jazzypaul

Well, it's still played in some circles. You can still find cash games with 5 card draw every once in a while. The problem is, now everybody's interested in tournaments. And Hold 'em truly does make for the best tournament play. The game moves quickly, most hands (especially at more experienced levels) actually end before the flop, and it's a far more exciting game both to watch and to play. Lastly, it's also far easier to learn (and I'm talking rules, not nuance) than draw or stud games. Dan, it's kind of interesting, you fall into the same boat as my dad. My dad learned Hold 'em only to help keep me in practice, but much prefers draw and stud games. Now, as for SS1: how many suited cards were on the board? At three, and especially four, you have to realize that your aces are all of the sudden as worthless as a pair of twos. THAT, in my mind has been the biggest problem with all of these tournaments on TV, is that people forget that aces aren't infallible. If you're holding AA, and the board is A6457, you HAVE to realize that someone's holding a 3 or an 8. And if a board is showing four hearts, and you've got the two black aces, you're better off saving your chips. Just my advice for the day. Worth exactly what you paid for it...

That's the truest bullshit part right there...the hypocrisy involved. If you're going to stand for morality (which is righteous, especially at a catholic high school), you need to do it on both sides. Way to preach un-Biblical principles, St. Jude's.

Dude! I was just at a show the other night in DOWNTOWN FREAKIN' CHICAGO, and we went to the bar/pizza joint around the corner for a pie and a couple of beers, and sure as shit, they charged me $4.50 each for my Rolling Rocks. When the check came, you betcha, clear as day: 3 IMPORT BEERS: $13.50 I asked the bartender and he was like, "I know, I know...the owner, he calls Rolling Rock an import..." To which my response was, "dude, I know Pennsylvania is different but they're not foreign!!! Poor guy just shrugged his shoulders and gave me a free High Life.

I know. The Three Blind Mice were one of the copycats. Hilarious line from someone at our third show: "John Medeski called. He wants his band back." Not as funny as the guy who said we were like an acid test at a Soul Food restaurant, but close.

I don't see how anyone can struggle with 7 card stud. It's the far easier game. Where a lot of people get killed in 7 card is in the strength of hands. In hold 'em, two high pair is a solid hand. As long as there are no obvious flush draws or straight draws, two pair can be a decent hand. Now, in stud, unless my two pair are aces and faces, I'll bail on them to almost any bet on the river. My base hand in stud is 3 of a kind, with a willingness to fold if someone is showing an obvious strong draw. But that's just it. It's not a matter of knowing the nuts and wondering if someone else is holding the two magical cards. For the most part, with some severe exceptions, stud games give you a fairly good idea of what you're up against. Unless you're playing Chicago, at which point the rule is fold till you have the ace in the hole. The other place that people get killed in 7 card is that they don't realize that it's a game of patience and folding. Even if the cards are with you on a particular night, you shouldn't be playing more than 10 hands per hour. And that's even a fairly liberal number. Fold, fold, fold. And, btw, SS1: congrats on winning the losers table. Not bad, dude!

damn near any album recorded by any other organist besides John Medeski. I take it you don't like Medeski? I think he's brilliant. I used to think he was. I used to think the world of that band. But, as I listen more closely, and after having seen them 4 times, they come off feeling more like schtick than anything else. The last time I saw them, to me, it really felt like a put on more than anything else. And this is coming from someone that really knows and loves his funk, his jazz and his organ jazz in particular. The more I listen, the less they cut it with me. But that's me.

damn near any album recorded by any other organist besides John Medeski.

I haven't played in too many tournaments, but I've played in A LOT of cash games. There are a couple of resources online to help out immensely. I would check out... Poker Pages They have lots of articles that are amazingly helpful. Look out especially for anything written by Daniel Negraneau or Mike Caro. Some tips I can give you to keep in the tournament as long as possible: 1) Know your good starting hands. Good starting hands do not constitute "any pair" and "an ace and any other card". Starting hands that I'll see the flop on no matter what are pretty small: AA AK AQ AJ A-10 KK KQ KJ K-10 QQ QJ Q-10 JJ J-10 (preferably suited) 10-10 10-9 (only suited) 10-8 (this is my weird lucky, for some reason I always win with this hand hand) 9-9 8-8 7-7 Any pairs below 7's, I'll only play if I have good position or if it's cheap to get into the pot. 2) If I have good position (being late in the betting order, i.e. either dealer or just to the right of the dealer), I'll be a little more lax with that list, and I'll include smaller pairs, suited cards, and especially suited connectors (two cards of the same suit in numerical succession, i.e. 5-4 of spades). 3) If you're in the big blind, play the freakin' hand! Especially if you can get in cheap. If you can limp in on 2-7, fuck it, give it a shot. If the flop comes down 7-7-2, you just flopped a boat with a usually unusable hand. 4) Don't bluff until you have the respect of the table. Once they've seen that you're playing tight, and you're winning most, if not all, of the hands that you're playing, you can make a big move on the second pair or on a straight draw, and unless someone is holding a monster of a hand, they'll probably back down. But not until you've given them reason to. 5) Money saved is money earned: the money that you don't put into the pot is the same as money won. Play conservatively and at the very least, you'll see more hands and learn more about the game. You won't win a tournament with this rule, but you'll stay in long enough to start learning what the really good players are doing and act accordingly. 6) THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF ALL: DO NOT SEE FOURTH STREET WITH A HAND YOU WOULDN'T RAISE WITH!!!!!!!!! This is the rule that paid my rent and my car note during the year that I was seriously considering moving to Vegas and going pro, and the rule that enabled one of my cousins to take down Phil Helmuth in a ring (cash) game. As much as people talk about poker being a psych game, you can't psych if you don't have the cards to back it up. I hope this all helps. Good luck!!!!!

