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Fooled by Randomness

by Bob Ciaffone

I recently received a book from my longtime friend Ray, with whom I constantly have discussions on poker, bridge, health, and life. “You will really enjoy this book; it’s right up your alley,” he said. The book was Fooled by Randomness, subtitled The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and in Life. As usual, Ray was right. The book was written by a stock market trader, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, but he took ideas about mathematical randomness and gave them a sweepingly wide application to all walks of life. Even though poker was omitted from the author’s discussion, it was no doubt the result of his ignorance on the subject rather than any lack of pertinence. I am going to take some of his ideas and show how they fit poker in a highly suitable manner.

There is an irregularity in random events that many people fail to appreciate. Random means just that, and a random event that occurs on an average of one out of 10 occasions (to use an example) will have some amazing streaks if applied over a long period of time. One would be surprised if those streaks did not include it occurring twice in a row, or being absent 40 consecutive times. Who in their long hold’em poker career has not picked up pocket aces back-to-back, or gone for a hundred deals in a row without a pocket pair or a big-kicker ace?

Despite the extremes of luck distribution that may occur, players often commit fallacies when dealing with these streaks. For example, a player who is running bad may start to take extraordinary measures in order to regain the feeling of being able to win a pot. He steams by playing more starting hands, taking punishment in the flop betting just to stay in contention, and then tries a ridiculous bluff when all else fails. But mathematically speaking, there is no way to ascertain when a streak of bad luck will end. Lots of players seem to think that a streak lasts for precisely one session. Yet, many a losing streak lasts for only a portion of a session — or continues without interruption the next time the player sits down. I am not saying a player should always hang in there and weather the storm, because some people perform poorly enough during such a streak to have their result expectancy go from positive to negative. But to quit just because of fear that an unlucky cloud will follow you for precisely a whole session — no more, no less — is flawed thinking that shows your inability to grasp the nature of random events.

The lucky poker player — temporarily lucky — also may behave in a manner that shows a lack of understanding the distribution of randomness. He may believe that when the lucky star is overhead, the nature of his hand should be disregarded in an effort to “push his luck to the hilt.” The problem arises in judging where the hilt is located. When “the cabbages are eating the rabbits” (a favorite expression of my friend Blacky Blackburn), it is only a matter of time before the normal state of affairs of the better hands defeating the worse ones returns. If the fellow with the lucky star believes the force will be with him for a full session, he is most probably going to give his winnings back with interest.

Another error discussed in the book is aiming for a big plus in positive outcomes without paying sufficient attention to the essence of the situation, which is the net plus. Winning eight out of 10 times does not guarantee a net profit, because we must consider the amounts won and lost. Here is an interesting story related to me by the late Bill Smith, the 1985 world poker champion. A fellow nicknamed “Pinky” once made the bet in a no-limit hold’em game that he would win each pot, and he laid 6-to-5, to boot! Pinky won more pots than he lost, showing a large plus on his bet, even though every player in the game was aware of the wager. Even so, he did not have a winning session. I guess he was “a little unlucky” to win all of those pots and still bust out.

Author Taleb is especially castigating of stock traders who do not take out sufficient protection against an unexpected catastrophic downturn. One memorable fellow in the book made his company a quarter-billion dollars over a six-year period, then lost $600 million in one week. Color him busted and unemployed. His poker counterpart is the no-limit hold’em player who likes to check his sets. He often wins an extra bet this way — until someone picks off an inside straight with the free card and relieves the checker of his entire stack.

Taleb presents a quiz question of another author on randomness, Deborah Bennett, involving a parlay, that was given to doctors. Try this question yourself: “A test of a disease yields a rate of 5 percent false positives. The disease strikes one-one thousandth of the population. People are tested at random, regardless of whether they are suspected of having the disease. A test subject returns a positive diagnosis. What is the probability of the subject having the disease?”

Most of the doctors taking the test answered 95 percent. This wrong answer ignores the info about the disease striking only one person out of a thousand. The correct answer is only 2 percent! Fifty people tested positive on the average (5 percent of the 1,000 base tested), but only one of these had the disease. You must consider what the base of the data was when judging the likelihood of a particular situation existing. Poker errors of this nature would be your failing to pay attention to the number of people dealt in at the start of a hand, or who stayed for the flop, when trying to ascertain whether the bettor has you beat. The wider the base of the mountain, the higher the peak is likely to be.

Here is a phenomenon I have seen many times: The early leader in a tournament has amassed an impressive number of chips. Is he a strong player? In these days of big fields, there are many more weak players than strong ones, so there is a good chance that a front-runner has simply been lucky.

Another factor at work here is that bad players usually play more hands. (For example, good players are more than willing to “pot out” with bad ones, when that ethical breach is allowed, because the bad players usually win more pots than the good ones.) The more at-bats, the more hits; a worse hitter may well out-hit a better one who does not see as much action, even though the former has a lower batting average.

Also, you have a greater possibility of playing some big pots if you are willing to take the worst of it in hand matchups. Your opponents are more likely to gamble with you when they figure to have the best of it. If enough loose players are getting their money in for a series of several large pots in which they are on the average perhaps a 3-to-2 underdog, a small number of them will amass a fortune by continuing to double up even though they are going sharply uphill.

Considering the base also explains why there are so many relatively unknown players at the last few tables of the World Series of Poker championship these days. I used to know 90 percent of the starting field personally. Now, that figure is probably less than 10 percent.

