10/1/2004
I don’t talk much about live poker in this column, because I don’t play it myself. But I don’t like to leave out any gambler who wants to find some frugal hints here for his game of choice.
So I asked my writer friend, Bill Burton, to give me something I could include for poker players. Bill Burton is the Casino Gambling Guide and columnist for the Internet portal About.com (www.casinogambling.about.com). He also writes for several national gambling publications. He’s the author of the great beginner’s introduction to the most popular poker game these days, Get the Edge at Low Limit Texas Hold’em, available for $15 postage paid. Send checks to Bill Burton, P.O. Box 310299, Newington, CT 06131-0299 or order online at www.billburton.com. You can find additional good poker products at www.greatstuff4gamblers.com.
TV Educated Poker Players: TVEPPs
By Bill Burton
I was interviewed for a newspaper article about the recent surge in the popularity of poker. The reporter asked me if watching the TV broadcast of tournaments was a good way for a new player to learn the game. He was surprised when I told him “No!” and asked me to explain why.
TV Educated Poker Players (TVEPPs) who have gained all their poker knowledge by watching broadcasts of the World Poker Tour or other televised tournaments are not going to be very successful if they do not get some additional education from other sources. These can include reading books, magazines, and articles on the Internet about poker strategy.
Watching a one- or two-hour television broadcast of a poker tournament is akin two watching the highlight films of a championship boxing event. You get to see the knockout, but you fail to see the grueling sparring that led up to the final blow. The TV tournaments have been edited down to the most entertaining and exciting hands. You see the hands where a player bluffs another player out of a big pot or an all-in player catches a miracle card on the river to knock out his opponent after shoving all his chips into the pot. These types of spectacular plays are great entertainment, but can lead to the impression that winning a poker tournament is all about bluffing and getting lucky. The types of plays you see on TV at the final table when the game is short-handed are not the plays that got most of these players to the final table.
Many players use a different strategy when they get to the final table. You sometimes hear this referred to as “shifting gears.” They may have played very tight and solid during the early stages of the event to get to where they are, but then they adjust to compensate for several factors at the final table. They are basing some of their play on their chips size and that of their opponents. The blinds are larger, so they can’t afford to wait too long to play a hand. As the play becomes short-handed, the value of starting hands goes up a little. A player with a very short stack will have to make a stand sooner or later. This is why you see more bluffing and playing of lesser-quality hands at the final table. The players are also making bets based on their position. This is a concept that is lost on many viewers, but is vital to the game.
Anyone who has played in a poker tournament knows that it is a long and tedious affair. Sometimes it is even downright boring as you sit there folding hand after hand waiting for two playable cards. Many of the major tournaments take days to play down to the final six players you see on the TV broadcast. Those who have made it to the final table started the tournament playing solid poker being very selective about the hands they played. They know that playing recklessly in the early stages of the tournament is a quick way to find themselves on the rail with the other spectators.
The 2004 World Series of poker had 2,576 players entered into the final event. They could not fit all the players at the 120 tables, so they divided the field in half, with one group playing
10/8/2004
[Editor´s Note: A few weeks ago, Jean went to the emergency room with worrisome chest pain and was admitted to the hospital for a couple of days. After EKGs, blood enzyme tests, and a stress tests, she got a clean bill of health: no evidence of cardiac problems. She was pain-free for a few days, but then the symptoms returned. She’ll be having an angiogram on Tuesday October 12. Meantime, a thread appeared on the LasVegasAdvisor.com Forum and quickly filled up with nearly 100 get-well posts. Here are some of the highlights, which not only made her laugh — the best medicine! — but also, literally and figuratively, did her heart good.]
If the doctors want to know if you exercise regularly, just show them that big tote bag you carry around all day! — from Indiana
Have you ever considered going back to teaching? It might be a lot less demanding than your retirement. — JFR
Jean, get well soon. We expect at least five to 10 more books out of you! –oprystyle
Jean, that’s a heck of a way to steal some of Brad’s thunder. — Rosemarie
Remember to be nice to your “”nurse.”” You’re lucky to have him [Brad] take care of your every need. — lvs2kwlt
Jean, now that you’re supposed to keep yourself cool and calm and collected, you’re just gonna have to bite the bullet and cut down on the exclamation points. Too much excitement in those. Doctor’s (and editor’s) orders. — Dekester
Jean – I hope you’re eating well. Too many temptations and comps in Las Vegas! — Martin
If you need your spirits lifted, just think of this: back-to-back royals! — Dudesickle
Did you get any of your medical expenses comped? — Stoogemore
[We saved the best for last]:
The Top 10 Causes of Jean Scott’s Mini-Heart Attack — by Blade:
10. What do you mean that Nevada town isn’t named after me?
9. Revenge of the Comped Buffets.
8. Hitting the Megabucks jackpot, but playing only one coin.
7. Brad had his time, now it’s my turn for attention.
6. Another adult-themed billboard pops up in the neighborhood.
5. Now Anthony wants “Yet More Frugal Gambling.”
4. I’ll just play one-coin video poker and see what happens…
3. The San Remo is going to be called what?
2. Look, up in sky, it’s a monorail; no, it’s a flying tire!
…and the number-one cause of Jean Scott’s Mini-Heart Attack:
1. Gasp! I forgot to insert my slot card!
10/15/2004
Beware of casino tournament offers that give the prize-pool amount, but don’t specify how many entrants it’s based on. In this case, there’s no way to figure out your equity — the theoretical value of the promotion. Some friends of ours found this out after they’d flown across the country to a casino where they’d been in slot tournaments before, usually with about 300 entrants. This time there were 900, with no increase in the prize pool. We were recently “caught” the same way when we went to a BJ tournament that we’d entered many times and found that the usual number of entrants had almost doubled.
Another promotion tip, early-bird advice from Scot Krause: Plan to play early in the month if there’s some promotional item you really want to earn. Casinos often run out of promotional items they’re advertising, like logo apparel. Some casinos will give out rain checks, but if you’re from out of town, you may not be able to return in the time frame to redeem them. And many times, when the inventory of items is depleted, the promotion is over.
————
Some casinos are now marketing by telephone auto-dialer. I usually don’t like recorded phone messages of any type, particularly the political ones we’re all flooded with in this current election period (especially in Nevada, which is a “battleground” state). However, a recent recorded message from my host telling me the details of a juicy promotion coming up was welcome. As long as casinos keep this type of message short and sweet — and I still get a live call or a personal e-mail once in a while, I’ll give this marketing technique my OK!
—————-
I’m getting reports that airlines are becoming stricter in enforcing baggage weight limits. Be forewarned: Those overweight charges can be a hefty amount. Check your airline’s Web site for size and weight limitations before you leave home, so you won’t have an ugly surprise when you check in at the airport.
—————
TITO (Ticket-in-Ticket-Out) makes playing the machines so much more convenient. However, they require some new cautions. A friend carried around a ticket in his billfold and he must have sit on it too long — the ticket disintegrated and he was out of luck. Another player reported that they’re sun sensitive and will turn totally black with too much exposure — so don’t throw them on the dash of your car in Las Vegas. And one of the most common problems? Out-of-towners forget to cash them in and won’t be coming back before they expire!
——————
From Casino Player, an interview with poker professional, Barry Tannenbaum, who gives wise advice for any gambler thinking about making any game his livelihood:
CP: What’s the reality of making a leap from a recreational player and “going pro.”
Tannenbaum answers that you need truly outstanding mathematical skills and you need to have truly excellent psychological skills. The third thing, and one he thinks that probably is the most important, “You need astonishing emotional control. Anyone can win when things are going well. The question is, how are you going to play when you’re going through extended losing streaks? If you play long enough, you’ll go through one. If you can’t play well during an extended losing streak, you can’t be a pro.”
10/28/2004
My angiogram came out beautiful — best “”pictures”” I’ve had taken of me since I was a baby. Whistle-clean arteries. So my chest pain is probably from acid reflux or some other digestive goblin. Hey, that sounds like a much better alternative!
This medical experience has brought out some interesting comments from friends: “”You didn’t really nag and convince the doctors to let you out of the hospital at 10 p.m. at night instead of the next morning so you could stop at a couple casinos on your way home to collect some bounce-back cash coupons that were expiring at midnight — did you?”” And, “”You left the house a half-hour early on the day of your 6 a.m. angiogram to pick up one $25 bounce-back just in case the angiogram precipitated a need for hospitalization or a hearse?””
I’ll have to plead guilty that casinos do play a big part in my life. Many comments from two video poker Internet forums I’m on support the idea that gamblers can have a one-track mind. One poster said that when he read the subject line of one of my posts, “”Home from Angiogram,”” he asked himself, “”””Where the hell is the Angiogram Casino? I don’t remember it being on the Strip. Maybe it’s downtown. Or in Laughlin? And is the VP any good there?””
Another commented, “”Hmmm, consider the time line: First, Multi-Play Multi-Strike is released. Next, Jean has chest pains. Draw your own conclusions….””
Someone else added: “”Could it remotely be possible you’re just playing too much on very volatile VP machines?””
