Officers search for suspect in shooting at Gresham poker club.

How would you react to this headline? I have mixed feelings. I feel bad for the victims and their families. Two were injured; one is in stable condition the other unknown. On the other hand, I never even knew there was a card room in Gresham. It's 11 miles away. Maybe there are more nearby that I don't know about that don't get shot up.

May's version of the 'Boys' Night Out' poker tournament came and went last week. The game was the same: $10 buy-in, NLHE. Only seven players this time meant only three got paid. Since the tournament is timed (start at 7pm end at 9:30, payout by stacks) we experimented with a faster blind structure. Starting chip stack was just over T3000 with blinds at 25/50, doubling every half hour 'til the end.

The action started out rather timidly as it tends to. Lots of cheap rivers. My first hand was near the end of the first round. I was under the gun, gave my hole cards the cursory glance before the quick fold that is customary from me at that spot. Wait up. What was that? The ole suited Stu. Instead of folding, I threw in a raise to wake things up. A couple callers witnessed a King-high board. The flop bet got a caller, but not the turn bet. I dragged a nice pot that had me in a good position for the end of round 1.

Round 2 saw more action, but the chips just shifted around the table. No one seemed to have a higher or lower stack. I made some position raises only to fold on ugly boards, including an unkind . A big blind pot did fall in my lap when I saw my hold up on a Queen-high board. He showed down second pair and I was stacking up chips again. After another 'held up' on an ace-high board I was in a great spot.

It took an awfully long time for anyone to go broke. Part of this due to the chip trading that I spoke of and part due to conservative short-stack play. For example, I think Paul had 300 chips when he finally went all in preflop with a Unfortunately for him, I once again had . Not 10 hands later, I'm looking down at Even better, I get reraised all in preflop by The dealer pauses for drama after the flop and turn give my opponent an open-ender, but you know I reeled that one in.

At this point in the night we're down to five with one extra-short stack. You may think I'm making shit up, but I looked down at #4 on the night from the cutoff during round 4. My raise was called by the small blind. Ace, rag, rag, brought a pause followed by a check from my opponent. My half-pot bet draws an even longer pause. During this time I'm wondering. He would have reraised with KK preflop. So maybe he has AQ or AJ, even AT? He makes a pained call. The turn: and he insta-checks. So fast, in fact, that he had to remind me that it was a check and not some sort of nervous twitch. I'm the one getting nervous at this point as that Q could have put him over the top and he is just the kind of guy to sandbag me. I check behind. The river brings another rag and another (albeit slower) insta-check. Would he really risk winning nothing with such a lock of a hand? Not likely. I make a half-pot-ish bet that I can get away from if he reraises big. Of course he calls and shows down The loss cripples him and puts me in the position of supreme chip-tator of the table. Barring any coups, I'm taking this one down.

From there on, it's all about the counting. Two guys are actually force all-in by the blinds and we have some no-look fun, but they're both out in pretty short order (including the AJ from earlier). With 20 minutes left, second and third were just a few chips apart and I'm in a shell. I played some hands to keep them honest, but I was good for first unless a meteor hit the table, so I didn't press. Astronomical aberrations failed and I did take it. In a bit of high drama like last month, the last hand determined second place. It wasn't a crazy bid for first place by a last hand pocket pair though, just a routine hand folded on the flop by some guys who didn't count their money while they were sitting at the table. It came down to 50 chips. Thin to win indeed.

Another fun game to be sure. I don't know how the other guys felt about me always having the hand, but you know I had a good time. Couple that with a few beers, snacks and laughs and we all wish it could go all night or at least happen more than once a month... So 'til next month, may the malevolent poker gods become confused on their way to your table. Peace out.

The other day, my friend Ben invited me to a home game with some of his friends. I knew a couple of them and they were all good guys, so I figured what the hell. A 10-dollar No Limit tournament with some new friends seemed like a good time on a random Wednesday night.

Going in, I knew nothing of the poker habits of any of these guys. What I did know is that they are all competitors. In fact, they are all racers of the highest caliber. At the table we had multi-time national champions in rallycross, autocross and even stage rally. The woman who co-hosted the event and didn't even play poker had multiple autocross championships herself and all she did was make us food and make sure we had cold drinks. One of the players, Bradley, even co-drove for Rhys Millen when Rhys was a rally driver. Needless to say, the competition level was high, yet everyone kept cool heads about the game. Now, of course, driving ability has nothing to do with ability at cards. If that was the case, I'd have run from this game like it was run by Charles Manson. As it turned out, we were all there to have a good time. What a relief.

