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Poker Blog established in 2003 as the first stop for poker news, poker stories, and bad poker advice.

November 29, 2007

A little inspiration for the Vegas-bound

by Otis

I've been doing a little pre-Vegas personal psyche-up and stumbled across some of my old pictures. Then I stumble across pictures taken by Pauly, Al, Flipchip, Linda, and others. And then I just started getting silly.

So, here's what I've been doing with my day.

Disclaimer: Please don't be offended if you are not featured here. I realized early on that there was no way I was going to find a picture of everybody because:

a) Some of you people (ahem, Change100) are unreasonably afraid of cameras
b) Some of you are wanted in several states and/or provinces.

Anyway, hereyago.

*Bloglines readers, click it on through.

*Photos courtesy

Tao of Poker
Al Can't Hang
Las Vegas Vegas
PokerWorks

And a few others I'm sure I stole from.

Permalink | Las Vegas

November 28, 2007

A piece of the rock

by Otis

It was one of those nights where everything was on my side. My reads were on, the draws were coming in, and variance was giving me a neck massage. It was one of those nights where I felt smart, even if I was getting lucky. I was posting a decent win and thankful for it.

In fact, I was ready to call it a night and go home a modest winner.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Playing For Money

November 27, 2007

A sense of place

by Otis

The outside walls are warped metal and the parking lot is pot-holed gravel. To park, one has to pull in on the right side of the building, drive around the dark backside of the bar, and then around to diagonal spaces the left side. If it wouldn't seem so perfectly trite, the dark parking area would be the ideal place for a drunken fight with a switchblade and a pool cue.

It was raining hard when I pulled into the lot last night and turned off the ignition. If I'd had a collar, I would've pulled it up against the elements. Instead, I trudged through the gray mud and to the door. Like always, every eye in the place turned toward me and held for that extra second that makes me nervous. Everyone looked away and I made my way to the end of the bar and ordered a beer.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Las Vegas

November 25, 2007

Poker kills pool?

by Otis

I've never been much of a pool player. I can hold a cue stick and sink a few balls, but apart from one very unfortunate incident in the back of an Atlanta club in which I let hubris and drink get the best of me, I don't play for money.

Unless.

Unless I'm rolling with one particular friend who, in the days before poker, made a few bucks hustling on a different kind of felt. In his day, he was a pretty damned good pool player and his demeanor makes him perfect for getting a game. Not surprisingly, he now spends more time playing cards than he does playing nine-ball.

I would never have asserted that poker killed the pool hustler's game. Fortunately, someone with more chops than me has done it.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Other Gambling

November 22, 2007

Thanksgiving and poker

by Otis

Sox was the type of guy who would stand up after winning a hand--one in which he had called off his entire stack with pocket jacks and won--and scream, "Don't you know who I am?"

We knew who he was. He was the guy who got off the phone and started muttering about how stupid women were, presumably because his girlfriend wanted him to come home. He wore baggy workout shorts, a baggy hoodie, a flat-billed White Sox cap, and a beard that was manicured to look messy. He was the guy who would berate a female player for beating him and then offer to step outside with her husband to settle the score. He was the guy who would run a couple hundred bucks into more than a grand and still not be even yet. He was also the guy who would return the next night and make me quietly say, "Thank you."

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Otis' Thoughts

November 20, 2007

What's new Peekachu?

by G-Rob

My work friend Jarz turned me on to "Cowboy Junkies". The music is decent, the lyrics above average, something about it is pretty damn good though. I reccomend "Murder, tonight, in the trailer park".

I had knee surgery 2 weeks ago. It's still swollen. I feel like a 97 year old man. The pain pills aren't so bad.

I just won a rebuy tournament on Full Tilt. It cost $15. That includes a rebuy and the add-on. I roll it cheap like that.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | G-Rob's Thoughts

November 19, 2007

World Series of Pai Gow Poker?

by Otis

Do you remember the first time you stood up on the footrest of your Pai Gow chair and yelled across to the roulette players, "Who is winning over there? Because we are winning over here!" Do you remember the first time you took an inordinate interest in your dealer's country of origin and how to pronounce his/her name? Do you remember your first Greyhound? What about the first time you won a monster by betting the dragon bonus?