Even though there is a lot more to poker than mathematics, do not fall into the trap of thinking the only math applicable to poker is the odds on making your hand. As you can see, many probability concepts need to be understood properly to be a well-rounded poker player.

posted by Used Poker Tables at 11:48 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Catching the Texas Hold 'Em Bug (article)

By Kevin Beane

I caught the bug. The Texas No-Limit Hold 'Em bug, to be exact.

After watching plenty of it on TV, and playing plenty of it on Yahoo!, I decided to give it a whirl for real money. So I read a few pointers, tips, and glossaries on the 'Net, picked a room, and laid down $25. My plan was to play them in $5 chunks, which I ended up doing in 5- and 10-cent blind rooms.

I played and lost my first $5 right away, then again my second $5 right away, and then on third $5 chunk I played, I won on a "bad beat" (you have a vastly inferior hand, but you win anyway by getting extremely lucky card[s], the only one[s] you could pull out a victory with, on the board [the face-up cards]) and won $14.

This put me up to $29 total. I stopped playing and realized I had a lot more to learn, so I gobbled up a couple more hours of tips and info on the Internet. I started picking up on the stupid things novices like myself do, and exploited them. In a couple hours, I was all the way up to $77 in my bankroll before going down to $57. I was feeling antsy and ready to enter tournaments. And I read more. All on the Internet, all for free.

There are two basic types of tournaments: single-table tournaments, and multi-table tournaments. Single-table tournaments are pretty straightforward — each player contributes the same amount to the pot, plays with chips instead of money, and once there's only one man left standing, he gets either all of the pot, or it's divided up between first, second, and third players, or however it's configured.

Then there are multi-table tournaments, as the one often sees on TV. There might be hundreds of people playing, and as more and more people go out (lose all of their chips), the tables are consolidated until there's few enough people left to put them all on one table.

Entry fees at the site I play at are pretty comparable, so you have to decide if you want to play for lower stakes at good odds (1-in-9 or -10) at a single-table tournament or higher stakes with much worse odds at multi-table tournaments.

Maybe it's because I'm a golf fan, maybe because I was attracted by the big bucks, but I went with the multi-tournament mode. By "because I'm a golf fan" I meant this: you don't buy your way into the first page of the leaderboard in tournament golf — you have to play better than almost all the field to get there. In short, you have to earn it. I wanted to see if I could earn a nice result or, more likely, an MC (missed cut), if you will.

I read somewhere that the early round of tournaments will usually feature a lot of wild, very aggressive betting as players try to get an early advantage, and that you should stay out of the madness and lay low. I kept that in mind.

During tournament No. 1 tonight, one guy went all in before the flop, forcing everyone to fold, and essentially buying the pot about four times. The fifth time, I called him out, and he really did have "the nuts" (an outstanding hand). I finished 87th out of 113.

Then, I decided to play in a multi-table tourney with just two tables, 18 players. Similar story as the first. (Tournaments of one kind or another start up every few minutes). On an early hand, I wanted to punish other players for being too aggressive, eventually got punished myself, and bowed out in 13th-place.

Then I took a break and pulled myself together. What I was telling myself was this: again, the last thing I read about tournament strategy foretold the precise truth: betting is wild, maniacal, aggressive in the first few rounds. Stay out of it and pick your spots. I wasn't doing that. I was diving in head first. I was calling out the wild boys with so-so hands because I was convinced the other guy has nothin', 'cause he's going all in and raising like mad so often.

To put it a finer point on it, I was getting angry that the same guys were buying the pot over and over again without anyone calling them on it.

This was stupid for a couple reasons. One thing, and less importantly, to raise, go all in, and scare everyone off the pot multiple times may work in the short run, but it is not sustainable over the course of a long tournament. You can only bluff so much, you can't really bluff your way all the way to a top of a tournament (well, anything's possible, but that would be more than unlikely).

More importantly, if you decide it's up to you to give these pot-stealers their comeuppance, to teach them a lesson, to be the sheriff, etc., you end up doing just what they want you to do: playing mad, playing emotional. That makes you do something stupid like call in most of your chips when all you have is something dicey like a pair of eights. Get the picture?

I was determined to be patient in the third tournament, an $8 buy-in game. If the maniacs want to steal pot after pot and take a big chip lead, fine. Just wait until you get a hand. Stay out of the fray.

In this tournament, I indeed folded most of my way through the early rounds, and I only played to the flop with the strongest of pocket cards (pairs of seven or eight of higher, or when both cards were a 10 or better). And it worked! I would bet conservatively, let the maniacs bet big to try to scare me out of the pot, call/raise them, and take their money.

I did get lucky with one bad beat: one of the maniacs with half the amount of chips I had went all in for the umpteenth time. I had ace and a seven, and decided "What the hell?" and called him (note: if I had to do this over again, I probably wouldn't have. It shouldn't have been worth half of my worth to try to get an ace on the "board.").

Then a guy with twice as many chips as me also called, and we checked each other. It turned out, the original all-in guy had ace-king, and the guy with twice as many chips as me had ace-ace. I was cursing at myself yet again for trying to be sheriff an punish the overly aggressive guy when the flop came down 6-8-9, then two, then five on the river. I got a straight and won a ridiculous amount of chips. I actually apologized to the room for the "bad beat." Then one guy responded, "If you're gonna do a bad beat, you might as well make it a mass murder." Beautiful.