And the facts do bear out that many of our activities are casino-related. We buy gas and groceries where we can use casino gift cards to pay. We shop in malls and stores where we can use our many casino-issued gift certificates. We eat most of our main meals and many of our snacks in a casino, because we have comps to cover the expense. When family and friends comes to visit, thanks to plump casino comp banks all over town, we can provide them with luxury rooms, cover all their restaurant meals and show tickets, and treat them to room service, shopping in casino retail stores, massages in the spa, make-overs in the beauty salon. Our grandchildren go to movies in a casino theater and play in casino child-care centers for free (running up food bills that make the Queen of Comps look like a piker) and hit every casino ice-cream or fast-food joint they discover. And I suppose that when they get to be 21, we’ll provide them with comped casino nightclub crawling and raucous concerts — although I might draw the line in providing weird tattoos on weird body parts, even if I could pay with my casino points.
Notice I said that many of our activities are casino-related. I didn’t say that gambling was a very big part of our life. First of all, I don’t consider the way we play casino games as gambling, in the common use of that word. The word “”gambling,”” whether accurately or not, is often used in a negative sense, with the harsh judgment, or at least the implication, of out-of-control behavior and moral degradation. We play casino games with discipline, moderation, and responsibility, always careful to keep the same high ethical standards we maintain in any other part of our life.
But let’s say you do call what we do “”gambling,”” in the best sense of the term — a fun wholesome entertainment option enjoyed by huge numbers of people all over the world. It’s not an overwhelming part of our life. Because I write primarily (and endlessly, it seems) about casino and gambling subjects, most people assume, logically, that Brad and I gamble all the time.
Actually, Brad and I gamble less and less the older we get. Our bodies get tired faster than they used to. Plus, as I’ve mentioned many times, once a person moves to a casino town like Vegas, the pent-up urgency and desire to gamble when you’re out-of-town visitors soon relaxes. You know the casinos will be available 24/7 at your convenience right down the street. Together we average about 20 hour
10/29/2004
Last week, I told you that I wanted to continue on the subject of a balanced life, even for gamblers. I mentioned how tempting it is for us to have a one-track mind.
I was reminded of that when I was going over the paperwork from the hospital after my recent angiogram. It was a large stack and I must confess I’d signed a lot of forms during my pre-admit without reading them carefully, dismissing them as the usual goopidy-goop that comes with medical facilities trying to comply with tons of federal regulations. But I was startled to see one sheet I’d signed, which listed the odds of possible side effects of this procedure I’d so casually consented to a few days earlier:
Rhythm disturbance: occurs 1:100 patients
Contrast reaction: occurs 1:100
Loss of pulse: occurs 1:500
Heart attack: occurs 5:1000
Stroke: occurs 2:1000
Death: occurs 1:1000
You know what my first thought was: I wouldn’t play a video poker machines with odds this bad!
I suppose if I’d read this earlier, I would’ve still had the angiogram. I probably would have analyzed the situation like I do when I decide whether something is a good gambling play for us, trying to find extra value somewhere to make a negative game a positive play. Well, I have Blue Cross Blue Shield and Medicare — that’s kind of like cashback– which lessens the financial risk. I have a good cardiologist who’d recommended this procedure for his mother who had the same symptoms that I had; taking the advice of experts in the field is always a good idea.
But that last item on the list would have concerned me. The result would have had an extremely negative effect on my life. I needed a whole lot more extra value to overcome those odds — like the promotions, tournaments, bounce-back, and coupons I hunt to boost the EV of a VP game. I think I would have found it: Probably most of the people who are given angiograms have already been diagnosed with heart problems or have even already had a heart attack (like Brad when he had his angiogram and subsequent angioplasty). I just had chest pain.
Easy for me to Monday-morning quarterback that “”game”” now!
Okay, so maybe avid gamblers do have one-track minds at times. I plead guilty. But this isn’t all bad. A successful gambler needs to be highly focused on his game, whether he’s counting cards at blackjack, pounding away at positive-expectation video poker, crunching sports or race numbers in his computer, or matching wits with fellow players at the poker table. He must spend a lot of time studying his craft, listening and learning from the experts, and honing his skills in practical experience.
However, some of the questions that Gamblers Anonymous gives on its test to see whether you’re heading toward being a problem gambler might be answered in the same way by an addicted gambler and a skilled and financially successful player. And there have been many examples down through the years, some of them tragic, where skilled gamblers, even extremely successful professional ones, were not able to keep balance in their life and lost all their money, their family, their reputation, and sometimes even their life.
We’ll revisit this subject at a later time. In the meantime, keep your posts on it coming to: [email protected].