The payout was $50, $28, $10, $2(!?) with the blinds starting small but increasing fairly rapidly. The competitive nature of my opponents led me to believe that they would be bluffing more than normal. My normal tight, aggressive style was the plan. Within the first couple revolutions I got into a pretty big hand. Still knowing little of my opponents' tendencies (other than lots of limpers), I limped into a 7-way pot with from the button thinking I could steal some on the flop. I'm sure the right play in situations like those is to raise, but I can never bring myself to do it (Happens to me all the time: on the button, lots of limpers, I look down at rags. I feel like I should raise, but rarely do) Anyway, down comes the flop: . Checks around. I put in something like 1/3 the pot and get one caller. Turn comes: . Dude bets into me. Did he actually hit that? Is he sandbagging Dolly Parton!? Inexplicably I just call. River: . He bets into me again. Hard. He's got the 8. Again, I just call. Maybe I was trying to be nice since I just got there and I couldn't possibly take a guy's stack so quickly. Maybe I actually thought he had and was fixing to take me down. My memory of things like that is awful. Either way, I just called again. He says, "I've got the boat... with the 8." I look at my cards, turn them over and say, "I, too, am a boater." The table goes bananas. It would be one in a long line of one-liners that had everyone behind me for the rest of the night. Had I only been thinking quicker, I could have had, "You're gonna need a bigger boat." Who knows when I'll get another chance at that. Probably only in Omaha.

Play continues slowly from there. Ben gets knocked out in a flush over flush situation where he turned his and his opponent rivered. I lose a bit when the short stack goes all in on an ace-high board against my . Of course he has the . What I lose quickly, I build back slowly. I do manage to score pocket aces one time, raise pre-flop and get re-raised all in by , he doesn't catch and I'm sitting pretty. It's about this time when I'm informed that this game is timed. As in, at 10:00, it's all over and payout is figured by chip stack. Well that changes things. With four people left and me on the third stack, it's not looking like I'm going to profit. The short stack gives his chips to the leader and we start playing 'fold your blinds to Graham's raise' for a second. Finally, on the last hand, the second stack wakes up with something, calls my pre-flop raise and we see a flop. I look down at . The board shows . My opponent bets, I raise and he ends up all in. I figure I'm beat, but he turns over . My hand holds and I'm rewarded with $28. Kudos to Bradley for going for that first place money on the last hand. I don't know if I'd have done the same, but I definitely showed some big balls.

Feel free to comment and criticize and until next time, may the malevolent poker gods become confused on the way to your table.

Thankfully, a man whose opinion matters found that poker should be considered a game of skill. This puts a bit of a dent in the laws surrounding online gaming, but, as Techdirt notices, no one is really sure how big of a dent. Somehow this ruling didn't help five men who the judge found guilty of running a gambling house. Without knowing the specifics of the case, it's hard to speculate, but if state law doesn't prohibit betting on games of skill... who knows.

I'm sure this is going to fan the flames of debate on the skill vs. luck topic, so I might as well provide some kindling. Everyone who has played a decent amount of poker would agree that it's largely a game of skill. Problem is we all know that there is a certain percentage of luck involved, too. The question is, where does the line have to fall to call it a game of skill? If I play tennis against Federererer or chess against Kasparov, I lose 100% of the time. No question.

Checkmate

Poker against Phil Ivey and the number goes down ever so slightly. I don't think anyone could persuade me that poker is over half luck, but all it would take is the wrong judge looking at the wrong few games instead of the aggregate and we're back to square one.

When it comes to legal wranglings, it's nice to have that first ruling on our side.

May the malevolent poker gods become disoriented on their way to your table.

You'd normally find this post on the Pokercrat blog, but I couldn't wait for Ethan to get home from work. It's that important. Anyway, here's the meat...

The House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to look at H.R. 5767, a bill that would stop the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, on Tuesday.

I believe the 'Tuesday' in question is tomorrow. The rest of the story is here. For some background on anti-US policy, overseen by the WTO, as a result of the UIGEA check out this story. And as always, your elected officials would love to hear from you. The House Financial Services Committee website is here and their phone number is 202.225.4247.

When you get off the phone with them, go see Ethan at Pokercrat so he doesn't hurt me for beating him to the punch. =)

I found this one on a weightlifting site, but it was originally published in Poker Player magazine in the UK. From poker to weights and back to its rightful home. Mostly stuff you already knew, but definitely some shit that could pick you up a step. Here it is.

I've been out of the cards for a while now, so I've been looking for a way to ease myself back into them slowly. The perfect opportunity arose when my girlfriend's coworkers got together for a $5 NL Hold 'Em tournament and invited me. This turned out to be standard poker night fare: drinking, bullshitting and general amiability. Some players needed cheat sheets, you know, the kind that tell you trips beat two pair. Several had never played poker before. The action was light and the calling stations were heavy. Somewhere in between a layup and a free throw, really. Just what I was looking for.

The tournament started with T500, the blinds at 1/2. The field was six players, but ended up at 11 on two tables by the time everyone was there.