After that, I just played conservative. I called conservatively when I had a great hand and then tried to nail the guys who raised me. I played a bit more aggressively if I was the last guy to bet and everyone before me folded. The counter of players left in the tourney, on the bottom right of the screen, would dwindle, dwindle, dwindle.

The more I played conservatively, the more I got a reputation as a non-bluffer. People would fold the second I got into a pot. So then of course I started to bluff a bit, just to steal some blinds and buffer my position.

Soon, there were 10 people left. Top nine go to the final table, and all get paid.

At that point, we started playing a bizarre game. If everyone's betting, raising, bluffing, etc., that's called a loose game (or, a loose player). If every hand is a big fold-a-thon because everyone's too paralyzed to act, that's a "tight" game.

With 10 guys remaining and nine getting paid, the game got tighter than a nun suffering from constipation sitting in wet cement. No one wanted to be the last guy out not to get paid, so a 40-minute-long war of attrition started. I used everyone's fear to steal a couple of pots, including a big one, but I was pretty much as tight as everyone else. I wasn't as concerned as others, though, because I had enough chips to play around a bit.

Finally, it got to the point where one guy couldn't keep up with the blinds. He was forced to go all in on a mediocre hand, and we were all ready to call him. He went out, and then there were nine. I had made the final table. I had guaranteed a prize.

At the final table (nine guys), I was in sixth-place, if you will, in terms of chips, and play remained conservative, for the most part. I scored a few good hands, forced a couple of players who barely qualified for the last table out of the game, and eventually, I found myself with jack-nine. The flop was turned, and it was jack-seven-eight. I had high pair, so I was happy to call when I was raised. Then I was raised again (called) and again (called).

Before I knew it, I was in over my head. I was betting against a guy who hadn't been particularly aggressive yet, and all I have is a pretty good pair, and I can either call his latest bet with 90% of my chips, or fold and lose 75% of my chips. I chose the former. I should've never let it get that far, but I lost focus for a minute and it cost me. He had a straight (eight-nine hand) and played it, and me, beautifully.

Epilogue, I finished in fifth-place and won $62. As great as it was to make the final table, I was even happier to end up improving my position (started at sixth at the final table, finished fifth) against these guys.

What an exhilarating experience. I'm bursting with pride right now, just bursting.

Does it seem silly that I'm so giddy right now? Presumably, everyone here is a sports fan. You can't really be a sports fan unless you have a thirst for competition. I think a lot of us play sports and games in search of that competitive event we are naturally good at, or we find the competition we are willing to bust are tails at to become good. We do it because we want to find something to compete at, something to win at.

Ninety-seven people paid $8 apiece to play in this tournament. Ninety-two of them finished behind me. I made it to the last one of the tables — victory enough — and didn't embarrass myself once I got there. I made the first page of the final leaderboard. And there will be more. I'm not going to spend big money on poker, but I'm going to continue spending little money and earning it back and a little more. So far, so good — even before I entered a tournament.

If I've piqued your interest in competitive poker, let me tell you what worked for me.

* Watch it on TV until you have the basics down, if you haven't already. In the U.S, you can find poker on FOX Sports, ESPN, Game Show Network, and the Travel Channel.

* Once you understand how to play, start looking up strategy and tips (and glossaries — know the lingo!) online.

* You'll read a lot of math wonkery about staying in a hand only if you have a "positive expected value." Let's say you have a 10 of diamonds and an ace of diamonds, and the flop is jack of diamonds, queen of diamonds, and four of clubs. You don't have a great hand (ace high), but you have a lot of possibilities for great hands: (you're one diamond away from a flush, one king away from a straight, plus an ace or a 10 would give you a high pair). So you might try to "draw" or fish for one of those great cards.

The math wonks will tell you to compare the percentage of how likely it is one of the cards you need will turn up vs. the percentage of your chips you will need to stay in the hand. If the card odds are greater, go for it. If the percentage of your chips you will have to bet to see the cards are greater than the card odds, fold.

But I'm terrible at math and here to tell you don't have to do all that. Just use common sense. Think about how much you are being asked to call, and whether it's worth it to bet that and stay in the game. Be honest with yourself.

* You only have to be a tiny bit good to be way better then a lot (most?) guys online. Take advantage of that. Be patient. Play non-tournament games with small blinds (again, I did five- and 10-cent blinds). I highly recommend doing it just like I did: $25, played in increments of $5. By the third or fourth increment, you will be surprised at how much you have learned, and you will probably have more than $25.

Let me isolate one sentence from the last paragraph. When entering any kind of game, tournament or not, be patient. Be patient, be patient, be patient. Be patient. Then sit back with some popcorn and watch what happens to guys who are impatient.

* This is the most important thing: PAY ATTENTION TO HOW YOUR OPPONENTS PLAY! The biggest favor your can do for yourself is to figure out how each guy at your table plays, and play him accordingly. If a guy folds 99% of the time and then he calls big, he probably has a great hand. If a guy is betting, raising, going all-in all the time — invite him to dance if you're playing for low stakes (and you have a decent hand), or fold and let him burn himself out in high-stakes game (unless you have an outstanding hand).

