Grading the South Carolina poker legalization hearing
I showed up early for Monday’s South Carolina Senate subcommittee hearing. Up for debate and public input were two bills that would effectively make legal home poker games and charitable raffles. South Carolina is one of two states in the country that bars raffles (thanks to Utah for making us seem less antiquated and ridiculous). The Palmetto State also makes any game with cards or dice illegal (read: poker, Monopoly, bridge) etc. With that in mind, you might expect the decriminalization hearing on the 200 year old law to be ridiculous. You would be right, you just don’t know how right you are. By the end of it, I was so frustrated I couldn’t even speak clearly. So, after the jump, I grade the major players’ effectiveness (Note: this is for more than South Carolina poker players, as the national Poker Players Alliance had big role in the hearing). Poker Players Alliance: The PPA, the most legitimate of all the poker advocacy groups in America, has spent a great deal of time and effort in South Carolina recently. It supported the Mt. Pleasant Five in a February trial (see your April issue of Bluff Magazine for my article on the subject) and has been exceptionally vocal about legislative efforts here. The PPA surprised me by pulling on board one the state’s most respected legal minds. Billy Wilkins, former chief judge of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, spoke on behalf of the PPA. While Wilkins could’ve been briefed a little better on the subject matter, he was expectedly well-spoken. It was was a coup for poker players to have Wilkins on their side. I would never have guessed the poker industry could’ve pulled such a big name from the local pool. The PPA also did a great job of rallying the troops to the meeting. Its online outreach was hard to miss. All of that said, the PPA still has some issues it need to address if it wants to be a serious force. It could have done a much better job lining up and briefing people who planned to testify. One of the better parts of organizing grass roots efforts like this is making sure your people are all on the same page and are well-educated on the subject matter. The PPA needs people who know how to do more than send out e-mails. It needs to be pushing hard in the media, rallying larger groups of people, and educating the masses. A media campaign couldn’t hurt either. Finally, the PPA’s social media strategy was either badly conceived or badly executed. Here are a few examples of the Twitter messages sent out to more than 1,200 Twitter followers during the meeting. "at the Greenville NC poker hearing which just started." "Greenville, opposition just said that no one has every been arrested for play poker n SC! Read the paper much?" "Greenville, opposition sweating bullets right now." "opposition doesn’t support charities that save lives w/ funds received from raffles." "opposition does not support the burn center thats supported by charity events." "Franky’s Fun Park is full of games of skill not chance! LOL" "opposition doesn’t support personal responsibility. " "opp doesn’t support Sheriners." "looks like were rapping up." There were a ton more like that. From misstating where we were geopgraphically, to rampant spelling mistakes, to out-of-context immaturity, the Twitter feed was embarrassing. I couldn’t figure out who was sending the messages. He might be a really good guy, but he needs a better understanding of both social media and reasonable, mature ways to win hearts and minds. If the Twitter feed was the PPA’s only voice, I would not associate myself with the group. Said B.J. Nemeth, top poker writer, "These tweets sound absurd. You’re making it sound like anti-poker people hate children, charities, and puppies. Clearly untrue." The PPA has come a long way recently and I still wholeheartedly support the group’s mission. It’s clearly on the right track. It just needs some good counsel on how to handle some of its outeach efforts. Grade: B- A few poker and raffle proponents, including your humble correspondent in the background and on the edge of a mental breakdown The legislators: Several legislators from around South Carolina came to Greenville. It started about as badly as you might expect. Committee Chairman Robert Ford is from the Low Country. He likes to party and is a laid back guy. He’s obviously from the coast. The problem is that his brand of humor doesn’t play here. He knew coming into the Upstate that he was going to be facing a very conservative crowd. Rather than respect it, Ford started the meeting by saying, "I guess since we’re in Greenville, we need to start with a short prayer. We didn’t do that in Charleston." There is no greater way to tick off a group of praying people than saying, "I guess we’ll do it since we’re in your house, but we wouldn’t do it we were home." Ford is a fun guy, but he is not one to sway hearts and minds. He seemed more intent on debating that convincing. Bad play, sir. Senator Jake Knotts, a retired cop from Lexington County (around the state capital), is no better. While obviously being in favor of the bill, he spent more than half his time arguing on tangential subjects such as whether the stock market was gambling and whether a local arcade contains games of chance or skill. He also left before the hearing was over (I know, because I left two and half hours into it and he was ahead of me in the parking lot). Knotts is a fierce advocate for whatever he believes in. Sadly, most of the time he throws a punch, he misses his target and hits the referee. Senator Brad Hutto is yet another Democrat from the coast. He is seemingly a smart guy. He also listens very well. Unfortunately, he stayed too quiet through most of the meeting. He could’ve used what seemed to be his