I'm going to be in LV through Friday and would love to be able to count on some of you "regulars" to be blogging while I am supporting the economy. It doesn't take that long and if you'll do it.... you might just like it! (Yep, that's the line that Dean-O uses with young boys!)
So.... blog away! I guess you've noticed that I "try" to make certain that there is something fresh on the blog site every day. That would be a great goal for you. There are many regular readers but sporadic bloggers that should make a habit of posting. I really enjoy the blogs that you other guys post -and- if whoever is blogging as anonymous can't keep the cheap shots to himself or at least have the intestinal fortitude to log in for the hammer, I'll turn off anonymous blogging!
Anyway.... off to LV!
Let the suck outs begin!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Not my week....
Nope, there were four big Omaha 8 hands between Friday and Saturday down in Cary and at Juice's.... everyone of them, at least as the cards were turned up, I was ahead and in every instance the cooler came for me to watch my stack get sucked away.... not exactly the image you want fresh in your mind as you board a plane for Vegas. But without some weird formatting process from the TV series 24, I don't have much choice. There was only a couple of moments late last night with the Juice which came in to somehow let me gather at least some of my chips back home.
I'll tell you about one as I must hurry to catch the plane. It's late, I'm down and from late position I peer down to find 8s, 9s, 10c, 9c. There is the usual $40ish straddle pre-flop and I'm feeling like I would rather gamble and lose than to cash out for some smallish amount. At any rate, enough about tilt, the flop.... 10s, Js, Qs. There's only about 4 of us in the hand and from middle position Tom leads out with about $120 bet, Dave calls and I smooth call. And I have to admit, my luck has been so bad of late that I thought there might be a glimmer of chance that someone had the cooler... the As, Ks.... but if they did, they were going to get paid. I really like the hand though because even if I lose with it, it's bloggable. Whee! And no possible low!
The turn is the 7s.... and Tom pushes in the remainder of his chips, about another $120 or so and since I was in late position after Dave called, I thought for a moment about a raise, but I thought that if I let another card come off that he might catch something and you know, grow and nut.... and bet it. I think that the river was a meaningless Kh. So the Juice-less wonder, f*&k-face, c*&t lips.... checks. I make a bet of about $240 and he turns up his set of jacks and after the usual Hollywood dissection of the hand.... folds. And the sh*t-end of the straight flush was good after all.
It was a fun night as we had a full table almost all night and there was lots of action....
Let the suck outs begin!
I'll tell you about one as I must hurry to catch the plane. It's late, I'm down and from late position I peer down to find 8s, 9s, 10c, 9c. There is the usual $40ish straddle pre-flop and I'm feeling like I would rather gamble and lose than to cash out for some smallish amount. At any rate, enough about tilt, the flop.... 10s, Js, Qs. There's only about 4 of us in the hand and from middle position Tom leads out with about $120 bet, Dave calls and I smooth call. And I have to admit, my luck has been so bad of late that I thought there might be a glimmer of chance that someone had the cooler... the As, Ks.... but if they did, they were going to get paid. I really like the hand though because even if I lose with it, it's bloggable. Whee! And no possible low!
The turn is the 7s.... and Tom pushes in the remainder of his chips, about another $120 or so and since I was in late position after Dave called, I thought for a moment about a raise, but I thought that if I let another card come off that he might catch something and you know, grow and nut.... and bet it. I think that the river was a meaningless Kh. So the Juice-less wonder, f*&k-face, c*&t lips.... checks. I make a bet of about $240 and he turns up his set of jacks and after the usual Hollywood dissection of the hand.... folds. And the sh*t-end of the straight flush was good after all.
It was a fun night as we had a full table almost all night and there was lots of action....
Let the suck outs begin!
Friday, September 28, 2007
Poker Tourneys Gamble with Law
Copied from http://www.newsandobserver.com/
Dealer Jennifer Westfall waits for Ryan Reid, left, and Greg Brooks, right, both of Raleigh to play their hands at Hi5 on Glenwood Avenue. The game went on, despite being illegal under North Carolina law.
Staff Photos by Robert Willett
Copied from http://www.newsandobserver.com/
Poker Tourneys Gamble with Law
Copied from www.newsandobserver.com/
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/719095.html
Poker tourneys gamble with law
Thomasi McDonald, Staff Writer
RALEIGH - Two Texas Hold 'em poker tournaments in the Triangle this month each attracted dozens of players hoping to win a big prize. Both events had at least one world-class poker player on hand.
And both were in violation of North Carolina's gambling laws, according to the head of the state's Alcohol Law Enforcement agency, which enforces them.
But only one of the tournaments, on a back road outside Benson, ended early when officers stormed through the front door and arrested everyone. The other, at a restaurant in Raleigh's Glenwood South district, went to the final round, with the winner headed to a resort at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
According to North Carolina law, any person who operates a game of chance or who bets on a game of chance involving cash, property or anything of value is guilty of a misdemeanor. But society's embrace of poker -- on TV and for recreation and charity fundraisers -- coupled with the inconsistent enforcement of state gambling laws, makes it difficult to know what's good, clean fun and what's going to bring down the law.
"You have got to be so careful," said Dean Ogan of Rocky Top Hospitalities, which hosted the Texas Hold 'em tournament at its Hi5 restaurant on Glenwood Avenue last week. "There are so many laws and stipulations."
Ogan said his company checked with the ALE to make sure the Texas Hold 'em tournament did not break any laws. Over 300 people registered, hoping to win a grand prize of tickets for two to Cabo San Lucas. The second-place winner was awarded a high-definition television; third place got $100.
The Hi5 poker tournament was sponsored by high-profile companies, Time Warner Cable, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and radio station G105. The official dealer for the night's eight finalists was Greg "Fossil Man" Raymer, who took home $5 million in 2004 when he won the World Series of Poker grand prize.
ALE Director Mike Robertson said his agency was not aware of the tournament at the Hi5. He said if there was an exchange of cash or other prizes such as the television and the vacation to Cabo San Lucas, then the tournament was illegal.
"That TV in that tournament came from somewhere. Somebody had to pay for it," Robertson said the following day.
But in the eyes of some prosecutors, there is a difference.
Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby said that although charity tournaments or events such as the one held at Hi5 may be technically against the law, his office tries to use "ordinary common sense" when the proceeds are clearly for charitable purposes or where the purpose is to fill a restaurant or bar with patrons.
"I don't think that's what the legislature intended us to focus on," said Willoughby, who said those events contrast to gambling houses where people pay an entry fee to play and the proprietor takes a cut of the pot and profits from food and drinks.
That was the scenario ALE agents described on Sept. 10 when they walked into a single-story, wood-frame building on a rural road outside Benson and shut down a Texas Hold 'em tournament, citing more than 70 players for gambling. ALE agents seized more than $70,000 from the building on Bear Road, which they likened to a Las Vegas "mini-casino."
The agents used a tractor-trailer to haul away craps and blackjack tables, a roulette wheel and more than a dozen Texas Hold 'em poker tables.
The agents later characterized the raid as perhaps the largest of its kind in state history.
Many of the players at the Hi5 knew about the highly publicized Johnston County bust. They think the state's ban on playing poker for cash is unfair and hypocritical, given the state's lottery.
Jack Schrold, a South Florida lawyer who recently moved to Raleigh, was among the hundreds registering for a chance to play at the Hi5. Schrold used to play poker three or four times a week in Florida where the game is legal and called North Carolina's poker ban "a shame."
"It's quite hypocritical that this state has a legal lottery, but poker is considered unlawful," he said. "It's one of the only states where poker is not legal. Meanwhile, thousands of people in the state are playing."
Raymer, the pro who practiced law in Connecticut before moving to Raleigh in 2005, said state lawmakers who think poker is a game of chance, with fortunes won or lost on the turn of a card, are mistaken.
Raymer said that if he and Tiger Woods were competing in a golf match that consisted of a single 20-foot putt, he might beat the golfing great. But over 18 holes, Woods would certainly beat him.
"A poker match [between a skilled player and a novice] would take longer, but the outcome would be just as certain," he said.
The N.C. Court of Appeals heard that same argument last year when it denied the opening of a poker club in Durham.
"No amount of skill can change a deuce into an ace," the court concluded this spring.
Undeterred, Raymer, a Libertarian, said the question of whether poker is a game should not matter.
"If you are an adult, you do what you want," he said. "It's not my job as the government to try and protect you from yourself."
thomasi.mcdonald@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4533
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/719095.html
Copied from www.newsandobserver.com/
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/719095.html
Poker tourneys gamble with law
Thomasi McDonald, Staff Writer
RALEIGH - Two Texas Hold 'em poker tournaments in the Triangle this month each attracted dozens of players hoping to win a big prize. Both events had at least one world-class poker player on hand.
And both were in violation of North Carolina's gambling laws, according to the head of the state's Alcohol Law Enforcement agency, which enforces them.
But only one of the tournaments, on a back road outside Benson, ended early when officers stormed through the front door and arrested everyone. The other, at a restaurant in Raleigh's Glenwood South district, went to the final round, with the winner headed to a resort at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
According to North Carolina law, any person who operates a game of chance or who bets on a game of chance involving cash, property or anything of value is guilty of a misdemeanor. But society's embrace of poker -- on TV and for recreation and charity fundraisers -- coupled with the inconsistent enforcement of state gambling laws, makes it difficult to know what's good, clean fun and what's going to bring down the law.
"You have got to be so careful," said Dean Ogan of Rocky Top Hospitalities, which hosted the Texas Hold 'em tournament at its Hi5 restaurant on Glenwood Avenue last week. "There are so many laws and stipulations."
Ogan said his company checked with the ALE to make sure the Texas Hold 'em tournament did not break any laws. Over 300 people registered, hoping to win a grand prize of tickets for two to Cabo San Lucas. The second-place winner was awarded a high-definition television; third place got $100.
The Hi5 poker tournament was sponsored by high-profile companies, Time Warner Cable, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and radio station G105. The official dealer for the night's eight finalists was Greg "Fossil Man" Raymer, who took home $5 million in 2004 when he won the World Series of Poker grand prize.
ALE Director Mike Robertson said his agency was not aware of the tournament at the Hi5. He said if there was an exchange of cash or other prizes such as the television and the vacation to Cabo San Lucas, then the tournament was illegal.
"That TV in that tournament came from somewhere. Somebody had to pay for it," Robertson said the following day.
But in the eyes of some prosecutors, there is a difference.
Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby said that although charity tournaments or events such as the one held at Hi5 may be technically against the law, his office tries to use "ordinary common sense" when the proceeds are clearly for charitable purposes or where the purpose is to fill a restaurant or bar with patrons.
"I don't think that's what the legislature intended us to focus on," said Willoughby, who said those events contrast to gambling houses where people pay an entry fee to play and the proprietor takes a cut of the pot and profits from food and drinks.
That was the scenario ALE agents described on Sept. 10 when they walked into a single-story, wood-frame building on a rural road outside Benson and shut down a Texas Hold 'em tournament, citing more than 70 players for gambling. ALE agents seized more than $70,000 from the building on Bear Road, which they likened to a Las Vegas "mini-casino."
The agents used a tractor-trailer to haul away craps and blackjack tables, a roulette wheel and more than a dozen Texas Hold 'em poker tables.
The agents later characterized the raid as perhaps the largest of its kind in state history.
Many of the players at the Hi5 knew about the highly publicized Johnston County bust. They think the state's ban on playing poker for cash is unfair and hypocritical, given the state's lottery.
Jack Schrold, a South Florida lawyer who recently moved to Raleigh, was among the hundreds registering for a chance to play at the Hi5. Schrold used to play poker three or four times a week in Florida where the game is legal and called North Carolina's poker ban "a shame."
"It's quite hypocritical that this state has a legal lottery, but poker is considered unlawful," he said. "It's one of the only states where poker is not legal. Meanwhile, thousands of people in the state are playing."
Raymer, the pro who practiced law in Connecticut before moving to Raleigh in 2005, said state lawmakers who think poker is a game of chance, with fortunes won or lost on the turn of a card, are mistaken.
Raymer said that if he and Tiger Woods were competing in a golf match that consisted of a single 20-foot putt, he might beat the golfing great. But over 18 holes, Woods would certainly beat him.
"A poker match [between a skilled player and a novice] would take longer, but the outcome would be just as certain," he said.
The N.C. Court of Appeals heard that same argument last year when it denied the opening of a poker club in Durham.
"No amount of skill can change a deuce into an ace," the court concluded this spring.
Undeterred, Raymer, a Libertarian, said the question of whether poker is a game should not matter.
"If you are an adult, you do what you want," he said. "It's not my job as the government to try and protect you from yourself."
thomasi.mcdonald@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4533
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/719095.html
Copied from www.newsandobserver.com/
Barry G's house
http://www.cardplayer.com/tv/channel?channel_id=4-lifestyle
This guy is hilarious. Love the bathroom (which looks as big as my condo) and his comments on betting sports... roflmao
Just wish he had a shot of Alex.
This guy is hilarious. Love the bathroom (which looks as big as my condo) and his comments on betting sports... roflmao
Just wish he had a shot of Alex.
Join the Poker Players Alliance in DC for Your Chance to Bet on the Future Of Poker
Join the Poker Players Alliance in DC
Your Chance to Bet on the Future Of Poker
Last week, we sent you an invitation to join us in Washington, DC, October 22-24 because you live in a critical congressional district. We're off to a great start with nearly 100 people saying they're willing to raise the stakes to get legislation passed that will determine once and for all our ability to play poker -- online, in our homes and at tournaments.
You can join some of the world's top poker professionals and your fellow PPA members by registering now. If you've already registered, thanks! We can't wait to see you in DC and we will continue to send you updates.
If you haven't signed up, your participation is vitally important. As you know, legislation passed during the last Congress threatens our pastime, our passion and for many of us, our livelihood. Momentum is building, and we need you to join a select group of players to tell Members of Congress that poker is not a crime!
We have negotiated a special room rate, available until October 5, but keep in mind that the rooms are filling up quickly. Once we know that you're all-in, we will schedule a meeting with your Member of Congress -- working with you to make sure they get the message that poker is a game of skill and that reasonable regulation is the best policy approach to Internet gaming. You'll also have a chance to mingle with many of the best poker players and pros from across the United States.
I look forward to seeing you at this important event.
Proud to Play Poker,
Senator Alfonse D'Amato ChairmanPoker Players Alliance
Please schedule your travel plans to arrive in Washington by 6pm on October 22nd for a PPA member Welcome Reception. You should plan to depart Washington on the evening of October 24th or the morning of the 25th.
Getting to Washington
Convenient airports to Nation's Capitol include:
Reagan National Airport (DCA) - 20 minutes from Omni Shoreham Hotel Washington/Dulles International Airport (IAD) - 45 minutes from Omni Shoreham Hotel Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) - 1 hour from Omni Shoreham Hotel AMTRAK station: Washington Union Station - 20 minutes from Omni Shoreham Hotel
PPA Conference Hotel
The PPA has reserved a block of rooms at the newly remodeled Omni Shoreham Hotel, about 15 minutes from the U.S. Capitol. The welcome reception and lobbying orientation will be at this hotel. We will also be providing transportation to Capitol Hill from the Omni. Make a reservation by calling 1-888-444-6664 or 1-202-234-0700 and mention the "PPA Policy Conference."
Don't wait. Register early so we can schedule a meeting with your Member of Congress.
Your Chance to Bet on the Future Of Poker
Last week, we sent you an invitation to join us in Washington, DC, October 22-24 because you live in a critical congressional district. We're off to a great start with nearly 100 people saying they're willing to raise the stakes to get legislation passed that will determine once and for all our ability to play poker -- online, in our homes and at tournaments.
You can join some of the world's top poker professionals and your fellow PPA members by registering now. If you've already registered, thanks! We can't wait to see you in DC and we will continue to send you updates.