If you pay attention to how your opponents play, and pay especially close attention to what they bet once the flop is revealed, you'll be surprised how well you can actually make a pretty good guess at what at least one of their cards are.

* By the same token, try to stay unpredictable and hard to read yourself, and find the balance between being unpredictable and not putting yourself too much at risk.

* Low pocket pairs aren't really that great, but it seems like the lesser players treat them like gold. If you have two threes and I have four and a six, I actually have a pretty good chance of beating you, since I've got five chances to get one of the six cards I need (the remaining fours and fives) to pull ahead of you, and there's only two cards out there (the remaining threes) that will help you, and that's not even counting the (small) possibility of a straight, which I have a much better chance of hitting than you.

* My favorite poker phrase is "Don't tap the aquarium." Sucky players are called "fish" and will do things that will make your jaw drop. You will be tempted to call them names, and tell them just how stupid you are. Don't do it! They're your primary source of income! They're giving you money! If they stop having fun, they'll stop playing. TREAT BAD PLAYERS WELL. You will be surprised at how many people can't follow this rule, because their arrogance compels them to belittle his inferiors, and boom, a good thing (a player giving his money away) is gone. DON'T. TAP. THE AQUARIUM.

* Have fun yourself!

posted by Used Poker Tables at 4:17 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Smart Entertainment & The Flying Dutchman Take Off

Poker certainly has its share of recognizable faces. Almost everywhere you look these days, poker super stars are shining in the sport's recent explosion in popularity. One player is making a bet on the future by making a move that could send his popularity soaring to new heights through the world of text messaging.

Marcel Luske is possibly one of the poker world's most famous players already. Easily recognized at the tables because of his fashion style and trademark wearing of sunglasses upside down, his image alone makes him a difficult player to ignore and a disarming one.

It's not just his fashion taste that makes this man from Amsterdam a formidable opponent either. Although he may be found singing a song or telling a joke while playing poker, he is more likely to be taking someone's chips. With world-wide winnings estimated to be close to $2 million, with over $1 million coming from the United States, Luske continues to demonstrate his uncanny skills wherever he plays.

Having placed in the top ten 15 times since February 2004, Luske has become a veritable fixture at final tables. He is having another banner year in 2005 with a first-place finish at the Third Annual Five-Star World Poker Classic and a second-place finish at Mirage Poker Showdown, earning winnings over $250,000. Possibly Luske's biggest exposure has come from his excellent finishes at the 2003 and 2004 World Series of Poker's Main Event, where he placed tenth and thirteenth, respectively.

Luske's success at the tables has opened a number of opportunities for financial gain both in and outside of poker. He started his own marketing organization, Flying Dutchman Marketing, to help him connect with his ever-increasing fan base via text messaging.

If you are unfamiliar with what text messaging or SMS (Short Message Service) is, one need only look at almost all of today's cell phones. Many have ways for users to communicate with friends by typing messages and sending them digitally to other users.

SMS subscribers also receive text from the network operator's message center, featuring updates, contests, advertisements, and basically anything a star or company wants you to read. If the user's phone is powered off or out of range, messages are stored in the network and become available as soon as the user turns on their phone. Text messages can cost different prices because of different plans offering different options. No matter what the use, text messages and SMS services are becoming part of modern-day life.

Luske's first attempt at finding both success and profitability in text messaging comes with his recent signing by Smart Entertainment. He is the first poker star to use its CelebrityPokerChat service.

Smart Entertainment has a number of different divisions but is widely known as a top consulting firm that specializes in creating marketing campaigns for radio, television, and film. It has helped in the successful advertising and marketing strategies of over 300 major film studio releases since 2001, with titles like Spiderman, I Robot, and Shrek 2.

Smart Entertainment's move into the poker world took another giant step on Thursday when the company told Pokernews.com, that it has signed a deal with Card Player Magazine to deliver gambling and poker news via text messaging. This deal automatically gives credibility to the company because of Card Player's long-standing reputation in the industry.

Thursday's signing delivers a major boost to Smart Entertainment's ability to reach a major portion of its target advertising audience and gives it an inside track into the poker world, a place where reputation means everything.

Powered by the strength of their mobile marketing agency and their new agreement with Card Player, Smart Entertainment will promote CelebrityPokerChat around the world. This division of Smart Entertainment specializes in the creation and management of mobile marketing applications in more than 17 countries worldwide. It has become one of the leaders in this field by creating unique marketing concepts that use the latest innovations in mobile technology, some of which Smart owns exclusively.

According to Smart Entertainment's CEO & President, Halldor Sanne, CelebrityPokerChat was a logical move for the company. "Poker is one of the fastest growing industries in the world today. Many poker players are beginning to use our SMS services and we felt it was really something we wanted to be a part of," he said.

With Smart Entertainment's backing , Luske has put himself in position to become one of the more high-profile poker stars such as Phil Helmuth and Daniel Negraneu, who make large amounts of additional money via endorsement deals.

The CelebrityPokerChat service allows Luske to deliver live updates on his progress through text messaging while he plays at the poker table. He plans to offer tips on how to play, giving him a showcase for his well-known sense of humor. With sayings such as, "Give a little bit of your chips to me," he should have no problem keeping his fans in stitches.

Smart Entertainment is banking on Luske's popularity and feels he is the perfect fit for this new text messaging venture. "Marcel is one of the top players in the world and has fans across the globe, making him the perfect representative of our services and capabilities," Sanne said.

