How to determine a poker chip breakdown for your game

Maybe not the best gambling come up ever told, but my personal best. Not dollar wise, I've cashed out way more before. It's a long read, but worth it.... Check this shit out....
I go up to buy a vintage boat in Illinois. 12 hour drive to Texas. Due to crazy weather (worst thunderstorm I have ever driven through by far) and even crazier girls, get stuck in St. Louis. Had an incredible night with and even more incredible woman on her birthday. Start heading home back to Texas.
Driving through Oklahoma it starts up again, really bad rain. Nope, not doing this again, I take the next exit. I'm in Tulsa. Exit coincidentally at the hard rock (was just gonna wait the storm out or maybe see if they would comp my room). They say no way, you don't have any players card and this ain't Vegas, you gotta do some damage to earn your free room. I'm like ok...bet....(I am a high stakes baccarat player)
So I buy in with $800, tell cashier that I'll be back shortly with $10k. Yeah......okay buddy sure....
I get wrecked, down to my last $12. Feeling shitty and mad at the rain. I proceed to turn that $12 into...well alot. Table max is $1000. My new best bud Jason from OKC was there and we started killing it. We made a deal with the pit boss that if we run them out of $500 chips they would go to cage and just out the golden $1000 chips. They said yeah ok, those chips are dusty because they never need them.
I hit max bet wins 9 separate times. Beat a natural 8 with a natural 9 (if you don't know bacc it's the hardest and most satisfying thing in the world) twice for table max bet if $1000. My buddy Jason and I followed each other rarely betting against each other. We wrecked that table bad and did what we said we would do, drained every $500 chip they had. Pit boss begrudgingly called the cage for the ultra rare $1000 chips. Said it hasn't happy in 3 years.
In 3 hours I hit my goal, cashed out at exactly $10,000. And headed to cashier. Same girl who I told her I'd be back either broke or with 10k. Slow walk, with my best ass face on. You could tell she felt bad because unlike the dealers cahiers love when people win.
I put 10 $1000 chips on the window table, and said....I don't fuck around when it comes to Baccarat. Told ya. She flipped out, couldn't believe it.
Got a casino hostess, free suite which was super nice, and a free room anytime I am in Tulsa.
Also there was this Mexican pimp who was like a degenerate one armed bandit (plays slot machines like a tool). He tried to hustle me for all his jewelry for like $2000. I gave him $250 but only if he included his heiña's turquoise ring as well (I am a fucking savage). So that's why I am all blinged out on the drive home.
And yes, for the doubters, I didn't give a dime back and drove straight home. Going to Vegas in two weekends with some girls and an even nicer free suite. Not going to gamble at all, just rent an exotic car and finally do all the cool Vegas non strip fun nature activities Ive always wanted. Lake Tahoe, Red Rock Canyon, float trip, etc.
Yes 2020 sucks but I'm tired of it brining me down. Met somebody very special and from here on out I'm dedicated. Positive vibes only!!!! 💯
Required disclaimer: I don't even like to gamble because it is super stressful for me. I only go once or twice a year. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS. Scared money don't make no money.....
Oh, big shout-out to mother nature. Without those two rainstorms I wouldn't have fallen in love or had a much needed come up. If only I could have danced with my baby I'm the rain it would have been icing on the cake.
Made it home safe to Texas with boat intact and a fat stack. Life is good!!!!
FIRST TIME PLAYING BACC:
I was taught baccarat while living in Korea for 3 years. My white ass with big blonde hair and blue eyes, and for some reason Al the older Koreans would stop me in the street saying James Dean......James Dean!!!
Well I was playing in a poker tournament, this guy does the James Dean thing during a break in the tournament as I'm walking to get a quick bite if food and bathroom. It's the final table and I'm in like 3rd place with 7 players left (not too big, I think it was $300 buy in, 100 players or so) .
Anyway so he stops me and says....in his best broken English, Player ....Banker...James....James (he points at each).... Player, Banker?!?!
I'm like shit I dunno this weird Asian card game never even seen it. Banker is like the house right? House always wins, so I say and point banker....
Again with the natural 8 losing to natural 9, player loses. Bank wins. Guy shits a brick and slides me his winnings. He makes me sit down. I realize he bet 4.2 million won ( like ~4000USD) at the time. And he just gave it to me thinking I was his good luck charm. He taught me how to play (it's very very easy to learn bacc...) But more importantly taught me how to play with balls of steel which is a required learned skill in this game.
We proceed to wreck the table, I think I cashed out somewhere close to $18k and he hit like 75k. I ended up going back to tournament damn near blinded out but still in 5th place. Took third place and took home whatever $$$ that was. Korea's biggest currency denomination is a 10k won bill, like $10. So I literally walked out with a paper bag filled with money, like I robbed a bank, went home and spread it all over the bed and had sex on it like I was Scrooge McDuck or Walter White or Lil Wayne. Oh to be young again.
Like I said I have cashed out more but my first and last times playing bacc were extremely memorable. 18k off a 4k freeroll and $800 to $12 to $10k. What do you guys think?
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What You Must Know To Host a Home Poker Tournament and Be Successful

