Good Times at Big Shanes

Las Vegas Trip? Who's in?

I'm sitting here with Gordon looking on Travelocity.  And I'm thinking it's time for us to all go on a Vegas trip. The date is hammered in stone, but I'm thinking somewhere around June 17 - 21st. That's leaving on Wednesday and coming back on Sunday afternoon. We can get airfare and rooms for around 400-600 a person. Who wants to go.

15Las Vegas Hilton

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Las Vegas Strip
Las Vegas, NV

Travelocity Rating

235 Reviews

Elvis stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton, which means the gaming, entertainment, and accommodations are fit for a King.
View More Hotel Info. | All room options

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Package Includes:

4 Night Stay in Classic Room
1 round-trip ticket

Booked separately:	$758
Travelocity Savings:	-$248
Travelocity price:	$510

$510

includes Flight + Hotel, Taxes & Fees

Select

Book Together and Save!

4 Night Stay in Classic Room
1 round-trip ticket

Booked separately:	$758
Travelocity Savings:	-$248
Travelocity price:	$510

This information is for the Hilton. They have some that are cheaper.
I was thinking about all of us just going down to Louisiana, but when i looked at the prices for the rooms, it is cheaper to go to Las Vegas. Even with air fare.
So Who's In?  Please post at the bottom of this on the comments bar if you'd like to come.

Thx.

Big Shane

Thanks a Million to Everyone that played in the Katy Force Charity Tourney! It was a success!

Wow!  That is the best word I can think of to describe the tournament. We had great turn out, almost everyone showed up that said they were going to. We had a total of 38 players in the tournament. I'd like to say thanks to support staff that did not play in the tournament. They were very accommodating, and did there best to make the players feel spoiled. It was nice. I ran out of Modelo's but she kept the cold beers coming for me.  I'd also like to thank all of the players that came to play and help out the Katy Force Girls Softball team, we were able to raise $2,200 for the girls!  That money is going to go a long ways for the team.

I'm going to have to get a couple of names, as I can't remember everyone's name that finished in the money, and it's 4:17 in the morning and I don't think Jeff wants me calling me asking..."hey what was that guys name to my right?"  As soon as I find out I'll post there names on here.

1. Randy Sturm - $1,920
2. Shane McCarthy $529
3. Daylan Gardner $299
4. Can't remember $230
5. Can't remember $184
6. Marty $138

THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE THAT PLAYED!  I HAD AN ABSOLUTE BLAST!  I LOVE RE-BUYS!

Oh, by the way, great job on the little chip cards Lea. Every table I was at I saw people looking at the cards all night, I know they were used a lot. Good idea.

Big Shane

 

Poker Bank Roll Management

The question I’m probably asked the most is "How much money do I need in my poker bankroll to play at specific limits."  The standard answer I give out is 300BB’s (big bets).  I don’t how exactly this became the rule of thumb, but 300BB’s seems to be the size of the average poker bankroll.  This rule will suffice for probably 80% of players.  You could probably get away with having less in your poker bankrolls as it’s not often you’re going to go through a 200BB downswing, but it could happen.  And if it does happen then you’re far less likely to tilt and lose your cool if you know that you have enough money left to see you past the negative down swing.  Because that’s really what poker bankrolls are for, to see you through the negative fluctuations we all experience from time to time.  Most downswings never go past 100BB’s but if you’ve only got 150BB’s in your poker bankroll, as you begin to approach that negative 100BB point you’re going to get emotional.  And that will almost always lead to playing emotionally driven poker as opposed to making logical, cool headed, intelligent decisions at the table.  I’ve been through 100BB downswings several times, and I know for a fact that I wouldn’t have played as well if I knew that I only had another 100BB’s left in my bankroll.  Poker bankrolls are there to support your emotional well being as much as your financial well being.  Your bankroll is there to keep you from playing scared.

If you’re planning on earning a living playing poker, then in my opinion 300BB’s is not enough to keep in your poker bankrolls.  I would go with a minimum of 500BB’s.  Personally if I played poker for a living and had to support a family, my poker bankroll would have 1k BB’s in it, but then I don’t like risk.  But then again I’d never play poker for a living.  I enjoy it too much and don't want it to become a grind.  I think of poker as being a serious hobby that allows me to purchase cool toys from time to time that I otherwise wouldn’t have purchased for myself.