Although Smart Entertainment initially found some difficulty in translating its international success with text messaging to the United States, company officials are optimistic about the timing of this venture. "The difference between marketing here and in Europe is the overall knowledge of using text messages. Thanks to American Idol, this is changing very rapidly. We will soon have advertisements in poker magazines and other different print magazines on how to use text messaging," Sanne said.

If receiving messages from one's favorite star is not enough of a reason to get poker players into learning how to use text messaging, Smart Entertainment plans on giving away a number of seats to next years' World Series of Poker to its users.

CelebrityPokerChat appears to be a pretty safe bet for Luske. If he is playing a tournament that it is featured online or on television, whether pre-recorded or live, he simply asks fans to sign in by sending the message CHAT to the number 76278.

If 50,000 people are watching (re-runs will also increase the number of viewers per show) and 30 percent of the people, roughly 15,000, respond to his request, he will automatically enter these fans into his fan club for free. Once entered into the system a user can receive messages from Luske for 50 cents.

The numbers look very impressive. If while playing on the World Tour, Luske can generate for example, 200,000 fans who log in to his service, he stands to make an estimated $400,000 by sending these fans four messages a month. Over the course of a year, that adds up to roughly $4.8 million in earnings away from the poker table. Not a bad cash for this man of many talents.

This text messaging venture is poised to change the way players make money away from the tables with Smart Entertainment and Luske pioneering the way. When asked about the impact of text messaging and Smart Entertainment on the poker industry, Sanne, replied, "It is a totally new revenue. To be able to reach fans in a way other than email is huge. It will have an enormous impact if these services are used in the right manner and the end-user is protected from overcharging. This could be the biggest lottery ticket for the industry for the next several years."

posted by Used Poker Tables at 7:46 PM 0 comments

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Teens find poker good bet for fun (article)

Eighty percent of high school students said they have gambled in past year..

Just after 7 on a Friday night, Adrian High School sophomore Kristen Myer, 16, is absorbed in her first experience as hostess of a Texas Hold 'em poker party.

As friends trickle in, Myer offers snacks, leading them to the basement of her home. When 16 of them arrive, two groups form to play poker. Around one table, a mixed group of girls and boys play a casual round, while in the next room five boys engage in more serious competition.

"It's fun," was all Myer could say of her poker hostess role before rushing off to call a friend to bring more poker chips. Myer and her friends meet at a different home each week to play poker. They've become part of a phenomenon that has grown among high school and college students during the last three years. The popularity of poker has skyrocketed, getting a major boost from increased television coverage of tournaments like the World Series of Poker on ESPN.

Many teens said poker is elating socially and competitively, and they play it as often as possible.
"I like the strategy of it - the feeling you get when you bluff someone and you really don't have anything good in your hand," said Dylan Holt, 17, a senior at Sand Creek High School who plays at least once a week.

Although many parents, school officials and problem gambling experts regard the trend as harmless, there is some concern over the legality and potential dangers of playing with cash. According to recent studies by Youth Gambling International, a research, treatment and public policy group based in Montreal, youth involvement in both legal and illegal gambling is on the rise. Eighty percent of high school students surveyed in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Europe and Australia said they had gambled for money during the last year.

Playing for cash

Virginia Pieroni, program director of the Michigan Association on Problem Gambling, said most young poker players are considered social gamblers - those who gamble for recreational purposes only - but that some are at risk to become problem gamblers. The line between social and problem gambling is crossed when gambling begins to affect other aspects of a person's life like finances, relationships, school studies or employment, she said.

"Some kids are going to cross the boundary," Pieroni said. "It's just like with any other type of gambling - when we talk about compulsive gambling there's a progression to it. Parents and teens need to be very aware of the activity and how it could progress. We talk to teens and those of legal age about drinking - the consequences, what to look out for, how to be responsible. We need to do the same thing with gambling and the poker craze."

Some Lenawee County teens said they play poker without placing bets. However, most teen poker players inverviewed said they routinely play for cash, $5 being the standard buy-in.
Jim Myer, Kristen's father, said he is glad to host poker parties for his daughter and friends, but added he does not allow them to use money. "It's gambling, and it's wrong," he said. "They can wait until they're old enough to do that."

Knowing the laws

Many students who play poker for money said they aren't aware of Michigan's gambling laws. The legal gambling age in Michigan is 18, but only those 21 and older can gamble in Detroit casinos. Michigan law also prohibits gambling for cash outside licensed establishments, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
However, Sergeant John Keating, a detective with the Michigan State Police Department's gaming enforcement unit in Detroit, said it is rare that poker parties attract police attention.

"Even the nickel-dime poker game that's been going on for years is technically illegal," Keating said. "But it's a rarity for poker parties to be busted. Nine times out of 10, we as a law enforcement agency don't even know they're going on, unless losers come to us complaining."
Keating said poker rooms in Detroit casinos are usually packed, with around-the-clock waiting lists. He also credits growing popularity to glamorous television coverage of the game.
Lenawee County Sheriff Larry Richardson said there have been no illegal gambling parties busted in the area, and also said he doesn't think teen gambling has become a serious problem in the county.

"If we get enough complaints and think there is a problem, you bet we're going to crack down on it, but as far as I know there isn't a problem," he said.