You have viewed poker on TV, perhaps played it on the internet, or even in a casino. Now you are ready to try to host your own poker tournament at home in your own game room or basement. Hosting your own poker tourney is much more personable than playing poker on the internet. The smack talk, the cross table body language, the feel of the cards in your hands, and the sound of the cards being shuffled are all great aspects of playing poker at home. Best of all may be the great feeling you have inside when you take down a huge pot of chips or make a great play and get some praise from your buddies. Of course, a badly run poker tournament at home can be a huge headache. So make sure yours is run right and your players will consistently return to your basement for your future poker tournaments.
To run an effective poker tournament competition at home you need a high quality poker table, some top quality poker cards, clay poker chips, some kind of blinds timer clock, and a strategy. Sure you can host a tourney with some cheap cards and chips, but our objective here is to make it feel like a casino experience so your friends will continue to return and play in the future.
A high quality professional felt poker table makes your poker experience that much better but it will also be one of your biggest cash investments. If you do not have a high quality professional felt poker table and do not have the budget for one you can still host a poker tourney with absolutely no problems.
The most important aspect to keep in mind is the overall experience your poker friends are having. If you decide to perform on a cheap table, it will be more challenging to deal with the chips and to collect cards after each hand. Cards will fly across (and sometimes off) the home-made table. If you cannot swing a pro poker table, consider some other choices such as a felt table topper or just buy some poker felt on the internet and cover your table with it. If you're a handyman, consider building your own quality professional grade poker table; it is not that challenging.
Quality poker playing cards are essential for a successful tourney. If you buy a two-dollar cheap set, they will become filthy, difficult, and get bent edges and have to be thrown out after 1 hour of poker play. It is well worth the investment to spend money on some top quality 100% proven poker cards. They will perform better and last much longer. You can even clean them if they become filthy. You will need at least two decks of cards for each poker table. This allows one poker play to be shuffling while one is dealing which keeps the pace of play moving which is important when you are playing with costly blind levels and timers. You should also get at least one cut card for each table to help avoid the end cards of the deck from being revealed.
Poker chips are absolutely necessary to host a serious tournament. There are wide variety of poker chip options on the web that vary from pennies per chip to dollars per chip in cost. You do not have to have the expensive chips to have an excellent time at your tournament. Chips also come with or without cash values on them. Poker chips with cash values can be very practical, but are not necessary. Chips without cash values can be more versatile as you can allocate any value to them. If you choose to use chips without money values just publish a graph of what each colored chip is valued at. The quantity of chips you need really depends on the number of poker players attending your home poker tournament. Make sure you have enough chips so each poker playing has enough chips to make proper poker wagers. (20-30 chips is an excellent target to aim for) You will also want some bigger denomination chips so you can color up the chips when the blind levels reach a higher value later in the night. There are many choices for electronic blinds timers. You can use a simple egg-timer although this becomes very painful to manage as someone has to totally reset it for each blind change and it can be difficult to see at times. The Poker Genie is a great choice, or there are many programs you can get that will run on a laptop and you can even project your laptop onto your television screen. You could also buy a professional blinds timer and mount it to the wall in your game room if you are frequent player.
Finally, you need a strategy. You should know in advance what your buy in price will be, whether you will allow rebuys, what your cash payouts will be, and what your overall blind structure will be. Your buy in and rebuys should be spelled out clearly to people when you invite them to your tournament. No one wants to show up with $20 in their wallet to find out you are having a $30 buy in game. Payouts need to be made and the payout structure should be conveyed to the players or posted on the wall for them to see. Publishing your rules on the wall or via email will eliminate any late night arguments that may occur. When establishing blind level changes consider how long you want your home poker tournament to last. Blind level structures depend on how many people are playing, the actual buy in, how many chips you are giving out and the value of each chip. Here is an example of an excellent blind level poker structure:
Round 1: 100-200 Round 2: 200-400 Round 3: 300-600 Round 4: 500-1000 Round 5: 700-1400 Round 6: 1000-2000 Round 7: 1500-3000 Round 8: 2000-4000 Round 9: 3000-6000 Round 10: 5000-8000 Round 11: 7000-14,000 Round 12: 10,000-20,000 Round 13: 20,000-40,000
It is also a wise decision to go over all the rules with the poker players beforehand and to announce a moderator to make rulings if necessary as well as a back-up moderator for when the first one is not available or in the middle of making a rule at another table. Take your time to plan your home poker tournament so you will continue to have your friends come back to play more poker tournaments in the future. Good luck and I hope your first home poker tournament is a success.

