Vignette VIII

What could possibly go wrong?

Martingale before midnight? Whatever happens, Merry Xmas, Tony!

Vignette VII

Six Plus Hold'em at Aria

Six Plus Hold'em, a new variant of Hold'em played with a deck of 36 cards, is apparently very popular in the high stakes games played in Macau. All the cards from deuce to five are taken out from the deck, leaving 36 cards instead of 52. This of course creates some differences in hand strength, like a 3-of-a-kind now beats a straight, and a flush beats a full house.

Clearly there will be differences in strategy between this game and the traditional Hold'em, and some time should be invested in study before sitting down and playing with real money. However, for those that lack the patience to do so, the Aria poker room will be spreading Six Plus Hold'em tonight with $2/$5 blinds and a $1,000 maximum buy-in.

Vignette VI

Snubbed again

This is the 5th year running that I have been overlooked for the Nobel Prize in Economics. I have said nothing till now, but there is a limit to how much humiliation one can take. I have nothing against this year's winner, Angus Deaton, who I'm sure was worthy of the esteemed award. However, my pioneering research into the relationship between median household income and 4th street bluff reraising ranges has been widely acclaimed in academic circles as groundbreaking. When will those Northern European idiots finally come to their senses?

Nearly found a job

As I was perusing the daily job listings, my eyes fell upon an opening for a Penetration Tester. Eureka! This sounded like something right up my alley. So you can imagine my disappointment when I clicked on the link to find the following job description :

A penetration tester is a type of network security consultant that tries to break into or find possible exploits in different computer systems and software. You can think of them as a type of ethical hacker. They generally are expected to run a number of tests, generally based around network penetration, and fill out assessment reports about what they have discovered. While they will often be running pre-determined types of tests, they will also be designing their own tests a large portion of the time, which requires creativity and imagination, along with a superb level of technical knowledge and know-how.

Goodbye Macau

Any thoughts I had entertained of playing in high-limit Macau cash games were quickly laid to rest today with the continuing plunge of the Chinese stock market.

Several months ago I invested my bankroll in some speculative Shanghai high-fliers, but committed the cardinal sin of being over-leveraged. So not only am I busto (once again), but am facing margin calls to the tune of several 2/5 buy-ins.

I have spent the last 6 hours lying prostrate in front of the Buddha statue at the Aria, praying fervently for the speedy recovery of the Shanghai Composite Index.

Vignette V

2nd chance for tournament poker?

I have religiously avoided poker tournaments in favor of cash games for over 10 years now, thanks to a traumatic experience which I refer to here.

Truth be told, there has been no shortage of sporadic pain at the cash tables as well, so maybe it is time to re-evaluate my tourney embargo.

The only tournament books I have in my library are the outdated "Harrington on Hold'em (Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments, Volumes I and II)", and Sklansky's "Tournament Poker for Advanced Players". I am therefore looking to add some more recent literature, and to this end am considering "Kill Everyone". "Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time" (3 volumes) has good reviews, but I am more interested in live tourneys rather than online.

Is "Kill Everyone" worth the read, and does anyone have other recommendations?

Risitas reacts to the 2015 WSOP November 9

2+2 poster JoeDiego has made a great video about this year's November 9 :

Thick as a Brick?

Bellagio 2/5. I get it all-in heads-up pre-flop with KK, run into AA, and lose my stack. I'm quite used to this type of cooler, but still find the need to profer my usual polite, but sarcastic, "Thank you, dealer" to Kim from Hawaii.

Without missing a beat, she replies "You're welcome." Now either she's one dumb lady, or a very rude one.

Poker book

I've just ordered another book to add to my collection :

"Final Table Play" by Mark Newhouse.

Vignette IV

Vignette III

Why I stick to cash games

All is forgiven

I am pleased to report that I am no longer persona non grata at MGM. After heavy, nationwide behind-the-scenes lobbying by the National Coalition for the Homeless, MGM finally succumbed and revoked its ban. In addition, I will be paid full restitution in the sum of $200. The latter amount does not include any compensation for my tarnished reputation which, to be fair, was already tarnished long before the incident.

I would like to thank Pete P. Peters for his generous offer of legal representation, and to the others who offered moral support.

Banned from all MGM properties

I've been banned from all MGM properties due to an incident at the Aria the other night. I was all-in pre-flop for $202 with 77 against a bigger stack's KK. Before the board was dealt, I asked my opponent if I could keep 2 chips for the valet should I lose, to which he agreed. Then, with everyone concentrating on the cards in the middle of the table, I quickly pocketed the 2 red stacks of $100 each and substituted them with 2 black chips.

The kings held up, I pushed the 2 $1 chips towards my opponent, but withheld the 2 black chips, saying that we agreed that these were for the valet. Needless to say, all hell broke loose, the floor was called and didn't buy my argument that we never specified the denomination of the 2 chips that I could keep. Also, it didn't help matters that I don't own a car.

I shall be taking this up with the Nevada Gaming Commission as soon as I can find suitable pro bono legal representation.

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Bellagio 2/5

Once again the conversation at my table had dried up. There were long, uncomfortable bouts of silence and it was time for my schtick :

Me : My missus kicked me out after she caught me measuring my cock.

Dealer : Really?

Me : It just reaches the back of her sister’s throat!

Bummer

Unfortunately I won't be able to play in the $500,000 buy-in Aria Super High Roller Bowl on July 2, as it clashes with my porn slapper job interview. To say I'm peeved would be an understatement.

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From a Twitter exchange today :

Dealer's choice

I've often wondered what dealers really think about poker players. I just started following @MeanPokerDealer on Twitter, and present a sample of some of his tweets for your enjoyment :

Top 10 Bestselling Poker Books of 2014

Following is an infographic showing the top 10 bestselling poker books of 2014, according to Amazon, which I found here. You may recognize or have read some of them. Interesting, but not surprising, to see Sklansky's 27-year-old classic topping the list.