April 11th, 2009 — General, Poker Hardware
That’s right, I just reviewed it and I liked it. In short, it’s worth getting if you don’t know what equity is or how you can use meta-game to manipulate your opponent to clean your bathroom 
Read my whole review on my website: How to Beat No-Limit Hold’em 6-max Cash Games Review
Introduction to Implied Odds
March 30th, 2009 — General, Poker Hardware
A quick guest post on implied odds.
Introduction to Implied Odds
Part of the skill in poker is about understanding the odds. The great poker players know all the math required to calculate whether someone is getting an edge.
Pot odds are crucial for this calculation, but it is not the end of the story. There are also implied odds that players must consider.
Pot Odds vs. Implied Odds
Pot odds are the most basic calculation in poker. They represent your payout odds. If there is $50 in the pot and you need to call $5 to get to a showdown, you are risking $5 to win $50, or $10 for every $1 you bet, or 10-to-1.
If your odds of winning are shorter than 10-to-1, this bet has positive expected value over the long term. If they are longer, it has negative expected value. Implied odds enhance this equation by including money not yet in the pot.
True Odds in Poker
When you use pot odds, you are comparing them to your real odds of winning the hand – something that any basic online poker pot odds calculator can do for you. The real odds calculate by determining the number of cards that can come to make you the winner vs. the number of cards that will give the pot to your opponent. In order to continue, these odds need to be better than the pot odds, plus the implied odds.
Implied Odds in Practice
Players on a draw frequently consider online Texas holdem odds. For example, if you hold Kc 9c and the board is 6c Ac 4d Js, you will probably need to hit your flush to win.
If there is $200 in the pot and your opponent bets $100, you have 3-to-1 pot odds. His bet makes it a $300 pot and it costs you $100 to call. You have nine outs to win the pot and 37 cards that don’t help you. 37-to-9 is about 4-to-1, which makes this a fold, unless considering implied odds.
Implied odds take into account money you might win on later streets. Let’s say you should call and a club comes on the river. Your opponent, afraid of the flush, checks, and you bet $150 into the $400 pot. Your opponent is getting 550-to-150, or about 3.7-to-1.
This means that if your opponent thinks you would bluff in this situation 22 percent of the time or more, he should call. When he calls and loses, you win an additional $150. If you go back and add this to your original calculation, you are risking $100 to win not $300, but $450. The implied odds are 4.5-to-1, making this a correct call.
Negative Effects of Gambling
March 5th, 2009 — Bluffing, General, Poker Hardware
Alright, I couldn’t wait any longer. I love to hate.
1. You Can Meet Some Pretty Shady People
If you’re not careful!
Here’s one example. I had a coach which I came in contact through CardRunners about 1½ years ago. He was claiming to be winning 8ptbb/100 at $2/4NL so I thought okay I’ll try some coaching.
I sent him like $1,100 or something for a 10 hour-block and I did 3 hours of that block and then just thought fuck this, this guy isn’t teaching me enough stuff that I want to keep going. So I said, I want my money back, he said okay, I’ll send it to you as soon as I can.
Needless to say, 1½ years later he was been promising to send the money to me and nothing has happened. He still owes me $700.
I mean these kind of things just piss me off. What kind of morals do you have if you keep jerking someone around? I’ve been trying to be nice versus this guy but he’s just been avoiding me and saying he doesn’t have money, but my patience is very thin now.
If you’re a poker player, you should easily be able to pay someone their money back. I mean he had my money, what did he do? Spend it and never earn any money ever again? He should easily be able to send me $50-100 a month to pay his debt off but I guess he’s just hoping I’ll go away and forget about it?
This is sickening, why do people do this?
2. The Swings Can Be Brutal
I’m not going to lie to you and say that poker is a dance on roses and an awesome game where you win lots of gold coins and get the princess at the end.
It’s more like you get some gold and then get shafted by Shrek the green god of variance.
This is why it helps to have rakeback when you play, atleast then when you’re running like a paeorjafshzn you get some monies because you play!
I’ve been playing for almost 5 years and I’m beginning to feel like I want to do something else. Maybe coaching or something? I’ve been talking with Tommy a bit about this, but I am still not sure how to go about it.
My coaching would most likely be on the other things of poker, tilt, money management (not much needed there, have lots of money and you’re good!), game selection and all that stuff. Basically the discipline side of the game.
A bit of a tangent there, let’s get on to the next point.
3. Addiction
I wish I was addicted to this game. It would be awesome to be addicted because I would make so much money. Wouldn’t it be awesome to be a winner and just want to play all the time? Money, money, money!