Inside Underground NY Poker #6

Previous: Inside Underground NY Poker #5

Spades — 1.5Do you know what it feels like to be the last man standing in a live tournament?
Sure, scooping a 600 big blind pot in a cash game will probably give you an adrenaline rush, but the experience isn’t quite the same as outlasting an entire field of players.
I wanted to experience that feeling for myself.
The reentry period in the $75 tournament at Spades had come to a close, and players were beginning to bust. Two tables had now broken, and we were approaching the second break.
Vinny had announced the payout structure a short while ago — 65 players, 22 reentries. The top seven players would get paid, with $2175 up top for first.
I had a healthy stack at this point, but, I needed to reassess my game plan and adopt a new strategy — tight, ABC poker wasn’t going to help me at this point. The blinds and antes were getting expensive, and I needed to start chipping-up if I wanted to make it into the money.
The tournament goes on its second break, and the green chips need to be colored up and raced off.
At this point in time, I had never seen a chip race before. In fact, I didn’t even know what a chip race was, because they don’t occur in online poker. When I had colored up tournament chips in games that I had hosted at my house, I simply rounded up any leftover chips to the next denomination. I wasn’t aware that there was a fair and accountable way to do it.
In case you don’t know, a chip race is a method of removing unneeded chip denominations from play. If a player doesn’t have enough chips (of the unneeded denomination) to equal the value of the next denomination, the remaining leftover chips are raced off.
During the break, I stayed at my table to watch and learn how to do a chip race. The dealer races off the greens, and I look through the plexiglass window into the main room — two cash games were going, and Andy was playing in one of them. There were only a few more minutes left on the break, so I decided to just stay in my seat and wait for play to resume.
With 15 seconds remaining on the break, the dealer begins to scramble the cards. He gives the deck a shuffle, deals out the cards, and the action begins.
I still had a tight image at the table. I hadn’t made any big bluffs, and was never at risk at any point since the reentry period had closed. This was about to change — it was time to switch gears.
I pick up A4ss in the big blind. There’s a raise from early position, and both middle position and the button flat. The small blind comes along as well, and I go into the tank. I look at everyone’s stack size — we’re all sitting on roughly the same amount of chips, give or take a few big blinds.
I look at each one of the players in the hand, asking myself if I think that anyone in particular would call a shove. I think for a bit longer. I’m convinced that everyone in the pot is holding a marginal hand at best, and nobody has a hand strong enough to call an all-in. It seems like everyone wants to see a flop.
Finally, I come to a decision and raise all-in. This was a pretty gutsy move. If I was wrong, I was certainly behind, but if I was right, I could pick up a nice pot with only Ace high.
The early position raiser folds, so does middle position, as well as the button. It’s on the small blind, and she starts thinking out loud about what to do, deliberating between her options. I can see she’s trying to find a call, but hasn’t made up her mind yet.
In my head, I keep shouting, “FOLD! FOLD! FOOOOOOO-LD!”.
I direct my gaze to an imaginary spot on the felt, about where the board would be if the dealer had put out a flop. I hold a blank stare — the color of the felt on the table is red.
She’s still in the tank, and decides to turn her hand face up to try and get a read on me. I quickly glance at her hand, then back to the felt.
She’s showing pocket 5’s. She tries engaging me in table talk.
“Do you want me to call?”
I don’t respond.
“I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Call or fold? It’s up to you.”
I still don’t respond. She goes on for a bit longer, but I’m not paying attention to her anymore. In fact, I can’t even hear what she’s saying. I keep repeating in my head, over and over, “FOOOOOOO-LD!”.
She makes up her mind and chucks her hand into the muck. My entire body relaxes, and I feel the air expel from my lungs. I get the urge to crack a smile, but I resist — I’m pleased with myself for making a play that worked. I keep my composure and drag in the pot.
I pick up a couple value hands throughout the next few levels, another table breaks, and I win a few pots. I’m starting to pick up some momentum.
We’re now at 3 tables — I pick up AT on the button, with the Ace of diamonds. The college guy from earlier is in Middle position and puts in a raise. It folds around to me, and I 3-bet. He makes the call.
The flop comes Q7J, all diamonds. He checks, and I bet a little over 1/3 pot. He calls.
The turn is a black 3. He checks, and I bet again, slightly more than 1/3 pot. He makes the call — there’s no way he doesn’t have a hand here.
The dealer burns a card and puts out the river, 2d.
The complete board is Q7J32 with four diamonds, giving me the nuts. He checks again, and this time I bet 1/2 pot. He looks disgusted with himself.
“Ugh, I f*cked this hand up so badly.”
“I think you played it quite skillfully, and displayed good judgement by not raising at any point post flop.” — I’m trying to goad him into a call, even though I know he’s never going to.
“I know you’re only holding one diamond. I was gonna let you bluff the river and snap you off.”
“Well, now I’m gonna let you fold. Come on, let’s go. I know you’re not calling.”
He mucks.
I table my hand anyway, and turn over AT, with the Ace of hearts?
“You don’t have a diamond? Ace high? Are you kidding me? I folded a f*cking set of sevens and you have Ace god damn high?” — the college guy is visibly agitated.
My jaw drops — I had misread my hand, I really thought that I was holding the Ace of diamonds. Of course, I kept that fact to myself.
“Uh, yeah. That *is* Ace high. Hm, how about that... I guess you did let me bluff the river.”
I was at a bit of a loss for words and didn’t know what else to say — I had never misread my hand before. I was very aware of the fact that I wasn’t capable of playing that hand the way I did, had I known what I really had. I’m sure that I would have given up on the river and checked back. In fact, I probably would have checked back on the turn and never bet the flop in the first place.
Two players get knocked out in the same hand, one of them is the college crybaby. The table breaks, and I receive a new seating card. We’re down to only two tables. I take my new seat and take note of all the stack sizes to see where I stand — I’m right in the middle with about 45 big blinds.
It’s the final level before the last break begins. I’m under the gun and get dealt AKhh. I put in a min-raise and get shoved on by the button, who I have slightly covered, I think. It’s close. I’m not folding, and I decide it’s time to flip. I make the call, but to my surprise, the button tables AQ.
The flop brings a board of 99Q. Good game. Oh well, that’s how it goes sometimes — nothing you can do about it…
…except go runner-runner hearts and hit a backdoor flush!
I’m now sitting on about 80 big blinds and have one of the larger stacks. We’re down to six players at my table, the other one has five. I ask the dealer which one the final table is, and he tells me that the other players will be coming to us, although we’ll be drawing for new seats. It makes no difference anyway, both tables are in the same room and right next to each other.
A player at the other table gets knocked out, and we combine into the final table. We all agree to take a 10 minute break now, and instead play through the one that’s scheduled at the end of the level.
I walk over into the main room to see how Andy is doing in the cash game. He has over $1k in front of him in a $1/$2 game, which sounds like it’s too deep, however, most of the other players have at least $700. The shortest stack isn’t short at all — $400. It was almost 9PM at this point, and both of the cash games were full.
Andy gets up from the table and we walk into the smoking room.
“You made the final table, eh?”
“Yeah, we just got down to ten players. Only seven get paid.”
“How many short stacks are there?”
“Just one, really. Everyone else, including me, has chips. We decided to go on break right after we combined, so we haven’t played a hand yet.”
“Feel the table out before you decide how you wanna play it.”
“I will. I see you’re doing well in the cash game.”
“Oh yeah, it’s playing like a $2/$5 game and everyone is deep. The action is great, the standard open is $15 or $20. I think we might actually just make it a $2/$5 game.”
Clearly, the game was not playing like it was when I had played the night before. It was a tournament night and only 9PM on a Sunday. Most people had work the next day, though, and would begin to leave around 11 - 11:30 PM.
“I’ve gotta get back to the tournament, the break is about to end. When do you think you’ll want to leave? I’ve got class tomorrow morning.” — I had forgotten that Andy said he was going to stay there until the game broke, so that he could try and collect from Matt.
“Don’t worry about it buddy, I’ll call a cab to get back to the train station. I need to see Matt after the game is over, he’s going to pay me with what he makes tonight.”
I get back to my seat in the tournament, and a player at the table proposes a deal. The dealer knocks on the plexiglass window to get Vinny’s attention — he then points to his watch with his index finger, signaling Vinny to pause the clock.
“Anyone object to an even chop? Let’s do it, right now, chop it up ten ways and we can all go home early with some money. I asked Vin on the break — a ten way chop is $435 each.”
I did not object, and nobody at the table seemed to care that there was a shortstack. I was fine with a $435 payday, and I didn’t have much experience playing shorthanded or heads up anyway. It was all but said and done until one player rejected the deal.
“No deal, I want to keep playing for little while longer. Let’s go, start it up.”
I knew exactly why the guy objected. The one shortstack at the table had less than 6 big blinds. I’m pretty sure that he wanted to wait until the shortstack got knocked out.
The dealer once again knocks on the plexiglass window then points to his watch. Vinny starts the clock.
Four hands into the level, and two players get it in — Aces versus Kings. Of course, the guy who rejected the deal is holding the bullets.
However, karma can be a b*tch, and a King comes in on the turn. Nine players remain, and one of them makes a new proposal.
“Anyone object to a nine-way chop?”
“Yeah, screw it. Keep playing.”
I’m not playing any hands at this point. The shortstack is still in the tournament, and I decide that I’m just going sit back for a while and only open 88+ or two broadway cards. Everything else I’m folding. I’ll see what happens when another player bites the dust — I feel like most of the players still want to chop.
About ten minutes later, the shortstack gets it in with KJdd and loses. Eight players left. This time, nobody says anything about chopping — we’re on the bubble.
The blinds go up and I’m down to about 40 big blinds. With the blinds doubling every level, we were now playing bingo all-in poker. If you were to put in a raise, the rest of the table would either fold or shove. Nobody at this table was flatting.
It was only a matter of time until it was a hand over hand situation — I just had to be patient and wait it out.
Two orbits later, pockets Tens gets it in against pocket 9’s and the Tens hold. Seven players remain and we’re now in the money. This time, I’m the one to bring up a chop.
“How do you guys feel about a seven-way chop? What would we get paid on that?”
Someone at the table quickly does the math.
“$621.”
“Anybody object?” — I see a couple of the players compare all of the stacks in play.
“Ship it!”
The dealer knocks on the plexiglass window to get Vinny’s attention and waves him over. Vinny enters the room.
“Seven-way chop? Alright, then. I’ll be back shortly.”
He returns a minute or two later, holding a giant stack of cash.
“Congratulations, guys. $621 to each player. Thanks for playing, please remember to tip your dealers.”
While he’s paying everyone out, the dealer is in the box suiting the decks and racking up the chips. Each player proceeds to put down $60 onto the table, and the dealer thanks them as they leave the room. Vinny hands me my winnings.
“Good job, mo.” — as he counts out my money.
I remove three $20 bills from the small wad and leave it on the table for the dealer. In underground tournaments, 10% of the payout was a standard tip — that’s just how it was.
I’m about to walk over and say goodbye to Andy when my phone vibrates. I take it out of my pocket. It’s a text from Jennifer, my girlfriend.
“Hey babe, are you ignoring me?”
I immediately realized that I hadn’t spoken to her at all over the weekend.
I had a lot on my mind — I had just cashed my first ever live tournament, I was worried that the situation between Andy and Matt would prevent me from getting a dealing job at Spades, and I had a bunch of things to do in school to prepare for college applications.
I send a text back to Jen, explaining that I had been very busy over the weekend working and playing poker. I apologize and ask if I can make it up to her by taking her out to a nice place for dinner. She seems satisfied.
I make my way over to Andy and we say our goodbyes. I tell him that I’ll speak to him tomorrow — I was certainly going to give him a call, it was important that I know how the situation with Matt played out. I didn’t want anything standing in my way of getting a dealing job at Spades.
I leave the club and get into my car to drive home. 20 minutes later, I walk into my house and find my mother waiting for me.
“I have some bad news, son. Your father’s going to be in jail for a while.”
To be continued…