If you haven't signed up, your participation is vitally important. As you know, legislation passed during the last Congress threatens our pastime, our passion and for many of us, our livelihood. Momentum is building, and we need you to join a select group of players to tell Members of Congress that poker is not a crime!
We have negotiated a special room rate, available until October 5, but keep in mind that the rooms are filling up quickly. Once we know that you're all-in, we will schedule a meeting with your Member of Congress -- working with you to make sure they get the message that poker is a game of skill and that reasonable regulation is the best policy approach to Internet gaming. You'll also have a chance to mingle with many of the best poker players and pros from across the United States.
I look forward to seeing you at this important event.
Proud to Play Poker,
Senator Alfonse D'Amato ChairmanPoker Players Alliance
Please schedule your travel plans to arrive in Washington by 6pm on October 22nd for a PPA member Welcome Reception. You should plan to depart Washington on the evening of October 24th or the morning of the 25th.
Getting to Washington
Convenient airports to Nation's Capitol include:
Reagan National Airport (DCA) - 20 minutes from Omni Shoreham Hotel Washington/Dulles International Airport (IAD) - 45 minutes from Omni Shoreham Hotel Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) - 1 hour from Omni Shoreham Hotel AMTRAK station: Washington Union Station - 20 minutes from Omni Shoreham Hotel
PPA Conference Hotel
The PPA has reserved a block of rooms at the newly remodeled Omni Shoreham Hotel, about 15 minutes from the U.S. Capitol. The welcome reception and lobbying orientation will be at this hotel. We will also be providing transportation to Capitol Hill from the Omni. Make a reservation by calling 1-888-444-6664 or 1-202-234-0700 and mention the "PPA Policy Conference."
Don't wait. Register early so we can schedule a meeting with your Member of Congress.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Atlantic City's Taj Mahal Offers Online Poker Registration
Copied from Triangle Poker Journal
Atlantic City's Taj Mahal offers online poker registration
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort has become the first casino in the country to let players sign up for popular poker tournaments online. The casino uses "PT Seats," what inventor Fabricio Schaffrath of Miami calls "a Ticketmaster for poker tournaments."
Players visit the Web site www.ptseats.com, pick the tournament they want to enter, and reserve a spot using a credit card. There is a convenience charge ranging from 3 percent to 6 percent of the buy-in for the tournament.
So far, nearly 100 Atlantic City poker players have signed up for the service. Schaffrath said he came up with the idea while playing in Tuesday-night tournaments at a casino in Florida.
"To get in, you have to be there at least an hour and a half in advance," he told The Press of Atlantic City for Wednesday's newspapers.
As the manager of a graphic design studio, Schaffrath either had to leave work early to pay for his seat in the tournament or ask his friends to register for him. Sometimes he arrived at the casino only to find all the seats had been filled.
He said other Atlantic City casinos also are interested in using the service, and he hopes Las Vegas will follow.
Information from: The Press of Atlantic City, http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/
Copied from Triangle Poker Journal
Atlantic City's Taj Mahal offers online poker registration
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort has become the first casino in the country to let players sign up for popular poker tournaments online. The casino uses "PT Seats," what inventor Fabricio Schaffrath of Miami calls "a Ticketmaster for poker tournaments."
Players visit the Web site www.ptseats.com, pick the tournament they want to enter, and reserve a spot using a credit card. There is a convenience charge ranging from 3 percent to 6 percent of the buy-in for the tournament.
So far, nearly 100 Atlantic City poker players have signed up for the service. Schaffrath said he came up with the idea while playing in Tuesday-night tournaments at a casino in Florida.
"To get in, you have to be there at least an hour and a half in advance," he told The Press of Atlantic City for Wednesday's newspapers.
As the manager of a graphic design studio, Schaffrath either had to leave work early to pay for his seat in the tournament or ask his friends to register for him. Sometimes he arrived at the casino only to find all the seats had been filled.
He said other Atlantic City casinos also are interested in using the service, and he hopes Las Vegas will follow.
Information from: The Press of Atlantic City, http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/
Copied from Triangle Poker Journal
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Poker is Good for You
This article by David Sklansky and Al Schoomaker was published in the September 2007 issue of the Two Plus Two Internet Magazine at http://www.twoplustwo.com/. It is in my opinion one of the best articles ever written about poker and should be mandatory reading for anyone critical of the game.
http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/current/sklansyschoonmaker0907.html
POKER IS GOOD FOR YOU
by David Sklansky & Alan N. Schoonmaker, Ph.D.
Many people have argued that poker should be considered differently from gambling in general. This argument has been made in discussions of legalization and related topics. Their argument is usually that poker is a skill game, while other gambling games are much less dependent upon skill.
We agree, but believe that they have not gone far enough in explaining many of poker's unique attributes. Poker does not just require skill. It demands and develops many skills and personal qualities which are essential for making all types of decisions, such as choosing a career, investing money, performing a job, and buying a house.1
POKER IS A GREAT TEACHER.
Research clearly proves that people tend to repeat rewarded actions and to discontinue punished ones. Poker teaches by rewarding desirable actions such as thinking logically and understanding other people and by punishing undesirable ones such as ignoring the odds and acting impulsively.2 Other learning principles also apply to poker.
Learning Depends Upon Feedback.
Rewards and punishments are valuable feedback. The faster and clearer the feedback is, the more rapidly you will learn. Unfortunately, for learning many desirable qualities the feedback cycle is slow or unclear. For example, if you make a mistake with an important customer, you may never know why you lost his business. At the poker table you often get much quicker feedback.
Until fairly recently, most people learned how to play poker primarily from trial and error. Over the past few decades a rapidly expanding body of books, videotapes, DVDs, classes, and coaches has helped millions of players to speed up the learning curve, but there is no substitute for experience. You have to make good and bad plays and get rewarded and punished to learn poker's most important lessons.
The More Frequently You Get Feedback, The Faster You Will Learn.
Most important real life decisions are made infrequently, and some of them - such as choosing a career - may be made only once. Poker players make and get feedback on hundreds of decisions every session, which greatly accelerates the learning process.
Lessons Learned In One Situation Often Generalize To Other Situations.
If poker's lessons applied only to how to play games, we would not have written this article. But its lessons apply to virtually every aspect of life. For example, if you are impatient or illogical or can't analyze risks and rewards, you will lose at poker, and you will make many mistakes in business and personal relationships. If poker teaches you how to control your emotions, you will be much more effective almost everywhere.
Young People Generally Learn More Quickly Than Older Ones.
Poker's enemies often insist that they are protecting young people from developing bad habits, but they are really preventing them from learning good ones. Young people love to gamble, sometimes for money, often for much more "things" such as grades, pregnancy, and even their lives.
They get a kick from taking chances, and some of their gambles are just, plain stupid. They risk dying or becoming crippled by crazy stunts on roller skates, bicycles, and snowboards. They get pregnant or AIDS by taking easily avoided sexual risks. It is as impossible to prevent young people from "gambling" (in its broadest sense) as it is to prevent them from experimenting sexually.
Life is intrinsically risky, and learning how to handle those risks is an important part of growing up. Poker teaches you to think of risks and rewards before acting. If it taught nothing else, poker would prevent some young people from making terrible mistakes. More generally, most of poker's lessons will help young people to make critically important decisions.
POKER IMPROVES YOUR STUDY HABITS.
Because you want to be respected, you and nearly everyone else naturally develop high status qualities and neglect low status ones. Unfortunately, status among Americans - especially young ones - is based primarily on physical attractiveness and athletic ability. The highest status people, the ones others envy and want to date, are physically attractive and good at games such as football, basketball, and soccer. Of course, the good looking, athletic children will probably end up working for the more studious ones, but they may not learn that lesson until it is too late.
American students score abysmally on tests of math, science, and verbal skills partly because so many of them think that study is unimportant. They are not stupider than Europeans, Asians, and South Americans, but they are taught from birth that they will be rewarded for looking good and playing athletic games well.
Worse yet, they learn that being studious is often punished. Their parents may be delighted when they get good grades, but young people care immensely about their peers' opinions. Good students are called "nerds" and "geeks."
This anti-intellectualism continues indefinitely. Americans reward good looks and athletic ability far more than studiousness. Models, actors, and athletes get paid several times as much and have much higher status than scientists, teachers, and scholars.
Young people resist studying math, psychology, logic, risk-reward analysis, probability theory, and many other subjects they will need as adults because these subjects seem unrelated to their lives. They don't see how learning them matters in the competitions they care about, the ones for status, popularity, and dates. Since people rarely study these subjects after graduation, many Americans never learn them.
Poker quickly teaches them the value of these subjects. The "nerds" who study poker and subjects such as math, logic, and psychology crush their more attractive and athletic opponents. They even beat smarter people who are too lazy or complacent to study. Winning increases their status and confidence and makes them much more likely to get dates and influence their peers. Poker doesn't just develop study habits and other important qualities; it also increases the value people place on them.
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR MATH SKILLS.
Americans are terrible at math. Our students get abysmal scores on math tests, and most people don't even try to learn math after leaving school. Their weaknesses remain uncorrected forever.
Many people are not just bad at math; they don't even want to get better. They essentially say, "Who needs it?" When they play poker, they quickly learn that they need it. The winners understand and apply it, while the losers either don't try or can't perform the necessary calculations. After their children started playing poker, many parents have exclaimed, "I'm amazed. He actually wants to study math."
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR LOGICAL THINKING.
Many authorities are appalled by Americans' contempt for logic. Instead of thinking logically, too many of us make poor assumptions, rely on intuition, or jump to emotionally-based conclusions.
Poker teaches you to respect and apply logic because it is a series of puzzles. Since you don't know the other players' cards, you need logic to help you to figure out what they have, and then more logic to decide how to use that information well. The same general approach that works in poker will help you to make much more important decisions.
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR CONCENTRATION.
The first step toward solving poker or real life problems is acquiring the right information. Without it you will certainly make costly mistakes. Poker develops information-gathering qualities, especially concentration. Every poker player has missed signals, including quite obvious ones, made mistakes, and then berated himself, "How could I be so stupid?" We can't think of a more effective way to develop concentration.
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR PATIENCE.
Americans are notoriously impatient, which damages many aspects of our lives. We owe trillions of dollars because we buy things on credit instead of waiting until we can pay for them. Our businesses overemphasize short-term results and lose market share to more patient foreign competitors.
Poker develops patience in the most powerful possible way. If you wait patiently for the right situation, you will certainly beat the impatient people who play too many hands. In fact, for most players poker's first lesson is "Be Patient."
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR DISCIPLINE.
Many people lack discipline. They yield to their impulses, including quite destructive ones. Poker develops discipline by rewarding it highly. Virtually all winning players are extremely disciplined.
Their discipline affects everything they do. They fold hands they are tempted to play. They resist the urge to challenge tough players. They avoid distractions, even pleasant ones like chatting with friends or sexually attractive strangers. They don't criticize bad players whose mistakes cost them money. They control their emotions. They have the self-control to do the necessary, but unpleasant things that most people won't do.
Television has created a ridiculously inaccurate image of poker. After seeing famous players screaming and trash-talking, viewers naturally assume that such antics are normal. They are utterly mistaken. Television directors show these outbursts for "dramatic value," and a few players act stupidly to get on TV. You will see more outbursts in a half hour of television than in a month in a card room. Please remember that controlled people are often called "poker faced."
POKER TEACHES YOU TO FOCUS ON THE LONG TERM.
Impatience is not the only cause for short-sightedness. Learning research proves that immediate rewards have much greater impact on people than delayed ones. For example, most American adults are overweight because the immediate pleasure of overeating is more powerful than its disastrous long-term effects such as heart attacks.
Poker players quickly learn that a bad play can have good results and vice versa, but that making decisions with positive, long-term expectation (EV) is the key to success. If you make enough negative EV plays, you must lose. If you make enough positive EV plays, you must win. It is just that simple.
If people thought more of the long term, some of our most serious problems would be solved or become less troublesome. Because of short-sightedness, millions of children drop out of school or get pregnant, and millions of adults neglect their health and finances.
POKER TEACHES YOU THAT FORGOING A PROFIT EQUALS TAKING A LOSS (AND VICE VERSA).
Economists call lost profits "opportunity costs" and they have written extensively about them. Unfortunately, most people haven't read their works, and, if they did, they probably wouldn't agree. They would much rather pass up a chance to make a dollar than risk losing one. They therefore miss many profitable opportunities.
Poker teaches you that lost profits are objectively the same as losses. For example, if the pot offers you 8-to1, and the odds against you are 5-to-1, you should call the bet. Not calling is the same as throwing away money by making a bad call when the odds are against you.
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR REALISM.
You and everyone else deny unpleasant realities about yourself, other people, and many other subjects. You believe what you want to believe. Poker develops realism in the cruelest, but most effective way. If you deny reality about yourself, the opposition, the cards, the odds, or almost anything else, you quickly pay for it.
Hundreds of times a night you must assess a complicated situation: your own and the other players' cards, what the others are going to do, the probability that various cards will come on later rounds, your position, and many other factors, especially your own and the other players' skill and playing style. If you are realistic, you win. If you deny reality, you lose.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW ADJUST TO CHANGING SITUATIONS.
Most people don't ask themselves, "How is this situation different?" They just do whatever they have always done. Poker demands adjustments because the situation is always changing. One card can convert a worthless hand such as a four flush into an unbeatable one. The player holding the flush and all the opponents should adjust immediately. The player with the winning hand should do whatever will produce the most profit, and the others should cut their losses.
Other things are changing as well. One hand after being in the small blind, the worst position, you have the button, the best position. Every time someone quits and is replaced by a different type of player, the game changes. Every time someone surprises you by folding, checking, betting, or raising you should re-evaluate the situation and adjust to the new information.
Adjusting to real life changes has always been necessary, but it has become much more important because the pace of change has accelerated enormously. We now experience more changes every year than our ancestors encountered in decades. Technology, the economy, social and moral attitudes, and a host of other factors change so dramatically that Alvin Toffler: "coined the term 'future shock' to describe the shattering disorientation we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time."3 He argued, "Change is avalanching upon our heads, and most people are grotesquely unprepared to cope with it."4 Poker can help you to cope with our constantly changing world.
POKER TEACHES YOU TO ADJUST TO DIVERSE PEOPLE.
Most people - especially younger ones - have little experience with diverse people. They live in relatively homogenous towns and neighborhoods and usually relate to people who are fairly similar to themselves.
In online and casino poker games, you have to play with whomever sits down. You must compete against very different kinds of people: aggressive and passive, friendly and nasty, educated and uneducated, quiet and talkative, intelligent and stupid, emotionally controlled and uncontrolled, and so on.
You therefore learn how to understand and adjust to people who think and act very differently from you. The faster and better you do it, the better results you will get. Since you will certainly meet diverse people in more important situations, learning how to relate to them is extremely valuable.5
POKER TEACHES YOU TO AVOID RACIAL, SEXUAL AND OTHER PREJUDICES.
Prejudice is always wrong, but it is especially destructive at the poker table. It causes you to underestimate your opposition and make expensive errors. To play well, you should be "gender-blind, color-blind, and just-about-everything else-blind, because in the end, winning is based on merit."6
Poker provides an extremely "level playing field." In no other popular competition is everyone treated so equally. You can't play golf against Tiger Woods, but you can sit down at any poker table. You can play against anyone from a novice to a world class player, and you will all be treated as equals. If you get the cards and play them well, you will win, no matter who you are.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO HANDLE LOSSES.
Many people can't cope with losses. A lost job, argument, or - God forbid -romantic relationship is a massive tragedy. They can't accept the loss and may even obsess over it. It takes over their lives, making them look backward rather than forward.
Poker teaches you how to cope with losses because they occur so frequently. You lose far more hands than you win, and losing sessions and losing streaks are just normal parts of the game. You also learn that trying to get even quickly is a prescription for disaster. You have to accept short-term losses and continue to play a solid, patient game. You can't be a winner - in poker or life - if you don't learn how to get over losses and move on.
