Maple's Poker & Boardgaming Blog

Wow - Blog Spam

2005-09-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I allowed anyone to respond to my blog...regardless of whether they were registered or not and I only received one useful response. Thank yuo to that one person that made a good point, to the rest of the people who tried to sell me things, phooey on you!

I had to change the settings to only allow those registered to comment. I apologize to everyone who this inconveniences.

Poker, Night number one

2005-09-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well tonight was my first night of playing poker online using Pokertracker and Gametime+. The program allows me to put specific icons next to player's names based on the data the programs gathers as the hands are recorded. I found 2 tables that had players that were considered weaker so I sat down and began to play. My brother plays poker tons, so I knew I could talk to him after the hands were complete to get some helpful advice. Oh, the tables were .25/.50, 25NL tables.

I played over 300 hands at these two tables, with 2 hands pretty much summing up the night. In one hand, I was dealt AdQd and called a $2 raise from the button. The flop comes 2d, 4d, 8d - A Flush! One guy raised to $5 and he was called by someone else...$$$. I called their bets and watched the next card a Js. That same guy bet $5, and we all called again. The last card was a 7c and he went all in, which put us both all in, of which we both called. In the end I won $62 on that hand alone! My brother tells me later that this was a mistake and he would generally not call that big a raise preflop with AQ cause it is so often dominated and leads to bigger losses than gains. He is probably right.

In the other hand, I had AhTc was in the pot against one other guy. The flop came Ac, 6h, Td. I was excited once again and bet $2. That other guy raised me to $4 so I went all in. He called me and showed me his ThTc...trip 10s. Blegh and there went all the profits I made from the previous hand. My brother tells me later that whenever someone raises the minimum after I raise, it usually means they have a really good hand, likely trips. So If I play like my brother I don't win the first hand, but I don't lose much on the second...its a wash either way.

Anyway, 3 hours of poker (watching and playing) and I'm up $6 overall. Seems like a bit of a waste, but it was fun and at least I did not lose money!

If you want to play Torres

2005-09-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

I suggest you visit this website www.boiteajeux.net. Yes, I know...it's french, but if you play these board games, then you have some degree of intelligence, either way its not hard to figure out. For example: Annuler = Cancel, Finis tour = finish turn, not rocket science!

The interface was a tad cumbersome at first, but after just one game I felt the site as a success. Not only does it let you play the game fairly quickly, but it also displays the most recent turns and has a clever chat window in the bottom right that lets you speak to your opponents.

Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Introduction

2005-09-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I am about to embark on a journey of playing poker online more seriously. Its not like I am goign to quit my job or anything, but I am going to make my goal less "for fun" and more "Kramer-like" i.e. "Lets make some money!"

My first step to more serious poker playing, is using a program called PokerTracker. PT captures information in a database by processing data from hands I have played and observed. From what I have read, everything you could ever want to know can be found in this program, its just a matter of understanding how to find it. Whenever I find somethign interesting, I'll be glad to share it.

I am also an avid boardgamer and close friends with this gentleman who is an opponent I find quite worthy. You will find my responses to his posts on his blog and here as well, along with some insight of my own. I suggest if you are interested in board games, to visit his blog.

Please post your comments whenever valid. I am here to learn and help others, so I hope you will return the favor!