Ben's Pittsburgh Poker Blog

Why do people have a problem with AA?

2008-02-21T01:47:00.003-05:00

Went to Wheeling again and had a friend tell me that they would never play AA there. Never. Just would flat out fold those bullets before the flop. All I said was "WTF??" You just want to fold the best hand in poker without playing it?? And the thing is, they're not alone. All around the tables you hear the same complaints about getting their Aces cracked. But to me, it's not that their Aces were beat, it's that they were beat bad (but not necessarily a bad beat though).

To be a good poker player, you have to understand where your hand lies in relation to what other people may have. The fact that you have AA just means that you have a better starting hand than the other players at the table, but the flop can quickly take that away. I saw a hand one time where a player with AA ended up having the 5th biggest hand after the flop after 3 players flopped flushes and the 4th flopped 2 pair. He just misplayed the hand and because they were Aces, he stuck around with all the betting all the way to the river (even when a 4th club came and he did not have the Ace).

So right after my friend tells me that they won't play AA, I am sitting with them at a 1-2 NL table and I get dealt 2 red Aces (very pretty looking). A player raised to $11, I called, and there were a couple more callers after me. Flop came with an A, which I really don't want to see. This means I am almost guaranteed to win the hand, but since there is only 1 more Ace left in the deck, it is unlikely someone else has it and so all players may fold to any bet. So I let the original raiser bet for me, called again, and had a couple players fold. Turn was a blank, checked all around. The river gave a 4 card straight on the board (3,5,6,7) and I doubted there was a 4 out there so I bet, got one caller, and took down the pot. I show the Aces and tell my friend that you can win with them...

The very next hand I get AA again! This time, I initiate the raising making it $15. Get 2 callers. And once again I spike an Ace on the flop. Crap. I know I won't make any money this hand. Check to me, of course. I make a $15 continuation bet, knowing that there will probably be 2 folds and am not disappointed. But it would have looked too fishy if I had checked. Showed my Rockets again and got some ribbing from the players. Mucked around for a bit and left even. At least I didn't lose any money...

Casino Tipping 101

2008-02-13T00:30:00.003-05:00

I've been working as a blackjack and roulette dealer for a couple of months now and have heard some varying opinions about tipping in casinos. I have heard some people say that they never tip when playing BJ or any other table games and I have to wonder HUH??? Their excuse is that the dealer has no say in the outcome, it is the player's money at stake, and the casino pays the dealers a wage anyways so why should they tip extra. You tip extra because, just like when you go to a restaurant and order food or when you take a taxi, the person you tip has provided a service. And you tip based on the quality of that service. So if a waiter forgets part of your order or if a taxi driver is rude in conversation, you tip less, if at all. The same holds for casino dealers. A dealer's job is to make the players time at the table as enjoyable as possible while they take your money. That's their job... to take your money. And you know this when you sit down so don't be surprised when it happens. But if you win money, and the dealer has made your stay at his/her table enjoyable, then give them a tip. And the amount is not set in stone like in a restaurant. I don't ever expect 15%. But if you walk up to a roulette table and throw $100 on black, hit it, let it ride, and get hit againg, throw the dealer $5 or $10 as you are walking away with your $300 profit. I know you may be down a couple grand already, but now you are doing a little bit better and the dealer had a part in it.

Roulette is a tough game for tokes if a player is not tipping until they leave the table. Players often sit too long (they get up big, keep playing, and get knocked to nothing) so when you have a big hit (3X or more the total amount wagered... i.e. if you are playing 20 $1 chips on the number and hit 2 or 3 straight up on a number and win $70 or $105) toss the dealer a dollar or two. Or, if you want, play a bet or 2 for the dealer. Tell the dealer you would like to play for them and give them the chips. They will convert them to another color or value chips, and then have them place them on a couple of your bigger bets. This way if you win, they win. Dealers will appreciate being part of the game and will root for your numbers to hit and they will probably be more fun to have around (it gets pretty tedious spinning a ball all night).