Elaine Shankle, the mother of Adrian High School junior Rob Shankle, 17, said times have changed since she was a teen. In those days, it was common for parents to prohibit cards and dice in their homes, she said. Now, gambling appears to be more socially acceptable than it was then, she said. Elaine said her son often holds poker parties in the basement, but playing for cash is not allowed. "I don't have a problem with it as long as they are not using money," she said. "I know where they are, I know what they are doing. At the homes where my child is going, there is always a parent home. They are not out at parties drinking or driving around."

Rob said he can't remember what he and his friends did for fun before poker. "I guess it takes the place of going out and being destructive," he said. Like Rob, most teens said they play poker for recreation - many times instead of watching movies, eating out or spending money on other forms of entertainment. "We just hang out with friends," Jenny Skaggs, 16, of Adrian said. "Poker is a side thing." "We play for fun, for something to do - sometimes to win money, but usually not," Andrew Greenwell, 17, of Adrian said. "It's like going to the movies, but you actually get to do something instead of just sitting around."

In good fun?

Poker parties are most prevalent among high school juniors and seniors, although some underclassmen, like Madison freshman Jesse De La Garza, 14, do form their own poker groups.
Like many other teen poker players, De La Garza said he became hooked on poker by watching it on television. De La Garza, who said he sometimes plays for cash, has won up to $15, but never lost more than $5 in one sitting. "I like the guessing and taking risks," he said. "And if I win the money, that's nice." Some teens, like Clinton High School junior Brian Emery, 16, said they play poker for its challenges, rather than money. Emery enjoys reading his opponents' faces and gestures, trying to guess what cards they're holding. He said he and his friends play poker no more than once a month and prefer playing euchre.

Most teens said they don't take the game seriously and regularly set limits on the amount of money they are willing to lose on a given night - usually no more than $5 or $10. Recreation, not money, is the name of the game. "As soon as I win, I say, 'that's it,' " said Riley Cunningham, 16, of Adrian, whose biggest win was $53. "I give myself a limit on how much I can lose."

Most teens said their winnings range from $20 to $50. Prize money is often used to buy gasoline or other necessities, or is saved for future rounds of poker. Losses are typically no more than $20 per party, and teens said they play poker with money from a variety of sources - jobs, allowances, spare change and extra lunch money. "Usually one win can make up for a string of losses," Greenwell said. "Plus, everyone's pretty good sports about giving people their money back if they really need it."

For some students, however, poker really is about the money.

Tom Matejcek, 17, and Robert Gifford, 18, of Sand Creek said they play to win cash. Every weekend, they hold poker parties with a winner's pot of up to $150. Depending on the number of participants, buy-in fees can be as high as $20 per person.
Gifford and Metejcek said their poker parties started after they were inspired by the victory of underdog Chris Moneymaker in the 2003 World Series of Poker on ESPN. The two have even composed a mantra they use to describe their love of the game to friends: "It's a psychological, mind-thrillin' blow that goes straight to your dome like you don't even know."

Gifford said his poker parties are held "in good fun," and a $10 limit is set on how much each player can lose, but the competition can get serious. "It gets heated," he said. "There have been a few arguments, and one time there was almost a fight." Officials from Madison, Clinton and Sand Creek high schools said they allow cards but not gambling in the schools. Students can play cards before or after school, or during lunch, but gambling is prohibited. Administrators said there have been no problems with students attempting to gamble during school hours.

Clinton Principal Tim Wilson said euchre, not poker, is the popular card game at his school, and he has been pleased that his students seem to be playing poker responsibly. "Poker is just like any other game - you can abuse anything or you can use it properly," Wilson said. Yet some administrators did express concerns about student gambling behaviors outside school.

"The whole gambling concept at their age is something to be concerned about," Sand Creek Principal Steve Laundra said. "Many students don't understand the value of money yet, or the evils of the game - the fact that many people do get addicted to gambling and that it can ruin lives. It takes an adult mind to understand those things better."

TV poker

Many students who regularly play poker said television played a large role in developing their knowledge and love for the game. Many learned to play while watching ESPN's World Series of Poker or from Internet poker sites. Most students interviewed, like Kyle Betz, 18, of Madison, said televised poker inspired them to start organizing poker parties. "I know a lot of people who have gotten into it since watching it on TV," Betz said. Bill Estes and Fred Smith, both 15, of Sand Creek said they watch poker on television to get better at it. Estes, who learned to play poker from his dad, said watching professionals helps him perfect his own game.

These teens are among the millions of Americans who have become hooked on watching poker. ESPN began airing poker in 1994, but in 2003 received unprecedented ratings for its coverage of the annual World Series of Poker tournament. More than 1 million U.S. households watched that competition. The tournament, which began in 1970, has exploded ever since. The 2002 tournament had nearly 7,600 entries and cash prizes amounting to $19.6 million.

Like fans of any other professional sport, teens now watch their favorite poker stars on television and try to emulate them. All this popularity has turned poker into a multi-million dollar industry and a booming recreation - or problem - for teens, depending on who you talk to.
Austin Wagley, 16, of Adrian, who has bought his own poker chips, tables and cards, said poker is a fun and harmless game that he and his friends can spend hours playing.

"It's a social game," he said. "You can hang out with your friends and you can win money."

posted by Used Poker Tables at 9:25 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Fun and games go along with food at new bistro chain (article)

SAN FRANCISCO — Nolan Bushnell, the digital-entertainment impresario who created Atari and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theater, is ready to play again.
This time, he's combining elements of his two well-known creations for a planned restaurant chain that doubles as a video-gaming center.

