Where is the Best Place to Play Poker in the World?

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This article was originally written for Factoidz.com and published HEREAsk a poker player where to go to play poker, and you might get a ton of different answers. Some enjoy playing locally, while others will recommend making a trip to a place like Las Vegas, Atlantic City or Niagara Falls because there are more tourists and the games are juicier. An increasing number of players are getting serious about poker and may recommend a spot based on how much action there is and how big the games are. It’s a safe bet that if you ask any serious cash-game player what the single best cardroom in the world is, they will answer the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, California.

While you may find a soft game in some small corner of the world, you’ll never find the shear magnitude of action that is present at the commerce every single day. They have $5-10 no-limit ($1500 max buy-in), $10-20 no-limit & $20-40 or higher no-limit holdem, as well as limit games of $20-40 holdem and stud, $30-60 stud, $40-80 holdem, $60-120 holdem, $100-200 or higher holdem & stud. When I say they have the game, I mean the game is going 24/7. Other, bigger games that go more occasionally include $5-10 pot-limit Omaha, Chinese poker, $40-80 mixed games and a plethora of higher-stakes games of all kinds. No other card room comes even close to matching this juggernaut of medium- and high-stakes action.

The lower stakes games at the Commerce club also beat any other casino. They have more tables than you can count, spreading Mexican poker, stud, limit holdem, Omaha hi-lo, and no-limit holdem from a $1-2 blind to $5-10 with a reduced max buy-in of $400. In addition to this endless sea of low-stakes cash game tables in the main cardroom, there are always tournaments and satellites going on upstairs in the convention area.

Poker action aside, another reason that the Commerce club is an attractive destination is its 4-star Crowne Plaza Hotel. The room rates are always reasonable for poker players, and the staff are known to be quite courteous. Staying in the very same hotel where you are playing is both an enjoyable luxury and a smart business decision. It’s easier to play more poker in the right state of mind if you can simply quit the game at any time, go right up to the room and relax for awhile, and then come back down whenever you feel like it. You lose this perk if you stay somewhere else, even if it’s only a few miles away.

Finally, there’s one more thing that stands out at this club–the free food! Their menu is a wide array of Asian, Mexican, Middle Eastern & American specialties, and if you play medium stakes (at least $15-30 limit or $400 buy-in no-limit), it’s all 100% free. That’s a super way to cut costs for the travelling poker player. And if you prefer to stick to the low-stakes games, the prices are still quite reasonable, with many full-meal options for under $5.00. The food is all restaurant-quality and the menu always includes a few daily special options which keeps things even more varied.

So, if you’re planning a poker trip, consider the Commerce Club. It’s a favorite of the pros and it might become your favorite as well.

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Cultivating a Profitable Table Image

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This article was originally written for Factoidz.com and published HERE

Defining table image

 In Poker, players are often confronted with two very distinct choices. They can call your bet, or just fold their hand; they can bet their hand or opt to simply check. A player’s fundamental strategic understanding of the game will dictate how they play the hand, until they let other external factors weigh in on their decision. If their opponent has played every hand for an hour and often raises on light values, his ‘wild’ image will undoubtedly influence his opponents to give him more action. Often people will call a wild player down with a marginal hand instead of folding it, with the hope that he is on a bluff. Or, a player may slyly fold a relatively strong hand when a certain player bets because that player had previously demonstrated that they rarely ever bet unless they have a monster hand.

Correctly adjusting your play to the different styles of poker players you encounter is a crucial skill. Nobody can win in medium or high stakes poker playing like a well programmed robot, you have to adjust and read your opponent’s play. This is why table image is so commonly discussed by poker players. Keep reading for a few secrets on how to project a profitable table image.

 Awareness is everything

First, you must take notice of what your opponents think about your play. If you’ve raised many hands in a row, they’ll likely think you are quite loose and aggressive, regardless of what cards you were dealt in actual fact. Adjusting your play to the reality of how you are being perceived is half the battle. To win the whole battle you must also strive to project an image that works for you.

What is a profitable image?

Three things that define a profitable image are: 

1- You are misleading your opponents to play one way against you, when they should be playing another way. 

2- You are getting extra action on your good hands. 

3- Regardless of how loose you seem, players still fear you.

Many pros agree that the image of a loose aggressive winning player is best. Because you seem loose, the bad players want to gamble with you for a raise with all kinds of hands, and call you all the way down with weak made hands. Conversely, because you have the image of a winner, they are still afraid to bluff you and remain susceptible to being bluffed off a pot when you both hold nothing. Also, when a player is even mildly intimidated, they give off way more obvious and reliable tells, becoming much easier to read.

The winning image

Cultivating the image of a loose aggressive winner is easy to do, but it takes confidence. You’ll need to always have a lot of chips in front of you. This intimidates some players and makes new players think you are on heater, even if you are losing so far that day. If you keep buying chips and are unable to get anything going, and suddenly your biggish stack starts looking a little meager, you should probably just quit for the day or take a break and start up again at a new table.

Keep a smile on your face, and never let them see you down. If you look dejected the other players will smell blood and play much more confidently against you. If you aren’t happy, it is hard to fake it, and again this might be another time when you should just call it day. Poker is a game after all, we play because we enjoy it, whether you’re a serious pro or a small stakes amateur you will show better results if you stick to playing when you are having fun.

Aggression is the final ingredient. In many instances good players will play a hand aggressively and bad players will opt to take the easy way out by simply calling, checking or folding. When you’re the catalyst you control the action, and once the action gets heavy and other players seem to want to get even more aggressive than you, then it becomes time to switch gears. By this I mean tightening up a little, sticking to mostly premium hands and reaping the rewards of having cultivated a profitable image.

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The Top 5 North American Poker Cities of the Future

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This article was originally written for Factoidz.com and published HERE  


1 - Los Angeles, California L.A. is now, has been, and will remain for quite some time the poker capital of the world. There are two strong reasons why it has the very best action in a wide variety of games. For one, there are millions and millions of people there and they have lots of cash. There are tons businesses of all kinds based in L.A. as well as a greater than average number of people working in cash businesses and/or working for tips. Next, there is California’s rich history of poker. It’s been popular there since before California became a state and it boomed alongside the gold rush back in the 19th century. Also, poker was first legalized and deemed a game of skill by the powers that be in California way back in 1911. Also, let’s not deny it just because it’s a stereotype, Asians love to gamble at poker and L.A. has a huge Asian population. This is a hard combination of factors to beat. It’s easy to guess that Los Angeles will remain the number one poker city in North America (as well as the entire world) for many years to come.

2- Las Vegas, Nevada Another city with a rich history of poker is Las Vegas. While Vegas has always been focused on fancy meals, shows, nightspots and house games, poker has nevertheless been affixed somewhere within the fabric of the Las Vegas experience. Vegas continues to host the biggest poker tournaments in the world, and is also home to much of the poker that the general public watches on television. So, Vegas will obviously play a big role in the future of poker. It’s home to the buzz, as well as many of the biggest pros and nicest poker rooms in the world.


3- San Francisco Bay Area, California Let’s take our list a few hundred miles up the Pacific coast to San Francisco, the city I’ve chosen third. The reasons are similar to the reasons given for choosing L.A. The Bay Area has many rooms and a strong California poker history as well as millions of people who generally have a lot of disposable income. I see San Francisco becoming a much more popular poker destination in the years to come than it is today and ultimately this is why I’ve ranked it so high. I think the poker playing public likely already sees San Francisco as a neat alternative to L.A. and Vegas as a place to go and catch some action while on a vacation and/or a poker trip. Although, they could probably use a, bigger, better and more central casino/cardroom.


4- Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia I’ve lumped these two cities together because they are relatively close together and I consider them to be part of the same poker zone. Players can come up from the American side to enjoy the tax benefits of Canadian tournaments and Canadian players can head to the Seattle area to catch solid cash game action. Seattle seems to have retained steady limit poker action while no-limit dominates north of the border. Both the Muckleshoot Casino near Seattle and the Riverrock Casino in Vancouver are large, respectable casinos with above average poker rooms, and looking ahead I think this shows promise that the game is becoming more and more entrenched in the culture there.


5- Calgary, Alberta This is a bit of a dark horse entry on my list as Calgary really isn’t that big of a city (population is approximately 1 million) and it’s relatively far away from any major north American metropolises. Yet, I assure you it does deserve mention. Poker north of the border has lagged behind the United States for years but recently it’s finally gotten to be about as popular per capita as it is in the U.S.A. And speaking per capita I would venture a guess that Calgary is likely the most poker loaded city on the entire continent (with the possible exception of the cities who’s economy’s are deeply linked to gambling, i.e. Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Niagara Falls). They’ve got several cardrooms all across town and pretty much the biggest action north of Vegas and San Fran. Genuine middle limit action in limit holdem, no-limit holdem and pot-limit omaha can be sought out every day and the big bet games can sometimes escalate into the higher stakes ( i.e. 10-25-50 PLO with some stacks over $10 000). Calgary is the business centre of Alberta, Canada’s most oil rich province, and there’s plenty of work there. Menial jobs pay more than double what they do in more recessed regions. Also, Calgary is the Canadian city with the deepest cultural connection to poker, as cowboys have been playing it for years and years along the stampede trail up from Texas.


Those That Didn’t Make The Cut There are other cities that didn’t make the list that perhaps deserve an honourable mention. Atlantic City NJ has a spruced up image with the construction of Borgata and it’s brand new poker room. San Diego CA, Minneapolis MN and Toronto ON all have solid action, day in and day out. Montreal QC recently opened it’s first legal poker room ever and are apparently getting surprisingly good interest in no-limit holdem in their giant classy casino there. Finally, Phoenix AR was the last to be cut from my list, although I’ve never been there I’ve heard from reputable sources that $40-80 limit games are the norm every day and that games as high as $100-200 are sometimes held at peak times, and they also spread no-limit.


What Does It Take? So what does it take for a city to play a major role in the future of poker in North America? I think I’ve isolated the two key factors that need to be present and aplenty: 1- The city must have a strong economy where average citizen has both ample disposable income and enough free time to partake in a hobby as involving as poker. 2- The city must already own a sense of history with the game. Places where many people see themselves as poker players and have for a long time (perhaps even for generations in places such as California, Nevada or even Calgary), have a tendency to stay true to the game and spread the game properly. By this I mean building decent cardrooms with the appropriate amenities (food,drink, parking etc…), using the right rules, choosing proper equipment and hiring competent staff. In part is is their experience running cardrooms that breeds unequaled competence but above all that there’s a bigger factor at work that really shines through, a passion for the game.
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A New Wild and Crazy Poker Game I Call Donkey

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DONKEY: A split-pot hi/lo poker game in which every player is dealt 3 cards and must use these in conjunction with a 5 card board of community cards. Players must use two cards from their hand to play for high, while their one remaining 'donkey' card plays for low.

This is no joke, I've actually invented a new poker game that I think could be a lot of fun. It's been an idea bouncing around in the back of my head for quite some time and I think it's finally ready to be played.

Donkey is a limit game that combines elements from Holdem, Pineapple and Omaha hi/lo. As of the writing of this article it has never been played by anyone EVER. So read on, learn the rules and set up a game and you could actually be the first person/people in history to play the great new game of Donkey.

The Basics
On the deal every player gets three cards. The betting is the same as Holdem or Omaha hi/lo and your goal is to make the best hi and/or the best low hand to claim a share of the pot.