With blackjack, the play is more steady so the tipping should be more steady. And the tipping can depend on the size of your bet. If I'm playing BJ and win a few hands in a row, I will play a little bit for the dealer. This way when the player wins, the dealer wins. If I go on a losing streak I might throw a tip up to try to get the streak to go away. But when I'm dealing and I have an entire table not tipping, you are going to have me tight-lipped and dealing as fast as I possibly can in the hopes that you will lose your money and someone who will tip will sit down in your place. And if you get a Blackjack and are given a $2.50 chip, don't play it on your own stack. Stick it out and play it for the dealer or give it to them outright, but you will just annoy your dealer if you get blackjack again (you figure out what 1.5 times $27.50 is... some of us are really good at math, but it is still annoying).

One other thing to remember is that most poker dealers keep their own tips, but table games tips are usually pooled for a 24 hour period. So if you see a full toke box, it is going to get split between every single dealer who is working that day. All of the dealers make the same amount per hour in a casino regardless of whether they are dealing in the High Limit Blackjack room or spinning the Big 6 Wheel. This makes it more fair and allows the casino to find people to work the graveyard shift when many tables are dead. Poker dealers usually get tipped at the end of every hand so they have incentive to get as many hands per hour dealt by keeping their own tips, and this helps the casino by bringing in more rakes.

Don't get me wrong. I don't expect a tip from every person who comes to my table, but if I'm friendly, doing my job, you are enjoying my dealing, and you are winning some, be courteous and toss me something. Hope to see you at the tables!!

Why do the Poker Gods do this to me?

2008-02-13T00:07:00.003-05:00

So after work one night (or morning considering it was 5 am) I went down to Wheeling with a couple of other dealers. They mostly play blackjack and craps but I was there to play poker. When I got there there were three 1-2 NL tables going and nothing else. Sat down at one with $120 and won the first few hands I saw (AQ, 77...). Got moved to another table and grinded it out for a bit. Was up to about $200 and decided to take a break to go see what was going on upstairs. My buddies were messing around at a blackjack table so I told them I would be up in a minute. On the way down I threw $20 in a $1 slot machine and hit it up to $50. Walked by the Wheel of Fortune game and threw the $50 in it and hit it up to $140 in about 5 spins. Stuck that in my pocket (it was my poker and slot buy-in so I was even there..) and went back to the table.

At this point, the one crazy guy was gone and a couple people had moved spots. I decided to play around to the blinds and caught KQ clubs. Raised to $15 and the guy to my left raised to $30. Everyone else folded and I made the call. Flop was KQJo. Yay! Or so I thought... I checked, and he bet $70. I raised All-in. He made the fastest insta-call I had ever seen and flipped over his pocket Q's... I was just getting ready to push my chips to him and walk back upstairs when the two-outer King hit the river. The guy was shocked, I mumbled something about sorry for his bad luck, and collected the pot. Had over $400 in front of me and should have quit. But no, I stuck around because, like an idiot, I feel bad when I bad-beat someone and want to at least give the appearance that I am staying at the table to give them a chance to get their money back. So when I call a small raise with 10-7 hearts, flop a flush, raise, then get put all in on the flop and make the call, I have to expect the guy to have trips and make his boat on the turn. It's what the Poker Gods do.

Dallas Cowboys Misery

2008-01-14T16:06:00.000-05:00

Preface: Excuse me for the Bill Simmons-esque rant that is forthcoming. I've held it in for too long...

I am a big Cowboys fan. Always have been. When I was about 11-12 years old I had not yet "chosen" my favorite teams in any sport and my parents were divorced so my father was not influencing me on my choices. I also lived in western PA about equidistant from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo so everybody rooted for different teams (giving the edge to the Steeler's because of the home state favoritism). My backyard had the perfect boundaries for the neighborhood football field and every weekend there were kids playing. One of the neighbors was about 5 years older than me and often came over to throw the football around and I remember many times playing 1 on 1 football between the 2 of us. He had me beat by almost a foot in height, but I could still throw the ball high enough and long enough to be able to run underneath it (or go for the quick dump off passes and hope he slipped). But during these 1 on 1 sessions we gave running play-by-play and since he was the older (and bigger) one of us, he always was the Steeler's and, because we were archrivals, I was the Cowboys. I had to find Cowboy football cards just to figure out who was on the team. Since this happened in the very early 80's, he had the advantage of 4 Super Bowl wins and many of the superstars were still playing. I was left with Danny White, Tony Hill, Drew Pearson, and Tony Dorsett. Not a bad bunch but it did not have the prestige of the Steeler's.

