stages, it's good enough to push with since you'll be getting callers with any paint or ace-rag combination and possibly less. You might consider shading starting hand requirements down to the low end of what you're comfortable with - suited J-9, J-Q, J-10 off-suit, 9-10 suited, etc. Your opponents will be playing any ace, any king and so forth. They will also be playing hands that are worse, believing that any two cards can win. As long as you're comfortable with three and four-way action, feel free to roll the dice and hope your cards are live. If you happen to have ace-rag or king-rag, you're likely to be dominated by someone.
3. Don't think about your hand. Your decision is push or fold, at least until the field is drastically reduced. Don't calculate pot odds, don't calculate implied odds. If you call, someone will go all-in. If you bet, someone will go all-in. The action happens before the flop in all but the most extreme cases, removing all decisions and opportunity for mistakes. Your only thought should be about whether you think your cards are as good or better than what everyone else is holding.
4. Although this may sound contradictory and crazy, TRY to play dominated hands. In general, it means you'll have at least one live card. It's almost better if you play the off-suit gapped rags you wouldn't touch at any other time because it will generally give you two live cards to everyone else's paint-rag.
Freerolls can be fun as long as you don't take them too seriously. My best freeroll performances have come when I'm multi-tabling and focusing on another game and only check the freeroll when I have to raise, call or fold. In my best performance, I had become the chip leader simply by pushing and folding and minimizing the window again. I honestly wasn't paying attention. That says something about the quality of play, but there is also opportunity in freerolls - as long as you don't mind bad beats. After all, you're only getting what you pay for.
Posted by puckett at 02:39 PM | Comments (0)