POKER TEACHES YOU TO DEPERSONALIZE CONFLICT.
Many people take conflicts too personally. They may want to beat someone so badly that they "win the battle, but lose the war." Worse yet, if they lose, they may take it as a personal defeat and ache for revenge. Anyone who has seriously played games with painful physical contact (such as football, boxing, and soccer) is less likely to take conflict too personally. Getting hurt teaches some athletes that conflict is just part of the game and life. Alas, many people never learn that lesson.
Poker teaches you to depersonalize conflicts because it is based on impersonal conflict. The objective is to win each other's money, and everyone's money is the same. It doesn't matter whether you win or lose to Harry, Susan, or Bob. Everybody's chips have the same value, and everybody's money spends the same.
Poker quickly teaches you that being bluffed, sandbagged, outdrawn, and just plain outplayed are not personal challenges or insults. They are just parts of the game. Poker also teaches you that taking conflicts personally can be extremely expensive.
If you ache for revenge, you may act foolishly and lose a lot of money. Beating "your enemy" can become so important that you play cards you should fold, try hopeless bluffs, and take many other stupid, self-destructive actions. The Chinese have a wonderful saying, "If you set out for revenge, dig two graves: one for him, and one for you." Poker teaches that principle to every open-minded player.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO PLAN.
Many people don't plan well. Instead of setting objectives and planning the steps to reach them, they react impulsively or habitually. Poker develops your planning ability for an extremely wide range of time periods:
This betting round
This entire hand
This session
This tournament
This year
Your entire poker career
Planning for all of these periods requires setting objectives and anticipating what others will do. For example, pocket aces are the best possible hand, and you hope to build a big pot with them. In early position in a loose-passive game, you should raise because your opponents will probably call. In a wildly aggressive game you should just call, expecting someone to raise, others to call, so that you can reraise.
Poker also teaches you to plan for the entire hand. You use chess-type thinking ("I'll do this, they will do that, and then I'll …"). You may sacrifice some profit on an early betting round to increase your profits for the entire hand.
You can also sacrifice immediate profits for longer-term gains. For example, you may overplay the first few hands to create a "Wild Gambler" image that will get you more action on later hands. Or you may be extremely tight at first to set up later bluffs. Poker teaches you to set clear goals, think of what others will do, plan the actions that will move you toward your goals, and always know why you are doing something.
Good planning requires thinking of multiple contingencies. You should do many "what, if?" analyses. If the next card is a spade, you will bet. If it pairs the board, and Joe bets, you will fold. If it seems innocuous and Harriet bets, you will raise. Most people don't consider nearly enough possibilities. When something unexpected happens, they have no idea what to do.
Planning in real life is so obviously valuable and so rarely done well that we don't need to give any examples. You know that you should do these "what if" analyses and plan your work, finances, and life in general, but that you probably don't plan well.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO HANDLE DECEPTIVE PEOPLE.
Many people are easily deceived. Just look at those late night infomercials that promise you'll quickly get rich, become thin, or relieve all your aches and pains. The promoters wouldn't pay for them if naïve people didn't buy them, and they are only the tip of the iceberg. As Barnum put it, "There's a sucker born every minute."
Because poker players constantly try to bluff, sandbag, and generally deceive each other, you learn how to recognize when someone has a good hand, is on a draw to a good hand, or is flat out bluffing Those skills can help you to spot and react effectively to deceptive people everywhere. A lot of people want to deceive you, and you should learn how to protect yourself.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST "GAMES."
"Game" selection is critically important in both poker and life. Poker teaches you how to evaluate yourself, the competition, and the overall situation, and then pick the "games" that are best for you.
Serious poker players recognize that the main reason they win or lose is the difference between their abilities and those of the competition. If they are better than the competition, they win. If they are weaker, they lose.
A secondary consideration is the fit between their style and the game. Let's say that two poker players have equal abilities. Player A will beat a conservative game, but lose in an aggressive one, while Player B will have the opposite results. Obviously, they should choose different games.
Both factors affect your real life results. If you are less talented or have weaker credentials than your competitors, you should switch to a softer game. You should also select a game that fits your style. For example, you and a friend may have similar abilities and credentials, but different temperaments. Perhaps you should work in a large organization, but he should join a small company or start his own business.
Most people don't know how to evaluate themselves and how well they fit into various "games." So they make huge mistakes that they may not realize for many years. Just think of how many people have changed "games" in their thirties and forties. They finally realized, "I don't belong here."
POKER TEACHES YOU THE BENEFITS OF ACTING LAST.
If you act last, you have a huge edge. You know what your opponents have done before acting, but they acted without knowing what you will do. Position is so important that any good player would raise with some cards in last position that he would fold in early position.
Poker is an information-management game, and there are many similar games such as selling and negotiating. The primary rules of all these games are:
Get as much information as possible.
Give as little information as possible.
For example, when negotiating, you want the other person to go first to learn his position before expressing yours. Let's say you have to sell an unusual house quickly. A licensed appraiser has said that it is worth approximately $250,000, but that it is so unique that he can't put a precise value on it.
Before offering a price, you want to know how this potential buyer feels. He may love, hate, or be indifferent to its unique features. If he makes the first offer, you get some inkling of his feelings. He may even offer $275,000! Since he seems to love its uniqueness, try for an even higher price.
Job interviewers know the value of acting last. Most employment applications contain a question such as: "Approximate starting salary expected." If you answer, you have given the interviewer your position without knowing what he is willing to pay. Since you are unlikely to get more than you ask for, try to avoid making that first offer.
POKER TEACHES YOU TO FOCUS ON THE IMPORTANT SUBJECTS.
Focusing on unimportant subjects causes expensive mistakes at the poker table and in real life. Serious poker players know that all mistakes are not created equal. Trying too hard to avoid small mistakes can cause much bigger ones.
Overreacting to any opponent's small mistakes can cause the deadly mistake of underestimating him. For example, you may see that an opponent overplays a mediocre hand such as queen-jack offsuit. It's a mistake, but a relatively harmless one, especially because he will get that hand only a few times a night. If he plays the other hands well, don't conclude that he is a weak player.
Your own mistakes should also be analyzed, and some of them can be quite subtle, but very important. For example, you may be so intent on playing "properly" that you seem too serious for the weaker opponents who just want to have a good time. So they avoid you, which reduces your share of the money they give away.
Another error is taking a "by the book" approach that can cause strategic mistakes. For example, you could play your cards in a technically correct way, but almost never bluff. You would lose the profit you could gain from good bluffs, and your opponents will not give you much action on your good hands. The same principle applies to always playing hands the same way. The predictability costs you more than you gain by always being technically correct.
A business analogy would be running your organization so rigidly that all the ordinary decisions are made well, but:
Your employees are not motivated to be creative when the usual routines won't work. In fact, they may fear being punished for violating procedures.
Your organization can't respond effectively to the inevitable surprises.
Your good employees quit.
Your organization becomes a typical bureaucracy, filled with deadwood and unable to achieve its goals.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO APPLY PROBABILITY THEORY.
If you are like most people, you don't think in terms of probabilities, or you do so very crudely. You think something:
will happen
won't happen
probably will happen
probably won't happen
You are unlikely to make finer distinctions such as between 30%, 20%, and 10% probabilities.
Poker teaches that these distinctions are important and develops your ability to calculate them. You learn that you should sometimes call a bet if you have a 30% probability of winning, but fold with a 20% probability. You also learn how to estimate probabilities quickly and accurately.
This neglected skill can be applied to many real life decisions. For example, if you have to fly to Los Angeles for a sales call or job interview, it may be worth the time and expense if the probability of success is 30%, but not if it's 20%. Hardly anyone thinks that way which causes many poor decisions.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO CONDUCT RISK-REWARD ANALYSES.
These analyses are a more formal way to use probability theory. Since life is intrinsically risky, you probably can't win at poker or life without accurately assessing risks and rewards.
Risk-reward analysis is a form of cost-benefit analysis which also includes the probabilities of each possible result. Let's say that the pot is $100. You have a flush draw that you expect to win if you make it, but lose if you miss. It will cost you $20 to call the bet. The odds against making your flush are exactly 4-to-1. If you make it, you will win another $20 because you are sure your opponent will call one last bet. You are sure you cannot bluff. Should you call the $20 bet?
You will certainly lose more often than you will win, but the potential gains may outweigh the potential losses. Because we are concerned only with the long term, let's do it 100 times:
You will win $120 twenty times for a total win of
$2,400
You will lose $20 eighty times for a total loss of
-1,600
Your net gain for 100 times will be
$800
Your expected value for each call is
$8
You should obviously call the bet.
Poker players constantly do risk-reward analyses, and these analyses are often much more complicated. For example, in deciding whether to semi-bluff7, you should estimate the probabilities, gains and losses of:
winning the pot immediately because your opponent(s) fold
winning because you bet again on the next round and your opponent(s) fold
winning because you catch the card you need to make the best hand
losing because you get called and don't catch your card.
The math can get difficult, but advanced players learn how to make these analyses quickly and accurately.
The same sort of analysis should be done whenever you have a real life risky situation. Unfortunately, most people don't do it. They buy stocks or real estate, take a job, open a business, or take personal risks without identifying all the outcomes and estimating the probabilities that each will occur. So they make many bad decisions.
Poker is such an excellent teacher for risky decisions that Peter Lynch, former manager of The Magellan Fund and Vice Chairman of Fidelity, once said that a good way to become a better investor was to "Learn how to play poker."8
POKER TEACHES YOU TO PUT THINGS IN CONTEXT AND EVALUATE ALL VARIABLES.
People often ask poker experts, "How should I play this hand?" They are usually frustrated by the standard answer, "It depends on the situation." The expert then asks them about the other players, their own position, the size of the pot, the action on previous hands and betting rounds, and many other subjects. Most people don't want to hear, "It depends on the situation," and they definitely don't want to answer questions.
In fact, they usually can't answer them because they have not counted the pot, thought about the other players, and done all the other things that experts do. They want to know the two or three simple rules for playing a pair of aces, or a full house, or a flush draw, and the experts won't tell them because there aren't any simple rules.
If you play seriously, you will learn that the KISS formula (Keep It Short and Simple) does not apply to poker. More importantly, it does not apply to most significant real life decisions. It has become popular because people want to believe that life is much simpler than it really is. Poker teaches you to ask the same sorts of questions about investment, career, and other decisions that you ask at the poker table so that you make much better decisions.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO "GET INTO PEOPLE'S HEADS."
Poker teaches you to understand and apply psychology because understanding others is absolutely essential. In fact, poker has often been called "a people game played with cards." If you don't understand the other players, you can't win.
We have already discussed psychological subjects such as avoiding prejudice and selecting the right games. We will end this long essay by briefly discussing poker's most important psychological lesson: teaching you what other people perceive, think, and want.
The first step is shifting your focus from yourself to them, and poker forces you to make that shift. If you focus on your own cards, you can't win because poker hands have only relative value. The important issue is not how good your cards are; it is how they compare to the other players' cards. A flush is a very good hand, but it loses to a bigger flush or any full house or better. So poker quickly teaches you to think of what other people have. It also teaches you to think about what they think you have. And even what they think you think they think.9
We and others have written extensively about these subjects, but space limitations allow us to give only a few examples. Good players always consider the other player when making any decision. With the same cards and situation, they would fold if Charley, a very conservative player, bets, but raise if Mary, a very aggressive player, bets.
Good players would also think about how their opponents think about each other. For example, if a perceptive opponent bets into someone whom he believes is very likely to call, he is probably not bluffing. If a good player reraises a maniac, he probably has a much weaker hand than if he reraised a tight opponent. Understanding his perceptions of these other players greatly improves your decisions when you are contesting a pot.
Understanding other people is vital in virtually every area of life. You can't have good personal relationships or succeed in business without being perceptive about people. Since its value in personal relationships is so obvious, we will discuss only two subjects, negotiating and investing.
"The absolutely essential step toward negotiating effectively is to shift your focus from your own position to their position. Unfortunately, most people focus on their own position. Their actions say, in effect, 'If I could just get them to understand MY facts and MY logic and MY needs, they would make the concessions I need.' The other side is saying exactly the same thing.
"They therefore have parallel monologues instead of a genuine dialogue. Both sides repeat themselves again and again, hoping to convince the other to accept their position. But eloquence is no substitute for understanding, and you cannot gain that understanding without shifting your focus and sincerely wanting to understand the other side."10
All good poker players know and apply David Sklansky's "Fundamental Theorem of Poker."11 Less well known is his "Fundamental Theorem of Investing:"
"Before making any investment ... you must be able to explain why the other party is willing to take the other side of the deal... if you cannot come up with a good explanation, your buy, sell or bet is almost certainly not as good as you think."12
Unfortunately, most people don't seriously analyze the other party's reasons. Their attention is focused primarily on themselves, their economics, their analysis, and their reasons for buying or selling. If they thought about the other party's motives and perceptions, they might realize that they are making a disastrous mistake.
The principle is very clear. You should always determine as accurately as you can why the other party is willing to sell, buy, or do other business with you. If you don't understand his reasons, "all the statistics, income statements, balance sheet data, or analysts' recommendations mean little. There is still some reason they are taking your bet - and, if you don't know it, you don't like it."13
We could quote many other authorities on the value of understanding other people, but there is no need to do so. Instead, we will close with a quotation from one of the best selling books of all time: How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie: "If there is one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as your own."14
Since you can't win at poker without seeing things from other people's angle, you will learn this valuable lesson. You will then become much better at winning friends, influencing people, and making decisions about virtually everything.
CONCLUSIONS
We have described many - but certainly not all - of the skills and personal qualities that poker develops. Most of poker's lessons are variations on one theme: Think carefully before you act. That principle applies everywhere, and far too many people ignore it.
The government's attempts to outlaw poker are based upon a misconception of its nature and value. It is not "just gambling," and it should not be subject to the same rules and penalties as other gambling games. Instead, the government should allow you to play poker in regulated and taxed places because poker is good for you and good for America.
SUMMARY OF POKER'S BENEFITS
Because this essay is so long, you may not want to reprint all of it. We believe that a good summary is simply a list of the headings. Please feel free to reprint as much or as little as you wish.
Poker Is A Great Teacher.
Poker Improves Your Study Habits.
Poker Develops Your Math Skills.
Poker Develops Your Logical Thinking.
Poker Develops Your Concentration.
Poker Develops Your Patience.
Poker Develops Your Discipline.
Poker Teaches You To Focus On The Long Term.
Poker Teaches You That Forgoing A Profit Equals Taking A Loss (And Vice Versa).
Poker Develops Your Realism.
Poker Teaches You To Adjust To Changing Situations.
Poker Teaches You To Adjust To Diverse People.
Poker Teaches You To Avoid Racial, Sexual And Other Prejudices.
Poker Teaches You How To Handle Losses.
Poker Teaches You To Depersonalize Conflict.
Poker Teaches You How To Plan.
Poker Teaches You How To Handle Deceptive People.
Poker Teaches You How To Choose The Best "Game."
Poker Teaches You The Benefits Of Acting Last.
Poker Teaches You To Focus On The Important Subjects.
Poker Teaches You How To Apply Probability Theory.
Poker Teaches You How To Conduct Risk-Reward Analyses.
Poker Teaches You To Put Things In Context And Evaluate All Variables.
Poker Teaches You How To "Get Into People's Heads."
1 We assume, of course, that you will not become obsessed with poker or play for higher stakes than you can afford.
2 These rewards and punishments may not be instantaneous. It may take a while for things to average out.
3 Future Shock, New York, Random House, 1970, Page 4
4ibid, page 14
5 Adjusting to varied players was the primary theme of Alan Schoonmaker's book, The Psychology of Poker, Henderson, NV, Two Plus Two Publishing, 2000.