Regardless, it stuck with me and I became a die-hard fan even though I have migrated closer to Pittsburgh over time (and now live within fireworks distance of Heinz Field). I stuck with them through the 80's and the end of the Landry era, through the dismal first seasons of the Jimmy Johnson era (including the 1-15 season), the exhilaration of 3 Super Bowl victories, then the slow disintegration of "America's Team" with aging superstars, drugs, poor coaching, and crappy drafts. The team always had hope, but the swagger was not there anymore. They were good but not great and I always expected the worst (and was always correct). But at the same time my hopes were never too high or never too low so I was never really disappointed. And so it continues this season...

I had hopes for this season... but not too high. This team was different than ones from the past few, but not by much. It still had T.O. (which in itself has given every team he has been part of pause in their hopes), shaky coaching, a young QB, and a running back-by-committee. But the drafting seems to be better recently. I like the focus on defense over the past few years in Ware, Canty, Carpenter and Spencer and the free agent acquisitions of Hamlin and Henry. But overall there were still many suspect moves (signing Leonard Davis), a tough schedule, and a relatively young team led by a quarterback who had less than 10 career starts to his record. The questions far outweighed the known and going into the season I could have seen the team self-destructing just as much as I could have seen them going 13-3... So I was as glad as anyone when they were undefeated going into their week 6 game agains the Patriots. But after watching them trip all over themselves in Buffalo the week before, I was not as pumped up as I shouls have been. They played well against the Pats for a while, but ended up making enough mistakes to get blown out by 21.

To their credit though, they kept playing good football. T.O. was a non-factor in the distraction department, their defense was playing well, Romo was a Pro Bowler, and the RBBC was working well with Jones and Barber. But cracks were showing and when the Boys played Detroit the week after Thanksgiving their faults were brought to the forefront. They let Kevin freaking-Jones run well and had to use a last-minute drive to beat a team that was in complete disarray. Then they lost to the Eagles at home, barely got past a injury-riddled Panthers team, and lost badly to the Redskins in the final week.

At this point the warning bells were going off and I had no doubt that they were going to have their hands full regardless of who they were playing. And when the Giants manhandled Tampa to move on, I knew there were going to be problems. Even with Eli Manning the Giants had been playing well and hadn't loss on the road since the week 1 loss to the Cowboys (which is pretty crazy when you think about how important home field advantage is around the league). But the Cowboys had beaten them twice already by double-digits each time and the game would be at home and the ream would be rested so everything should be pointing to their favor. But with T.O's ankle and with the media evening things out by beating the Jessica Simpson thing into the ground and turning the weeks leading up to the game into a circus, I was really wondering if the karma was gone.

But the real reason the Cowboys lost was coaching decisions. I love Marion Barber, but I loved him coming off the bench a lot more than I like him starting. By not starting him, he was able to be fresh in the second half of games and beat on defenses late when it mattered most (and when it could be most effective). Instead, he started the game, had a great first half, but slowed down in the second half when it mattered the most.

And the whole Terry Glenn thing mystified me. How can a team suddenly thrust a player into a prominent role on the offense after sitting out 16 weeks? Was Sam Hurd a worse player than Glenn in that situation? And did Romo feel obligated to try to ge the ball to Glenn in the game at the expense of players like Witten or Crayton? I would rather they had just gone with the players who had gotten them there rather than bring back a player who hadn't played a meaningful snap in over a year. But that's just me.

I guess there is always next year. The team is still young with only a few players on the downside of their careers. Let's just hope they don't screw up and let Jason Garrett go to become a head coach in Baltimore or Atlanta without giving him a chance (or promise) to be the head coach-in-waiting of the Cowboys (which I think he would be favorable to). The team is close, real close, to competing every year, and maybe soon I won't continually think the worst of the team before they actually play the game.