Next: Inside Underground NY Poker #7

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My Charity Room Poker Experience

What a game.
--
Today I played at my first charity poker room and what an experience. I'm a small town Midwest poker player which means I have two options, play online against much tougher opponents than live, or drive a couple hours to my nearest casino, which I've sadly done for years now. And let me tell ya, there is nothing worse than losing multiple buy ins and then having the long 2 hour drive home thinking of all the mistakes you made or how bad you run.

I thought this was my only option though, until today. I looked up my city's poker games on a whim, and expected nothing, and to my surprise I found 3 separate lodge poker games running today. These aren't on Bravo, these are small games that get posted to Facebook, or a city's activity pages that have no real promotion and are just about the complete opposite of how any real casino poker room is going to run.

First off Google is awful at telling you if these games are even legal, and the first article I found actually showed the state government looking into one of the games for some faulty accounting. It didn't say if anyone could play or if you had to be a member, but I wanted to at least give it a shot.

I arrive at around 5pm to the dingiest little hole in the wall with a ton of veterans smoking and drinking outside in a covered patio with the rain coming down around them. I awkwardly walk inside and all I see is a smoke-covered bar with some pool tables and a dart board and some older gentleman playing gin rummy at a table off to the side. Not exactly what I was looking for and I considered just leaving right then.