The Wrinkles
Just like in Omaha you MUST use two cards from your hand to make your high hand. The wrinkle is that your third card, the one not being used for high, automatically plays for low. In other words all of your cards always play. This will make it difficult to scoop, but will open up the range of 'good' starting hands. AA2 is likely the best hand in the game, but AK2, A23 and even 234 or 332 would be very powerful.

Showdowns
Because hands could be played in different ways on the showdown this aspect of the game is different in Donkey than in Holdem or Omaha8. The showdown order always starts from the last bettor (whoever bet last in the hand, regardless of which street) and moves clockwise, each player having to declare in turn how they are using their cards. This makes the decision of whether to bet late in hand slightly more challenging and offers up an advantage to passive players, as they will often be showing down after having seen one or more player's cards. Players showing down later will have the benefit of changing up how they are playing their cards. Obviously, on the river your position relative to the last bettor is crucial.

Strategy
Anyone who is dealt an ace will automatically be guaranteed a portion of the pot so long as an ace doesn't hit the board. This will likely be a nice catalyst for action, but as any good player will quickly figure out, having just an ace in your hand does not mean you should be in there raising. You have to factor in your chances of scooping as well as the likelyhood you will be quartered or worse.

Amendments
As I haven't tested this game out yet I'm sure there will need to be a lot of amendments in order to make it run smoothly. I think it has a lot of potential to be a fun addition to the world of poker, as a kind of sideshow game like crazy pineapple, but more complex.

One of the possible variations on the rules might be to force players to play their best two cards for high, leaving the lone 'donkey' card to play for low. This would mean you'd have a lot less control over the play for low, but would facilitate the showdowns and create fewer split pots as well.

I hope some of you out there in pokerland will try out the game and get back to me. In the meantime I'll try and setup a homegame where I can test out the new wild and crazy game of Donkey.

Also, I'd like to work out new rules to make this game a split-pot Badugi game, and call it Badonkey. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
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Some Comments On Live Vs. Online Poker

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This is the first year in my poker career that I've decided to take on online poker seriously. Even though I've been playing poker for significant stakes since 2004, I never really took to online poker. In the past my online poker play consisted mostly of bursts before poker trips where I would, with varying degrees of success, attempt to turn $500 into 5 or 10k. Then I'd be done with it again for a long while. Seeing as online poker has become super tough over the past couple years, I thought this was the perfect time for me to throw my hat into that arena. I've been sabotaging myself for my entire poker career, why stop now? At least if I can kick ass online these days I'll know that I really have figured out this game. Anyways, lately I've been thinking about some of the differences between live and online poker.

Obviously live poker is more social and online can be very isolating. These are the typical observations. On this level every person has to figure out what they prefer for themselves. Many pros and serious players mix up their play between live and online claiming that this has the benefit of keeping them fresh and motivated. I'd tend to agree that this is a good M.O. But the most important things to consider are the factors that relate to results, bankroll and expected value. This is a game about making money right?

Along the way on this journey of getting into the zone of online poker I've realized a few things:

1- It would be bloody hard to make as much playing online as I can when I play live. BUT, on the flipside I think it's actually possible to make more in the long run. The ceiling is higher because you can multi-table and table select so easily. But the effort required for success is great.

2- The rake online is atrocious. It may seem like online poker offers a favorable rake structure, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Rake relates differently to the game online as it does live, this is in part due to the fact that you're more likely to show down many marginal hands that you would have folded were you playing live. The general lack of physical tells leads to a more showdown bound game and more automatic betting. I'm often realizing that no matter what card comes I'm going to bet, I would almost never automatically bet like this in live poker.

Essentially what I'm saying is that the edges for the better players are WAY smaller than in live poker whereas the rake is similar. We're being totally ripped off by the online poker companies, it's a sad state of a affairs and the online poker companies should be ashamed of themselves. I think that in the future their extreme greed will come back and bite them in the ass. In the meantime we have no choice but to simply look for the best rake/rewards/rakeback setups we can find and truck on.