Steeler's Recap... at least we still have the Pens!

2008-01-10T01:13:00.000-05:00

Well, the Steelers' season is now over and looking back it was probably a better season than most people expected. Most people have selective memory when it comes to the Steelers and do not remember that many pundits (and local fans) did not have high hopes for the black and gold. I remember hearing predictions anywhere between 6-10 to 12-4 (from the crazy folk!). My personal prediction was a not-so-daring 9-7. But the team got off to a great start (against some lackluster opponents) which gave false hope to the masses. Now people are complaining about missed opportunities and how the team did not live up to its potential. That's a bunch of crap. The team had issues that became more evident as the season went along. There were offensive line issues that led to additional carries for Willie Parker (he still got his yards but would have approached Jamal Anderson/Larry Johnson territory for his carries if not for his injury). There were also other injury problems throughout the season to Polamalu, Holmes, Ward and others (Aaron Smith was especially devastating at the end of the season). Add to this a new coach who is learning the ropes, a semi-progression from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense, and getting almost no production at all from the rookie class, it all leads to a 10-6 season and a first-round playoff loss. Be happy and look forward to next year!

Mountaineer Table Games

2007-12-26T01:25:00.000-05:00

I have been crazy busy preparing for the opening of table games at Mountaineer. I started taking classes for Roulette, Blackjack, and other table games back in October and the casino went live on Dec 20th. I will be working the swing shift from 8 pm til 4 am and the only days off I will have any time soon were Xmas eve and Xmas. So far I have only dealt Blackjack, but I did get to work the High Limit room for a couple nights. That is good and bad... good because it means that management trusts you to work the big tables and deal to the top players, but bad because it is slower in there and the players are not as energetic at the tables since they are gambling hundreds of dollars (or thousands) instead of ten or twenty bucks.

The first player I dealt to in the High Limit room won $4k on one hand which was pretty cool. He had 6's while I was showing a 3, split them, got another 6, split it, got 16, 16, and an Ace for 17, Doubled that down and got a 10 to keep the 17. I flipped over another 3, then a 5 for 11. I thought he was toast, but then I flipped a 2 then a 10 to bust so he won big. I got tapped out then and he left a couple hundred dollars in tips which was cool. But the rest of the night was hit and miss. I might have a player for an hour, but then would go an hour without anyone. There were always players in the room, but they often tried to join in to other tables rather than be the only player at a table so one table might be busy while the next one had nobody.

I did work a $15 table the one night and it was a blast. A couple of girls from Pittsburgh were at the table and stayed for hours. They knew everybody's name at the table and made it fun. Unfortunately I was coming down with the flu and just couldn't get into the fun. I had to focus really hard on the cards and dealing and trying not to pass out. I asked to be let out early but the Pit Boss forgot and by the time 2 am came around I figured I would just tough it out.

And I will tell you right now, dealing is 100 times tougher than I ever thought it would be. I feel like I got run over by a truck by the time I get home every night and the constant struggle at the table is murder on the head. The player's are happy when they are winning and act like your best friend, but when they go on a losing streak (which is often), they curse you under their breath and act like you are ruining their lives. They know that it is just the cards, but since you are dealing it must be your fault somehow. I just always root for them to win and try to have fun with it and I think they appreciate it. I seem to do pretty well with tips so I must be doing something right...

Wheeling Parts 2,3 & 4 :-)

2007-11-03T15:28:00.000-04:00

Wheeling has finally settled down during the week but the weekends are still too crazy to try to play. I made it over a few more times. The first day was a Thursday and there were about 12 tables going. I saw some good cards and caught a couple lucky flops (like limping in with 5-6o and flopping 2-3-4) and left up $300 after an hour and a half.