I walk around and don't see anything and finally ask this older guy who must've been around 80 "hey is there poker here?" To which he tells me "oh yeah, just go through that door at the end of the hallway and up the stairs." I thank him and head down a dimly lit hallway and find some stairs around the corner and make my way up.

Immediately I'm faced with 1 poker table with a dealer in a white t-shirt and basketball shorts and basketball shoes dealing the cards as a group of the biggest misfits are playing around him. There's an old guy on a Rascal scooter, a middle aged man with some form of degenerative disease in a walker, an African-American man decked in basketball apparel and jewelry with a big stack who looks to be driving the action. A younger player who looks nervous, another younger player who just looks pissed and I can tell he's losing, and a larger middle aged man with a veteran's hat.

The only other non-player, also wearing basketball shorts and a Charlie Brown t-shirt comes up to me and asks if I'm here to play some poker. I say yes and he says it's 1-2 with a $50-$500 buy in. I buy in for $200 as almost everyone else looks short stacked. He hands me two green $25 chips, ten $10 blue chips, 9 red $5 chips, and five $1 gray chips. One side says the lodge name with most of the chips being misprinted and off center and the other showing the denomination.

I finally sit down, no one says a word to me and the very first hand I get dealt AKo from UTG. I raise to $10 having no idea what the standard is but wanting value and get one caller in late position, the man with the walker. We see a flop of QJ8r and I c-bet for $15. He thinks about it for a while and makes the call. The turn is the 9 completing the rainbow and he looks visibly frustrated buy it so I lead out for $40 to trying to put maximum pressure on him. He hems and haws but finally makes the call. The river is a meaningless 2. I lead for $80 and he just sighs and goes "if you got me you got me" and makes the call and flips over AJo. Crippled my very first hand.

Literally the very next hand I get KK and get it all in versus the same guy with a combo draw that bricks to get back some of my stack. I decide to play a little calmer and see how the table dynamics look and try to chat up some people at the table. The talk is on the NFL draft and who our state's team has drafted. This transitions into poker with the guy running the game saying he watched a Hellmuth compilation online last night and it was hilarious. The whole table then begins to talk about current and old players and how they're doing now. People like Tom Dwan, Shaun Deeb, Antonio Esfandiari, and Phil Ivey are brought up with a reverence and how cool it would be to play in huge cash games and tournaments and to actually win a bracelet.

The play is easy and the dynamic is one that is easy to figure out. I start chipping up slowly and soon enough I'm up a couple hundred in the game. As in many 1/2 games there is a lot of limping and simply raising preflop and betting once on the flop wins you many of the pots even multi-way in games like these. I do have an interesting hand come up where I raise K2hh on the button 6 handed to $10 after 2 limps and get one call in the cutoff. He only has about $70 in his stack after the call and we see a flop of K98css. He checks and I bet $15. He INSTA-jams and I know he has something but not sure how much. I flip my hand over and I ask if he wants a call. He says "whatever you want" and I think for 3 more seconds and flip in the chips for the call. He asks me if I want to run it twice to which I asked "you can do that here?" To which the guy running the game says "hell we'll let you run it 4 times we don't care here." So we agree to run it twice and he flips over Q9ss. It's roughly a coin flip and the first turn is a 9c and the river a meaningless 4. The second turn is 4d and river is an 8d. We chop up the limps and blinds and I gotta tell you, it's fun to run two boards even if it is only over $150.

Shortly after, one of the players is about to leave and he requests a showdown. I ask what that is and am told you get 7 cards face down and you all put in an agreed amount (in this case $10 each) and then whoever has the best 5 card hand wins. I agree, and lose all but one of the 5 we played as people slowly start to leave. Each one, every player only flips one card at a time and the next person has to beat the previous person's hand until there is a winner. Even though it was only one table people were whooping and hollering and having a great time sweating each card and tallying all of their outs they had to beat the last person.

At around 8pm the game is just me and two other players and the dealer and the guy running the game. We all agree to leave (after one more showdown that I lose) and cash out.

The older gentleman on the Rascal says as he's cashing out he probably won't be here next week and wasn't here last week because he won't play on Easter. He doesn't judge people that do, but that's the Lord's day and dammit he's not tempting fate at his age and mobility.

I cash out for a +370 profit and a ton of fun. I would encourage anyone who's even thinking about playing in a charity game to give it a shot and not be intimidated like I was not playing in a real casino. I will be back again and really enjoyed hanging out with fellow poker players who are just happy to be on the felt wherever they can play.

Hope to see you there next time.

Weekend Reader: Two Haralabos Voulgaris Gambling Stories From The Past. (Very long).