Think of it as Chuck E. Cheese's for the older set.

The uWink Media Bistro chain, scheduled to open in Los Angeles in the fall before spreading nationwide next year, is a throwback to when video games were played between people, Bushnell says.

"It's a party and playful place for young, media-savvy adults — not your Aunt Tilly," says Bushnell, who has had a hand in starting 22 companies as a CEO or venture capitalist.

Unlike competing sports bars such as ESPN Sportszone and Dave & Buster's, patrons at uWink use a touch-screen console at dinner tables and bars to play games, order food, troll the Internet, play music and watch videos. Poker, sports and trivia video games are designed for patrons to play against one another for prizes such as free food and uWink merchandise.

UWink customers pick up a debit card when entering the restaurant and swipe it to open an account at their table or the bar. They pay what is charged to the card. There are no waiters or waitresses, but restaurant employees deliver food.

The touch-screen technology, developed by another Bushnell company, sets uWink apart in the $10 billion market for "quick, casual diners," says Eric Wold, a restaurant and media analyst at investment bank Merriman Curhan Ford.

"The consumer gets more involved," says Wold, who has been briefed on uWink.

Customers order from a digital menu of burgers, pizza, salads and drinks. They can personalize their order, such as requesting less chicken on a salad or more lime juice in a margarita, from the screen. The automated system reduces the time it takes to place an order and pay the bill through a waiter, Bushnell says.

The games, also developed by Bushnell, who invented Pong — considered the first video game — are easy to learn but "hard to master," Bushnell says. They are designed for people to engage in social playing, such as a six-person version of Pong. Each 2½-minute game costs about a quarter.

"People used to play games to socialize with one another before technology allowed them to play alone at home," Bushnell says. "We want to shift back to a time when people played games to build relationships."

Bushnell is so confident about his latest creation, he predicts word of mouth from excited customers and bang-up business will lead to the construction of several hundred restaurants over the next few years.

posted by Used Poker Tables at 4:14 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Roundtable: You gotta know when to hold 'em

Huge dilemma during my regular Texas Hold 'em game the other night. I had 12,000 chips on the poker table after a re-raise and was trying to see if my queen-high straight would hold up when it looked like the guy across from me coveted a flush draw.

His fifth club didn't come and my straight held up. I won. Online, of course. For "play'' chips.
No cash. Are you kidding? I'm a journalist. Poker, in particular Texas Hold 'em, has enveloped the country and the world -- and me -- of what it used to be, with its remarkable appeal and popularity. It's everywhere. A game which developed a small cult status has now mushroomed and created one of television's most staunch set of viewers. And Internet sites are home to hundreds of thousands of players 24 hours a day.

Moms, dads, kids, college students -- you name it. It costs nothing to play. I hit my favorite poker site every day ... sometimes in the morning, sometimes late in the afternoon, sometimes at night. At any given time, on that site alone, there are anywhere from 35,000 to 75,000 players on "play" tables or real money tables.

I've sat and played with people from Australia, Greece, Germany, Great Britain and Canada, along with every state in the country. At all hours, day and night. It's amazing how the game has been embraced. Most true-blue sports geeks can't name all the NBA coaches, but I bet I know 10 people personally who can rattle off the names of three dozen world-reknowned Hold 'em players.

Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Annie Duke, Freddie Deeb, Teddy Greenstein ... you can go on and on. I wouldn't know Mike D'Antoni, the coach of the Phoenix Suns, if he walked into the newsroom, but I'd know Chris Moneymaker from a mile away. He kind of looks like John Daly with a better haircut. TV has turned these names and faces into icons with rockstar-like attraction. It started three or four years ago with the World Poker Tour on the obscurity of The Travel Channel. Sunday nights. A real popular spot.

But when ESPN got hold of it in 2003, BANG! It took off like a brushfire.

Now you can find poker on ESPN, ESPN2 and FoxSports. Even NBC got into the act with the "National Headsup Poker Championships." Caught the final hands of the championship on Sunday afternoon. Phil Hellmuth beat Chris "Jesus" Ferguson with a pair of queens.
How ironic, I thought, because today, of all days, The Truth introduces "Hellmuth's Hold 'em," a weekly syndicated poker column by the edgy world champion.

This guy is brash, opinionated, wired tight -- but the real deal in big-time poker circles. His columns and stories about the game's all-time greats will inform, teach, analyze and help build strategy for poker players of all kinds, your's truly included. When to bet, when not to, what to bet, why bet. Raises, re-raises, folds and calls. He has a reason for everything he does.

I could have used him about a month ago at the Firefighters Local 338 Smoker. They had a Hold 'em tournament and I was one of 56 players entered. I had never done it before, but had to try.
I settled in with a good table. So good, in fact, that the top two finishers, as I found out later, were on each side of me when the tourney began. Gee, thanks fellas.

I was OK early, but everybody played "tight" -- meaning no big bets, conservative play, cautious moves. My friends will tell you that's how I normally play, though now and then I will throw them off by playing a 10-4 offsuit hand just for giggles. You can't be labeled in poker or you're busted. I plodded along, keeping most of my chips in the tournament, then caught a king and a jack offsuit from the big blind. There was a king-jack on the flop so I knew I was good to go.