The following week I went back twice (Wed & Thurs). On Wednesday there were only 6 tables active and I had to wait about 30 minutes for a 2-5 table to start. My luck did not hold up as I was continually out-flushed, out-kicked, or just counterfeited. For instance I raised to $25 with AQo. Had a couple callers and the flop came A99 rainbow. I bet out $50 and a guy says "I know you have me beat but I might as well call.". Yay. Just what I want to hear. The next card was the Ks (2 spades on the board now) so if the guy has an A then it will be a split. I bet out $50 again anyways (looking back I probably should have made it more??) and he said again "I'm beat but I will call". Wtf??? Now the 4s comes out but I bet out $50 again and again he calls and shows his A7s giving him the nut flush. Crap. A little while later a lady came to the table and immediately became the table leader. She was talking, raising, and bullying everyone around. She bought in for the max ($500) and quickly had it up to over $1000. I just sat back and waited for a chance to catch her firing at the wrong time. I limped in to a hand with KJo with about 6 players. The flop came Q-10-9 rainbow. Perfect!! I checked and bully lady led out with an $80 bet (way over pot). The guy next to her (the same one that hit the flush on me) went all-in with $91. I then raised all-in with my remaining $136. Bully lady quickly made the call and showed J8o for the low straight. The other guy showed top pair and they both quickly figured they were done when I showed my hand. Unfortunately a K came on the river, which split the pot between the bully lady and myself. That's about $180 that doesn't come my way. So I got up when I was down about $220 and was really ticked about some of the beats. I went up to the $5 slot area and threw $20 in and on the last credit hit for $250. I immediately walked out the door with $10 more than I entered with and called it a win.

The next day I went back over and things were going about the same. I just couldn't seem to get anything going and folded at least 90% of my hands over the first hour and a half or so. Eventually a new dealer came to the table named Kelly. Well she continued to give me absolutely crap cards and when I looked down and saw 2-3 offsuit I finally had enough. I said to the dealer "Kelly, you know my wife's name is Kelly and my ex-wife's name is Kelly, and neither of them treat me as bad as you do." (the wife name thing is true by the way). She then responded "Well, do you know how to play poker?" Ouch... The next hand she gave in a little and dealt me KQo. I raised, got a caller, threw a continuation bet out at the flop and took it down. She left after a couple more hands and the new dealer said that every table complained about dead cards after Kelly left (he was following her around all day). After a few hands he throws me 9-10 clubs. I cracked Aces with this hand last week so I figured I would try again. I called the $5 then a guy raised to $25. I called along with 2 other players. The flop came Ac 8c 4d. One player checked to me and I led out $35. The next player called and then the original raiser made it $100. The checker folded and I thought about it for a bit and made the call. The next player also made the call. The next card came the Kc and made my flush. I checked, next player checked, and then the raiser bet $150 and said he was putting me in. I counted out my stack and I had $146 left and made the call. The last guy only had $20 left and he also called. I flipped up my flush and the raiser showed AsQc so he still had the flush draw. The river came a harmless A and I took down the pot for about $700. The guy was pretty annoyed at getting beat. He understood but thought I wondered why I didn't go away with the reraise. I just figured this was a chance to win a monster pot so I had to take it. About 15 minutes later he brought up the hand again (you can tell he had been replaying it in his head over and over. He told me I played it really well by betting out with the A on the board and just a flush draw because it looked to him like I had a weaker Ace. I won a couple more hands and got up to $800 and cashed out up about $550 for the day. Not a bad 2 1/2 hours of work.

News from Mountaineer: It looks like table games should be starting in the middle of December, depending on the State lottery commission. I'm going to be spending a few extra hours a day practicing after my blackjack classes in the mornings to get ready for it. I can't wait to get started!

Wheeling Poker Room

2007-10-21T23:24:00.000-04:00

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted. A lot has happened since to me since then. I still work for the National Pub Poker League, but I have started classes at Mountaineer Race Track for Roulette and Blackjack, which will be starting around the first of the year. At that time I may quit my current position with the National Pub Poker League or I may stay on part-time. I'll decide later or let my boss decide for me.

As I mentioned, the West Virginia race tracks voted to allow table games, including poker. I decided to go to work at Mountaineer, which means I will not be able to play poker or anything else there. But I can still go to Wheeling so this blog is going to focus more on my adventures (or misadventures) at their poker room. I am hoping to get there at least once a week, but I may have to wait to get there that much until I start working at Mountaineer.