The poker bankroll you require also depends on at what limits and what game you’re playing.  Again, if you’re doing this for fun as I do, then 300BB’s should be fine, but if you’re going to play for rent money, then you need more.  If I was going to play high limit or no limit and support my family while doing it, then I would have at least 1k BB’s available to me.  I know that’s a lot of money to keep in a poker bankroll, but then I know people who do this for a living that have experienced down swings that have lasted a month or longer.  Not fun.  For the rest of us, try to keep 300BB’s in your poker bankrolls and you’ll be just fine.

 

Poker Bankroll Limits Chart

Limit		Bankroll Needed
$.50 - $1.00		$300.00
$1.00 - $2.00		$600.00
$2.00 - $4.00		$1,200
$3.00 - $6.00		$1,800
$5.00 - $10.00		$3,000
$10.00 - $20.00		$6,000
$15.00 - $30.00		$9,000
$20.00 - $40.00		$12,000

If your poker bankroll drops down to 300BB’s of the limit below you, then drop down to that limit until you again reach 300BB’s at your current limit.  For instance, while playing $1.00 - $2.00, your poker bankroll drops from $600 down to $300.  Then drop down to $.50 - $1.00 and play until your poker bankroll is back up to $600.  Always try to stay within the correct poker bankroll limits.

Online Poker Tells

Unlike in real life, unfortunately there just aren’t that many poker tells you can pick up online.  And many of the tells that you think you might have spotted aren’t tells at all, but simply pre-selected actions chosen by players that are multi-tabling.  For instance, many people say that checking immediately on the flop indicates weakness.  Personally for me it indicates nothing, as I usually play four tables at a time and sometimes pre-select check/call on one table then immediately move to the next.  If someone bets or raises, then I'll have time to come back and look at the situation more carefully.

I guess I’m writing this article not so much to give you amazing insights into the world of online poker tells, but more as to warn you not to take them too seriously.  I’ve seen articles and even e-books lay out in detail how you can gain a huge advantage reading poker tells online.  A millisecond pause before checking means this, or betting after exactly so many seconds means that.  For all you know it could simply be that your opponent's ISP is having hiccups.  Or they could be on the phone while playing, or maybe they had to jump up to answer the door, or their cat Jinkyboo may have just knocked their coffee over onto the keyboard.  Who knows?  I personally have never put much weight on the tells that I occasionally pick up.

Having said that, the standard tells that you’ll find online all have to do with the timing of bets.  That is unless you have a drunken idiot at your table simply proclaim to everyone what he’s got.  I’ve actually seen that happen a few times.  But otherwise, the only tell I’ve found to be fairly accurate is an instantaneous check on the flop.  This will often mean the player has pre-selected the check/fold button.  Again, take that advice with a grain of salt as he could have also selected check/call.  He could even be planning a check raise or he could simply be a tricky player.

Players that delay for a bit and then check often have weak hands.  They’re trying to make it appear as though they’re carefully thinking about what to do.  They think this gives them the appearance of strength.  Often it just means they have a garbage hand and are delaying the game.  Often these players just want a free card. 

Players that delay a bit and then bet often have a good hand.  He’s trying to make himself look timid and unsure as to whether to bet or not.  Many times this means he has a strong hand and wants you to call him.

A player that bets instantaneously on the turn or river often has a decent hand.  They know that for most people, strong means weak when it comes to poker tells.  They’re trying to use a bit of reverse psychology on you.  By acting too strong they want it to appear as if they’re bluffing.  Often times they actually have a good hand.  This seems to be especially true on the river. 

If you want to make sure that you never give off tells yourself when playing online, simply always act at exactly the same time on every hand.  For instance, every time it’s your turn wait exactly four seconds then act.  Or bet randomly, wait a pre-determined amount of time based on the suit of the last card shown before betting.  This will really confuse players looking for a pattern.  But to be honest, I really wouldn’t worry too much about giving off tells when playing online.  Especially at low limits as most players you will encounter won’t be paying attention to your actions anyway. 

When playing poker online, remember not to place too much value on the poker tells you think you’ve spotted.  If you’re playing mid to high stakes with strong players, be sure to apply a heavy dose of skepticism to any tells you may spot, as better players tend to be sneaky.  Unless you’re playing with the same group of people every night, the value of poker tells online is dubious at best.

Online Tracking Software - Your at a disadvantage if you're not using it.

A lot of us don't like to play online because of bad experiences with runner runner hands, or feeling like the game is set up against us. I've been there. The reality is that the players that are playing online know more about your play than you do. They are using software. If your going to play online you need to spend $100 bucks a year to level the playing field and give your self a chance to win. Ex. If a player moves all in on the turn for $600 and you have a King high flush, Ace high being the nut hand. You can look at the software and find out that the player has won 98% of the hands that he's moved all in on on the turn. Once you see this it's a lot easier to lay down that hand.  Without this information you know nothing about the player,  you might feel like you have to make this call. This is how the software helps you. The software is Poker Office. Here is a recent review of the software.The links are live if you want to subscribe to the software right away. You can also click on the pictures below to get an idea what the software looks like. If you don't already have online accounts, when your signing up you can get the software for free. It just take a while to accumulate player points.