Let's play. Nothing on the turn -- the fourth down card -- and a 3 on the river.
All in. A winner, right? The small blind on my right called my bet and laid down a pair of 3s. Disshelved and heart-broken, I left the tournament early. Beaten by three 3s. But lesson learned. And sometimes you get the cards, too. By the way, the guy who eliminated me won the tournament. Go figure. Glad I got his night off to a good start.

Not as bad as the other guy next to me who was knocked out while holding a full house -- and lost -- to a better full house.

posted by Used Poker Tables at 8:42 AM 0 comments

Friday, May 20, 2005

Gambling Along The Mississippi

When it comes down to heading to one of the gambling "meccas" of the United States, most people look towards the bright lights of Las Vegas or the East Coast "Las Vegas", Atlantic City. Some may even look a little further north to the New England area and the Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods Resorts. You would be amiss not to look to the South and the Grand Casinos of Mississippi.

The Grand Casinos, with three different locations in Biloxi, Gulfport and Tunica, are a part of the Caesars' family of hotel and casino chains, thus any player's cards that a player has from the sites in other areas can be used there for comps and player points. The Grand Tunica, which I had the privilege of staying at for two days, was by far the best of the threesome.

It is an easy trip to find your way to the Grand Casino Tunica. After arriving in Memphis, it is a straight shot from Interstate 240 West to Highway 61 South (yes, the same highway immortalized in the Bob Dylan album title, because of its proximity to the birth of the blues in America). It takes approximately thirty minutes to make the run from the Memphis International Airport to the gates of the Grand Casino.

Once you arrive there, you are shocked to see the size of the Grand Casino itself. Indeed, it is grand! At over 14,000 square feet, it is the largest casino between Las Vegas and Atlantic City and has gaming action for any taste. All games, whether it is slots or poker tables, are easy to find among their four themed locations. Table games spread run the gamut from three and four card poker, Pai Gow, blackjack, craps and mini baccarat (among other games) and all are a challenge and very rewarding to the victors.

The slot machines are the dominant sight and sound as you stroll through either of the two floors of the Grand Casino. In fact, if you spend much time in the slots area, the ringing of the tumblers and the wins seem to resonate through your ears for hours after your departure! They range from the smallest amounts (one PENNY!) to much higher limits and pay out prizes ranging from coin (with the smaller games) to their very convenient "EZ Pay" system, where the machine actually gives the player a ticket of value, good for use on another game or for any of the amenities that the Grand Casino offers. Additionally, you can win some great prizes, including cars and even a Hummer 2!

The poker room is quite nice and, for being on the second floor near the slot machines, is surprisingly quiet, except for the riffling of chips. "We have had a poker room since 1996, and we built the room we currently use about five years ago," said Terry Wildman, the gracious and helpful Day Manager of the Grand Casino Poker Room. While it may appear small to some (and, my having seen the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles and its wall-to-wall poker tables, it appeared that way), the fourteen tables that make up the poker room are constantly in action at any time, day or night.

"We spread pretty much any game, from Texas and Omaha Hold 'Em to Seven Card," continued Wildman. "There is a No-Limit game going on most of the time, but we have more requests and players for 2-10 Stud and 4-8 Texas Limit than others." The tournament action is constant in the poker room, with daily tournaments going on that range from a buy in of ten dollars to those of $100 (with rebuys in some tourneys). "We constantly have those tournaments filled with somewhere between forty and fifty players, which is the cap on tournaments in the poker room."

For major tournaments, there is a special ballroom opened up for those events. It is excellent, as once the doors are closed to the room, all outside noise from the casino is shut out. The tournament staff is efficient and does an outstanding job of conducting a first class tournament for the players in attendance.

Dining at the Grand Casino is a pleasant experience, with fine dining being covered at the excellent Italian restaurant Murano's. For a more casual dining experience, you can step over to Replays, the Grand's sports bar (excellent sandwiches with multiple televisions tuned to many sporting events and the in-bar NTN gaming system) or the Delta Blues Café (possibly my only disappointment, as it was a little overpriced for what you were getting). Finally, to keep your food budget in check when you are at the casino, you can enter the Grand Buffet, where any palate can be satisfied well and for a very good price. Pasta, ribs, sushi and a grill providing seafood or burgers are just a few of the many options that can take care of any person's hunger.

The trio of hotels on the grounds (the Veranda, the Terrace and the Casino Hotel) are near the casino and very much worth the price paid. The rooms are comfortable and the staff, from the front desk to the maintenance people, are all pleasant and polite, aiming to make your stay as comfortable as possible. Other amenities include a spa, a children's arcade, skeet shooting and golf, all located within a few hundred yards of the casino and the hotels.

One criticism that I would have overall is that, while you have everything that you need around you, there is pretty much nothing to do outside of the casino or golf. For those of you that would like to sightsee or visit other areas, it is a drive to either get back to Memphis and see the attractions there (such as Graceland) or a drive to get to much anything else. While people that come there are there for the express purpose of the gambling, a little more diversity would make the area much more entertaining for more people.

When you get ready to make those plans for your next trip, you might find it worthwhile to make a trip to the Grand Casino. It is a relaxing area, the costs are reasonable and the gaming action, including the poker, well worth your time!

posted by Used Poker Tables at 8:50 AM 0 comments

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