whatever. My White Sox will be looking forward to being knee deep in the ass of your beloved Red Sox, come July 21, July 22, July 23 and July 24. Winnin' Ugly is alive and well in Bridgeport folks. Believe it.

Earth to Paul: Championships aren't won in May. You get respect when you WIN something. You ain't won shit yet, and you never will CUZ YOU THREW THE WORLD SERIES. In 1919!!!!! Show some forgiveness already! Championships aren't won in May, but getting one in October is a lot easier if you were winning in May. You need a hug, Dan.

All of this, while the White Sox are able to win a game with no hits. Start showing some freakin' respect, already.

Well, after reading all of the advice here and the PM's I've gotten (wow, I forgot how genuinely nice everyone is outside of the politics forum!!!!), I've been inspired enough to have just thrown out my pack. I'll give the cold turkey thing a do, not a try, and I'll keep everyone updated on how things are going.

This is the problem: I've got a girlfriend who doesn't smoke, and doesn't want me to smoke, I've got two parents that have both had multiple heart attacks, and I've seen all of the bad effects of smoking. So I've got enough reasons to quit. But I really don't want to. But I want to. But not because I want to. Uggh. So, I'm trying to find ways to convince myself to quit (nasty ass cloves, they smell bad, etc, etc, etc). I admit, this makes things much, much, much tougher. Uggh. Thanks for the advice, and I think that I'm just going to have to do the cold turkey thing, bitch about it a lot for a week or two and just be done with it. Again, thanks everyone for all of the advice and well-wishes!

Okay folks, so I'm trying to quit smoking, and this is proving far more problematic than I thought. Especially when work is like a culture of smokers, and my dad is usually a prick to me if I can't bum him a menthol when I come to see him. I've switched to cloves, which are so gross that I've automatically cut back, out of a sense of self-preservation, but I still get the urge just to get outside and smoke a few times a day. So, any advice?

When I was born, my dad said, "shit!" and the doctor said, "no! It has eyes!"

Is this the baseball thread, or the Yanks vs. Boston thread? Boston and New York are barely on the radar, and I'm the only one bringing the White Sox. Get into gear, people, and show some freakin' respect! Garland is at 8-0. I will be spending the summer at 35th and Shields watching the sox do some winning. Dig it.

I don't know what's up with you cats. I go to the local Family Dollar, pay $2 for 6 of 'em, and they seem to last a pretty long time. I've been at my current place for the past two years, and I've replaced 3 light bulbs the entire time.

Arthur Ashe Jon McEnroe Spuds McKenzie

Jolly Green Giant Andre the Giant Hulk Hogan

David Seville Neville Brand Cruella Deville Perdita and Pongo Tom and Jerry Ben and Jerry Jerry Garcia Gaar Samuelson Samuel L. Jackson

well....yeah!

blah blah blah, Dan. At least we'd be smart enough to let a goat see the game if it really wanted to. Hell, at least it'd put another fan in the seats. Ha ha ha ha...

agreed. both teams are certainly due Yeah, but there's a reason why the White Sox will never be allowed by the Baseball Gods to win a World Series. They're the only ones to throw a World Series, and they are forever cursed because of it. Please...if we Chicagoans are cursed by anything, it's by shitty team front offices. And that's exactly what we're dealing with for the entire history of the White Sox. Comiskey was the worst owner in the history of baseball, and while I can't justify them throwing the series, I can't blame the players. Comiskey had each and every one of them by the short and curlies, and considering how hard they were playing, and what a great team they were, they certainly didn't deserve that one at all. And now, we have Reinsdorf. The asshat that threw away the greatest team in the history of basketball, a guy with a hand in the hat of the blackhawks, who have the worst management in all of professional sports and tries to run the white sox with a $54 million payroll. I could give a shit about the the 1919 series, we southsiders are the loyalest group of fans on the planet, and we deserve to see our team be something more than second fiddle to a bunch of cocktail weenie eating yuppies across town.

my first memories of music were all about obsessing over...(gulp)...Abba. I was 3. I can be forgiven.

It's kinda funny...the white sox have the best record in baseball right now, and still no one talks about it. Granted, I know it's only April, but damn, it'd be sweet to see this kind of domination straight through till Octoher. Go WHITE SOX!!!!!