I did some observing right off and initially raises were small indeed. Min raises were the norm, followed in a distant second by comically large raises. The kind you get when people just want to see what that 25 chip does. The first hand I pick up is AK offsuit on the big blind. Something like 4 people limped, so I made it eight to go. All but one call. Flop comes: AK4, two hearts (no hearts for me). I think about it and decide to see what the 25 chip does. It gets me one caller. The turn is a random blank and he calls my 50. The river brings another blank, so I bring another 50 that gets called. Turns out he has a weak K with no flush draw. I have a premonition of getting sucked out of the tournament against something like that as I drag the pot.

Things are quiet for a bit as I settle into a tight-aggro mode for a bit. I observe people overbetting underpairs and limping in with AA and KK with astonishing frequency. I practice my reads. The fish who stares you down has nothing. I call for the win. The fish who can't take his eyes off the pot after min betting probably has it. I call with third pair just to make sure =). I like to look toward the pot, but see my opponent in the periphery. Sort of like the pot is one of those magic eye pictures. Relax the eyes, focus on nothing, but see everything. I steal some blinds and make some small moves.

My next eventful hand is several blind increases later. The table is five-handed and when two more get taken out we merge. Blinds are 5/10. I have the chip lead, but no one is that far behind and only two are in real danger of elimination. I pick up QQ under the gun and make it $30 and get two callers. Flop comes T94 two hearts (again, no hearts for me). I think a bit and make it 100. At this point, I figure my opponents for hopeless chasers on all straights and flushes, so this bet represents the maximum I think they'd call, though they probably shouldn't. I get one caller. The turn comes Jh. Hooray for the straight and the flush that I have no part of. I check. So does he. I realize my mistake and hope it doesn't cost me on the river, which is a black 5. My opponent reacts in a way that makes me check to him. He bets out 100. I am perplexed. He says something about the five not helping me I figure him for T5, but why would he call 100 on the flop. Because that's what this table has been doing. I call and he shows pocket fives! Damn. That loss took a lot of my chips, but luckily the blinds are still reasonable for me to not go into all in mode. I kick myself for missing that turn bet and move on, tighter and more aggressive.

I run hot for a bit on the knowledge that most flops are seen without a raise. This leads to some small pocket pairs and AQ/AJ/AT of mine taking down small to mid-sized pots. I've almost gotten my chip lead back when I look down to see AA staring back at me under the gun. Blinds were at 25/50, so I make it 150 and get a caller. What do you know, the flop comes KK5. Damn. I figure my opponent for a king, probably with a 4 or so at this point. He bets the minimum, so I know he's got it, but I call because it's the minimum and it seems like behavior I want to reinforce. The turn and river are blanks to me and I call his min bets again, forcing him to show down his K4, which may have been a full house at that point, but I don't much care. I managed to not lose much while hopefully gaining something for the future. No rest for me, though, I bend the corners on my next hand only to see the SAME TWO ACES! They must have felt bad. I'm on the BB, so I get to watch everyone limp in before I raise. That's one of those things that never gets old for me. I love watching everyone limp in, then looking down at my big blind hand and putting in a raise. All those suckers think they get to see a cheap flop to a decent pot and I get to slap the hand reaching for the cookies. Anyhow, some fool min raised me and another put in some small part of that which represented the rest of her chips. I proceeded with another raise that caused the fool to muck his cards. Our all in friend had Q rag and when a Q fell on the flop, I thought my aces were cracked. The flop and river held blanks, though, and we merged tables with me in a comfortable position.

I play the waiting game a bit to feel out the new players, but it turns out to be more of the same. I win some smallish pots but nothing remarkable until we're four-handed. I pick up a plain K4d and decide to limp in. Three ways to the flop and it comes A57d, precisely what I was looking for. This is the sort of situation where I slowplay. I check. The smaller of the two remaining stacks puts out a bet, which I call and the other player folds. The turn is a black face card, not sure which, but I continue to check and she puts in the rest of her small stack. I call immediately and we find out that she's drawing dead. So we're down to the money positions and the game doesn't last long from here. I should mention that of the last four players, two had never played poker before and one had never played Hold 'Em. Yes, I liked my chances...

A couple hands into our three way action, I picked up QJd and made a 3x raise. The man with approximately my stack called (the other man had about half as much). Flop said 24J rainbow. Visions of gold dance in my head and I make a sizable bet. He calls without much hesitation. I put him on J rag with one pair. Turn comes K. I hem and haw before shoving and he slowly counts out his chips before calling. He is left with 75 chips, but shows down AJ! Big frown, but he quickly deals the river card...

Looks like I got that earlier premonition backwards.

He gives me his remaining chips on the next hand making me the prohibitive favorite going into heads up against a poker rookie. I decided it's getting late enough that suited face cards would be good enough for me to go all in with and a few hands in I did just that with Q4. Oh wait, that 4 is a diamond. Damn. He shows A5, but of course I four flush him out in anticlimactic fashion for the title.

All in all, it was a fun night. I got some poker practice for my upcoming trip to Las Vegas, I had a good time and I turned $5 in to $30. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday...