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Reasons to Play Poker on Christmas

Dan — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:14:46 +0000

Christmas is a time of caring, sharing, spending time with family and, for those who are die-hard about poker, hitting the tables. Sure poker may not be a holiday tradition for many people, however, it certainly can be if you enjoy the game enough. After all, why put your passion on hold for a whole day? With that in mind, here’s a look at a few reasons why you should play poker on Christmas.

Major Poker Points

The best reason why you should play poker on Christmas is because rooms are willing to jack up the amount of poker points they give out during this time of year. Some rooms triple or quadruple the amount of points given out which makes it very enticing to play. And we all know that poker points are awesome because you can use them to get into tournaments for free or even cash them out for real money!

Lots of Bad Players

Christmas is a day when many people get the work day off. Seeing as how this is the case, you can find a lot of recreational players online who are really bad at the game. Since your goal is to make money, playing against these awful players is an excellent way to pad your bankroll.

Earn Money Back

Anybody who has a heart is willing to spend money on their family in the form of presents. Of course, some presents are really expensive so this can put a hole in your bank account. So after all of those presents have been opened and the food has been eaten, hop online and start playing some poker so you can earn that money back!

Original WSOP Home Closes

Dan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:30:34 +0000

When you think of the World Series of Poker, you definitely have to think Binion’s since this is where the WSOP got its start. Back in 1970, Benny Binion named his former invitational poker tournament the World Series of Poker which gave rise to what is now the most prolific poker event in the world. Unfortunately, it has just been announced that Binion’s will be closing down some of its facilities.

Facing financial pressure from an already declining Las Vegas hotel market, TLC Enterprises (owner of Binion’s) has decided to close the hotel area, steakhouse, keno parlor, and coffee shop. The move comes as a result of the company’s failure to attract guests to the $21 – $54 rooms that are available.

It’s no surprise that Binion’s can’t attract guests seeing as how we’re mired in an economic slump, and the hotel doesn’t even offer wireless Internet. Even the scary mom and pops hotels out in the middle of the country have wireless Internet these days so it is amazing that TLC Enterprises refuses to opt for this service. Aside from the Internet thing, most people would just rather prefer to stay in the modern, updated hotels rather than a historical cavern.

At least some of the history will still be available to people since the poker room, casino, and sports book will all stay open. However, I don’t know how many people are going to frequent these areas when there is no nearby hotel to stay at. In my opinion, TLC Enterprises has just badly mismanaged the hotel and casino, and everyone who wants to visit will be the ones suffering.

Is Limit Hold’em really a Solved Game?

Dan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:59:56 +0000

In all the different variations of poker, there is perhaps none that involve as much math and statistics as Limit Hold’em does. With Limit Hold’em, people can make most of their plays based on statistical percentages and be a profitable player over the long run (in theory). There are plenty of poker bots and little experiments such as the machine vs. man challenges that support this line of thinking too.

In fact, these poker bots have fueled the software industry which is constantly churning out new products designed to give people an advantage over their opponents. There are so many products available that many people are starting to wonder if Limit Hold’em is a solved game.

After all, poker software can pretty much tell players everything they need to know from how many times an opponent sees the flop to how likely they are to call on the river. It’s almost unfair how much a person can gain over their opponents by using poker software. I guess that’s why so many online poker players are buying up this software so they don’t get left behind.

But just because there is detailed poker software which helps people out with all these stats doesn’t mean Limit Hold’em is a solved game. There are just too many other things you need to keep track of to call Limit solved. For one thing, the software can only put opponents on a range of cards. Sure knowing an opponent’s range is helpful, but it’s not an exact science.

And if you can’t pin down an opponent’s cards exactly then some reading abilities do come into play. Plus it is the player who makes all of the final decisions in online poker so the software is only an aid. In short, people have a long way to go before they completely solve Limit Hold’em.