Poker Collection

Poker Players

Even though James Woods is a newcomer to the world of online poker, he knows all about the “bluff.” When he left MIT, he moved to New York to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. When doors were not opening, he “bluffed” his way in. His first important part was in Brendan Behan’s Borstal Boy in 1971. “I waited until the stage manager went to the bathroom and then just walked out on stage. I said, ‘I’m next,’ and online poker auditioned. They wanted only resident British actors with real British accents. I said I was from Liverpool, and they said, ‘Great: and hired me.” Jimmy continues to work on his bluffing techniques, and proudly recalled a bluff he put on Mike Sexton in Vince Van Pat- ten’s home game. He used his acting skills to dramatically overbet the pot, knowing Mike had the better hand, but believing Mike would be too conservative to call. The first time Mike learned he had been bluffed was in the Card Player cover story featuring Mike Sexton. Poker Players

Poker Tournament

After wading through the first two rounds of the $2,600 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the recently concluded Fiesta al Logo HI tournament at Bellagio, I was hoping to swim through the next few rounds and lap my opponents. Although my plan was to build my stack during each level, I had barely maintained it, and entered the third round with $4,950 in chips. I knew I needed to do better than that if I was to finish in the money of the 207-PLAYER event. The first hand I played in the third round was 3-3. With the blinds at $100-$200, everyone passed to me on the button, and I decided to limp in for the minimum $200. My online poker reason for just calling rather than making a standard raise was that the chip leader at my table, a rather loose Poker player, was in the small blind. Poker Tournament

Poker Tips

Clifton X. Savior is a generous name for a generous guy. Clifton and I were on our way to play Poker last week at a club in New York when we got on the subject of tipping dealers. At this particular club, they hand out tickets every time you win a hand for a drawing to win prizes, typically cheap electronics. Clifton, who plays either $4-$8 limit hold’em or no-limit hold’em with $1-$2 blinds, was commenting about all the times he had walked out of the club broke with 30 tickets as his lone online poker consolation prize. We arrived at the club and everyone had a smile for Clifton. The floorperson seemed eager to please, and found us two seats at a no-limit table with $1-$2 blinds. Over the course of the next four hours, the game was between six- and eight-handed. Poker Tips

Video Games

Brag is a sort of mini-poker popular in Britain. The original game is thought to be the ancestor of Poker. Only three cards are dealt to each player and there is one betting interval. There is no draw. In the traditional game there are only three classes of hand, pair-royal (three of a kind), pair and highest card, but ‘braggers’ or wild cards are used and a hand with a bragger is inferior to one of an equal rank without. In the more popular modern version, straights, more often called ‘runs’, and flushes are recognized, and wild cards are not normally used. It will be noticed that a run beats a flush. With a three-card hand, as opposed to an online poker five-card poker hand, a run is less common than a flush. Three of a kind is called a ‘prial’. With hands of equal rank, the higher combination wins, except that a prial of Threes is the highest hand, and beats a prial of Aces. Ace is optionally high or low in sequences, and A 2 3 usually beats A K Q. Poker Games