openmindedness to convince the opposition. Instead, he sat and looked annoyed. I don’t blame him. I looked annoyed, too. Senator Phillip Shoopman is actually from the Greenville area. Despite apparently being opposed to the law change, he was also level headed. He seemed to imply he could handle a poker home game decriminalization measure as long as it didn’t involve opening up the state to new raffles. Of all the opponents in the room, he was the most reasonable. I appreciated his ability to disagree with me without resorting to name calling and being judgmental. Senator Mick Mulvaney from York County won the day. If there was an eye-on-the-ball legislator Monday night, it was Senator Mulvaney. Erudite, polite, and mature, Mulvaney was exactly what the conversation needed. If the entire legislature was made up of people like the York Co. senator, there might be a little more confidence in the intelligence of the body. Mulvaney is a Republican and we disagree on many subjects. That said, I can respect his style and his ability to allow me to disagree with him without resorting to tired and childish forms of debate. I’m quite pleased the lawmakers are taking the time to deal with this thorny issue. I’m less impressed with their way of handling their detractors. I covered lawmakers from 1996 to 2005. I’d forgotten how disenchanted I was with the people and the politics. I got a quick reminder Monday night. Grade: C- The Anti-Gambling lobby: Wow. I mean, wow. I know I live in the conservative part of a state that is one of the most conservative of the nation. I’ve seen the huge anti-gambling forces fill gymnasiums to fight against video poker. I know there are people who don’t like gambling around here. I get that part. That said, the folks who came out of the woodwork to fight the possibility of raffles and legalized poker home games were just…impressive. Chief among the detractors was Tony Beam, a conservative radio host and bigwig at a Southern Baptist university in the north part of Greenville County. Well-spoken and persuasive, Beam is a debater of the first order and has all the charisma of Rush Limbaugh. He is also the king of the straw man. He and Bob Jones University professor Dr. Bob Taylor (a doctor of math, if you can believe it) both rallied the troops by stating that allowing raffles and home games would open the door to casino gambling in South Carolina. They state this despite the fact the bills clearly state that such gambling would be strictly forbidden. They state it because the only way to really rally the anti-gambling crew is to offend their sense of morality. They would get nowhere if they said, "Fight against people’s rights to play cards in their own home! People playing poker in their home could turn your children into sinners. Charitable raffles in churches are the agents of Satan." Even the most fervent of gambling haters would have a hard time getting a rise out of that. So, the detractors create the king of the straw men: home poker games and church raffles will mean MGM and Harrah’s will set up shop in Mauldin next week. It doesn’t follow, it’s silly, and it’s just wrong. Here’s the best part. The most vocal of the opponents at the hearing were from Bob Jones University and North Greenville University. Both are privately funded schools and take no state money. Fair enough. That said, their student body is made up of students who are there on scholarships. Many of those scholarships are funded by…wait for it…the South Carolina lottery. Later Monday night (yes, at a poker game) a graduate of Bob Jones University (who financed his way through school gambling on backgammon) asked why I thought his alma mater was so fervently against home poker games and raffles. Without understanding the motivation fully, I answered. First, they want to impose their morality on as many people as possible. Second, it’s an opportunity to be heard. They are an interest group and an interest group is nothing without an issue to fight for or against. And so, the stickers that say "No new gambling" on their chests. And so the tear-filled speeches about lost families. And so the wavering voice of a radio host who talks about the people he has brought back from the brink of video poker addiction. This is all because the American Legion wants to run a raffle to support its charities. This is all because I want to check-raise my friends in a cheap game of poker news . Right. In short, the opposition is a lot like the proponents of the bill. They are so morally offended by the other side, they can’t bring themselves to make a legitimate argument. They are exceptionally devoted and charismatic, but they need to read a book by Dale Carnegie. Grade: C- Poker players: Despite a massive turnout in favor of the bill, a good portion of the people in the audience were there in support of charitable raffles. The local poker community is huge. Not enough of the players cared enough to show up. I knew going in that my presence wasn’t going to make much difference. I was going anyway, but felt better about it when G-Rob said, "Nothing ever got changed by people doing nothing." I was disappointed by how few of my fellow poker players showed up. Grade: D It’s clear I’m frustrated. I’d hoped to write something a little more positive about the hearing. Sadly, nothing positive came from the hearing. The people on my side were unfocused, tangential, and irrational. The people on the other side were unfocused, tangential, and irrational. It was an act of legislative and advocacy masturbation and I am sad that I wasted nearly three hours of my life in the middle of it. Because I’ve converted to Optimism, I look forward to what’s to come. Because I still have latent fatalist tendencies, things don’t look too good–for other side. Photo courtesy GreenvilleOnline.com