 

Poker Office is the tracking software that I’ve used and preferred since it was first released.  Although I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Poker Tracker, I believe the new features added to Poker Office 2.0 make it a far superior product. And while both programs do essentially the same thing, Poker Office 2.0 is far easier to get running right out of the box and includes many more features such as the ability to view opponents’ mucked hands.  You also don’t have to worry about downloading hand histories and manipulating various add-on programs as you do with Poker Tracker making Poker Office much more user-friendly.

Poker Office 2.0’s main selling point for me is the live game tracker with real time statistics.  Not only will Poker Office show you pot odds, outs, draw odds, and a host of other statistics right there on the table, it will give you accurate and detailed information on your opponents.  With a quick glance at the screen you can view how often your opponents raise pre-flop, the percentage of flops they've seen, and even the current pot odds (including many more statistics).  It also auto rates your opponents play, adjusting in real time to show how much of a threat they are including providing such statistics as aggression, BB/100 hands, how often they defend their blinds, pre/post flop stats, and much more.  The in-game overlay is a great help in identifying fish and strong players.  You can even have it watch a table in order to record the play there before joining yourself.  Some people record play at several tables for a half hour before joining in order to choose the juiciest tables.

My favorite addition to Poker Office is the ability to view opponents’ mucked hands.  When I first upgraded to 2.0 I was blown away to see what people were calling my bet on the river with.  It really is an eye opener.  The ability to view mucked hands has led to my in-game note taking more than doubling.  It’s very useful in helping you to categorize players, especially at the low limit tables where many players are somewhat predictable. 

My main gripe with Poker Office has always been the lack of a hand re-player.  In fact some of my friends have stuck with Poker Tracker just for that one item.  I was delighted to find out that this feature was finally added to Poker Office 2.0.  In the past I would always have to go back and search my hand histories until I found the monster pot I'd won so that I could show it off to my wife or friends, but who wants to search through page after page of hand histories?  Now I can replay a hand right there on the table making it much easier for non-poker playing friends to view and understand my killer take down.

Poker Office 2.0 also has more graphs.  A lot more!  I won’t bore you with details, but needless to say you can filter your graphs based on everything from hand groupings to player aggression.  There’s nearly an endless supply of statistics at your disposal ready to be manipulated and configured via graphs and charts for your tinkering pleasure.

My main concerns with Poker Office have been alleviated with the introduction of version 2.0, being primarily the lack of a hand re-player and a few small gripes.  Amazingly with 2.0 I’m left with a much smaller review as there’s literally nothing left to gripe about.  I really love this piece of software!  Enough new features have been added to really push the ball far into Poker Office’s side of the court.  If you’re debating whether or not to spend the extra cash on this program instead of Poker Tracker, I really believe that the new features and ease of use right out of the box more than make up for the price difference.  Poker Office joins the ranks of such programs as Photoshop, Excel, and a precious few others in that it is one of those few utilities that I just couldn’t see myself doing without.

 

Home Poker Laws - Why my game is Legal

My game is a private game. I live here, it's not a place of business. New players are not welcome in my home if I do not know who they are or are not friends with a mutual friend. Do not show up to my house if we are not friends. I like to play poker so rather than go a play some where else I prefer to play in my own home. I make no money off of the game. It is 100% legal. Texas Hold em is a game of skill. Everyone has a equal odds of winning.

Home Poker Law
Home poker games are not specifically mentioned in the laws that were created to regulate home gambling. But in the past couple of years there has been a wide acceptance of poker by society as a game of skill (although it still has a long way to go). Therefore, it stands to reason that anyone caught organizing or playing in a home poker game will probably not be punished to the full extent of the law. Most home gambling laws were created for 2 reasons: to protect citizens from developing dangerous gambling habits as a results of easy access to gambling establishments and to keep citizens from profiting by running a gambling establishment. Home poker games, for the most part, are not guilty of either of these things. As long as they are unraked and low-stakes they are harmless and although they are breaking the letter of the law, they are abiding by the spirit of the law.

