Poker Bots are Ruining the Party

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June 1, 2006

General consensus is that poker bots are ruining the party and its gotten so far out of control that law enforcers are ready to crack down on the bad people.

If they bet once all the cards are out, you can safely throw your hand away unless you believe that your hand is superior to theirs. If it is, you should raise. Others are habitual bluffers. When they bet, you have to call as long as you are holding any reasonable hand. Although habitual bluffers will also make real hands every now and then, the fact that they bluff far too often makes your decision easy. By calling, you'll win far more money in the long run than you would save by folding.

Fortunately, you will not have to work these standards out for yourself. Excellent books on seven-card stud and Texas hold'em are available at the poker room at Circus Circus. If you see yourself as anything more than a recreational player, read some of them. Your understanding of the game will increase, and you'll gain the confidence to make a successful transition from home game player to casino player. Roy West's Seven-Card Stud is an excellent book for beginners.

Imperial Palace

They play Partypoker for the fun of it. It's a hobby, and no matter how much they lose, it is less expensive than keeping horses, restoring classic automobiles, or a hundred other pastimes that devour money. No one, however, will come right out and tell you they don't care if they win or lose! Few will even admit to being recreational players. If they do, watch out. They probably are not, and you're forewarned: Take heed when they fire a raise at you.

When you do that over and over, in seemingly endless cycles of repetition, you'll discover at some point that you are a much better player than your opponents. No matter how much specialized knowledge you have stored up in your Partypoker toolbox, you're often forced to make quick decisions on incomplete data. Next time we'll examine some of the kinds of thinking you have to do at the table, and help you avoid a few common traps you can fall into. Until then, keep flopping aces.

Pocket Nines

Suppose that you raised with A-K before the flop, then bet into two opponents, Siegfried and Roy, when the flop was J-7-3. You don't suspect any strength, and you know that your opponents are solid enough players to release a hand when they think they're beaten. Because your opponents have to consider the possibility that you're holding an overpair or a jack with a good kicker, it will be difficult for them to call with anything less than a hand like J-8.

You've probably got the best hand anyway. Reraising protects your hand by thinning the field, thus minimizing the chances of anyone getting lucky on the flop. You also can raise if you're holding a suited ace with a king, queen, or jack, or a suited king with a queen. If your cards are unsuited, you can raise if you're holding an ace with a king or queen, or a king with a queen.

Betting the River

With a total of seven cards, some of which are turned faceup and others down, Hold'em bears a resemblance to seven-card stud. For more poker news, check the internet. But this furtive similarity is only a "tastes like chicken" analogy. One major difference is that 71 percent of your Partypoker.net hand is defined on the flop. As a result, your best values in Hold'em are found up front; you get to see 71 percent of your hand for a single round of betting.

His preflop call came about because a wild maniac entered the pot and Freddy wanted to be sure to play as many hands as possible against that guy. The main event was quite a rollercoaster. I managed to finish in the money for the 2nd year in a row (330th) but fell short of my goal of improving on my 33rd place finish from a year earlier. Overall I played some great Party poker but made a few mistakes towards the end which led to my exit.