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It’s now possible to test your actual Texas Hold’em poker skills using a free online poker test. There are several of these tests now available. The original test was first published at PokerTester.com.

The poker test consists of answering 25 multiple-choice questions, testing 8 different poker skills areas.

Everyone who learns to play poker climbs the “poker ladder” over a period of time, as they learn more and grow each poker skill.

Progressing up the poker ladder from a beginner toward becoming an advanced or expert player takes a combination of skills, time and experience.

In particular, the following skills areas are tested by PokerTester’s Texas Holdem test:

Starting Hands – which starting hands you select to play, from which positions and under which circumstances, has a big impact on how well you do in poker.

Betting Strategy – how you choose to bet makes a huge difference in your winnings at poker. Choosing to bet or raise when you should’ve called or folded, for example, will make the difference between cashing out or making the final table in a tournament, or going home early with empty pockets.

Playing the Odds – knowing how and when to play the odds is critical to making money and building your stack in poker. This includes quickly calculating outs, pot odds and determining whether your hand is a money-maker or loser (statistically). While you can’t play strictly by the odds, it’s an important factor of the game, since there’s always an element of chance involved.

Bluffing and Trapping – one of the most important skills in the game of poker is successful bluffing. The ability to bluff and trap successfully is so critical because in poker, you won’t typically get that many super-strong hands, so knowing when and how to bluff and trap typically makes all the difference in how well a player does at poker.

Reading Players – the ability to understand what a player is likely doing at any point in the game, as well as successfully reading their hand strength, is a critical skill. If you learn to do it successfully, you’ll know when to fold when holding the second-best hands and when to raise or go all-in against a bluff the opponent is making.

Heads Up Play – playing properly in a one-on-one situation is critical, since there are many occasions where you’ll be pitted against just one opponent, either in a particular hand or at the end of a tournament. Winning heads up play is what separates the Champions from the rest.

Advanced Play – knowing a number of advanced techniques will enable you to confuse your opponents, keeping them off balance and wondering what’s going on, preventing them from easily reading you as a player, or gaining certainty about your hand strength.

Tournament Play – as much of today’s play is centered on tournaments, both large multi-table tournaments as well as satellite and sit and go tournaments, knowing and using proper tournament strategy is an important skill to develop.

It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to thoughtfully take the poker test. Upon completion, you receive a “report card” containing your overall score. The report includes a score for each of the 8 key poker skills areas, so you know your strengths and weaknesses exactly. In addition, tips are provided to indicate exactly what you need to brush up on (the questions you missed or scored weakly on).

By truly understanding one’s skills, it’s then possible to focus one’s study on just those weaker areas, enabling a player to improve their overall poker game much more rapidly.

With these kind of innovations now available online, anyone can now quickly and easily discover their own poker skill level – objectively. By combining this skills information with proper study, it’s now possible for players to quickly brush up on their game and become strong players much faster than ever before.

Rick

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Relative Hand Strength with Jon Aguiar
Jon FatalError Aguiar has traveled the globe playing in the world’s richest poker tournaments. In the last five years, hes accumulated $1.1 million in winnings in live and online tournaments. Aguiars latest trip was to Monte Carlo for the…

Free poker rooms and sites are the best place to learn the game. These sites are also the proving ground to let you know if you need to improve your game, or if you’re ready to start winning hands.