6 Barbara Connors, "Poker Play" in Maryann Morrison's Women's Poker Night, New York, Kensington Publishing, 2007, p. 26.
7 "A semi-bluff is a bet with a hand which, if called, does not figure to be the best hand at the moment, but has a reasonable chance of outdrawing those hands that initially called it." David Sklansky, The Theory of Poker, p. 91.
8 "Ten lessons poker teaches great investors," by Christopher Graja, Bloomberg's Personal Finance, June, 2001, p. 56
9 See "Multiple level thinking" in David Sklansky and Ed Miller, No Limit Hold 'em: Theory And Practice, Henderson, NV, Two Plus Two Publishing, 2006, pp. 168-175.
10 Alan N. Schoonmaker, Negotiate to win. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1989, p. 76
11 "The Fundamental Theorem of Poker" is explained on pages 17-26 of The Theory of Poker.
12 David Sklansky, "The Fundamental Theorem of Investing," Card Player, August 16, 2002, pp. 34-36
13 ibid.
14 Dale Carnegie How To Win Friends and Influence People, NY, Simon and Schuster, 1936, copyright renewed 1964, P. 37. The italics were in the book.
http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/current/sklansyschoonmaker0907.html
POKER IS GOOD FOR YOU
by David Sklansky & Alan N. Schoonmaker, Ph.D.
Many people have argued that poker should be considered differently from gambling in general. This argument has been made in discussions of legalization and related topics. Their argument is usually that poker is a skill game, while other gambling games are much less dependent upon skill.
We agree, but believe that they have not gone far enough in explaining many of poker's unique attributes. Poker does not just require skill. It demands and develops many skills and personal qualities which are essential for making all types of decisions, such as choosing a career, investing money, performing a job, and buying a house.1
POKER IS A GREAT TEACHER.
Research clearly proves that people tend to repeat rewarded actions and to discontinue punished ones. Poker teaches by rewarding desirable actions such as thinking logically and understanding other people and by punishing undesirable ones such as ignoring the odds and acting impulsively.2 Other learning principles also apply to poker.
Learning Depends Upon Feedback.
Rewards and punishments are valuable feedback. The faster and clearer the feedback is, the more rapidly you will learn. Unfortunately, for learning many desirable qualities the feedback cycle is slow or unclear. For example, if you make a mistake with an important customer, you may never know why you lost his business. At the poker table you often get much quicker feedback.
Until fairly recently, most people learned how to play poker primarily from trial and error. Over the past few decades a rapidly expanding body of books, videotapes, DVDs, classes, and coaches has helped millions of players to speed up the learning curve, but there is no substitute for experience. You have to make good and bad plays and get rewarded and punished to learn poker's most important lessons.
The More Frequently You Get Feedback, The Faster You Will Learn.
Most important real life decisions are made infrequently, and some of them - such as choosing a career - may be made only once. Poker players make and get feedback on hundreds of decisions every session, which greatly accelerates the learning process.
Lessons Learned In One Situation Often Generalize To Other Situations.
If poker's lessons applied only to how to play games, we would not have written this article. But its lessons apply to virtually every aspect of life. For example, if you are impatient or illogical or can't analyze risks and rewards, you will lose at poker, and you will make many mistakes in business and personal relationships. If poker teaches you how to control your emotions, you will be much more effective almost everywhere.
Young People Generally Learn More Quickly Than Older Ones.
Poker's enemies often insist that they are protecting young people from developing bad habits, but they are really preventing them from learning good ones. Young people love to gamble, sometimes for money, often for much more "things" such as grades, pregnancy, and even their lives.
They get a kick from taking chances, and some of their gambles are just, plain stupid. They risk dying or becoming crippled by crazy stunts on roller skates, bicycles, and snowboards. They get pregnant or AIDS by taking easily avoided sexual risks. It is as impossible to prevent young people from "gambling" (in its broadest sense) as it is to prevent them from experimenting sexually.
Life is intrinsically risky, and learning how to handle those risks is an important part of growing up. Poker teaches you to think of risks and rewards before acting. If it taught nothing else, poker would prevent some young people from making terrible mistakes. More generally, most of poker's lessons will help young people to make critically important decisions.
POKER IMPROVES YOUR STUDY HABITS.
Because you want to be respected, you and nearly everyone else naturally develop high status qualities and neglect low status ones. Unfortunately, status among Americans - especially young ones - is based primarily on physical attractiveness and athletic ability. The highest status people, the ones others envy and want to date, are physically attractive and good at games such as football, basketball, and soccer. Of course, the good looking, athletic children will probably end up working for the more studious ones, but they may not learn that lesson until it is too late.
American students score abysmally on tests of math, science, and verbal skills partly because so many of them think that study is unimportant. They are not stupider than Europeans, Asians, and South Americans, but they are taught from birth that they will be rewarded for looking good and playing athletic games well.
Worse yet, they learn that being studious is often punished. Their parents may be delighted when they get good grades, but young people care immensely about their peers' opinions. Good students are called "nerds" and "geeks."
This anti-intellectualism continues indefinitely. Americans reward good looks and athletic ability far more than studiousness. Models, actors, and athletes get paid several times as much and have much higher status than scientists, teachers, and scholars.
Young people resist studying math, psychology, logic, risk-reward analysis, probability theory, and many other subjects they will need as adults because these subjects seem unrelated to their lives. They don't see how learning them matters in the competitions they care about, the ones for status, popularity, and dates. Since people rarely study these subjects after graduation, many Americans never learn them.
Poker quickly teaches them the value of these subjects. The "nerds" who study poker and subjects such as math, logic, and psychology crush their more attractive and athletic opponents. They even beat smarter people who are too lazy or complacent to study. Winning increases their status and confidence and makes them much more likely to get dates and influence their peers. Poker doesn't just develop study habits and other important qualities; it also increases the value people place on them.
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR MATH SKILLS.
Americans are terrible at math. Our students get abysmal scores on math tests, and most people don't even try to learn math after leaving school. Their weaknesses remain uncorrected forever.
Many people are not just bad at math; they don't even want to get better. They essentially say, "Who needs it?" When they play poker, they quickly learn that they need it. The winners understand and apply it, while the losers either don't try or can't perform the necessary calculations. After their children started playing poker, many parents have exclaimed, "I'm amazed. He actually wants to study math."
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR LOGICAL THINKING.
Many authorities are appalled by Americans' contempt for logic. Instead of thinking logically, too many of us make poor assumptions, rely on intuition, or jump to emotionally-based conclusions.
Poker teaches you to respect and apply logic because it is a series of puzzles. Since you don't know the other players' cards, you need logic to help you to figure out what they have, and then more logic to decide how to use that information well. The same general approach that works in poker will help you to make much more important decisions.
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR CONCENTRATION.
The first step toward solving poker or real life problems is acquiring the right information. Without it you will certainly make costly mistakes. Poker develops information-gathering qualities, especially concentration. Every poker player has missed signals, including quite obvious ones, made mistakes, and then berated himself, "How could I be so stupid?" We can't think of a more effective way to develop concentration.
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR PATIENCE.
Americans are notoriously impatient, which damages many aspects of our lives. We owe trillions of dollars because we buy things on credit instead of waiting until we can pay for them. Our businesses overemphasize short-term results and lose market share to more patient foreign competitors.
Poker develops patience in the most powerful possible way. If you wait patiently for the right situation, you will certainly beat the impatient people who play too many hands. In fact, for most players poker's first lesson is "Be Patient."
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR DISCIPLINE.
Many people lack discipline. They yield to their impulses, including quite destructive ones. Poker develops discipline by rewarding it highly. Virtually all winning players are extremely disciplined.
Their discipline affects everything they do. They fold hands they are tempted to play. They resist the urge to challenge tough players. They avoid distractions, even pleasant ones like chatting with friends or sexually attractive strangers. They don't criticize bad players whose mistakes cost them money. They control their emotions. They have the self-control to do the necessary, but unpleasant things that most people won't do.
Television has created a ridiculously inaccurate image of poker. After seeing famous players screaming and trash-talking, viewers naturally assume that such antics are normal. They are utterly mistaken. Television directors show these outbursts for "dramatic value," and a few players act stupidly to get on TV. You will see more outbursts in a half hour of television than in a month in a card room. Please remember that controlled people are often called "poker faced."
POKER TEACHES YOU TO FOCUS ON THE LONG TERM.
Impatience is not the only cause for short-sightedness. Learning research proves that immediate rewards have much greater impact on people than delayed ones. For example, most American adults are overweight because the immediate pleasure of overeating is more powerful than its disastrous long-term effects such as heart attacks.
Poker players quickly learn that a bad play can have good results and vice versa, but that making decisions with positive, long-term expectation (EV) is the key to success. If you make enough negative EV plays, you must lose. If you make enough positive EV plays, you must win. It is just that simple.
If people thought more of the long term, some of our most serious problems would be solved or become less troublesome. Because of short-sightedness, millions of children drop out of school or get pregnant, and millions of adults neglect their health and finances.
POKER TEACHES YOU THAT FORGOING A PROFIT EQUALS TAKING A LOSS (AND VICE VERSA).
Economists call lost profits "opportunity costs" and they have written extensively about them. Unfortunately, most people haven't read their works, and, if they did, they probably wouldn't agree. They would much rather pass up a chance to make a dollar than risk losing one. They therefore miss many profitable opportunities.
Poker teaches you that lost profits are objectively the same as losses. For example, if the pot offers you 8-to1, and the odds against you are 5-to-1, you should call the bet. Not calling is the same as throwing away money by making a bad call when the odds are against you.
POKER DEVELOPS YOUR REALISM.
You and everyone else deny unpleasant realities about yourself, other people, and many other subjects. You believe what you want to believe. Poker develops realism in the cruelest, but most effective way. If you deny reality about yourself, the opposition, the cards, the odds, or almost anything else, you quickly pay for it.
Hundreds of times a night you must assess a complicated situation: your own and the other players' cards, what the others are going to do, the probability that various cards will come on later rounds, your position, and many other factors, especially your own and the other players' skill and playing style. If you are realistic, you win. If you deny reality, you lose.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW ADJUST TO CHANGING SITUATIONS.
Most people don't ask themselves, "How is this situation different?" They just do whatever they have always done. Poker demands adjustments because the situation is always changing. One card can convert a worthless hand such as a four flush into an unbeatable one. The player holding the flush and all the opponents should adjust immediately. The player with the winning hand should do whatever will produce the most profit, and the others should cut their losses.
Other things are changing as well. One hand after being in the small blind, the worst position, you have the button, the best position. Every time someone quits and is replaced by a different type of player, the game changes. Every time someone surprises you by folding, checking, betting, or raising you should re-evaluate the situation and adjust to the new information.
Adjusting to real life changes has always been necessary, but it has become much more important because the pace of change has accelerated enormously. We now experience more changes every year than our ancestors encountered in decades. Technology, the economy, social and moral attitudes, and a host of other factors change so dramatically that Alvin Toffler: "coined the term 'future shock' to describe the shattering disorientation we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time."3 He argued, "Change is avalanching upon our heads, and most people are grotesquely unprepared to cope with it."4 Poker can help you to cope with our constantly changing world.
POKER TEACHES YOU TO ADJUST TO DIVERSE PEOPLE.
Most people - especially younger ones - have little experience with diverse people. They live in relatively homogenous towns and neighborhoods and usually relate to people who are fairly similar to themselves.
In online and casino poker games, you have to play with whomever sits down. You must compete against very different kinds of people: aggressive and passive, friendly and nasty, educated and uneducated, quiet and talkative, intelligent and stupid, emotionally controlled and uncontrolled, and so on.
You therefore learn how to understand and adjust to people who think and act very differently from you. The faster and better you do it, the better results you will get. Since you will certainly meet diverse people in more important situations, learning how to relate to them is extremely valuable.5
POKER TEACHES YOU TO AVOID RACIAL, SEXUAL AND OTHER PREJUDICES.
Prejudice is always wrong, but it is especially destructive at the poker table. It causes you to underestimate your opposition and make expensive errors. To play well, you should be "gender-blind, color-blind, and just-about-everything else-blind, because in the end, winning is based on merit."6
Poker provides an extremely "level playing field." In no other popular competition is everyone treated so equally. You can't play golf against Tiger Woods, but you can sit down at any poker table. You can play against anyone from a novice to a world class player, and you will all be treated as equals. If you get the cards and play them well, you will win, no matter who you are.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO HANDLE LOSSES.
Many people can't cope with losses. A lost job, argument, or - God forbid -romantic relationship is a massive tragedy. They can't accept the loss and may even obsess over it. It takes over their lives, making them look backward rather than forward.
Poker teaches you how to cope with losses because they occur so frequently. You lose far more hands than you win, and losing sessions and losing streaks are just normal parts of the game. You also learn that trying to get even quickly is a prescription for disaster. You have to accept short-term losses and continue to play a solid, patient game. You can't be a winner - in poker or life - if you don't learn how to get over losses and move on.
POKER TEACHES YOU TO DEPERSONALIZE CONFLICT.
Many people take conflicts too personally. They may want to beat someone so badly that they "win the battle, but lose the war." Worse yet, if they lose, they may take it as a personal defeat and ache for revenge. Anyone who has seriously played games with painful physical contact (such as football, boxing, and soccer) is less likely to take conflict too personally. Getting hurt teaches some athletes that conflict is just part of the game and life. Alas, many people never learn that lesson.
Poker teaches you to depersonalize conflicts because it is based on impersonal conflict. The objective is to win each other's money, and everyone's money is the same. It doesn't matter whether you win or lose to Harry, Susan, or Bob. Everybody's chips have the same value, and everybody's money spends the same.
Poker quickly teaches you that being bluffed, sandbagged, outdrawn, and just plain outplayed are not personal challenges or insults. They are just parts of the game. Poker also teaches you that taking conflicts personally can be extremely expensive.
If you ache for revenge, you may act foolishly and lose a lot of money. Beating "your enemy" can become so important that you play cards you should fold, try hopeless bluffs, and take many other stupid, self-destructive actions. The Chinese have a wonderful saying, "If you set out for revenge, dig two graves: one for him, and one for you." Poker teaches that principle to every open-minded player.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO PLAN.
Many people don't plan well. Instead of setting objectives and planning the steps to reach them, they react impulsively or habitually. Poker develops your planning ability for an extremely wide range of time periods:
This betting round
This entire hand
This session
This tournament
This year
Your entire poker career
Planning for all of these periods requires setting objectives and anticipating what others will do. For example, pocket aces are the best possible hand, and you hope to build a big pot with them. In early position in a loose-passive game, you should raise because your opponents will probably call. In a wildly aggressive game you should just call, expecting someone to raise, others to call, so that you can reraise.
Poker also teaches you to plan for the entire hand. You use chess-type thinking ("I'll do this, they will do that, and then I'll …"). You may sacrifice some profit on an early betting round to increase your profits for the entire hand.
You can also sacrifice immediate profits for longer-term gains. For example, you may overplay the first few hands to create a "Wild Gambler" image that will get you more action on later hands. Or you may be extremely tight at first to set up later bluffs. Poker teaches you to set clear goals, think of what others will do, plan the actions that will move you toward your goals, and always know why you are doing something.
Good planning requires thinking of multiple contingencies. You should do many "what, if?" analyses. If the next card is a spade, you will bet. If it pairs the board, and Joe bets, you will fold. If it seems innocuous and Harriet bets, you will raise. Most people don't consider nearly enough possibilities. When something unexpected happens, they have no idea what to do.
Planning in real life is so obviously valuable and so rarely done well that we don't need to give any examples. You know that you should do these "what if" analyses and plan your work, finances, and life in general, but that you probably don't plan well.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO HANDLE DECEPTIVE PEOPLE.
Many people are easily deceived. Just look at those late night infomercials that promise you'll quickly get rich, become thin, or relieve all your aches and pains. The promoters wouldn't pay for them if naïve people didn't buy them, and they are only the tip of the iceberg. As Barnum put it, "There's a sucker born every minute."