Or, let me ask you this, dear reader:

Do you remember the first time you got steak and eggs?

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Las Vegas

November 16, 2007

The Armenians

by Otis

There are people who suggest the former Soviet Republic of Armenia is where Adam and Eve first looked at each other's nodules. I don't know this to be true, but I have no reason to say otherwise. As far as I know, original sin popped up a few nights ago at some backwater McDonalds, so the last thing I am going to do is deny Armenians their place in biblical history. A Garden of Eden theme park could be in the offing if the former Communists really put their minds to it.

As long as I'm being generous, I also hesitate to call whe whole of the Republic a bunch of cheats. I haven't met many of them, and I guess it wouldn't be the most diplomatic thing to do. However, if the nation's leaders want to enjoy a long-lasting relationship in the United Nations and WTO, they might want to keep tabs on some of the poker players they are producing. Again, I've not met many of them, but the four I met last weeks were card cheats like none I've ever seen before.

What's worse, they were really bad at it.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Playing For Money

November 9, 2007

Playing Without Fear

by Luckbox

It was the first time I had ever been in the bar. And it was probably the most nervous I had ever been about what I had in my pocket. It's not every day I walk into a bar carrying a thousand dollars.

The place fancied itself a sports bar. I'm not sure that a couple TV's scattered around the single room make it a "sports" bar, but people don't seem too discriminating around here. The room was sufficiently dark for a place running a poker game. The legality fell somewhere in a pretty narrow gray area. I got the impression that the bar only hosted the game and that the dealers pocketed the rake.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Luckbox's Thoughts

Bad Lead

by G-Rob

CNN's Sanjay Gupta reports this morning that poker chips contain a harmful amount of lead. I copied this from this morning's Kansas City Star.

National business briefs: Warning issued on lead in poker chips

Lead in poker chips

Arizona health regulators issued a warning Thursday, saying Paulson brand poker chips could contain high levels of lead.

The warning about the chips — used in many casinos and sold at retail to gamblers — came a day after a Phoenix TV station broadcast a story about the potential contamination. The station had 200 of the chips tested by a private lab and said all of them exceeded the EPA limit for surface lead.

Paulson’s CEO issued a statement saying the company objected to any implication that the chips, when used as intended, posed a health hazard. He also said the chips had been reformulated to contain far less lead.

Permalink | Poker in the News

November 7, 2007

I Quit

by Otis

It was a quote handed down through several generations, so it's possible that the deputy said, "If you play poker, you deserve to get rubbed." That would make sense. We leather-assed grinders get many a knot in our collective back. A ten-hour session is the perfect excuse for a rub-down. If we play poker, we deserve to get a massage.

However, by the time the quote reached me through the poker community's version of the Telephone Game, it sounded like, "If you play poker, you deserve to get robbed."

That's not nearly as nice a sentiment.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Underground Games

November 5, 2007

Happier Times

by Otis

We stood on our chairs that weren't actually chairs. They were long wooden benches. We held steins of wheat beer in our hands. The mugs themselves were bigger than our heads. Across the room, Joey Two-Hands was attempting to hold an identical stein out in front of him for as long as possible. It was a contest the Hofbrau House held every night. We, a group of 14, had decided not to participate, save Joey Two-Hands who had sneaked into the competition at the last minute with his own unapproved mug and a hopeless case of optimism.

"Hey, it's George Clinton," I said, nudging Marty in the ribs and pointing to the large black man and his small entourage.

I was joking.

"That's not George Clinton," Marty said. "That's Mr. T."

He was not joking.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Las Vegas

November 2, 2007

Another Game, Another Armed Robbery

by G-Rob

The games around here used to have names like "Gaelic," "Depot," and "Spring Hotel." The next one will be the "O.K. Corral". The latest undergound game to face a gang of armed bandits is a tale of lessons unlearned... and the first appearance of Wyatt Earp.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Underground Games