[Note to this sub: Here are two gambling stories involving Haralabos Voulgaris. Two things you should know. 1) I originally wrote this for a completely different, anonymous audience and not for all the wonderful "Shoe Fitness Architects", "Pizza Delivery Engineers", Overnight Security Enforcers, and DMV Workers that I've gotten the pleasure of meeting on here during my time on /billsimmons. Instead, it will seem like I'm talking to a room full of strangers, and for the first time. So if you read something that you've already seen me say on this sub, you know the reason. I also sound “different” in this.
2) It's long. You've been warned, I don't want to hear shit about it being so damn long. Think of this as a throwback to the Page 2 days, when you knew a guy was going to take a huge, extended shit because he just printed out Simmons' latest article and ran into the bathroom. You know, the “glory days”.
If you read this on Friday, you can save this for your afternoon work shit. Read it on your phone though, because it's got a short YouTube clip in it that helps tell the story.
If you read it over the weekend, I suggest smoking a bowl beforehand, especially to our Canadian friends up North. Doesn't have to be Top Shelf, just something to buzz you going in.
That's it. Enjoy.
The recent news of the Dallas Mavericks hiring Haralabos Voulgaris as Director of Quantitative Research and Development recently blew my mind. I knew it was Bob's goal to be an NBA GM, and this job isn't quite on the GM level, but I still can't believe he's made it onto a real NBA organization. I still think of him mostly from his early 2000's poker and sports betting days, and I never imagined he'd be able to hold down a real job someday. I didn't think anyone from the gambling world ever could.
I was heavily into sports gambling and poker at the same time as Bob was ascending as a sports gambling force, from the late 80's until well into the 2000's. I didn't know Haralabos well, yet I heard about or saw him all the time. This pretty much describes all relationships in gambling to be honest. But I did make sure to hear all the stories about Haralabos back then, because they always made the gossip rounds and were usually funny.
I'm here to share two of Haralabos' famous gambling stories, to give you a little insight into the man. If you are an Old School gambler, you've already heard them. But they are now 15 years old, and I couldn't find a good telling already on the Internet, so new people might get a kick out of these. Sources are at the bottom of this post.
People need to understand that, back then (early 2000s), Bob was best known for two things: betting the NBA, and being a smart ass trash talker at the poker tables. Bob was a world class needler that people highly resented because he had “Fuck You” kinds of money and he sure lorded that fact over everybody. He found everyone in the gambling world incredibly stupid compared to himself, and wasn't afraid to let people know it. I guess that's not much different than his Twitter in 2018, except he's learned to be more polite about it.
It was amusing being in a poker room with Bob in it, unless you were the focus of his remarks. He did not have any boundaries and was merciless, and really went after people “Micheal Jordan style” with the ferocity of his put-downs. Asked to describe him, I'd say 98% of players back then would call him an “arrogant dickhead” (including me at that time), while 2% would say “really sharp guy who doesn't tolerate fools” (including me now). We would all agree that he could be hilarious.
With that set-up, here are two Haralabos Voulgaris gambling stories that let's you know what he was like back in the early 2000's.
Story #1
My favorite Haralabob story, which long time 2+2ers have already heard about and whose legend has grown over the years, is the infamous Freddy Deeb story. If you know it, you are already nodding your head. But hopefully it's new to you. It's a classic.
Freddy Deeb was a rich business man from Lebanon, but a lot of people thought he was Egyptian (close enough for poker players). “Fast Freddy” was a decent if unspectacular poker player who pre-dated the poker boom. So Freddy was a legit and well known regular even before TV got involved with the game, and parlayed that “real, genuine poker player” label into appearances on TV when the poker boom happened. He had strong credibility.
Freddy is probably most famously remembered for being accused of “Going South” by Johnny Chan on an episode of High Stakes Poker. Freddy handled that accusation in typical Freddy fashion – making a big deal about this small joke insulting his integrity, aggressively confronting everyone about it and challenging them to heads-up poker matches to prove his manhood. The dude could be a hothead. (“Going South”, which was more commonly called “rat-holing”, is when a player sneaks high denomination chips off the table undetected after winning a big pot, so he has no possibility of losing them back in a later big hand. It's a unethical way to play “hit and run” if you win big quickly, without the “running” part being as obvious as picking up and leaving immediately.)
The two things you needed to know about Freddy: 1) He was short. I mean really short, like 5'1” or less. Not to play Freud too much, but you can probably guess that the reason he spent all his time in poker rooms was because of this physical limitation. Poker attracted the social rejects like no other activity in the 1990's, and welcomed the physically and mentally defective in droves. It was a haven almost exclusively for nerds and losers, before TV made it cool for everyone to play No Limit Texas Hold'em, The Cadillac of Gambling Games (so hip!).
2) Stemming from #1, Freddy could have a short temper. If you are jumping straight into a “Napoleon Complex” accusation for Freddy, well, in this case you're the heavy favorite. Freddy was a quiet, nice guy for 90% of the time he played. But Freddy was quick to act like a gangster you didn't want to fuck with if you ever gave him the chance, with that persistent shoulder chip that will never go away. Everyone let him play gangster without comment as long as he still had a bankroll to gamble with.
Here is a YouTube video that illustrates both points perfectly. Watch the whole thing to the end for maximum comedy – it's fucking hilarious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqwQiIy1b48
Here's Freddy acting like a super tough guy, and – in the moment - you can believe it too. Until the camera pulls back and shows the other players at the table, and then you get a height perspective of the whole scene. It's unreal funny at that point. Gus Hansen sitting next to him looks like Yao Ming by comparison.
So when this first HBob story happens, poker is just about to really take off. My guess is that it was around 2003-4, so the hype around poker was growing fast but still not close to the peak yet. The first Season of the World Poker Tour (WPT) had already aired, and it was a cultural phenomenon. Poker players were speculating already that WPT tournament champions were going to be as famous as top professional athletes, and with the same kind of ultra-lucrative sponsorship opportunities and endorsement deals. A very common topic at the table was how much getting to the final table at a televised WPT event was worth in fame, above and beyond any of the listed prize money. Perhaps a few million? It was a crazy time, and being on TV was all anyone cared about back then. Seems a bit silly now.
