Yesterday marked the 16th successful event of the Calgary Poker Meetup Group. 25 players battled for a prize pool of $567 which paid out the top 3 players. I managed to get just over the bubble into 3rd place and have yet to take down first place in an event here. No one really wants nor expects the organizer (me) to place in the money, which always makes for good fun. A handful of us are at almost every event, and the other half are either new recruits or players that come out only once in a while. No matter who seems to show up, there is the usual table talk of how so and so is playing like a donkey . . . etc . . . etc. Anyone who plays tight can expect get around 2 hours worth of entertainment. After that, it is almost anyone’s game as the blinds escalate rather quickly. No one wants to play too long, so it really works out quite well. We will be scheduling our next live poker event at Cash Casino in the coming weeks and anyone who is part of our group will get an email invite.

See you all at the next event!
Kevin

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Someone showed me this today and of course I coughed up the $2.39 to do it. There is no scheme, or MLM. You simply are purchasing ebooks (information) and the person who showed it to you gets a $2 commission for your purchase. You then show others and make $2 everytime you refer someone and they join the progam.

There is no downline or magic bonuses. Just a simple commission. You can put your affiliate link in your email signature or find other creative ways to share this product.

Adds up after a while -

Try it here: http://www.twodollars.biz/?a=533896

Cheers!

KevinPoker.com is launching a networking campaign to link poker blogs from every country in the world. The first poker blogger from each country that adds me to their blogroll will also get a reciprocating link from KevinPoker.com with the name of country and the name of the blog listed. As long as your blog is about poker you will probably get the link subject to my approval.

Be the first to be part of a unique directory of poker blogs from all over the world. When we have completed our links to every country on the planet, we will do it again, and add 1 more blog from each country. We will track how long it takes to achieve each phase of this 2 phase goal. Please post your questions or submit your blogs by replying to this post.

This Is My Favourite Story About Dealing Poker In Calgary:

A few years ago I found myself working the night shift with some of my fellow poker dealers and nothing really was out of order (at least I thought) for a typical night of poker at the casino where I was working. Then I saw something on top of the garbage can that caught my eye. It was a bunch of soggy wet un-smoked cigarettes just sitting there drying off. I thought it was pretty odd to see something like that. My first thought was to just throw them directly into the underlying opening flap where the rest of the trash gets deposited.

Then I realized that these cigarettes probably belonged to George (I changed his name to protect his identity). I asked George if those were his cigarettes and he promptly admitted to me that they were, and he told me to please leave them alone until they could dry out. So I asked George why these cigarettes were wet? He told me that when he was using the bathroom, they accidentally slipped out of his pocket and fell into the toilet. Trying hard not to burst out laughing I asked George why he wanted to keep them then, since the toilet is obviously dirty. He said it was not a problem because the water in the toilet (at the time) was clean. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! This guy was so obsessed with his cigarettes (never mind being obsessed with poker) that he was not about to throw away some perfectly good cigarettes just because they were wet. They would be dried out and smoked, just like any other perfectly good cigarettes.

I could hardly keep this story to myself and told my supervisor at the time, who also couldn’t believe what I was telling him. Over the years we joked about this incident a hundred times, and of all the years of dealing late night poker, there has never been a funnier story or incident that I can recall, that will even closely match this one.

Who does that? George was not your typical poker player. In fact, I am pretty sure he was a little on the crazy side. When he lost pots, he would mumble some really serious obscenities at the dealer, which most of the time no one ever heard. I picked up on it eventually, and would ask George what it was that he was trying to say, but he would just smile and look at you with his beady little eyes and say it was nothing. Then when he thought no one was paying attention he would go back to his usual soft spoken rants about how the casino was ripping him off. Frankly, George was one of the nicest people you would ever talk to in person, outside of the poker table. Clearly though, he was at least three sandwiches shy of a picnic, but no one seemed to care too much, except for the women who were disgusted with his never ending cigarette rolling, which usually ended up with half of his tobacco on the table, on himself, and everywhere else. What a guy. God love him!

