October 27, 2005
At 2 am, the graveyard shift supervisor Greg Hankins felt obligated to tell the ten handed Fulltiltpoker table that all hotel guests would have to be out of their rooms by 12 noon on Saturday. Surprising, even though there was concern amongst the CES guests that new hotel rooms would be hard to find, the game didn't close down. Since no one could clock in, the one game on 'table five' was left with two dealers all night long. Dawn George and Luis Sevilla took turns dealing for over 12 straight hours with a few infrequent respites from Greg Hankins.
The sharks couldn't come feed on me, because I didn't whine about my bad luck! We (including me) could now turn on someone else that had 'LOSER' stamped on their forehead and were bleeding in the water. Notice no matter how I played the Fulltiltpoker hand, I would lose to the big blind's perfect perfect catch. If I go all-in before, on or after the flop I lose everything I have in front of me. The big blind had more chips than I did and would have called my all-in with his A K of Hearts. If HE goes all-in at any time before the river, I have to call and I lose everything.
- In the Hall of Fame tournament, place is everything. It's held at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas. It could only be held at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas. The TOC could move anywhere. That flexibility is extremely important in our brave new world of Fulltiltpoker. There is a caution, however, that the TOC management should heed from the Hall of Fame. Binion's has now cancelled the Hall of Fame for the fourth time. Not even the TOC could survive that.
- A hand that came up the other night is an example of what happens when you don't play as often as you usually do. I was in a $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em game at the Stratosphere Casino in Las Vegas. This is about the easiest poker game to beat in the entire universe, unless you are rusty like I was. I have about $350 in front of me. That's my normal amount for this game. It allows me to win a lot and not lose a lot.
- Just think of how many 'mindless' bets you've tossed into a pot when you had no chance of winning? What if you saved every one of those bets because you were THINKING? How much more money would you have now? The easiest way to stay mentally sharp is to only play when you are rested. Most of us play too many hours straight without taking a break. I try to take at least five minutes off every two hours. I don't always do it, but I should.
- Become expert at one game of Fulltiltpoker before trying others. If you like betting sports, stick with one sport and master it before betting others. If you love the horses, learn to handicap the thoroughbreds before trying to beat the trotters. You want action? Fine! We've got no argument with that. But take our advice and get it within the confines of a game you know
Our friend, of course, is not alone in his benightedness. We know successful card counters who bleed back their blackjack winnings at the craps tables, horse players who do extremely well placing win bets and exactas but can't resist shoveling money in on the exotics like a pick-6 that they cannot beat unless they were to completely revamp their betting style.
We're OK as long as we stay away from what Mike Caro refers to as "Fancy Play Syndrome," the kind of sophisticated, tricky play that works against Fulltiltpoker experts who pay attention to what we are doing, but is consigned to failure when employed against opponents who play only their own cards and have no idea whatsoever about any seeds of misinformation we may be trying to sew on the green felt fields of battle. I think most players realize this.