But I did make it to Wheeling on opening day (Oct 19th). The room opened at 10am and I arrived at about noon. It was very busy but they were just opening a 2-5 NL table so I immediately got seated. One problem that I immediately noticed was their small cashier. Some of it was first-day inexeperience, and some of it was the lottery commission ruling that dealers could not buy-in players at the table, but it made for long lines to wait for chips. Since we were starting a new table, they sent a chip runner to the table to get chips for everyone but it still took 15 minutes to get things started.

I won't bore you with details, but I was card dead for 5 hours. The best hands I saw in that time were AKs, AJo, A10o, 66, 55, and 22 and the only one that was a winner was the 66 (hit the set on the flop). Ended up down about $300 but won back $60 at a slot machine while walking out the door. The play was what I hoped for, a sizable amount of fish and the players who were threats were easily recognized. I just couldn't seem to get any traction and had to fold often when I went from a favorite to behind on the turn or river. You'll have those days and have to realize that the odds can only get better.

One thing that they have to work on is deciding on some basic rules. One major one that came up was how to deal with a dead button. On a couple occassions, the person who was the small blind ended up losing all their chips and leaving the table. Therefore the following hand they would be required to be the dealer button. I have seen this handled 2 different ways in various casinos, but they came up with a totally different, ridiculous way to deal with it. The simple way would be to move the button to the dead seat and continue the blinds as they were. Everyone gets to be a blind and there are no problems. But an empty seat is the dealer and some people think that this should not be. I have also seen the dealer button skip to the next person at the table (i.e. the previous big blind). With this way, 2 players miss their blinds (1 misses the small and 1 misses the big). This is really not a big deal at a cash table, but it annoys some of the other players. However Wheeling came up with a third way that is totally confusing and ridiculous. The dealer button moves to the next person, but they remain their required blind. And since 2 seats to the left of the dealer should pay blinds, then they are also a big blind. So the seats look like this D (also SB), BB, BB... three freaking blinds!!! The next hand, the person who was the first BB is now the dealer and SB, the other BB is now a SB, and there is also a BB. So the 2nd hand is also mucked up and looks like D (SB), SB, and BB. THe next hand everything is back to normal. So instead of just having a dead dealer and no issues, they have 2 hands with extra blinds and is completely confusing. This may change quickly, and many dealers may not know the rules so it may not happen often, but it was pretty dumb.

I have a bunch of stuff to talk about with Roulette at Mountaineer, but it will have to wait...

Best Hour of Cards... Ever...

2007-02-14T15:07:00.000-05:00

I wish I had been playing a bigger game, but I had the best hour of cards ever dealt to me. In that hour I was dealt AA 4 times, numerous KQ, AJ, AQ type hands, hit the flush or straight every time I needed to, and played all the hands to max value. Incredible... Heck, I got 2 of the pocket Aces on back-to-back hands. I should have realizes it was going to be a good hour when I hit KQ clubs on the first hand and almost tripled up. The game was a $10 buy-in cash game with $.25/$.50 blinds. You can buy-in as many times as you want, but you can't leave the table with money until the game ends after 1 hour. It started off with 6 players and within half an hour it was down to 4. By this point I was up to almost $100 in front of me and I just coasted the last 30 minutes. I finished at $105 with the other players all under $30. Not bad for a kiddie cash game...

Bar Game

2007-02-08T14:28:00.000-05:00

So I was playing a little bar game last night... 11 players all packed in to a table meant to fit 8, $.25- $.50 blinds. Sat down with $20 and hit a couple of hands with connectors to put me up to about $70. Donkeyed off a little of it and we lost a few players so it opened up a little. I got J6 clubs on the BB and called a small raise. Flop was 6 J J and I flopped the boat. I checked and the initial raiser bet $1. One caller and I slow called. Next card was a 7. I checked again and the raiser bet $2. Again, 0ne caller and then I slow called. River was a K. I bet out $5. The raiser came over top to $20. The other caller folded quick. I put the guy all-in (he only had $2) left. The guy couldn't flip over his KK fast enough and when I showed my boat too, the oohing and ahhhing started. I don't think I played it bad, probably could have raised on the turn and he may have gone away, but with the way the game was going, he probably would have called an all-in. I finished up about $10 which paid for the couple of beers I had...