How many of you Calgary poker playing wannabes have ever thought to yourself “I should write a book about poker”? It crossed my mind a few times as well, but instead of writing a book, I figured I would practise writing poker related material on a blog. I want to invite other local poker enthusiasts to join me in writing some interesting thoughts and stories that would be intriguing to the average poker player. I’m not gonna confound anyone with brilliant mathematical essays on poker strategy. That’s really not my strength, but what I can offer is a perspective on the game from a poker dealer’s angle. I have so many stories to write that would be highly interesting (and I will write many of them), but I think a collaboration of writings from other poker fanatics would make for a more popular blogging site.

Everyone has a different take on the game, and what they think makes for interesting reading. If you want a chance to have your material published on a unique site that is growing steadily, then this is a great way to showcase your writing skills, or simply a place to explain your theories, thoughts, and ideas about the game.

To become a contributor, register and then submit your article for review using the email address listed on the header at the top of this page.

Kevin plays at CanadaPoker.com

Canada Poker League 4: 100K Eh!!!

Points will also be tallied for a Prize that unfortunately cannot be disclosed until September 1st! Keep checking for updates!!!!

I think I became an instant fan when I first saw a photo of this poker diva. Who wouldn’t? Here’s a few photos (wallpapers) that are available for anyone to download off of her website:

http://www.lizlieu.net/

She also has a photostream on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liz_lieu/

I am too lazy to write any more about her or her poker carreer. You can find out all that stuff on her website. If anyone has met or played with Liz at the poker table, I would like to post your stories or comments here.

Thanks again for stopping by and please enjoy these photos:

It never fails to amaze me what people will try when they think they can get away with it. In many casino poker rooms that I have played in, there is a broad mixture of ethnicities and backgrounds. In Calgary, you will find many foreign languages spoken in a poker room. As long as this communication is only in English while the cards are out, there is usually no problem with what people say in their native language at other times.

Problems will arise as soon as players start communication in a language other than English, when these players have cards. It is up to the dealer to say something to control this kind of thing, but ultimately players need to be reprimanded by the house and punished. There is no reason to break this rule unless you have something to hide that you don’t want certain others (including the dealer) to hear. In a lot of cases I have found that collusion is not always the motivation behind this. But almost as bad, players may look for a little coaching from their close friends. Regardless of the reason, this type of communication is bad for the game. The last thing you want is for other players at the table to accuse you of cheating. Telling an ally at the table anything about your hand is straight up cheating and not welcome in any poker room.

Some poker rooms will enforce this rule differently and even dealers within the same casino will enforce this rule in varying ways. The worst thing any poker dealer can do is not to say anything. This just encourages some players to try to get away with it more. The smart players know that certain dealers will not take a harsh stance. What really is needed is for more players to complain about the abuse of this rule. Many players are reluctant to get involved at all, and usually keep silent when there is any kind of trouble on the table.

I would encourage players to complain to the houseman (off to the side) so that they can keep a closer watch on the game. You don’t have to feel like your on the spot if you see something unethical at the poker table. If someone does find out that you have said something to the house, or made any kind of complaint to the dealer, don’t be afraid to stand up for your position. Poker has to be a fair game, and if there is anything wrong happening on the table you are within your right to say something. If the players become hostile towards you for you complaint, all you need to do is talk about what the rules are. If you are getting no support from the dealer or the house then guess what? It’s time to change tables or perhaps change casinos.

There are also other steps you can take that involve calling the government, but honestly what you really need to do is evaluate your chances of success on a table full of people using illegal communication. In all cases, keep your cool. Things can get out of hand on a poker table fast, over the silliest and the simplest of things. You’ll have to be your own best judge on how far you will go to protect your bankroll, and weigh the risks of staying in any poker game with unfavourable conditions.

Kevin plays at CanadaPoker.com

Before I get into what it is that I am revising, I have to put out a plug from a unique new blog with one of the best names I have ever heard ~ The Poker Plecostomus.

I used to own a handful of these creatures who are also known as algae eaters, or bottom feeders. In the poker world, there are also bottom feeders who scrounge about looking to suck up any scraps or leftovers once the sharks and fish have devoured the rest of the meat. Well, enough said about the food chain of the poker underworld. If you are looking for some revelations, ideas, or straight poker journal entries, check him out.

So back to my revised plan on the quest for $10,000. I mentioned a couple of days ago that I would be trying this out on CanadaPoker.com.