When is the right time to move from the free poker rooms and poker sites, to the real money poker sites? This is a fundamental question you should ask yourself, and one that most people don’t, as they are overly anxious to start winning hands at real money poker. Resist this temptation until you are sure you’re ready. So how do you know when you’re ready to move on from the poker rooms and free poker sites.

A good guideline is when you either win six out of ten hands consistently, or are bringing in 30% more money than what you start with four out of seven days. It would be great to have an even larger percentage than this, but this is the baseline.

When you’ve met either one, or both of these guidelines, then you can confidently move from the poker rooms and sites to the next level-The real money poker sites.

When looking for the real money poker sites, be sure to steer clear of the sites that the top players lurk at. Be smart and choose a real money poker site that you feel you can confidently win at. Watch a few games to determine if this is the site for you.

Now that you are out of the poker rooms and free poker sites and playing real money poker, you need to realize that most online poker players are more aggressive in their betting and playing styles, and you might see some odd combinations that you will have to consider could be on the table.

Playing at the free poker rooms and poker sites is also a great way to study the odds of different combinations that will come up at the table. The free sites are the places that you want to learn and refine your poker game. The real money sites are not the place for this and the players there will quickly jump all over your mistakes if you make them. They will happily take your money as well.

If you enjoy just playing poker for fun and a relaxing good time, then the free poker rooms and sites are the place for you. If, however, you want to make money at online poker, then taking your game seriously and developing your skills is a must. Good luck and study hard.

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Poker in Las Vegas (source: about.com)
In just a few hours, I’m heading out to Las Vegas and I can’t wait. While there’s closer poker in Atlantic City to me — there’s no place better than… (source: about.com) – Share on Twitter – Share on Facebook – RSS news feeds and Widgets on Feedzilla.com

A recent industry study concluded that 12% of online poker players were apprehensive about or had completely stopped playing online poker in light of the recent poker bot craze. That essentially sends players offline rather than risk their money against these new computer-generated poker bots.

However, there are several ways to beat a poker bot in online poker, and knowing these methods will certainly give the human player back the edge against poker bots. One fact that makes a poker bot a better player is that they lack the human emotion or power of reasoning that a human must use when playing online poker. A poker bot is not apt to go on ’tilt’ or get angry when they are the victims of a bad beat.

In playing online poker, human players are up against two major advantages. One is the computer generated code created by the poker sites to determine shuffles, deals and outcomes of a hand, while the other disadvantage, just as dangerous to your bankroll, is the poker bot, that is pre-programmed with all the statistics and probabilities of the game.

Nevertheless, you can use the computer-generated codes of the poker sites and poker bots against them if you understand how they work. A poker bot is confined to making decisions based solely on the play of the game with regard to its statistical analysis of poker. In other words, a poker bot will only make decisions based on known patterns in the game.

Moreover, the online poker sites, which actively attempt to detect and thwart the efforts of poker bot programmers and users, have implemented a counter-measure to the poker bots, using the same known patterns. By implementing a counter measure to the poker bots, a poker site is able to ensure that a poker bot will not win since the poker bots actions are predictable and confined to a skill-set directly related to statistical odds and probability.

This, as confusing as it may seem, actually works to the advantage of the human player. While the poker site’s software is actively seeking the poker bot patterns and attempting to detect who is a human and who is a computer generated bot script, they also inadvertently implemented a flaw which allows a human player to take advantage of the online poker sites weakness.

In reality, this has resulted in a human player having the ability to not only beat the poker bot, but beat human opponents as well. By following a set pattern that the online poker sites are using, an advantage is created for anyone who is aware of that pattern. This pattern is known as a sequential algorithm and that algorithm dramatically has changed the poker game online to force wins and losses in a set, specific and predictable pattern.

It is not only plausible to beat a poker bot; it is easily accomplished by recognizing the patterns used by online poker sites. These patterns are simple to learn and require little skill by a human player. So the next time you think about playing poker online, consider using the codes and algorithms created by the poker site to your advantage. They are there to prevent the poker bots from winning, but not you!

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