Poker History and Playing in Vegas

Not really to my surprise, but my posts have been few and far between. Part of this is not finding time to blog though much of this is the explosion of microblogging (Facebook, Twitter) since I started this blog. I'm going to try to blog more on my poker sessions and see if that will get me writting more on a regular basis.

So I thought I'd start with writing how I got into playing poker on a serious recreational basis and making regular trips to Las Vegas.

Mark Rafn first explained Texas Hold ‘em to me sometime in late 2004 or early 2005 and we played at work for Hershey’s kisses. This was just after BEA Systems announced they were closing the Seattle office and we weren't very busy or very motivated. I first played in Las Vegas in April 2005 (2/4 limit at the Flamingo), but really didn’t know what I was doing. I was there to meet my parents and see the Cubs-Mariners spring training game and coincidentally some of my friends who played were there and introduced me to live hold ‘em for money. I think I screwed around for six months or so – made some trips to Muckleshoot with a couple of friends. I remember one drive where they were trying to explain starting hand ranges to me, so I was pretty clueless at that point. I bought Lee Jones Winning Low Limit Hold ‘em in January of 2006, finally had some idea how to play, and got more serious. That’s really the start of my hold ‘em play with any thought to starting hands and actually strategy of play and level 1 thinking.

I started playing low limit in local card rooms, mainly the now closed Kenmore Lanes. (As a side note, I think I've played more hours in local card rooms that are now closed than that are still open.) Monica and I met her family in Vegas in February 2006 and I got in a few limit sessions. April 2006 was the first time I/we went to Vegas for the primary purpose of playing poker (along with my business partner and some of her friends) and my poker record keeping starts here. A group of us went in November 2006 (I won the Sahara tournament twice) and that was the first time I played no limit cash games. We went in March 2007 and then again in September. In 2008 I went to Vegas in January, March, and August. I was there again for March madness and a "business" trip in October. I'm trying to get back in December.

Why Vegas? Well, the glitz and glamor are a lot of fun. But the big factors are variety of places to play, really bad players, and good tournaments.

Locally I play almost exclusively at Snoqualmie Casino. It opened a year ago so has that new feel and it's a nice place and 15-20 minutes away. But the room is small (10 tables) and cramped. And the choices are 4-8 limit or 2-5 NL with a 300 max buy in. I'd rather play with deeper stacks where there's more money to win. And the tournament selection is pretty sparse. It's weekend mornings at Snoqualmie. Sure there are other tournaments and places to play. But only the tribal ("Indian") casinos have anything close to a no limit game.

I usually play at Snoqualmie Sunday AM when the Bears don't play and Monday or Tuesday night and then Friday or Saturday night. But it winds up twice a week at most. And there's a friendly penny stakes home game that runs occasionally on Wednesdays.

College Football, SEC Dominates

Because of the baseball playoffs, my car radio is usually on ESPN Radio in the evenings, so in the mornings I've been listening to much more sports talk than normal.

There's a lot of talk about SEC dominance in football. Florida and Alabama are #1 and #2. And they've mentioned that the SEC has won the last three national championships. I was looking at it and was surprised the SEC run is actually deeper than that. LSU won after the 2003 season, Florida after 2006 and last year and LSU again in 2007. That's 4 of 6 and in 2004, Auburn finished 12-0 but was shut out of the title game by two other 12-0 teams. And Georgia and LSU have had top 3 finishes in years the SEC won the title.

So the interesting question is could you have two SEC team play for the National Championship. The consensus was "no" and I agree the pollsters wouldn't let it happen. But it's pretty stupid -- if Alabama and Florida are the clear best teams in the country, go undefeated and settle the SEC Championship in double overtime, and LSU is the third best team (losing only to Florida and Alabama) do you really want Cincinnati, Boise State, or USC in the the title game?

MLB Playoffs

It's been proven time and again that the baseball playoffs are a crap shoot. As much as people like to see the Yankees as great and a "sure" thing to make the World Series, history shows they're just better than 50-50 to win each series. It's of course a bit better with a 1-0 lead already.

My take, I have no clue who will win but bet the underdogs -- Rockies, Twins, Cardinals. Not really sure who's the dog in the Boston-LA series.

NFL So Far

I figure it takes three weeks to really have any idea about the football season. Any given game can be an outlier and with two games it's hard to know which is real and which is the outlier. After four weeks, we have a really good idea.

The Browns, Chiefs, Raiders, Redskins, Lions, Buccaneers, Rams, and Panthers are terrible. Despite being 2-2, Washington has beaten Rams and Buccaneers, by five points total, and lost to the Lions. Incredibly they get the Panthers and Chiefs next and might make it to 3-3 or 4-2; but then they'll finish 2-8 or 1-9. If Matt Hasselback doesn't return soon, the Seahawks join that group. That's a quarter of the league that's horrible.

Giants, Ravens, Patriots, Colts, and Saints appear to be the elite teams. Despite being 4-0, I'm not convinced the Broncos and Vikings are better than average the rest of the way; of course 6-6 will get them to 10-6 and likely playoffs. Next batch of teams -- Bears, Bengals (maybe), Eagles, Falcons (maybe), and 49ers (maybe).

The rest of the league looks mediocre. Despite being 0-4, the Titans should be decent. Of course, you can't overcome an 0-4 start and make the playoffs.

Check back in 12 weeks.

Maybe they need an exhibition season

The first half of the Rams-Seahawks game is the worst exhibition of pro football I've seen in a long time.

The Rams fumbled the opening kickoff and the Seahawks started the season on the Rams 19 yard line. Incomplete, incomplete, interception in the end zone. The Seahawks also turned the ball over on the first play of their third possession. Oh but it gets worse, check out the Rams next possession.

Incomplete pass, offensive holding, defensive offside, timeout Rams, incomplete pass, timeout Rams, bad snap followed by Bulger throwing the ball in the ground to avoid a sack (marginally legal), punt downed at the 4 and the Seahawks waste a challenge. One set of downs, six bad plays and that doesn't count the three incompletions.


Oh, it keeps going. The Rams have third and one on the Seahawks nine -- false start, delay of game, missed field goal.

With the half winding down the Seahawks attempt a 49-yard field goal which the Rams block and run back for a touchdown. Then the replay official notices the Rams had 12 men on the field.

One half: four turnovers, 11 penalties (nine by the Rams), two botched field goals, an a bad challenge.

Maybe if they had an exhibition season like baseball where the starters got to play under game conditions, it would look like pro football out there.