Because poker players constantly try to bluff, sandbag, and generally deceive each other, you learn how to recognize when someone has a good hand, is on a draw to a good hand, or is flat out bluffing Those skills can help you to spot and react effectively to deceptive people everywhere. A lot of people want to deceive you, and you should learn how to protect yourself.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST "GAMES."
"Game" selection is critically important in both poker and life. Poker teaches you how to evaluate yourself, the competition, and the overall situation, and then pick the "games" that are best for you.
Serious poker players recognize that the main reason they win or lose is the difference between their abilities and those of the competition. If they are better than the competition, they win. If they are weaker, they lose.
A secondary consideration is the fit between their style and the game. Let's say that two poker players have equal abilities. Player A will beat a conservative game, but lose in an aggressive one, while Player B will have the opposite results. Obviously, they should choose different games.
Both factors affect your real life results. If you are less talented or have weaker credentials than your competitors, you should switch to a softer game. You should also select a game that fits your style. For example, you and a friend may have similar abilities and credentials, but different temperaments. Perhaps you should work in a large organization, but he should join a small company or start his own business.
Most people don't know how to evaluate themselves and how well they fit into various "games." So they make huge mistakes that they may not realize for many years. Just think of how many people have changed "games" in their thirties and forties. They finally realized, "I don't belong here."
POKER TEACHES YOU THE BENEFITS OF ACTING LAST.
If you act last, you have a huge edge. You know what your opponents have done before acting, but they acted without knowing what you will do. Position is so important that any good player would raise with some cards in last position that he would fold in early position.
Poker is an information-management game, and there are many similar games such as selling and negotiating. The primary rules of all these games are:
Get as much information as possible.
Give as little information as possible.
For example, when negotiating, you want the other person to go first to learn his position before expressing yours. Let's say you have to sell an unusual house quickly. A licensed appraiser has said that it is worth approximately $250,000, but that it is so unique that he can't put a precise value on it.
Before offering a price, you want to know how this potential buyer feels. He may love, hate, or be indifferent to its unique features. If he makes the first offer, you get some inkling of his feelings. He may even offer $275,000! Since he seems to love its uniqueness, try for an even higher price.
Job interviewers know the value of acting last. Most employment applications contain a question such as: "Approximate starting salary expected." If you answer, you have given the interviewer your position without knowing what he is willing to pay. Since you are unlikely to get more than you ask for, try to avoid making that first offer.
POKER TEACHES YOU TO FOCUS ON THE IMPORTANT SUBJECTS.
Focusing on unimportant subjects causes expensive mistakes at the poker table and in real life. Serious poker players know that all mistakes are not created equal. Trying too hard to avoid small mistakes can cause much bigger ones.
Overreacting to any opponent's small mistakes can cause the deadly mistake of underestimating him. For example, you may see that an opponent overplays a mediocre hand such as queen-jack offsuit. It's a mistake, but a relatively harmless one, especially because he will get that hand only a few times a night. If he plays the other hands well, don't conclude that he is a weak player.
Your own mistakes should also be analyzed, and some of them can be quite subtle, but very important. For example, you may be so intent on playing "properly" that you seem too serious for the weaker opponents who just want to have a good time. So they avoid you, which reduces your share of the money they give away.
Another error is taking a "by the book" approach that can cause strategic mistakes. For example, you could play your cards in a technically correct way, but almost never bluff. You would lose the profit you could gain from good bluffs, and your opponents will not give you much action on your good hands. The same principle applies to always playing hands the same way. The predictability costs you more than you gain by always being technically correct.
A business analogy would be running your organization so rigidly that all the ordinary decisions are made well, but:
Your employees are not motivated to be creative when the usual routines won't work. In fact, they may fear being punished for violating procedures.
Your organization can't respond effectively to the inevitable surprises.
Your good employees quit.
Your organization becomes a typical bureaucracy, filled with deadwood and unable to achieve its goals.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO APPLY PROBABILITY THEORY.
If you are like most people, you don't think in terms of probabilities, or you do so very crudely. You think something:
will happen
won't happen
probably will happen
probably won't happen
You are unlikely to make finer distinctions such as between 30%, 20%, and 10% probabilities.
Poker teaches that these distinctions are important and develops your ability to calculate them. You learn that you should sometimes call a bet if you have a 30% probability of winning, but fold with a 20% probability. You also learn how to estimate probabilities quickly and accurately.
This neglected skill can be applied to many real life decisions. For example, if you have to fly to Los Angeles for a sales call or job interview, it may be worth the time and expense if the probability of success is 30%, but not if it's 20%. Hardly anyone thinks that way which causes many poor decisions.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO CONDUCT RISK-REWARD ANALYSES.
These analyses are a more formal way to use probability theory. Since life is intrinsically risky, you probably can't win at poker or life without accurately assessing risks and rewards.
Risk-reward analysis is a form of cost-benefit analysis which also includes the probabilities of each possible result. Let's say that the pot is $100. You have a flush draw that you expect to win if you make it, but lose if you miss. It will cost you $20 to call the bet. The odds against making your flush are exactly 4-to-1. If you make it, you will win another $20 because you are sure your opponent will call one last bet. You are sure you cannot bluff. Should you call the $20 bet?
You will certainly lose more often than you will win, but the potential gains may outweigh the potential losses. Because we are concerned only with the long term, let's do it 100 times:
You will win $120 twenty times for a total win of
$2,400
You will lose $20 eighty times for a total loss of
-1,600
Your net gain for 100 times will be
$800
Your expected value for each call is
$8
You should obviously call the bet.
Poker players constantly do risk-reward analyses, and these analyses are often much more complicated. For example, in deciding whether to semi-bluff7, you should estimate the probabilities, gains and losses of:
winning the pot immediately because your opponent(s) fold
winning because you bet again on the next round and your opponent(s) fold
winning because you catch the card you need to make the best hand
losing because you get called and don't catch your card.
The math can get difficult, but advanced players learn how to make these analyses quickly and accurately.
The same sort of analysis should be done whenever you have a real life risky situation. Unfortunately, most people don't do it. They buy stocks or real estate, take a job, open a business, or take personal risks without identifying all the outcomes and estimating the probabilities that each will occur. So they make many bad decisions.
Poker is such an excellent teacher for risky decisions that Peter Lynch, former manager of The Magellan Fund and Vice Chairman of Fidelity, once said that a good way to become a better investor was to "Learn how to play poker."8
POKER TEACHES YOU TO PUT THINGS IN CONTEXT AND EVALUATE ALL VARIABLES.
People often ask poker experts, "How should I play this hand?" They are usually frustrated by the standard answer, "It depends on the situation." The expert then asks them about the other players, their own position, the size of the pot, the action on previous hands and betting rounds, and many other subjects. Most people don't want to hear, "It depends on the situation," and they definitely don't want to answer questions.
In fact, they usually can't answer them because they have not counted the pot, thought about the other players, and done all the other things that experts do. They want to know the two or three simple rules for playing a pair of aces, or a full house, or a flush draw, and the experts won't tell them because there aren't any simple rules.
If you play seriously, you will learn that the KISS formula (Keep It Short and Simple) does not apply to poker. More importantly, it does not apply to most significant real life decisions. It has become popular because people want to believe that life is much simpler than it really is. Poker teaches you to ask the same sorts of questions about investment, career, and other decisions that you ask at the poker table so that you make much better decisions.
POKER TEACHES YOU HOW TO "GET INTO PEOPLE'S HEADS."
Poker teaches you to understand and apply psychology because understanding others is absolutely essential. In fact, poker has often been called "a people game played with cards." If you don't understand the other players, you can't win.
We have already discussed psychological subjects such as avoiding prejudice and selecting the right games. We will end this long essay by briefly discussing poker's most important psychological lesson: teaching you what other people perceive, think, and want.
The first step is shifting your focus from yourself to them, and poker forces you to make that shift. If you focus on your own cards, you can't win because poker hands have only relative value. The important issue is not how good your cards are; it is how they compare to the other players' cards. A flush is a very good hand, but it loses to a bigger flush or any full house or better. So poker quickly teaches you to think of what other people have. It also teaches you to think about what they think you have. And even what they think you think they think.9
We and others have written extensively about these subjects, but space limitations allow us to give only a few examples. Good players always consider the other player when making any decision. With the same cards and situation, they would fold if Charley, a very conservative player, bets, but raise if Mary, a very aggressive player, bets.
Good players would also think about how their opponents think about each other. For example, if a perceptive opponent bets into someone whom he believes is very likely to call, he is probably not bluffing. If a good player reraises a maniac, he probably has a much weaker hand than if he reraised a tight opponent. Understanding his perceptions of these other players greatly improves your decisions when you are contesting a pot.
Understanding other people is vital in virtually every area of life. You can't have good personal relationships or succeed in business without being perceptive about people. Since its value in personal relationships is so obvious, we will discuss only two subjects, negotiating and investing.
"The absolutely essential step toward negotiating effectively is to shift your focus from your own position to their position. Unfortunately, most people focus on their own position. Their actions say, in effect, 'If I could just get them to understand MY facts and MY logic and MY needs, they would make the concessions I need.' The other side is saying exactly the same thing.
"They therefore have parallel monologues instead of a genuine dialogue. Both sides repeat themselves again and again, hoping to convince the other to accept their position. But eloquence is no substitute for understanding, and you cannot gain that understanding without shifting your focus and sincerely wanting to understand the other side."10
All good poker players know and apply David Sklansky's "Fundamental Theorem of Poker."11 Less well known is his "Fundamental Theorem of Investing:"
"Before making any investment ... you must be able to explain why the other party is willing to take the other side of the deal... if you cannot come up with a good explanation, your buy, sell or bet is almost certainly not as good as you think."12
Unfortunately, most people don't seriously analyze the other party's reasons. Their attention is focused primarily on themselves, their economics, their analysis, and their reasons for buying or selling. If they thought about the other party's motives and perceptions, they might realize that they are making a disastrous mistake.
The principle is very clear. You should always determine as accurately as you can why the other party is willing to sell, buy, or do other business with you. If you don't understand his reasons, "all the statistics, income statements, balance sheet data, or analysts' recommendations mean little. There is still some reason they are taking your bet - and, if you don't know it, you don't like it."13
We could quote many other authorities on the value of understanding other people, but there is no need to do so. Instead, we will close with a quotation from one of the best selling books of all time: How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie: "If there is one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as your own."14
Since you can't win at poker without seeing things from other people's angle, you will learn this valuable lesson. You will then become much better at winning friends, influencing people, and making decisions about virtually everything.
CONCLUSIONS
We have described many - but certainly not all - of the skills and personal qualities that poker develops. Most of poker's lessons are variations on one theme: Think carefully before you act. That principle applies everywhere, and far too many people ignore it.
The government's attempts to outlaw poker are based upon a misconception of its nature and value. It is not "just gambling," and it should not be subject to the same rules and penalties as other gambling games. Instead, the government should allow you to play poker in regulated and taxed places because poker is good for you and good for America.
SUMMARY OF POKER'S BENEFITS
Because this essay is so long, you may not want to reprint all of it. We believe that a good summary is simply a list of the headings. Please feel free to reprint as much or as little as you wish.
Poker Is A Great Teacher.
Poker Improves Your Study Habits.
Poker Develops Your Math Skills.
Poker Develops Your Logical Thinking.
Poker Develops Your Concentration.
Poker Develops Your Patience.
Poker Develops Your Discipline.
Poker Teaches You To Focus On The Long Term.
Poker Teaches You That Forgoing A Profit Equals Taking A Loss (And Vice Versa).
Poker Develops Your Realism.
Poker Teaches You To Adjust To Changing Situations.
Poker Teaches You To Adjust To Diverse People.
Poker Teaches You To Avoid Racial, Sexual And Other Prejudices.
Poker Teaches You How To Handle Losses.
Poker Teaches You To Depersonalize Conflict.
Poker Teaches You How To Plan.
Poker Teaches You How To Handle Deceptive People.
Poker Teaches You How To Choose The Best "Game."
Poker Teaches You The Benefits Of Acting Last.
Poker Teaches You To Focus On The Important Subjects.
Poker Teaches You How To Apply Probability Theory.
Poker Teaches You How To Conduct Risk-Reward Analyses.
Poker Teaches You To Put Things In Context And Evaluate All Variables.
Poker Teaches You How To "Get Into People's Heads."
1 We assume, of course, that you will not become obsessed with poker or play for higher stakes than you can afford.
2 These rewards and punishments may not be instantaneous. It may take a while for things to average out.
3 Future Shock, New York, Random House, 1970, Page 4
4ibid, page 14
5 Adjusting to varied players was the primary theme of Alan Schoonmaker's book, The Psychology of Poker, Henderson, NV, Two Plus Two Publishing, 2000.
6 Barbara Connors, "Poker Play" in Maryann Morrison's Women's Poker Night, New York, Kensington Publishing, 2007, p. 26.
7 "A semi-bluff is a bet with a hand which, if called, does not figure to be the best hand at the moment, but has a reasonable chance of outdrawing those hands that initially called it." David Sklansky, The Theory of Poker, p. 91.
8 "Ten lessons poker teaches great investors," by Christopher Graja, Bloomberg's Personal Finance, June, 2001, p. 56
9 See "Multiple level thinking" in David Sklansky and Ed Miller, No Limit Hold 'em: Theory And Practice, Henderson, NV, Two Plus Two Publishing, 2006, pp. 168-175.
10 Alan N. Schoonmaker, Negotiate to win. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1989, p. 76
11 "The Fundamental Theorem of Poker" is explained on pages 17-26 of The Theory of Poker.
12 David Sklansky, "The Fundamental Theorem of Investing," Card Player, August 16, 2002, pp. 34-36
13 ibid.
14 Dale Carnegie How To Win Friends and Influence People, NY, Simon and Schuster, 1936, copyright renewed 1964, P. 37. The italics were in the book.
Monday, September 24, 2007
It was a night of mystery and wonder...
I don't know how else to put it... there were so many hands that came in for me last night. It was almost as if the card gods thought that I was Dave, Elvie, Eli and even Rick. I've seen many nights when it seemed like hand after hand and hand they would play and keep having cards just run into them over and over again. I'm not certain that I knew exactly how to act. There was a period of about an hour and a half where it seemed that all of my two way hands would get there culminating in the one that Dave feebly described in the previous blog. You'll have to excuse the elementary level of his writing as English is his second language.Eli had bet me off a big hand that I had raised pre-flop and it almost put me on tilt when shortly following I drew Js, Jd, 10c, 3c and the flop was Ac, Jh, 9d. From early position, I placed a $90 bet and Eli called... everyone else folded. The turn was 6c and I bet $190, Eli smooth called. The river was the fourth Jack. I pushed all-in and after much deliberation, Eli folded.
A few hands later.... from my straddle I had 10h, 8h, 4c, 2c and the flop was beautiful... 3x, 5x, Jx. I checked and Eli bet $110 to which I called. The turn was a 9x and Eli bet $200 and I again just called. The river was a beautiful 7h. Eli bet $400 and I moved all in and he eventually folded.
The big hand that Dave describes below went something like this.... I had the Ks, 2s, Jh, 4h and the flop was the As, 6s, 10h. Eli began his normal betting sequence with a $60 bet and I really liked this flop and everyone folded except Big Dave, the Juice and me. The turn wasn't a bad card either if I remember correctly it was a 9h giving me two flush draws, a gut shot straight draw and a swing at the 2nd nut low draw.... Eli moves all-in and I had already decided that I would call him as I had him well covered and his bet was about $1100; he had everyone else covered. Big Dave struggled with it for a moment and then folded. The Juice was playing the one instrument which he plays all the time, his mouth, unfortunately as always, it was out of tune and way too loud. I called and he immediately called. The river, a magical 3 of spades... giving me the double nuts! Whee! Dave had the 2nd nut flush, Eli had a 7 high flush and they both were drawing to the nut low, the old 2-3 which of course was corn-holed on the river! Nice! Scooper!
