The poker ninja
My husband is a dork.
Gambling
June 11, 2008
May 28, 2008
Blackjack tournament: we're out :(
Hubby busted before the money due to a very unlucky streak in which he won only one hand during his last round. Apparently the dealer was on fire and busted half the table before the round even ended. And I never won any of the wildcard drawings to get back in.
Hubby was too tired and crabby to stay for the rest of the drawings (a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation suggested that they weren't worth that much anyway) so we headed home to go back to sleep.
Hubby was too tired and crabby to stay for the rest of the drawings (a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation suggested that they weren't worth that much anyway) so we headed home to go back to sleep.
Poor sleepy Hubby
He got 2 hours of sleep last night but he keeps advancing to the next round of the tournament so we're stuck here. :(
Waiting for the wild card drawing
I have 26 chances to get back into the blackjack tournament. Wish me luck!
Hubby and I are lowering the average age in the room by a LOT.
May 27, 2008
Blackjack tournament at the Las Vegas Hilton
I busted but Hubby made it to the second round, which plays tomorrow. Wish him luck!
We qualified Friday night after Hubby heard from a fellow poker player about the promotion: get a suited blackjack with a minimum $10 bet and win an entry into their $100,000 blackjack tournament. Since a suited blackjack comes approximately once every 100 hands and the house edge in blackjack is about half a percent, our expected loss to qualify for the tournament was only $5 each. A good deal except for the time investment, but this was something fun for us to do together so we didn't worry about the expected hourly rate.
I tried to learn some tournament strategy over the past couple of days, reading some of Ken Einiger's Play to Win
and some of Stanford Wong's Casino Tournament Strategy (Stanford Wong's book is WAY better, BTW), but I didn't have enough time to absorb much. So I ended up playing a really simple strategy of betting the minimum for the first half of the round (in the hopes that some of the other players would bet bigger and bust early) and then betting half my stack for the second half. Unfortunately I was pretty unlucky in the second half and reached a point where I had to bet it all to catch up, so I did, and busted.
Hubby had never played a blackjack tournament before either but he's played a lot of poker tournaments and apparently there are enough similarities to help him out. So he did very well and finished as the top of his table, with the top two players advancing to the next round.
We qualified Friday night after Hubby heard from a fellow poker player about the promotion: get a suited blackjack with a minimum $10 bet and win an entry into their $100,000 blackjack tournament. Since a suited blackjack comes approximately once every 100 hands and the house edge in blackjack is about half a percent, our expected loss to qualify for the tournament was only $5 each. A good deal except for the time investment, but this was something fun for us to do together so we didn't worry about the expected hourly rate.
I tried to learn some tournament strategy over the past couple of days, reading some of Ken Einiger's Play to Win
and some of Stanford Wong's Casino Tournament Strategy (Stanford Wong's book is WAY better, BTW), but I didn't have enough time to absorb much. So I ended up playing a really simple strategy of betting the minimum for the first half of the round (in the hopes that some of the other players would bet bigger and bust early) and then betting half my stack for the second half. Unfortunately I was pretty unlucky in the second half and reached a point where I had to bet it all to catch up, so I did, and busted.Hubby had never played a blackjack tournament before either but he's played a lot of poker tournaments and apparently there are enough similarities to help him out. So he did very well and finished as the top of his table, with the top two players advancing to the next round.
May 24, 2008
Friday night! Gamble gamble!
Hubby and I dropped by the Huntington Press office this afternoon to pick up copies of the Las Vegas Advisor Pocket Book of Values coupon book and American Casino Guide: 2008 Edition and discovered that they were having a book sale on many of their older titles. I was delighted to find several books on Amazon Wishlist available new for used book prices, plus some other intriguing books that I hadn't seen before. I walked out with the following for only $35:
After my book-buying spree we headed downtown to Main Street Station and checked out the beer and Happy Hour specials at the Triple 7 Brewery. While we were there we ran into some of Hubby's friends (poker dealers at the Palms) and had a good chat, staying longer (and drinking more beer!) than we'd originally planned.
We headed over to the Golden Nugget poker room to sober up, using coupons from the American Casino Guide to get $120 of chips for $100. Hubby played $1/$2 no limit and I played $2/$4 limit. I'm still not a very good poker player but fortunately I did not encounter many difficult decisions -- either I had obviously folding garbage, or I had a set. We did well, then took our poker winnings over to the Hilton where we lost half of them playing blackjack.
It's very clear to us now why casinos continue to spread blackjack despite its very low house edge. In our four hours of play we did not see ONE other player who knew basic strategy. Admittedly, we were a bit rusty ourselves, but we had the sense to stop at the gift shop and spring for a $2 strategy card. So while gamblers could be playing at 1/2 percent house edge (*without* counting cards) if they bothered to get and follow a strategy card, it appears almost no one does this and thus they are playing at a significantly higher disadvantage with a much higher expected loss. Ah well, those people pay for our roads, parks, and schools.
and discovered that they were having a book sale on many of their older titles. I was delighted to find several books on Amazon Wishlist available new for used book prices, plus some other intriguing books that I hadn't seen before. I walked out with the following for only $35:- The First 100: Portraits of the Men and Women Who Shaped Las Vegas
- No Limit: The Rise and Fall of Bob Stupak and Las Vegas' Stratosphere Tower
- Gambling Wizards: Conversations with the World's Greatest Gamblers
- Cult Vegas: The Weirdest! The Wildest! The Swingin'est Town on Earth
- The Anointed One: An Inside Look at Nevada Politics
- On the Boulevard--The Best of John L. Smith
- Skin City: Uncovering the Las Vegas Sex Industry
- Of Rats and Men: Oscar Goodman's Life from Mob Mouthpiece to Mayor of Las Vegas
- Whale Hunt In The Desert: The Secret Las Vegas Of Superhost Steve Cyr
- Quicksilver: The Ted Binion Murder Case
After my book-buying spree we headed downtown to Main Street Station and checked out the beer and Happy Hour specials at the Triple 7 Brewery. While we were there we ran into some of Hubby's friends (poker dealers at the Palms) and had a good chat, staying longer (and drinking more beer!) than we'd originally planned.
We headed over to the Golden Nugget poker room to sober up, using coupons from the American Casino Guide
to get $120 of chips for $100. Hubby played $1/$2 no limit and I played $2/$4 limit. I'm still not a very good poker player but fortunately I did not encounter many difficult decisions -- either I had obviously folding garbage, or I had a set. We did well, then took our poker winnings over to the Hilton where we lost half of them playing blackjack.It's very clear to us now why casinos continue to spread blackjack despite its very low house edge. In our four hours of play we did not see ONE other player who knew basic strategy. Admittedly, we were a bit rusty ourselves, but we had the sense to stop at the gift shop and spring for a $2 strategy card. So while gamblers could be playing at 1/2 percent house edge (*without* counting cards) if they bothered to get and follow a strategy card, it appears almost no one does this and thus they are playing at a significantly higher disadvantage with a much higher expected loss. Ah well, those people pay for our roads, parks, and schools.
May 21, 2008
Spotted in the gift shop
Hee hee.
May 17, 2008
Sobering up in the 1/2 NL game
Probably not +EV but probably less -EV than our other options for killing time at the Tuscany.
Update: I won -- not hard to do when you get pocket aces twice in a row in the first five hands. Why can't things like that happen to the breadwinner of the family? :)
April 28, 2008
Unorthodox poker tournament strategies
Whenever Hubby plays in a live tournament (which isn't often, he's primarily a cash games player), he eats a lot of fiber-filled foods beforehand. Then he can fart on his tablemates and make them want to bust sooner. :)
April 18, 2008
Videos that make us laugh our asses off
Hubby stumbled across this "Unbeatable Craps System".
Somebody failed basic probability class! That or he owns a stake in the online casino he features in his video.
April 11, 2008
ePassporte has stopped processing online poker transactions for US players?
See news on 2+2, via Advantage Gamblers. It is presently unclear whether this is "temporary technical difficulties" or a permanent withdrawal from online poker, but if I had money on ePassporte I would withdraw it ASAP (via ATM to cash, if possible) rather than take a chance of this being another Neteller.
Edit 4/13/8: Confirmed, ePassporte no longer processing online poker transfers for U.S. players. I hope everyone I know was or is able to get their money out without any problems or delays.