I am still waiting for a chance to play 1 of the 2 daily freerolls, but I have been unable to line up the right time to play yet. So I got to thinking today that there are many sites that offer freeroll tournaments, and it makes no sense to limit myself to 1 particular poker site. So now the challenge will be to start this quest on whatever site I first manage to accumulate some seed money. I will simply play the freerolls wherever they are available at the times I am at the computer.

If you are not sure what this challenge is about, then you can refer to one of my previous posts that explain it: http://kevinpoker.com/?p=33

Kevin plays at CanadaPoker.com

I spent the day in Edmonton yesterday, and found myself begging the wife to let me off the hook after several hours of doing the mall thing with her and my son. West Edmonton Mall is one of our favourite places to travel to, and since my son is almost 3, he is now able to verbalize the things he sees and the things he wants to do. Riding the bumper boats of course is what he wanted to do most, but he is just a little too young to handle those things by himself. Being sick doesn’t help either, so instead he had to settle for watching the sea lion show.

I managed to slip away for a couple of hours to see what was happening in the poker room at the Palace Casino which is also in the mall. After waiting about a half hour, I finally made it into the 3-6 game (Limit Hold’em). It didn’t go well and I would love to share all of my bad beats with you, including being hammered by quads, but instead I will share just one instance of the game that grabbed me by surprise.

During play on one of the hands, the dealer is about to burn a card before putting up the “turn card” and noticed that it was boxed. This means that the burn card came off the deck face up. Having worked many years in the casino industry and particularly in poker, I knew exactly what the ruling from the Houseman would be, or should I say “should be”. This is one of those rules that I have found to be universally accepted by every card room I have ever worked in or played in. To make understanding this rule simple, I will quote out of a widely used poker rule book called “Roberts Rules Of Poker”.

A card discovered face up in the deck (boxed card) will be treated as a meaningless scrap of paper. A card being treated as a scrap of paper will be replaced by the next card below it in the deck, except when the next card has already been dealt face down to another player and mixed in with other down cards. In that case, the card that was face up in the deck will be replaced after all other cards are dealt for that round.

So to finish the story . . . the Houseman is called over to table and the dealer explains the situation. The Houseman announces that the boxed card is (as the rule states) a meaningless piece of paper. After making this announcement, the dealer nods to the Houseman as if to communicate a level of understanding and the Housemen then walks away. As he is walking away, the dealer continues to use the burn card (that is boxed) as the burn card, and then puts up the “turn card” just as she would had the burn card not been boxed at all.

No one at the table said a word and play continued to completion. I was not involved in the hand, so I also chose not to say anything, although I was baffled that things went down that way. The burn card should have been put aside and the next card should have been used in its place as the rule states. Was I the only person at the table to see what had happened, or cared? I believe I was. The Houseman should have stayed long enough to watch what the dealer did after making the ruling. I would bet dollars to doughnuts that even had he stayed and watched, the results would have remained the same.

What I believe happens with a lot of poker room management, is that they get used to hearing common solutions such as the “piece of paper” situation. Sure it is to be viewed as a meaningless scrap of paper, but that is not the end of it. There is more. The card needs to be put off to the side so that play can continue with the next card immediately replacing the boxed card. How more simple can it get? Not simple enough obviously, as I sat there bewildered.

I guess some things just are what they are, and there is no point stewing after seeing the failed execution of a correct call. I am not suggesting that everyone needs to be perfect, nor am I suggesting that people need to speak up every time an iregularity such as this one occurs. What was insane about this situation, was the fact that I seemed to be the only person that picked up on it. This is no insinuation that poker industry professionals in Edmonton are less perfect than what you would find in Calgary (God knows there are some horrible Houseman here as well), but maybe the low limit players in Edmonton are slightly more clueless? Or maybe it is that they are simply more polite? That can’t be ruled out as an explanation to the unique poker anomaly I happened to witness. At any rate, I did notice that at the Palace Casino, the players treat their dealers a lot better than what you would see in Calgary, at least that particular time.

Good for you Edmonton! I will come play with you guys anytime, and maybe next time I will have enough time to invest, so that I can take a better crack at some of your money.

Kevin plays at CanadaPoker.com