Eli just couldn't believe it! He actually paced around and left the room! He then announced he was coming after me and I of course only shudder to think what that could mean. I didn't spend too much time worrying about it as it took me about 10 minutes to stack all the chips. The Juice went up stairs to blog the hand and I am very proud of him for that.... Eli bought back in for $5K, but unfortunately I had a seminar this weekend that started at 9AM every morning so I checked out about 30 minutes later and I know they spent another hour after I left licking each other's wounds and marvelling at the gay porn. I would have given anything not to have had to leave.... Eli's $5K re-buy was very tempting!
Again, I have never experienced a series of hands like these. I know it is regular and common-place for Eli, the Juice, Elvie and Rick.... I certainly hope that I staked out an address on that street and that it wasn't just a one-time visit to that neighborhood because I really did enjoy the short-time I spent there. I only regret that I had to leave before the night was over so that I could attend the seminar.
Let the suck outs begin!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Another Crazy Weekend
Yes it was. And finally, some blogworthy hands! I just moved, and don’t have Dish hooked up yet. With only my computer to entertain me, I have some time to post a few hands in between porn downloads.
We had the usual $2/5 PL Omaha 8 crowd at Cary Friday night, with one notable exception. Theron, a buddy of Mike D’s, came to play for a while. Mike’s weekly ritual is to play for a few hours, leave to hit his favorite watering hole for a bit, then come back to finish the night at the poker table. A couple guys played for a while and left, so when it came time for Mike and Theron (along with Danielle, Mike’s girlfriend) to head down the road, it left us with just four players. We decided to keep playing for a while, and the four of us basically just traded chips for the next hour or so. One of the guys decided it was time to go, so the rest of us called it quits, making it an early night.
We had all cashed out and were literally on our way out the door, when Mike and Theron stroll back in wanting to play more. Honestly, it took a little convincing. At this point, nobody was too excited about continuing, but what the hell – we were there and the poker gods were beckoning…
I had gone card-dead for the last couple hours, but the hands started coming as soon as we sat down again, and pretty quickly I got involved in a hand with Theron, sitting on my left. There was a straddle and a nice pre-flop raise. I have As-Qd-Js-9d, and decide to see a flop. I saw a flop alright…Kd-Jd-10d. Yep, I flopped a straight flush!
Now Theron is a pretty good hold ‘em player, but is a new convert to Omaha 8. We all know what that means. Most all of us went through the same learning curve when we started the game. When you start playing Omaha with a hold ‘em mentality, you may have top two pair on a flop of Kd-7d-6c and think to yourself “I know I have the best hand right now, so surely a nice big bet will get everyone to fold - and if I get a donkey to call, all the better!” Riiiiiight… The next thing you know you’re drinking vodka straight out of the bottle, wondering what just happened to all your chips.
I check to Theron, and he doesn’t disappoint me – he comes out with a $200 bet. I don’t feel like I need to do much Hollywooding against this guy, but hey, you’ve got to have a little fun! After a little hemming and hawing, I make the call and dark-check the turn. Again, he comes through, and pushes all-in for $400 or so. I call, and tell him “You’re not gonna like this” as I turn up my monkey. He was betting, yep, top two pair. Oh well, he’ll learn – I just hope it’s not too expensive for him! Before he places another bet at an Omaha table, he should go out and buy a good $30 book – it’ll quickly pay for itself hundreds of times over.*
*Note to any donkeys out there: Ignore that last sentence – reading really is overrated!
The next hand came soon after - we have the usual straddle and I look down to find 2x-2x-4x-5x. The flop of Ad-2x-7d fits in pretty well with my hand, but it’s still nothing to get too excited about yet. I make a bet of more than half the pot and get two callers, Mike D and Eli. Of course, I’m trying to conjure up a black three on the turn. Alas, my psychic ability (much like my waistline) is not what it once was, and the 3d comes instead. While it doesn’t give me the double-nuts, it was a pretty card nonetheless. I decide to check my wheel in hopes that someone else will bet, either with a flush or thinking my low got counterfeited. It checks around instead. A pretty little ace comes on the river, giving me both a boat and wheel. I’m not quite sure how much action I’ll get, but I lead out with a $300 bet. Mike calls with (I believe) second-nut low, Eli calls with a flush, and I scoop a nice pot.
The night was simply a case of beautiful timing. If Mike and Theron returned two minutes later, I’m down the road with an okay night, making $500 profit from the session. Instead, I cash out with $2,500 profit. Timing is everything!
Saturday night $5/10 NL Omaha 8 with The Jizz can mean only one thing - The Jizz will take chips from everyone else, then he will give them to me. An astute observer might be thinking “Hey wait, that’s two things,” but it usually happens in pretty much one continuous sequence. We had an interesting cast of characters last night, and the mix resulted in some heavy action, even more than normal for this game. After an early rebuy, I scooped a couple nice pots to accumulate about three times my $1,500 buy-in. Then came the dry spell. For 2-3 hours I’m not sure I won even half a pot, and my stack dwindled (ever notice that “dwindled” is never a good word when describing anything, especially your chip stack…?) down to around $2,300 or so.
Then came my big hand of the night. We have the obligatory straddle, and I look down to find Qd-Qh-6h-4d. After a couple porkings on the river (courtesy of Charles) Eli is running on steam at this point – especially after Charles executed another of his patented hit-and-runs. As he cashed out, he mumbled something about having to get up early to get his hair shampooed, but I’m not sure I believe him. Anyway, Eli had rebought for $5K, but his stack is already dwindling (there’s that word again), and I’m a-hoping to gets me some of it before it’s gone into the night like Charles. Eli bumps it up pre-flop, and gets several callers.
I like the flop of Ad-Qs-3c. Eli is on my right and first to act, and leads out for $75. I raise to $300, Chad pushes all-in for $350, Dave calls and Eli calls. Wow – we have a nice pot a-brewing! Though I’m obviously hoping for some brick like a 9 to come on the turn, I mainly don’t want to see another wheel card. I get my wish (kind of), as the turn brings a Kd, but Eli immediately announces he’s all-in! I have around $1,800 behind and he has me covered. I go into the tank for a minute or two, but I just can’t put him on a gutshot or wrap. He’s been making some big bluffs lately trying to get some chips back, and in the end, this bet just doesn’t pass the sniff test. Besides, worst-case scenario is that I make a bad read and call with the worst hand, in which case I still have outs with my set and nut flush draws.
I call, and Dave calls with only a few hundred behind. We all turn our cards over, and I’m very happy with what I see. Dave and Chad both have low draws, and not much else. Eli is the only one with board cards, but he flopped a set of threes, and is drawing to one out. I’m hoping for the board to pair, and oh boy does it…with the case queen - Get the Monkey! It was one of those rare times in Omaha when the best hand held up all the way through, and my quatro reinas scoop a $5,500 pot! After that hand Eli wasn’t running on steam anymore, he was just running. He cashed out and left, and the rest of us played for a while longer before calling it a night (or morning, as it were).
It’s now time to put this weekend to rest, and start thinking about Tuesday night. Bill Gates has his vision of “a computer in every classroom.” My vision is “a 50” plasma in every room of the house.” So far I’ve got all the bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways, living room, kitchen, and back patio covered. A good night Tuesday will cover the laundry room, meaning I can wash my shirts without missing one precious second of Maury. And with any luck, by next weekend I should have the most pimped-out coat closet in town…
See ya at the tables…
Rick
We had the usual $2/5 PL Omaha 8 crowd at Cary Friday night, with one notable exception. Theron, a buddy of Mike D’s, came to play for a while. Mike’s weekly ritual is to play for a few hours, leave to hit his favorite watering hole for a bit, then come back to finish the night at the poker table. A couple guys played for a while and left, so when it came time for Mike and Theron (along with Danielle, Mike’s girlfriend) to head down the road, it left us with just four players. We decided to keep playing for a while, and the four of us basically just traded chips for the next hour or so. One of the guys decided it was time to go, so the rest of us called it quits, making it an early night.
We had all cashed out and were literally on our way out the door, when Mike and Theron stroll back in wanting to play more. Honestly, it took a little convincing. At this point, nobody was too excited about continuing, but what the hell – we were there and the poker gods were beckoning…
I had gone card-dead for the last couple hours, but the hands started coming as soon as we sat down again, and pretty quickly I got involved in a hand with Theron, sitting on my left. There was a straddle and a nice pre-flop raise. I have As-Qd-Js-9d, and decide to see a flop. I saw a flop alright…Kd-Jd-10d. Yep, I flopped a straight flush!
Now Theron is a pretty good hold ‘em player, but is a new convert to Omaha 8. We all know what that means. Most all of us went through the same learning curve when we started the game. When you start playing Omaha with a hold ‘em mentality, you may have top two pair on a flop of Kd-7d-6c and think to yourself “I know I have the best hand right now, so surely a nice big bet will get everyone to fold - and if I get a donkey to call, all the better!” Riiiiiight… The next thing you know you’re drinking vodka straight out of the bottle, wondering what just happened to all your chips.
I check to Theron, and he doesn’t disappoint me – he comes out with a $200 bet. I don’t feel like I need to do much Hollywooding against this guy, but hey, you’ve got to have a little fun! After a little hemming and hawing, I make the call and dark-check the turn. Again, he comes through, and pushes all-in for $400 or so. I call, and tell him “You’re not gonna like this” as I turn up my monkey. He was betting, yep, top two pair. Oh well, he’ll learn – I just hope it’s not too expensive for him! Before he places another bet at an Omaha table, he should go out and buy a good $30 book – it’ll quickly pay for itself hundreds of times over.*
*Note to any donkeys out there: Ignore that last sentence – reading really is overrated!
The next hand came soon after - we have the usual straddle and I look down to find 2x-2x-4x-5x. The flop of Ad-2x-7d fits in pretty well with my hand, but it’s still nothing to get too excited about yet. I make a bet of more than half the pot and get two callers, Mike D and Eli. Of course, I’m trying to conjure up a black three on the turn. Alas, my psychic ability (much like my waistline) is not what it once was, and the 3d comes instead. While it doesn’t give me the double-nuts, it was a pretty card nonetheless. I decide to check my wheel in hopes that someone else will bet, either with a flush or thinking my low got counterfeited. It checks around instead. A pretty little ace comes on the river, giving me both a boat and wheel. I’m not quite sure how much action I’ll get, but I lead out with a $300 bet. Mike calls with (I believe) second-nut low, Eli calls with a flush, and I scoop a nice pot.
The night was simply a case of beautiful timing. If Mike and Theron returned two minutes later, I’m down the road with an okay night, making $500 profit from the session. Instead, I cash out with $2,500 profit. Timing is everything!
Saturday night $5/10 NL Omaha 8 with The Jizz can mean only one thing - The Jizz will take chips from everyone else, then he will give them to me. An astute observer might be thinking “Hey wait, that’s two things,” but it usually happens in pretty much one continuous sequence. We had an interesting cast of characters last night, and the mix resulted in some heavy action, even more than normal for this game. After an early rebuy, I scooped a couple nice pots to accumulate about three times my $1,500 buy-in. Then came the dry spell. For 2-3 hours I’m not sure I won even half a pot, and my stack dwindled (ever notice that “dwindled” is never a good word when describing anything, especially your chip stack…?) down to around $2,300 or so.
Then came my big hand of the night. We have the obligatory straddle, and I look down to find Qd-Qh-6h-4d. After a couple porkings on the river (courtesy of Charles) Eli is running on steam at this point – especially after Charles executed another of his patented hit-and-runs. As he cashed out, he mumbled something about having to get up early to get his hair shampooed, but I’m not sure I believe him. Anyway, Eli had rebought for $5K, but his stack is already dwindling (there’s that word again), and I’m a-hoping to gets me some of it before it’s gone into the night like Charles. Eli bumps it up pre-flop, and gets several callers.
I like the flop of Ad-Qs-3c. Eli is on my right and first to act, and leads out for $75. I raise to $300, Chad pushes all-in for $350, Dave calls and Eli calls. Wow – we have a nice pot a-brewing! Though I’m obviously hoping for some brick like a 9 to come on the turn, I mainly don’t want to see another wheel card. I get my wish (kind of), as the turn brings a Kd, but Eli immediately announces he’s all-in! I have around $1,800 behind and he has me covered. I go into the tank for a minute or two, but I just can’t put him on a gutshot or wrap. He’s been making some big bluffs lately trying to get some chips back, and in the end, this bet just doesn’t pass the sniff test. Besides, worst-case scenario is that I make a bad read and call with the worst hand, in which case I still have outs with my set and nut flush draws.
I call, and Dave calls with only a few hundred behind. We all turn our cards over, and I’m very happy with what I see. Dave and Chad both have low draws, and not much else. Eli is the only one with board cards, but he flopped a set of threes, and is drawing to one out. I’m hoping for the board to pair, and oh boy does it…with the case queen - Get the Monkey! It was one of those rare times in Omaha when the best hand held up all the way through, and my quatro reinas scoop a $5,500 pot! After that hand Eli wasn’t running on steam anymore, he was just running. He cashed out and left, and the rest of us played for a while longer before calling it a night (or morning, as it were).
It’s now time to put this weekend to rest, and start thinking about Tuesday night. Bill Gates has his vision of “a computer in every classroom.” My vision is “a 50” plasma in every room of the house.” So far I’ve got all the bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways, living room, kitchen, and back patio covered. A good night Tuesday will cover the laundry room, meaning I can wash my shirts without missing one precious second of Maury. And with any luck, by next weekend I should have the most pimped-out coat closet in town…
See ya at the tables…
Rick
IF I COULD
If I could describe the feeling that Charles is having right now as I write this blog live from the Omaha Hi Low No Limit Capital of the World, "THE JUICE'S" game. Yes, I along with several other Charles haters just gave what amounted to a triple team with the load being blown backwards into your own face!! Oh yes, it started great!! Eli, The Juice & Charles go heads up on the flop. At this point we all feel like the pork chop is coming. So, Eli moves all in. I provoke the Bald Wonder and he makes the call with a nut flush draw and a second nut low to my second nut high and nut low. Eli as usual miss reads his hand. The river brings a 3 of spades which pork chops Eli, Ass F#**@ me, and gives the worst player at the table a fat load of chips. I am reporting live as I am watching through the video feed. Charles has ~ $7,500.00 and a smile that looks like he just got the rape charge dropped!!! Oh, its not over... Refer to last story below for ending!!!
"The Juice"
Thursday, September 20, 2007
BIG PICTURE!!!
As most of you know, The Juice has made a habit of extreme Action in just about everything he does!! Last night was no exception. I Set my sights on Charles' bankroll and made a mission out of getting him on the books. After he took a mountain of chips off of me early in the night I announced to the table, "Big Picture Charles". Rick taught me this line about six months ago and it holds true to this day. As you all may have guessed, Charles tucked his tail between his legs and slithered out like a little boy who just lost his pogo stick, only after he went on the books with a nice Fat Vig!!! Unfortunately, I along with Charles lost my stack to several of you blog readers who capitalized on my excessive use of the Long Island Ice Teas!!! I think Tom can attribute his all in monster pot win against me & Eli to the pressure of the "Juice!!" you are welcome Tom... Even Dean had a bloggable episode, Unfortunately getting me to say anything positive about Dean is like sliding down a razor bladed sliding board into a pool of alcohol.
"The Juice"
"The Juice"
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Its Tuesday....that can only mean one thing
Its time for a little Omaha Hi/lo 5/10 no limit. I suspect the usual perpetrators will be there ready to have their hopes and dreams crushed by the greatest poker playing in the state. That's right, I am referring to The Juice. Only The Juice can take down $3,000 dollar pots while playing blind from the restroom. Everyone else is just pretending. Hopefully I can catch some table scraps tonight and stay out of The Juices way.