But if you think about it, nothing of value can be bought with money, pretty deep, right?
Oh yeah, addiction, trying to keep my focus here.
I guess some people who aren’t winners get addicted. My thinking is that if they don’t have poker to be addicted to it will just be something else. Maybe I just want to think that way because it makes it easier for me to justify all this and bla bla bla. Mind loops, they go on forever. Maybe I am really thinking that I’m thinking that or just this or that or whaat.
Here’s a picture of my gf’s dog, dogs are good for poker, they ease the pain of poker!
Until next time ORCS
Poker Hardware – 24″ Westinghouse Review – UPDATE
February 25th, 2008 — Poker Hardware
In early December I picked up a 24″ Westinghouse LCD monitor, and gave it glowing reviews despite the dead pixel in the middle of the screen.
Unfortunately, the 2-3 week RMA process in fact ended up taking 9-10 weeks! Soo…time to re-review it.
The only reason I got the unit back in ~10 weeks was because at the end of week 9 I called Westinghouse Corporate and made a stink.
So, I finally got my replacement unit. Fire it up, no dead pixels, hooray.
I turn the brightness down on the unit, and it starts emitting a high-pitched whining noise. Fantastic. I can’t work with the sound of a bunch of mosquitoes buzzing in my ear, so I call back Newegg.
No refunds on RMA’d units. Great.
Call Westinghouse.
Their friendly support staff informs me “No refunds”, but they’d be happy to send it through their (9-10 week) RMA process again. No thanks.
Call Westinghouse Corporate.
Sit on hold for 20 minutes.
Informed that “We can’t give any more refunds.” “More” refunds? Have they given too many? Did they run out of money?
Long story short, the gentleman @ Westy sets me up with a 32″ Westinghouse LCD TV (retail: $700) in lieu of the monitor.
I’d still rather have a refund, but at least now I’ll be getting something somewhat useful instead of the paperweight excuse for a monitor I currently have.
So, if you can find a perfectly-working unit at BestBuy, go for it – the monitor is good quality. However, this model is riddled with problems (a quick googling turns up more probs than I found) and you are taking a BIG risk ordering it online.
Monitor quality: B+ Reliability: C Westinghouse Customer Support: F
Newegg Monitor Customer Support: F
Poker Hardware – Mice
December 18th, 2007 — General, Poker Hardware
Having a good mouse is paramount. A bad mouse can give you sore wrists, frustrating responses, and worse – a repetitive stress injury.
Some tips when deciding on a mouse:
It Should Feel Comfortable In Your Hand
The mouse should sit easily in your palm of your hand, with fingers gently extended over it. If you have to curl up your fingers into a claw to click the buttons, it’s not the right size.
There should be no uncomfortable pressures or bumps from the shape, stop by a local store and give ‘em a test run to see which feels the best.
Motion Should Be Effortless
If you are straining to move the mouse or trackball, you will eventually develop a repetitive stress injury(RSI).
Muscles should be relaxed most of the time, and it should take minimal effort to move the mouse or ball wheel.
If your wrist or fingers stiffen in a slightly uncomfortable fashion when manipulating it or clicking it, that’s a no go.
Check Your Posture
One’s mouse arm should come straight down from the shoulder, with the elbow bent at 90 degrees.
The hand should rest gently on a flat, even surface, and the wrist should be perfectly straight, not bent to the left or right or tilted up or down.
Having good posture will greatly ease the strain on your muscles and joints.
Some Good Mice(Mouses?)
Logitech makes great input devices, I’ve used them for the last 7 or 8 years.
If you’re looking to splurge, this is a great wireless mouse:
Multiple scroll wheels, a Lithium-Ion battery, and precise laser optics make it a great buy, though a bit pricey.
If you are more economically minded:
Still plenty of bells and whistles, but at a better price range. These are both hand-specific models, logitech has many that are ambidextrous.
Trackballs
An alternative to a conventional mouse is a trackball. These are great because you can control your mouse pointer with 1 finger, and you are never running out of desk space sliding around.
I currently use one of these:
Trackman Wheel
It takes a little while to get used to moving the ball with your thumb, but once used to it movement is effortless and precise.
There is a wireless version for those who don’t like cords.
I used the Marble Mouse for 5 years, and eventually started to get wrist trouble.
I would flick my hand up to pull the ball back towards me, stiffening the muscles on the top of my wrist – if i had better habits I could have avoided the beginnings of an RSI.
Still a solid choice, works for righties and lefties. Definitely build good habits of using gentle pressure with your fingers and not the whole hand to move the ball.
Let me know if you have any suggestions for a good poker mouse!