Freddy had been on TV a few times with some respectable runs in some bigger tournaments. The WPT and ESPN featured him in a few “flavor of the game” clips during their early poker broadcasts, and that seemed like a pretty big deal, especially to Freddy. TV Poker was grooming narratives and trying to create presentable, relatable stars in the poker world and weren't above adding in some artificial flavor to an otherwise unremarkable cast of characters.
Being a legit long time poker player was enough for Freddy to get some screen time – the TV producers could take it from there. I think the narrative was along the lines of how anyone – all ages, ethnicity, shapes and sizes could find a home in the poker world, and Freddy exemplified all that. It all went directly to Freddy's head, and he was not alone during this time.
Anyway, the story goes like this. Haralabos is playing in a very juicy high stakes poker game in a California casino, most likely the Commerce. The game was already full with 9 players, which is the max in most California rooms.
Haralabos himself was very new to poker at this time. He dabbled previously, but only started playing for big stakes in the past year or two because of the huge influx of new poker players, who watched the WPT on television and flooded into casinos, chasing riches. Thus there was easy money to be made. Before then, of course, he was focused on his NBA gambling. He was very near the height of his powers as an NBA sports bettor, and known pretty damn well in the sports betting world, if not the general public yet. Far more people in poker knew about Bob than he knew about them, though. He was just starting to get serious about playing poker. Bob knew about some of the bigger poker names he gambled with betting sports together in the past, but knew almost none of the newly (and artificially) created TV “poker stars” that ESPN / WPT had chosen to promote.
So Freddy walks into the Commerce one day and sees the high stakes poker table, and eyes the line up. Freddy knows this “Main Game” is incredibly juicy, and wants in – immediately. He calls the floorman over and insists they create an extra space at the table for him and for the game to be played 10-handed. 10-handed was actually the common number of players in Las Vegas poker tables at the time, and Freddy was usually based there. Freddy is sort of 'big timing' the floorman, reminding him how much he's played there over the years, how much rake he's given that casino, and how all these new poker players want to play with someone like himself, a big-shot, old school, now famous poker player.
There is nothing that poker players like more than poker room drama (except maybe comped food), so this commotion has drawn the attention of every table within earshot. Everyone near by was focusing on the Main Game with Haralabos in it. Drawn from many accounts, here is a recreation of what happened:
Freddy (accented, slightly broken English)(to Floorman): Johnny, there's no board. Just put me in big blind right now and we can play with ten.
Floorman Johnny: Table's not big enough for ten, Freddy. This isn't Vegas. Our players will object. Everyone wants their space.
Freddy: Just ask then. If there are objections then Freddy will wait. But no one will object! C'mon Johnny, how much action I give to you? Freddy is “action player”. Everyone wants to play with Freddy. They see me, they know “That's Freddy” and they want to play.
[Yes, Freddy was talking about himself in the Third Person. What can I say?]
Floorman Johnny (reluctantly, to Main Game): Guys, Freddy wants to sit and play 10-handed. There is no board an he doesn't want to wait around for nothing. Any objections?
Haralabos (immediately): I object. Who the fuck is this guy? [To Freddy] Buddy, you're not special. What makes you think you control this game? If more people come, then you can start a “Must-Move” game and play in that. Otherwise, wait your fucking turn like everyone else. Ok, buddy? [To Floorman, incredulous] What the fuck?
Freddy (heated at Haralabos): Listen, buddy. Everyone here know Freddy. Floorman. Dealer. Players. All know Freddy, love Freddy. Who the fuck are you? In Vegas, Freddy wants a game, the manager come running to help Freddy! They bring in best table to start new game for Freddy! They get best dealer on break to come deal! They bring in new chips, new cards for Freddy! They bring special chair for Freddy to sit in!
Haralabos: Oh yeah, Freddy? Is it a high chair?
A thunderclap of uproarious laughter rang out from all who were listening in, perhaps fifty people or more, all rubberneckers from other tables drawn in by the drama. There was no denying the spontaneity, no denying the reason, and certainly no denying the focus of who the laughter was directed at. Fast Freddy, all five feet zero inches of him, with the hair-trigger anger and never lacking words, was truly stunned and humiliated into silence. His eyes became squinted and his face was stuck in a wince of pain, his whole head turning as red as a stubborn, two-week old pimple that just wouldn't pop. He rocked back and forth as if recovering from a physical punch, not knowing what to do as a second, smaller wave of laughter began because it was just that funny, and now the story was being instantly re-told.
The few that were present and could actually feel sympathy quickly stifled their laughter, feeling the guilt of knowing the guy just got hit in his most sensitive area in front of a very large audience, and was truly wounded. They were hoping Freddy would finally say something, anything, to show that he wasn't completely crushed inside, that he wasn't as hurt as he seemed. Instead, Freddy walked away silently, his decades of “bluster armor” built protecting his sensitivity about his height laid on the ground, smashed.
Souls are crushed all the time in poker rooms. You think you've seen it all, and you just grow immune. But this one stood out, as almost a warning. You just don't want to get into a verbal war with Haralabob.
There is an addendum to this story.
A year or so later, and strictly by chance, Freddy and Haralabos found themselves at the same table during a big tournament. Neither man had forgotten their previous encounter (how could they?). By this time, poker was being covered in real-time by a fleet of new poker reporters and journalists, and, by all accounts, Haralabos was riding Freddy hard that day, with verbal put-downs and jokes at Freddy's expense non-stop. Freddy tried to play it cool, knowing he was no verbal match for HBob.
Until this happened. There was a Random Guy sitting directly on Freddy's left hand side who was new, didn't know anyone at the table (or their past history with each other) and who politely told Freddy this (recreation):
Random Guy (to Freddy): Hey man. You need to protect your cards better. I can see your hole cards flash sometimes when you look. I saw you had paint last hand. You need to learn to peek without flashing.
Freddy: Buddy, do you know who I am? I'm playing this game since before you were born! I win more money this year than you will have in your whole life! They ask me to write new poker book, that is kind of player I am! Buddy, I'm writing now, next time I see you I bring you a signed copy of my poker book!
