It's a skill game Joe! Know when to Holdem. Well hell son you can even be 5th!

I sure am glad i decided to take a break from poker. I didn't really, but what can i say, i guess I'm weak. I won a 75$ token from $6.80, then i used that token to buy in to a tournament. 523 entrants, i played for almost 5 hours, made the final table, then busted in 5Th place. I was very happy and very disappointed at the same time. I won almost 2k for 5Th place which is damn good, but 1st would have been over 7k that is a huge difference. I think the only thing that makes me disappointed is the fact that i played really good and did not win. I went out on a cooler, i had AK suited in the small blind, everyone folds to me and i make a standard raise into the big blind. He thinks for like 2 seconds and shoves all in, he has me covered so I'm playing for my tournament life here. I think long and hard, at the time it just felt like he was making a move on me saying " i gotta huge stack buddy, I'm not gonna be bullied by you and I'm defending my blinds all day" I eventually called and he shows 55, WTF? Of course i d0t hit and I'm out in 5Th place. Had i won that hand i would have been 2Nd in chips and certainly would have several thousands more. Oh well, that's poker. So i have some extra coin which is nice because we have bills to pay! I cashed out most of it, but left some on there to try and make another run. While we are on the poker kick for the day i just want to say a few things to the people who think poker is gambling. Poker is a game of skill, you don't just throw your money around and hope to get lucky if your doing that then yes you are gambling. Odds and percentages are very important in the poker world. Rarely will the best poker players get their money in without being even a slight statistical favorite to win the hand. Pot odds are also very important. An example of how a typical poker hand works is if a player has 67 of hearts and calls the big blind. The pot now contains 200 and the flop comes 4 K A with two hearts. Another player in the pot bets 50. What should the player holding 67 do? Some people may call instantly, which is the correct move. However, the average player does this for all the wrong reasons. The reason this is such an easy play is pot odds. It only costs 50 to see a pot of what is now 250. This means there are 5 to 1 odds on putting the money in. There is a 4 ½ to 1 chance that the third heart will come on the next card. The player holding the two hearts now is getting better odds on his money than the chance of hitting his hand. This makes it an easy call. Where the amateur player would go wrong in this situation is if the person betting would have bet the full pot of 200. It now would have cost the player with 67 200 to see a pot of 400. This is only giving this player 2 to 1 on his money. There is, again, only a 4 ½ to 1 chance of hitting the heart so this becomes a bad call fairly quickly. This is just one example of how much skill is involved with every hand played. Statistics never lie. The best poker players in the world have statistics to show that their achievements are not because of fate or luck. Daniel Negreanu, who is ranked third in all time tournament winnings at over 9 million dollars, has never won a single prize of more than 2 million. This clearly shows that he has had success in a plethora of poker tournaments over the years. Somebody who gets lucky and wins one tournament can not do this. There are augments for both sides of the fence and I clearly am biased but i really do think that poker is a game of skill just like chess or any game where your decision affect the outcome of the game. Just like blackjack, in blackjack your decision affects the outcome. Anytime you have a choice you have an edge and anytime you have an edge your not gambling, at least that's how i feel. There are people that just play to have fun and even consider it gambling. There is just as many blackjack strategy books as there are poker and chess books. If you can read a book about a subject and get better at it, you have an edge. I don't know how many "beat the slots" and "roulette for dummy's" books there are but i can tell you this, if your buying those books you have a problem for sure as there is no amount you can study on those subjects to have an edge. While we are playing the gamble or no gamble game, here's a fun story. Sunday night after a nice evening over at my dads house we get home and just relaxing, its early so get on AIM and see what Trent and Dan are up to. Long story somewhat shorter, we end up at Argosy. Within 15 minutes of being there we were damn near busto. I didn't bring much money with me and left my bank card at home and I'm glad i did. So after the first blackjack dealer (who looked like a run down used car dealer) completely destroyed our funds, we take a walk and get a drink. We congregate around the cheap slots in a dark corner. Before i know it Trent's putting dollars in the slots and laughing, then Dan follows suit but puts in 20 bucks. After the inevitable defeat that ensued we move on. On to the ATM. Dan loans me 40bucks and Trent takes out a little more. We have our mission now. Win. We wonder around looking for the right table. After a bit of searching we run into the pit boss we made friends with last time we were there, Dino. Dino is one cool cat. He is Denzel Washington meets Chris Tucker at Barack Obama (white) house. He asks us how were doing and we tell him that we are down because the truck salesman pretending to be a dealer at the first table distracted us with his crafty sales techniques and stole our money. Dino assures us everything will work out and tells us to hang tight for minute. So we wait and within a few moments Dino's back and tells us that there is a table down the way that is hot "off the charts" as he put it. We move in. Only one seat available and I grab it. I lay my borrowed 40 bucks down and the dealer slides me a stack of 5 dollar chips. Now right away i feel good, everyone at the table is laughing and having a good time, i can see they all are winning and that is good news. The dealer is jolly and wishes me good luck. First hand whole table wins. Good start. Over the next dozen or so hands i am winning like crazy. My stack is more than doubled and i am feeling good. A seat opens and Dan grabs it. Within a few hands he is up also. Trent finally takes a seat on the end and does OK. After while Dan and i are absolutely crushing, we look over and see Trent hurting bad, short stacked and all odds against, i feel bad for a bit, but my stack cheers me up quickly. This particular table has a side bet option "high tie" basically you can put a few extra chips on a separate circle and if you get a pair you get paid 3 to 1 if you get a suited pair its 5 to 1, blackjack is 10 to 1, suited blackjack is 15 to 1, and if you get blackjack and the dealer also has blackjack you get 50 to 1 hence "high tie". So being the action junkies we are and the fact that we apparently hate money we are playing the side bet like crazy. I hit a 15 to 1 and double my stack. Dan hits it a few times and is way up. We look over again and Trent is down to his last 15 bucks, 3 chips. He puts 2 chips in for his bet and his last chip goes on the side bet. I get dealt a 20 and feel good. Trent hits a blackjack! lucky huh? Well, everyone else at the table looses, why? THE DEALER HAS BLACKJACK!! It took Trent a second to realize it, he HIT 50 to 1 !! It takes another second to realize its 250 bucks! We all start yelling and the table erupts with cheers and clapping, it truly was a sight. Trent immediately colors up and heads to the cashier a very smart move. Dan and i refuse to not leave millionaires so we keep betting. I know its about time to go, as Trent is not going to want to stick around in a casino with 250 bucks cash burning a whole in his pocket. I start doubling my bets and generally going crazy. Dan hits a few more side bets for good chunks of change. Then some crazy Asian dude puts 15 bucks down on the side bet and hits a 50 to 1 for 750 bucks! THANK YOU DINO! I run my 40 bucks into 195, i pay Dan back and he is about even, he would have been up if he didn't get sucked into the slot monster. So we head to the cashier and cash out. We hit up the cafe on the way out for some grub. I got mine free because i got comped at the first table, apparently if you sit down and show your players card and then lose 75 bucks in 10min they give you a free sandwich. Good times. I was going to leave you with "The Gambler" but that's too cliche' and besides this rocks much more.