3- Playing a lot of tables at once takes a lot of training. Sure, you don't have to multi-table like a crazed maniac to win money, but more tables could easily mean more profit. When you play 4 or less tables the flow of the game is similar to live poker. So getting in the hours shouldn't be too tough. But don't think because you can sit for X amount of hours playing live, or playing 4 tables online, that you should be able to play just as long when you play 12 tables.

Our brains may be capable of incredible feats, but it takes time to build up your abilities. Multi-tabling isn't mostly about how you bet your hands (like live poker is), there are many physiological factors at play. I recommend thinking in terms of hands per hour and attempting to increase your hand/hr rate by 2-5% per week. In other words, if you're 3 tabling and playing for 2 hours at a time, try adding a 4th table for 30 mins of your next session. After a few sessions of that increase the 4 tabling to an hour and gradually build up to where you want to be. Take good long looks at your results over time and you should be able to pinpoint a sweet spot where you preform the best. It could be 3 tables or 24 tables or anywhere in between, and at any stakes in any game (although mass multi-tabling any mixed games or stud games is a recipe for disaster).

When I play live it's like a vacation compared to playing online. I could play for hours and be right back in the game the next day. I could play a 40 hour session, I could play back to back to back 60 hour weeks. When you play online poker seriously, especially when you are relatively new to it, this mentality is totally wrong. If you're trying to build up to playing more and more hands then you're in training, like an athlete. You need to rest after your workouts, and maybe even take a day or two off to let the brain recover after an especially long session. And remember, the only metrics that matter when it comes to quantifying goals are the ones that are based on your own experience, results and abilities.
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What Are The Best Poker Media Websites?

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I listen to a ton of poker radio and I'm constantly reading articles and checking out the poker media websites. A few days ago I decided to try looking for some new sites and I came across a gruesome fact. Many of the poker media sites out there are pretty shitty and provide substandard content. I've been mostly sticking to my few tried, tested and true websites, and didn't even realize that there's a whole 'nother world of bullshit poker related sites out there. Then it dawned on me that I should probably do the newbs out there a service by enumerating the best poker podcasts and websites, as far as I'm concerned. So here it is:

1- Poker Road

I guess this website is the brainchild of Joe Sebok and few other talented young bucks. My favorite podcast is 'The Poker Beat' because of the contributor's tell it like it is attitude with regard to poker world news. All the other shows are all great, I listen to everything they do.There are even some entertaining audio clips produced by Barry Greenstein on there.

2- Pokernews
This site just seems to be the top dog when it comes to providing updates and results. They also have some kindof unique media status at the WSOP. I refer to the site here and there, whenever I want some solid info and I'll inevitably get linked back to this site a few times a day.

3- Cardplayer
I use the Poker Stats tracker on the Cardplayer site to keep my live poker stats. It provides a handy interface, and you can export your stats in a spreadsheet. They have some other handy tools as well. The stories and the news are good on this site, but I'm really more of a fan of their famous printed magazine than of their website.

4- Two Plus Two

The podcast on this site is really good, they have a bunch of interesting guests, definitely worth listening to. I'm sure you've heard of the famous 2+2 forums. I do lurk a little bit on those forums, but I rarely contribute. I find there are way too many wankers and non-serious poker players camped out over there. As far as forums go, if you're serious about poker you should probably join a coaching site and use their forums. If you don't take the game too seriously and you just want to muck about on a forum two plus two is the biggest and the baddest. Also, all of the the poker media sites I've mentioned in this articles have popular forums.

Here are a few other good sites:
wickedchopspoker.com
poker-from-the-rail
pokerati.com
pokergurublog.com
bluffmagazine.com
mediocrepokerradio.com

If you don't know where to begin your poker media journey, try sticking to these sites. I'm sure there are a bunch more cool sites I'm missing in this listing,  so please comment if you have suggestions for sites that should be added to this list. CHEERS!
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