Section 47.01 prepares the reader with definitions:

"Gambling place": any real estate where gambling is occuring, versus "Private place"
"Private Place": any real estate where gambling is occuring that is not open to the public

Section 47.02 has a partical definition of "gambling" as any act of playing and betting for money or any other item of value, a game of cards, dice, or other. For a valid defense, you need to prove that all the players were competing with equal odds, and that the gamling occured in private. Home poker games are legal in Texas as long as the game is in private, there is financial benfit except for money that is won, and all the players have equal odds of winning. There have been a couple of instances of raids on poker games in Texas but this is mainly due to the fact that there seems to be some really big underground games which are played at clubs. This shouldn't worry anyone hosting a casual game because the games that were busted were basically underground casinos making tons of money.

Team Katy vs. Team Sugarland

Team Katy:
    Jeff - Billy - Shane

Team Sugarland
    Mike Lewis - Sugar Land Steve - Clayton

The Challenge:  Each team buys in for $1,000, total price pool of $2,000. Last team with all the chips wins.

Rules:
        Players will draw for seats. 1-6
        Blinds are 5 5 - They do not go up.
        Chips can be moved from team member to team member before each hand is dealt.
        Team members can not tell each other to fold, ex. "Fold, I've got this one."
        There is no insurance.
        If a player is knocked out player can still get back in the game as long as his team mates have                 chips to give him.

Ok, enough with the official stuff.  This was Clayton's idea, he seems to think that the South aka Team Sugar Land can whip up on team Katy. Hah!!  Are you crazy!!!!  The answer to that is yes, and I'm glad, cause I'm looking forward to undressing your skinny ass. And as for Sugar Steve, he better come drunk, he can't play cards when he's sober. The old Steve I knew could win a pot without having any cards, this new version of Steve. He's scared. Mike Lewis..lol. I've been pushing guys like Mike around all my life, he's the kid I'd trip in the hallways. We all know that I'm going to get into his head, and when I do, he's going to come back with his old faithful line. "I'm playing with your money" Then he'll get mad, and put about $300 in the pot with pocket 4's.  I can't wait.

What the South doesn't realize is that Billy and I are going to take the chain off of our pit bull...Jeff.  The south isn't going to know what hit them!  Jeff is going to be biting them all over the ankles slowly chipping away at there chip stacks while Billy sits off in the grass in Viper mode ready to go in for the kill on someone. And all of this is going to be happening right in frontof the south's eyes but they aren't going to notice...Why....Because they are going to be watching me..the "Donkey."  There going to be to concerned with me embarssing them in front of people to see the kill shot coming from the Pitbull or the Viper. Some things in life are predetermined, this is one of those situations. FACT: Team Katy Is Better.  FACT: The South will lose.

I'm going to get a camera to record this thing. I want to post clips of the south's butt whipin on the blog.

Here's a little something Jeff typed up. He knows that the south is going to cry about the rules so were already ready for there objections.

The way they were talking on Monday I think that they would be ok playing but team Katy would not be allowed to:

 

1) change money as a team

2) be in a hand with more than one team Katy member at one time this would be a unfair advantage for the West

3) rule 2 would insure that team Katy would not illegally pass money to each other and be able to put in play there superior strategy

4) team Katy would only be able to play pocket pairs or face cards

5) team Katy would not be allowed to raise more than what is in the pot and because of rule 4 would not be allowed to raise $40 with hands like 6 - 4 off suit. 

6) no one could be in attendance to watch for fear of embarrassment

 

This is just the rules that I can think of off the top of my head that I'm sure the South would want to implement to try to level the field.  It would be called the new South Stimulus package.  This package would try to tax us on or superior poker skills and ability and spread the wealth to those not as fortunate as us at the card table.

UPDATE:
I'm on the phone with Sugar Steve right now, he has no idea I'm taking notes. He's accusing the West of "Scratching each others toenails under the table". He's calling bullshit to the teams. I'm starting to wonder if he has faith in his team mates. He wants the tourney to be everyone for them selves. This is hilarious, he's is scared to death to play teams. There is definately a problem with Team Sugarland. He's concerend that Team Katy is going to raise with nothing. "Shaking each other eyes's at each other."
"Your still going to get loose play"  "Execpt from me" "I say winner takes all" "This will keep it more true to the game" "You and I both know there is going to be alot more crappy play from you and billy, Jeff is going to push alot" "Billy can get away from hands, but he's there to go in for the kill" "If I win the money, I'm not giving any to them..I wouldn't expect them to give me any money" "Unless we wanted to chop or something" LOL..Then he finishes with.."I'm for what ever, when are we doing this?"

www.PokerTube.com

Flordia Mike told me about this website. If you want to watch a poker show, this website is going to have it on it. Pretty cool site.

www.PokerTube.com