Vincent’s Poker Blog

Haha I love Gabe “Kotter” Kaplan in High Stakes Poker and I loved the article about Gabe on My Poker Heroes… Quick excerpt below!

Even when Gabe Kaplan was very active at his acting and comedy career, he wanted to become a poker player badly. So, he soon started taking part in poker tournaments all over the country and became known for his poker skills in the professional circles in the country. He first appeared in World Series of Poker in 1978. Soon, he got addicted to poker tournaments and started appearing in them regularly.

Photo thanks to pokerwire.

… with a ridiculous call holding T8s. Gus Hansen makes the call for almost all his chips — I know he probably thinks this is funny afterwards but seriously — this is no fun for Antonio Esfandiari, right?

Anyway, looking at the numbers this is one of the best calls in hold’em, EVER. But seriously — is it?

We were playing the seven duece game at private game in The Netherlands a couple weeks ago (blinds €5/€10 NLH) and the extra €10 from every player was really making a huge difference (lol, it’s so about the ‘macho’ness of the 72 isn’t it)… Anyway, I picked up 72 utg and decided to play it. I raised it up to €50 pre-flop and got two callers behind me.

The flop came:

752 rainbow.

Good flop for me and I decided to bet right out (€110) as I probably would most of the time with AA or KK in that spot. The first guy behind me folded and then I got raised to €250. I made the call and turned a seven to fill up. I checked to show weakness and the guy behind me quickly moved all-in for his last €600. I made the call and chuckled when he turned over two fives…

The guy obviously didn’t like it (and neither would I in that spot) but I dragged the pot and took an extra €80 on the side.

Awesome!

Patrik Antonius is one hot cookie but he also has a very very hot cookie for a wife… Maya Geller must be one of the most beautiful women walking around in the Vegas area even though it’s packed with babes…

Well done Patrik — Maya is a wife to be proud of!

Photos below from the ‘08 WSOP!

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I’ve been playing under par for over a couple weeks and I’ve decided to give poker a rest for a couple of weeks while working on a big project at work. I’m still up for 2008 but my online poker (full tilt this time) results are way below standards and in the VERY soft live games I play in in the local casino I’m only a slight winner too…

No biggie though, time to suck it in and get my game back together…

Will be back in a couple weeks!

The next time you are in a casino, you might consider playing a funky little card game called Pai Gow poker, an adaptation of the Chinese domino game Pai Gow. Unlike three card poker, the player must make and win on two hands instead of just one, and unlike blackjack, no one’s hand can bust. Pai Gow poker also has a small house edge when played with the standard rules of most casinos.

As in many other gambling games, Pai Gow poker pits the player against a banker, who is normally the housse-backed dealer, although the role also rotates among the players. A standard deck of 52 cards is used, with a single joker added; the joker is usually an ace but can be used to complete a straight or a flush. The order in which players receive their cards changes each round, based on a randomly generated number or a dice roll. Players make their wager and receive hands of seven cards, with the goal being to make the best two poker hands – a two-card hand and a five-card hand. The two-card hand can only be a pair or two high cards, while the five-card hand uses standard poker rankings. Remember, the five-card – or ‘behind’ hand – must be the higher of the two, so if you are dealt one pair and nothing else of value in your seven cards, the two-card – or ‘top’ – hand cannot contain the pair.

After the players have arranged their hands, the banker arranges his cards “the house way.” Then, each player’s hand is compared with the banker’s. If both of the player’s hands win, the wager pays even money, if only one is a winner, the bet is a push, and if both lose the wager is lost. Note that since the house has an edge on being the banker, it is in your best interest to be the banker yourself as much as possible.

The high number of pushes in Pai Gow poker results in a slower game where one will rarely see his or her bankroll be washed away in a quick series of bad hands. If you prefer fast-paced, ‘action’ gambling, like roulette and craps, this game might not be for you, but if Texas hold’em is your game of choice, or you prefer a little deliberation in your gambling, give Pai Gow poker a whirl the next time you want to play at the tables.

If you need strategic help, read Pai Gow Poker Strategy at Mollis’ Poker Site!

I feel quite stupid now playing a game based on pure luck but at least we had heaps of fun.

Was lucky enough to win $2500 back flipping coins against one of the winners.

Life of a gambler….

I would never play absolute due to known cheat issues in the past, but getting $33k for folding pre-flop in a $0.5/$1 limit hold’em game is a pretty good deal if you ask me.

Found this site and decided to give it a plug as I love it a lot. Good luck to BigBrother in making his goal — I’ll be here supporting (I’ll be giving periodical updates when this guy makes it past milestones on his Bankroll).

GOOD LUCK MY FRIEND!

I realize I’m a year early, but I’ve decided I’m going to try hard to get into the series in 2009. I’m not going to Vegas to just play one event so I’m hoping to have at least $20k to buy in to a couple events apart from the main event.

I’ll probably be doing a couple of small-number player satellites hoping to get in on the cheap and I’ve started putting 5% profit asides from this month on. I’ll keep you up to date of my progress. Wish me luck!