Catching up with Pittsburgh...

2007-02-03T00:24:00.000-05:00

Well, I am officially back in Pittsburgh. It's been a whirlwind 6 months in Wisconsin, and I am disappointed that things did not go as planned there, but I am thrilled to be back in the 'burgh and looking forward to figuring out what I missed...

Let's start off with the Steeler's... when I left, they were defending Super Bowl champs but they had some big issues. Big Ben's face, no extension for Cowher, no Bettis, Santonio Holmes arrests... but they came out and beat what was thought to be a good Miami team on opening night. Now I am back and there was no playoffs, no more Cowher (not to mention Whisenhunt, Grimm, or Hoak), and next season is a HUGE question mark with the new coach. He has things in place, but Cowher was a terrific motivator and Tomlin has some huge shoes to fill in that regard. And with Baltimore and Cincinnati having quality teams and Cleveland looking like they might turn things around with Crennel, it's going to be hard for the Steeler's to become a dominant team again quickly.

At least things are looking up for the Buccos. I like LaRoche but I still don't know if their starters will be enough. Every team needs a solid veteran to anchor their rotation, or at least be a guy where the rest of the team has confidence behind whenever they are on the mound. They may pitch a bad game here and there, but everyone knows that they can count on the guy when things are going bad. Young pitchers need to grow into that role and I'm not sure if there is anyone currently on the staff that can handle that role now. The offense should be good, but the Cubs and Brewers both did some work too and it will be hard for the Pirates to get out of the 5th spot in the division.

Meanwhile when I left Pittsburgh, the Penguins were relying on the Isle of Capri to save the team and get them a new arena. I like what the Pens have done management-wise in trying to get a new arena. Over the past few years they had very little to bargain with. Lemieux came out of retirement to try to jump-start things and when that did not work (because the NHL had horrible salaries where small-market teams were having a hard time competing) he stopped spending money, lost a lot of games, got some good draft picks and used them wisely. Now the team is loaded with young talent, fans are going to the games, and Lemieux has suitors from around the country who want the team to move. There really is no excuse now for the State and local governments to get together and create a plan that keeps the team in Pittsburgh for a long, long time.

Well, I have not mentioned poker yet. The one thing about Wisconsin is that they have Indian casinos all over the state and about half have poker rooms. The one in Green Bay at Mason Street was nice with 2-5 NL and 3-6 Limit. I stuck to the NL and did ok... some big hits and small losses. The Ho-Chunk Casino was located about 8 minutes from my house in Baraboo but they did not have poker... until 3 weeks ago when I had determined that I was moving back. They only have limit (3-6, 5-10, and occasionally 10-20) and I was not able to go even once!! ARGHH!! But I do have an interesting hand that a friend of mine witnessed...

3-6 Limit. Flop comes A K Q all clubs. 3 players in the hand. Player 1 bets, player 2 calls, Player 3 raises. Player 1 raises, player 2 calls again, and player 4 says something about flopping the flush and caps the raising at 4 bets. Player 1 says "I have outs!" and calls. Player 2 calls too.

Next card is a blank. Player 1 bets, player 2 calls, player 3 raises. Player 1 finally just calls and player 2 calls.

Last card is a K. Player 1 says "Gotcha!" and bets. Player 2 suddenly wakes up and raises. Player 3 calls for some reason (he has to know he's beat and that player 1 caught a boat). Player 1 raises and player 2 caps the betting at 4 bets. Player 3 shows his cards to my buddy and says something about not being good. But he goes ahead and calls. At this point Player 1 looks at Player 2 and asks if he has Aces? But he calls the bet. Player 1 shows AK, Player 3, who should have folded as soon as the King hit the river shows 9-7 clubs, and Player 2, who did not raise until the river, shows J 10 clubs for the Royal Flush... needless to say there was a lot of oohing an ahhing over the hand. If it was No Limit, I have no doubt that everybody would have had all their money in. But that's what I don't like about Limit: you can't get your money in and use it to your advantage. So therefore you get sucked out on a lot and do a lot of sucking.

Til next time!