Take your sky diving, your scuba diving, your paintball games...whatever adrenaline rush sport you enjoy and multiply it by about 10 and you have our regular Tuesday night game. What a rush!!!
Take your sky diving, your scuba diving, your paintball games...whatever adrenaline rush sport you enjoy and multiply it by about 10 and you have our regular Tuesday night game. What a rush!!!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Who's the Best Poker Player in the Triangle?
You Are Invited To Play In the Triangle Charity Poker Classic
How good is your poker game?
Test your poker skills and help raise money for these great organizations.
Play-in events take place across the Triangle, and the Top 40 players along with the Top 10 Fundraisers will battle it out to determine who really is the best poker player in the Triangle.
Please help spread the word:
Forward this to your friends and help raise money and awareness for these great causes.
All proceeds go to charity.
Presented By:
and
Sponsored By: 850 The Buzz and 620 The Bull
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Playing again...
Well after taking a few weeks off from playing I started back today and it felt great. To be honest, I really didn't if I won or lose, I just wanted to outplay everyone and I did. I was playing online at UB for a few hours of heads up play only and I really think I played great. Yeah, I lost some nice pots and sucked out on a few too but each time I was able to put my opponent on a nice range of hands and really outplayed them each hand. I have learned this much though, I will fold the first 5 hands of every session regardless of hands. That's when the miracle hands hit. I'm looking forward to getting my confidence back today and will start back over on PokerStars sometime this week now that the WCOOP is going. I really feel like I can make a run deep into a tourney right now b/c my head is very clear and I'm seeing everything very clearly.
Hopefully next week at this time I'll be bragging about making a final table. I'm especially looking forward to Friday since that's the NLHU and Razz my two best games and Saturday's HORSE tourney which I really think I can hold my own in all games except for stud high. Should be an interesting week. And with all of the bust and break ins lately, I think I'll stick to my computer for a little while.
Hopefully next week at this time I'll be bragging about making a final table. I'm especially looking forward to Friday since that's the NLHU and Razz my two best games and Saturday's HORSE tourney which I really think I can hold my own in all games except for stud high. Should be an interesting week. And with all of the bust and break ins lately, I think I'll stick to my computer for a little while.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Luck ran out during 'friendly' poker game
Copied from www.newsandobserver.com
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_safety/story/703611.html
Luck ran out during 'friendly' poker game
Players grouse after 'mini-casino' raid
Thomasi McDonald, Staff Writer
The Texas Hold 'em poker tournament had been under way about two hours Saturday evening when state alcohol agents and other officers rapped on the front door of the single-story, wood-frame building on a back road outside Benson.
What officers describe as a Las Vegas-like "mini-casino" had drawn three professional poker players, business owners, at least two lawyers and a police officer, among others. They had paid a $500 entry fee to take part in a Texas Hold 'em poker tournament, but there was also craps, a blackjack table and a roulette wheel.
Officers ordered 71 players, dealers and the owner to put their hands on the tables and began issuing citations for illegal gambling and seizing cash -- more than $71,000 altogether.
N.C. State Fairgrounds police Maj. Edward Melvin Lefler, 59, of Raleigh called Chief Joel Keith early the next morning to tell him he had been busted.
"It was some kind of way to start the day," said Keith, who said Lefler, a non-sworn officer with more than 30 years experience with the fairgrounds police, was immediately suspended with pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
Both attorneys cited during the raid -- personal injury lawyer Joseph Anthony, 59, of Durham, and Chad Wunsch, 26, who practices law in Lillington -- declined to comment. Wunsch said it would not be appropriate for an attorney to talk about the incident, but he did say the players are not criminals.
"The people who were there are hard-working people with families," Wunsch said.
A Raleigh standup comedian who was cited for gambling called the raid "hypocritical."
"The officers present at the raid admitted to us that they play in home games for money," Greg A. Brainos 25, of Raleigh said via e-mail Thursday. "Two of the officers involved in the raid said that they didn't think law enforcement should have been there and that if they had any say in the matter, they wouldn't have been raiding this friendly poker tournament taking place in a remote location."
Officials with the N.C. Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement characterized the raid as perhaps the largest of its kind in state history. Agents used a tractor-trailer truck to haul away the gaming tables and other evidence.
Ron Kaylor, ALE's deputy director of operations, said state authorities learned of the casino after the agency fielded complaints from nearby residents. Kaylor said the Johnston County Sheriff's Office had been aware of something unusual happening at 156 Bear Road for about a year.
The owner of the building, Marvin Ray Johnson, 58, of Middlesex has been a licensed private investigator since 1988, said Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman with the state Attorney General's Office. It does not appear that a misdemeanor gambling citation would affect Johnson's license, said ALE director Mike Robertson.
Also cited were pro poker players Christopher Bell, 36, of Raleigh, winner of the 2005 Trump Classic Poker Tour in Atlantic City, N.J., with lifetime poker earnings of more than $1.4 million; and Jody McClure Garaventa, 31, of Youngsville, who took home $96,224 after placing fourth in last year's World Series of Poker Tournament at Harrah's in Atlantic City.
Maciek Gracz, 26, a World Series of Poker winner from Raleigh and others said they had come out to Benson for a tournament that had a $500 entry fee.
"It was a group of friends who meet a couple of times a year to play poker away from the city because we don't want to bother anybody," Gracz said.
Gracz disagreed with the ALE's characterization of the place as a Vegas-style mini-casino. Agents described a commercial kitchen with two employees, for example, but Gracz and others said a couple of the guys' wives would make hamburgers, turkey or ham-and-cheese sandwiches free of charge for the players.
"It was just a room to play poker in. It wasn't like the place was raking in dollars," said Gracz, who figured the top prize winner of the one-day event would pocket about $21,000.
Gracz said the officers who swarmed the casino were cordial, but he also disagrees with the state law that asserts poker is a game of chance. He said it's a game of skill not unlike traders on the commodities market who watch for trends and then bet on whether the price of wheat will go up or down that day.
Gracz is headed to Atlantic City next week for a World Series of Poker tournament. He recalled that when a poker tournament in Greensboro was busted in 2004, he won a major tournament the next week.
"If I win this one, the next time I come home I may call the cops to let them know where I'm playing," Gracz said.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_safety/story/703611.html
Copied from www.newsandobserver.com
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_safety/story/703611.html
Luck ran out during 'friendly' poker game
Players grouse after 'mini-casino' raid
Thomasi McDonald, Staff Writer
The Texas Hold 'em poker tournament had been under way about two hours Saturday evening when state alcohol agents and other officers rapped on the front door of the single-story, wood-frame building on a back road outside Benson.
What officers describe as a Las Vegas-like "mini-casino" had drawn three professional poker players, business owners, at least two lawyers and a police officer, among others. They had paid a $500 entry fee to take part in a Texas Hold 'em poker tournament, but there was also craps, a blackjack table and a roulette wheel.
Officers ordered 71 players, dealers and the owner to put their hands on the tables and began issuing citations for illegal gambling and seizing cash -- more than $71,000 altogether.
N.C. State Fairgrounds police Maj. Edward Melvin Lefler, 59, of Raleigh called Chief Joel Keith early the next morning to tell him he had been busted.
"It was some kind of way to start the day," said Keith, who said Lefler, a non-sworn officer with more than 30 years experience with the fairgrounds police, was immediately suspended with pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
Both attorneys cited during the raid -- personal injury lawyer Joseph Anthony, 59, of Durham, and Chad Wunsch, 26, who practices law in Lillington -- declined to comment. Wunsch said it would not be appropriate for an attorney to talk about the incident, but he did say the players are not criminals.
"The people who were there are hard-working people with families," Wunsch said.
A Raleigh standup comedian who was cited for gambling called the raid "hypocritical."
"The officers present at the raid admitted to us that they play in home games for money," Greg A. Brainos 25, of Raleigh said via e-mail Thursday. "Two of the officers involved in the raid said that they didn't think law enforcement should have been there and that if they had any say in the matter, they wouldn't have been raiding this friendly poker tournament taking place in a remote location."
Officials with the N.C. Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement characterized the raid as perhaps the largest of its kind in state history. Agents used a tractor-trailer truck to haul away the gaming tables and other evidence.
Ron Kaylor, ALE's deputy director of operations, said state authorities learned of the casino after the agency fielded complaints from nearby residents. Kaylor said the Johnston County Sheriff's Office had been aware of something unusual happening at 156 Bear Road for about a year.
The owner of the building, Marvin Ray Johnson, 58, of Middlesex has been a licensed private investigator since 1988, said Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman with the state Attorney General's Office. It does not appear that a misdemeanor gambling citation would affect Johnson's license, said ALE director Mike Robertson.
Also cited were pro poker players Christopher Bell, 36, of Raleigh, winner of the 2005 Trump Classic Poker Tour in Atlantic City, N.J., with lifetime poker earnings of more than $1.4 million; and Jody McClure Garaventa, 31, of Youngsville, who took home $96,224 after placing fourth in last year's World Series of Poker Tournament at Harrah's in Atlantic City.
Maciek Gracz, 26, a World Series of Poker winner from Raleigh and others said they had come out to Benson for a tournament that had a $500 entry fee.
"It was a group of friends who meet a couple of times a year to play poker away from the city because we don't want to bother anybody," Gracz said.
Gracz disagreed with the ALE's characterization of the place as a Vegas-style mini-casino. Agents described a commercial kitchen with two employees, for example, but Gracz and others said a couple of the guys' wives would make hamburgers, turkey or ham-and-cheese sandwiches free of charge for the players.
"It was just a room to play poker in. It wasn't like the place was raking in dollars," said Gracz, who figured the top prize winner of the one-day event would pocket about $21,000.
Gracz said the officers who swarmed the casino were cordial, but he also disagrees with the state law that asserts poker is a game of chance. He said it's a game of skill not unlike traders on the commodities market who watch for trends and then bet on whether the price of wheat will go up or down that day.
Gracz is headed to Atlantic City next week for a World Series of Poker tournament. He recalled that when a poker tournament in Greensboro was busted in 2004, he won a major tournament the next week.
"If I win this one, the next time I come home I may call the cops to let them know where I'm playing," Gracz said.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_safety/story/703611.html
Copied from www.newsandobserver.com
Friday, September 14, 2007
Illegal Gambling Ring Broken in Johnston Co.
Copied from http://www.nbc17.com/
http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-11-0005.html
Illegal Gambling Ring Broken In Johnston Co.
Tuesday, Sep 11, 2007 - 07:00 AM
By NBC17
JOHNSTON COUNTY, N.C. -- An illegal gambling ring has been broken in Johnston County.
In all, 71 people were charged with violating state gambling laws.
North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement agents seized more than $70,000 as well as a craps table, a roulette table and a black jack table. There were also more than a dozen poker tables.
The bust is the result of an ongoing investigation.
http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-11-0005.html
Copied from www.nbc17.com
http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-11-0005.html
Illegal Gambling Ring Broken In Johnston Co.
Tuesday, Sep 11, 2007 - 07:00 AM
By NBC17
JOHNSTON COUNTY, N.C. -- An illegal gambling ring has been broken in Johnston County.
In all, 71 people were charged with violating state gambling laws.
North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement agents seized more than $70,000 as well as a craps table, a roulette table and a black jack table. There were also more than a dozen poker tables.
The bust is the result of an ongoing investigation.
http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-11-0005.html
Copied from www.nbc17.com
Upcoming Public Poker Tournaments
What better way to follow-up the news of the largest poker bust in NC that I can remember with the announcement of several large tournaments! Only in NC....
Here are three upcoming public tournaments:
Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tournament, Thursday, September 20, 2007, 7-10pm.
Sponsored by G105. No entry fee. The Raleigh restaurant Hi-Five will host the Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tournament hosted by Kristen and Mike from the Showgram, brought to you by Time Warner Cable and TBS. Grand prize winner will receive a trip for 2 to Cabo San Lucas, runner-up will win a HDTV and the top 8 will qualify for additional prizes. Get your poker faces ready and come down to Hi-Five, located on Glenwood South in Downtown Raleigh.
Texas Hold’em Charity Tournament for the American Heart Walk, October 6, 2007.
Registration begins at 2:00 pm Registration ends at 2:45 pm, tournament Begins at 3:00 pm. Location: The Tavern in New Hope Common. Funds go to sponsor Brenda Mickley for the American Heart Walk on Oct 21st in Research Triangle Park, NC. Pre-Registration: $25 donation. Pre-Registering guarantees your seat and enters you to win door prizes, including a poker table and set of chips and Poker Stars Hats and T-Shirts. Prizes awarded, limited to 100 people. Click here to pre-register.
Triangle Community Foundation,
for a $50 donation, offers a series of tournaments in the fall. No prizes, but you “win” money that you’ll be donating at the end. See details at: http://www.trianglepoker.org/RedThermometer.html#INFO.
Here are three upcoming public tournaments:
Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tournament, Thursday, September 20, 2007, 7-10pm.
Sponsored by G105. No entry fee. The Raleigh restaurant Hi-Five will host the Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tournament hosted by Kristen and Mike from the Showgram, brought to you by Time Warner Cable and TBS. Grand prize winner will receive a trip for 2 to Cabo San Lucas, runner-up will win a HDTV and the top 8 will qualify for additional prizes. Get your poker faces ready and come down to Hi-Five, located on Glenwood South in Downtown Raleigh.
Texas Hold’em Charity Tournament for the American Heart Walk, October 6, 2007.
Registration begins at 2:00 pm Registration ends at 2:45 pm, tournament Begins at 3:00 pm. Location: The Tavern in New Hope Common. Funds go to sponsor Brenda Mickley for the American Heart Walk on Oct 21st in Research Triangle Park, NC. Pre-Registration: $25 donation. Pre-Registering guarantees your seat and enters you to win door prizes, including a poker table and set of chips and Poker Stars Hats and T-Shirts. Prizes awarded, limited to 100 people. Click here to pre-register.
Triangle Community Foundation,
for a $50 donation, offers a series of tournaments in the fall. No prizes, but you “win” money that you’ll be donating at the end. See details at: http://www.trianglepoker.org/RedThermometer.html#INFO.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
North Carolina Poker Bust Update
Copied from www.upforanything.net
http://www.upforanything.net/poker/
North Carolina Poker Bust Update
by Otis
Within a few hours of the news breaking yesterday, word about Mike Gracz and Chris Bell's poker raid outside of Raliegh, NC had spread just about everywhere. The reporting on the story ranged from standard to lackluster to a bit sensational.
Because we at Up For Poker have spent more than a little time in underground Carolina poker rooms, we took more than a little interest in the North Carolina bust. [Blind to the authorities: No need to follow us around looking to find the card rooms. We're on a break.] So, we asked a few questions and got a few answers from a loyal reader who has spent some time in the North Carolina room.
From what we hear, the room had been in operation for some time, maybe as long as three years. The tournament in question was a $500 tourney with rebuys for the first level (2 hrs) plus an add on. The tournament usually pulled 75-100 players and paid the final table. The room operators ran satellites prior to the event and first prize was routinely $30,000-$40,000.
Apparently this tournament was the chief draw for the room. We're told that cash games ran around the tournament but not on any other days. The room had recently started offering smaller buy-in tournaments on the odd Sunday, but was not operatiing 24/7 and cetainly was not a "casino" as ALE agents were suggesting.
If there was one area where the North Carolina room set itself apart from other rooms, it was the alleged operation of non-poker games. According to one player, the table games were in action before the tournament kicked off or after many people had already busted. We're told a blackjack, craps, a roulette table were available. If there is an aggregious offense in all of this, it's this. While it should be obvious we don't believe gambling should be illegal anywhere, we think poker room operators have a responsbility to protect their players from busts. It's one thing to run a room based soley on playing poker, something that can be legally argued to be a game where players are playing against each other and not against the house. It's another thing entirely (and a lot more sexy for the cops and the media) to have an actual roulette wheel. Really, once an undercover makes it into your room and sees somebody rolling dice on a real craps table, how long do you think it's going to take him to get a warrant? It's one thing to try to convince a judge, "These men are playing cards and it looks illegal" versus, "Your honor, there was some guy who rolled eight straight points and kept screaming about his baby needing new shoes!"
As is the case in just about every place I've visited, the poker scene in North Carolina is as strong as you could possibly want and finding a game is pretty easy if you look. In nearby Rocky Mount, there are at least three rooms in operation and it's possible to play every night of the week (sounds a lot like G-Vegas).
Gracz may have hit on the best point. He told CardPLayer, "We’re out in the middle of nowhere for a reason,” Gracz said. “I just feel as though (the police) could find something better to do with 20 hours of their time."
Therein lies the rub. Obviously, any operating room is turning its nose up at the law. However, it's a law that few people--even most state agents--really don't care much about. Agents have to do their jobs and make the bust, but the end result is a bunch of people getting misdemeanor tickets that are the equivalent of a speeding ticket. Oh, and a lot of headlines.
The end result of these busts is often the same. The charges against the players usually go nowhere. According to CardPlayer, the last time Gracz was busted in North Carolina, the charges ended up getting dropped.
Here in G-Vegas, cases sit in the Pending file for ages. The most recent bust here was two years ago when a dozen or so local players were busted in a small, suburban neighorhood clubhouse tournament. While everyone in that case was cuffed, searched, and removed of most of their posessession, the case has still never been resolved. This is primarily because prosecutors are in a tough spot. South Carolina gambling laws are so antiquated that actually trying this case will likely either result in an unwanted acquittal or a consitutional challenge that would make lawmakers really uncomfortable.
There are a lot of discussions that could be spawned from this raid, but we'll save those for another day. However, I can't let it go without mentioning one point that stuck in my gut. The concept of a fully operational kitchen in the North Carolina case was a bit overblown. While the room did offer crock pot fare and sandwiches, it was not serving four-course meals and cooking food-to-order. If ALE agents want real poker room food, I can take them to at least two places that cater meals for their players (would you believe I actually saw a turkey carved in a room one night?).
Sure, it's not a huge point, but, damn it, there's a difference.
Thanks to R. for the info.
http://www.upforanything.net/poker/
Copied from www.upforanything.net
http://www.upforanything.net/poker/
North Carolina Poker Bust Update
by Otis
Within a few hours of the news breaking yesterday, word about Mike Gracz and Chris Bell's poker raid outside of Raliegh, NC had spread just about everywhere. The reporting on the story ranged from standard to lackluster to a bit sensational.
Because we at Up For Poker have spent more than a little time in underground Carolina poker rooms, we took more than a little interest in the North Carolina bust. [Blind to the authorities: No need to follow us around looking to find the card rooms. We're on a break.] So, we asked a few questions and got a few answers from a loyal reader who has spent some time in the North Carolina room.
From what we hear, the room had been in operation for some time, maybe as long as three years. The tournament in question was a $500 tourney with rebuys for the first level (2 hrs) plus an add on. The tournament usually pulled 75-100 players and paid the final table. The room operators ran satellites prior to the event and first prize was routinely $30,000-$40,000.
Apparently this tournament was the chief draw for the room. We're told that cash games ran around the tournament but not on any other days. The room had recently started offering smaller buy-in tournaments on the odd Sunday, but was not operatiing 24/7 and cetainly was not a "casino" as ALE agents were suggesting.
If there was one area where the North Carolina room set itself apart from other rooms, it was the alleged operation of non-poker games. According to one player, the table games were in action before the tournament kicked off or after many people had already busted. We're told a blackjack, craps, a roulette table were available. If there is an aggregious offense in all of this, it's this. While it should be obvious we don't believe gambling should be illegal anywhere, we think poker room operators have a responsbility to protect their players from busts. It's one thing to run a room based soley on playing poker, something that can be legally argued to be a game where players are playing against each other and not against the house. It's another thing entirely (and a lot more sexy for the cops and the media) to have an actual roulette wheel. Really, once an undercover makes it into your room and sees somebody rolling dice on a real craps table, how long do you think it's going to take him to get a warrant? It's one thing to try to convince a judge, "These men are playing cards and it looks illegal" versus, "Your honor, there was some guy who rolled eight straight points and kept screaming about his baby needing new shoes!"
As is the case in just about every place I've visited, the poker scene in North Carolina is as strong as you could possibly want and finding a game is pretty easy if you look. In nearby Rocky Mount, there are at least three rooms in operation and it's possible to play every night of the week (sounds a lot like G-Vegas).
Gracz may have hit on the best point. He told CardPLayer, "We’re out in the middle of nowhere for a reason,” Gracz said. “I just feel as though (the police) could find something better to do with 20 hours of their time."
Therein lies the rub. Obviously, any operating room is turning its nose up at the law. However, it's a law that few people--even most state agents--really don't care much about. Agents have to do their jobs and make the bust, but the end result is a bunch of people getting misdemeanor tickets that are the equivalent of a speeding ticket. Oh, and a lot of headlines.
The end result of these busts is often the same. The charges against the players usually go nowhere. According to CardPlayer, the last time Gracz was busted in North Carolina, the charges ended up getting dropped.
Here in G-Vegas, cases sit in the Pending file for ages. The most recent bust here was two years ago when a dozen or so local players were busted in a small, suburban neighorhood clubhouse tournament. While everyone in that case was cuffed, searched, and removed of most of their posessession, the case has still never been resolved. This is primarily because prosecutors are in a tough spot. South Carolina gambling laws are so antiquated that actually trying this case will likely either result in an unwanted acquittal or a consitutional challenge that would make lawmakers really uncomfortable.
There are a lot of discussions that could be spawned from this raid, but we'll save those for another day. However, I can't let it go without mentioning one point that stuck in my gut. The concept of a fully operational kitchen in the North Carolina case was a bit overblown. While the room did offer crock pot fare and sandwiches, it was not serving four-course meals and cooking food-to-order. If ALE agents want real poker room food, I can take them to at least two places that cater meals for their players (would you believe I actually saw a turkey carved in a room one night?).
Sure, it's not a huge point, but, damn it, there's a difference.
Thanks to R. for the info.
http://www.upforanything.net/poker/
Copied from www.upforanything.net
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
North Carolina Poker Raid Snags Pros Gracz, Bell
Copied from www.pokernews.comNorth Carolina Poker Raid Snags Pros Gracz, Bell
September 12, 2007
Haley Hintze
Well-known pros Maciek 'Michael' Gracz and Christopher Bell were among 71 people arrested on gambling-related charges after a raid on a single-story building in Benson, NC, south of Raleigh, the state capital. The Saturday raid by Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) agents resulted in the seizure of over $70,000 from the players present, along with poker, craps and blackjack tables, a roulette wheel, computer equipment and flat-screen TV monitors.
One local news station's video report saw the building described as a "mini-casino" by Ron Kaylor, ALE's deputy director of operations. "It was a fairly large operation for North Carolina." The building also included a fully-outfitted kitchen to serve the players.
60 players were issued misdemeanor citations for engaging in a game of chance, including Gracz. Gracz had been arrested and cited in a similar raid in December of 2004. Bell was among those listed in the complaint as being connected to the operation of the facility and may face more serious charges. In addition to the misdemeanor gambling citation, the affidavit also listed, for Bell, charges of "operat(ing) a game of chance" and "allow(ing) possession of gaming tab(les)." The listed owner of the building, Marvin 'Ray' Johnson, faces other charges, as do nine other people listed in the complaint, eight of whom are believed to be the game's dealers. The ninth, Jody McClure Garaventa, was listed as an operator of the 'casino' along with Bell and Johnson.
Bell is known for being one of Gracz's early supporters, and both players have enjoyed significant tournament success. Bell has a 2005 Trump Classic win and three major final tables (two WPT, one WSOP) on his poker résumé, while Gracz won both the PartyPoker Million IV and a $1,000 NLHE WSOP bracelet in 2005, and has amassed over $2.8 million in career poker winnings.
Gracz, who also writes a 'poker tips' column for the CBS Sportsline Internet site, blasted police priorities after being contacted following the arrest. "They could go catch sexual predators or something that has a real impact on society," said Gracz, according to the AP piece. "If they had gotten two guys to come there, they could have asked us to leave the premises and we would have left."
Copied from www.pokernews.com
Poker champ: Gambling raid a waste
Copied from www.newsandobserver.com
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/700888.html
Poker champ: Gambling raid a waste
Estes Thompson, The Associated Press
RALEIGH - A poker champion cited on a misdemeanor gambling charge in a weekend raid on a clandestine casino said Tuesday that the police could have been more useful battling serious crime elsewhere.
Maciek "Michael" Gracz, 26, a World Series of Poker winner from Raleigh, said it was a waste of tax dollars for more than a dozen officers to spend about eight hours at the scene Saturday night and early Sunday.
"They could go catch sexual predators or something that has a real impact on society," he said. "If they had gotten two guys to come there, they could have asked us to leave the premises, and we would have left.
"It is illegal in North Carolina, I understand that. In every state, whether it's legal or not, people are playing poker."
Gracz said it's silly that he can't play poker in North Carolina when he can travel just a few hours and play legally elsewhere. Gracz won $1.5 million during a cruise at the PartyPoker.com Million Tournament in 2005. He also writes poker tips on CBS.Sportsline.com and his own Web site.
Officials said the operation was sophisticated. The plain, one-story building off N.C. 242 near Benson was surrounded by a fence, had pro-style gaming tables and a kitchen and food staff. Agents seized about $70,000 in cash.
"This wasn't a basement card game," said Pat Forbis, a supervisory agent of the state Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement, describing it as "a small version of a Las Vegas or Atlantic City casino. It was all top-of-the-line stuff."
Forbis said 60 people were charged with engaging in a game of chance, or gambling, and 11 were charged with operating a game of chance.
"The point is it is illegal," he said. "The analogy is if you catch someone smoking marijuana they say why aren't you trying to get a coke or heroin dealer. The law is the law, and it's not up to ALE to systematically choose the laws we enforce."
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/700888.html
Copied from www.newsandobserver.com
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/700888.html
Poker champ: Gambling raid a waste
Estes Thompson, The Associated Press
RALEIGH - A poker champion cited on a misdemeanor gambling charge in a weekend raid on a clandestine casino said Tuesday that the police could have been more useful battling serious crime elsewhere.
Maciek "Michael" Gracz, 26, a World Series of Poker winner from Raleigh, said it was a waste of tax dollars for more than a dozen officers to spend about eight hours at the scene Saturday night and early Sunday.
"They could go catch sexual predators or something that has a real impact on society," he said. "If they had gotten two guys to come there, they could have asked us to leave the premises, and we would have left.
"It is illegal in North Carolina, I understand that. In every state, whether it's legal or not, people are playing poker."
Gracz said it's silly that he can't play poker in North Carolina when he can travel just a few hours and play legally elsewhere. Gracz won $1.5 million during a cruise at the PartyPoker.com Million Tournament in 2005. He also writes poker tips on CBS.Sportsline.com and his own Web site.
Officials said the operation was sophisticated. The plain, one-story building off N.C. 242 near Benson was surrounded by a fence, had pro-style gaming tables and a kitchen and food staff. Agents seized about $70,000 in cash.
"This wasn't a basement card game," said Pat Forbis, a supervisory agent of the state Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement, describing it as "a small version of a Las Vegas or Atlantic City casino. It was all top-of-the-line stuff."
Forbis said 60 people were charged with engaging in a game of chance, or gambling, and 11 were charged with operating a game of chance.
"The point is it is illegal," he said. "The analogy is if you catch someone smoking marijuana they say why aren't you trying to get a coke or heroin dealer. The law is the law, and it's not up to ALE to systematically choose the laws we enforce."
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/700888.html
Copied from www.newsandobserver.com
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Casino raid netted big poker winner
Copied from http://www.newsandobserver.com/
Casino raid netted big poker winner
Thomasi McDonald, Staff Writer
Casino raid netted big poker winner
Thomasi McDonald, Staff Writer
RALEIGH - This was no back-room poker game or a small group tossing dice against a curb.
Law enforcement officers say their bust early Sunday morning in Benson involved a full-blown 
casino with craps and blackjack tables, a roulette wheel, more than a dozen Texas Hold 'em poker tables, a full-service restaurant and a World Series of Poker winner, Maciek "Mike" Gracz of Raleigh.
casino with craps and blackjack tables, a roulette wheel, more than a dozen Texas Hold 'em poker tables, a full-service restaurant and a World Series of Poker winner, Maciek "Mike" Gracz of Raleigh.State and regional authorities seized more than $70,000 and issued illegal gambling citations to 71 people. On Monday, state Alcohol Law Enforcement officials characterized the raid as perhaps the largest of its kind in state history.
Among those rounded up was Gracz, 26, who in 2005 won $1.5 million at the PartyPoker.com Million Tournament during a Pacific Ocean cruise and made it to the final table that summer at a World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas, winning a coveted gold bracelet and $594,460.
Ron Kaylor, the N.C. Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement's deputy director of operations, said the bust came after an investigation of several months involving an undercover agent. "Numerous" complaints from neighbors had alerted the state agency to the operation.
A glitzy gambling den
The casino near N.C. 242 and Bear Road in Johnston County even had a full-service kitchen with staff.
"It was like one of those big ones you see on TV," said Mike Robertson, director of Alcohol Law Enforcement, of the glitzy gambling den his agents found in a single-story, wood-frame building.
ALE veterans said a typical North Carolina gambling house might involve a couple of card games and several video poker games. Kaylor said he had never seen anything like Sunday's raid, which netted not only weekend gamblers from around the state but professionals from as far away as Henderson, Nev.
Like dozens of other players caught in the pre-dawn raid, Gracz was charged with misdemeanor gambling. It wasn't the first time. Gracz was hit with the same charge in Guilford County in December 2004.
Nicknamed "The Kid," Gracz first hit it big at an Atlantic City tournament where he won about $300,000 in late 2004, while still a student at N.C. State University. Not long after that, he got a business degree at NCSU, but his biggest business became poker, which he has turned into a personal Web site and work as a commentator.
In his poker tips on CBS' Sportsline.com, Gracz writes: "The most consistent way to build a bankroll is definitely playing in the cash games."
Cash, chips, craps
ALE agents, along with deputies from the Johnston County Sheriff's Office and state troopers, seized $70,196.25, a craps table, a roulette table and wheel, a blackjack table, more than a dozen Texas Hold 'em tables, dice, poker chips, playing cards, computer equipment and flat-screen television monitors.
A search warrant indicated the casino was operated by Christopher Bell of Raleigh, Jody McClure Garaventa of Youngsville and an unknown male named "Ray." Marvin Ray Johnson of Middlesex, who appears on Johnston County tax records as the owner of the property, was charged along with Bell and Garaventa with possession of gambling tables.
Efforts to reach those charged failed.
The dealers were charged with operating games of chance. Gambling violations are misdemeanors in North Carolina, Kaylor said, adding that a judge would decide what is to be done with the cash seized.
The warrant also said the building was the site of several big poker tournaments each year, that Johnson routinely carried large amounts of cash there and that he sometimes had a handgun.
The casino may have been wired for Internet access to offer online gambling. "We are still investigating that," Kaylor said.
He said he did not know how much money the casino raked in daily or whether the money seized Sunday was one day's take. ALE agents sat down at a bank Monday morning to count the money. They did not finish until midafternoon.
Robertson was impressed.
"We had one in Greensboro last year and took about $27,000 from a couple of card tables," he said. "But this is by far the biggest one we have got since I have been here."
(News researcher Lamara Williams-Hackett contributed to this report.)
Staff writer Thomasi McDonald can be reached at 829-4533 or thomasi.mcdonald@newsobserver.com.
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