Haralabos: Next time you should bring a phone book instead so you can sit on it and see your cards better.
Well, Freddy was playing it cool with HBob until then, but that last comment instantly set him off. Again, by the written accounts of the poker reporters live blogging the event, Freddy shot straight up out of his chair (though you probably couldn't tell...) and challenged HBob to a fist fight, screaming expletives at him and demanding a duel. Haralabob just sat in his chair laughing, saying he didn't want to go outside and fight Freddy because he didn't want to get arrested for child abuse.
Famous poker player Daniel Negreanu witnessed this incident live, and blogged about it at the time. I remember that he thought that Freddy would be a decent favorite in a fight between Freddy and Haralabos. But I have my doubts about that. Negreanu disliked Haralobob personally, like many poker players who ever faced him at that time, because HBob could be so vicious. So he was biased in his fight assessment, IMHO.
HBob was not a figher at all - more of a jester than a knight – but I thought he could always just stiff-arm Freddy by the forehead and then Freddy would be left with that cartoon 'swinging of the arms trying to reach him' thing while HBob could just jab him with his other arm. I would have made Haralabos the -200 favorite.
Story #2
This happened in the early 2000's, during Season 3 of the World Poker Tour, just a year or so after Story #1.
Haralabos had played in one of the WPT's big televised tournaments and made the Final Table. Not only that, but he ultimately came in Second Place, meaning he was going to get a LOT of TV time, which, again, most players thought was worth more than the actual prize money. Poker by now was white hot in America and was bringing so many people instant overnight fame. Players were resorting to obnoxious table antics and hyper displays of “personality” just to get a few seconds of screen time. Everyone was trying to create a “brand”.
Not to belabor the point, but before television made poker cool and respectable, it was filled with 95% scumbags and degenerates with almost no white-collar, working professionals. But TV poker didn't want to portray that sordid image. In the very early days, the WPT actually had a “dress code” for appearing on the televised Final Table, where a sports jacket and collared shirts were required and would be provided for you if you didn't own them yourself (in other words, for everyone).
Even the long time “Old School” gamblers were cleaned up and presented as daring adventurers instead of leather-assed angle-shooters they (we) really were. Known broke degenerates like T.J. Cloutier was turned into worshiped, heroic figures instantly, romanticized by television producers as sharp equity traders who practiced at the table instead of on Wall Street. The reality was that guys like Cloutier were hanging around poker rooms mostly to shamelessly beg recent winners for a buy-in, or even just a meal.
Under this ethos of “cleaning up poker players' images”, players were allowed to manufacture any kind of image they wanted if they were going to be on the WPT TV show. Producers for the WPT would ask each finalist for a biography, but did absolutely no fact or background checking at all intentionally, mostly out of fear of what they might find if they actually did do so. So with all that in mind, here is the official bio for Haralabos that appeared on the WPT website before his televised event, almost certainly written by HBob himself:
"Haralabos Voulgaris is a 29-year-old professional sports bettor from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This poker tyro brings a lot more to his first WPT final table than meets the eye. He is a playwright, holds a degree in philosophy, and his goals reach far beyond the green felt. His plans for the next 5 years include learning to play the piano, to have one of his plays performed on Broadway, and to win a WPT title."
I'm not sure how much of this was an inside joke, how much was just the pressure to appear white-collar in order to attract advertisers (remember, poker players were all thinking about future endorsement deals at this time), and how much of this was HBob's ego run amuck.
BUT COME ON! “Playwright”? Has Haralabos ever gone to a play yet, even in 2018? But that wasn't enough; he wanted to have one of his many, many written plays performed on Broadway very soon, because that's how dedicated he was to this art form! Just remember, this is the guy who widely known throughout the poker world for using his mastery of language to mercilessly torture midgets and other unfortunates at the poker table. Not exactly Tennessee Williams. Add in the piano lessons and the PhD in philosophy (philosophy!), and the fact that the WPT didn't bat an eye in putting this up as his bio, and the unintentional comedy is off the charts.
Haralabos claimed to friends at the time that it was mostly a joke, but as we will now see, he seemed to really care about this false image.
As you probably well know, there is a gap between when the WPT Final Table was played, and when the show based off of it is actually aired. By the time Haralabos' episode was about to air, he was staying as a guest in the house of a former poker pro named Paul Phillips, who only the most dedicated and old players will remember. (Paul Phillips won 2 WPT titles in the very early seasons, took the prize money, and pretty much disappeared from poker, going on to live a “normal” life. One of the few gambling success stories, IMHO).
Well, Paul was a practical joker himself, and he had found a way to hack his DVR and change the description of recorded programs, including Bob's WPT episode. Knowing that Haralabos was coming back soon to watch it, Paul changed the description on the DVR to fuck with him. The original show description was something like this:
“Six new players vie for the title of Champion of the LA Poker Classic Tournament. Players include movie star John Smith, astronaut Mark Hunt, playwright Haralabos Volgaris, undercover international spy Chris Jenkins, the crown prince of Wakanda Jerome Jones, and the inventor of the Internet Joe “Man Tits” Mande.“
Obviously the other names and titles were made up by me, but you get the picture. Anyway, Paul made one small adjustment, knowing Haralabos would see it:
“Six new players vie for the title of Champion of the LA Poker Classic Tournament. Players include movie star John Smith, astronaut Mark Hunt, uptight playwright Haralabos Volgaris, undercover international spy Chris Jenkins, the crown prince of Wakanda Jerome Jones, and the inventor of the Internet Joe “Man Tits” Mande.“
Paul then waited for Haralabos to return so they could watch the episode together, leaving up the modified description of “uptight playwright” on the TV and making sure HBob was in the room alone for a few minutes before starting the show, so he had no choice but to stare at the phony description.
Bob noticed it immediately. According to Paul, HBob started to get really worried, thinking that the show was going to portray him in a terrible light and edit him to look dumb and foolish, just because of that one word “uptight” in the description. Before even starting the show, HBob was already making excuses, telling Paul that he forgot they kept his microphone on at all times, and he said some critical things about the WPT's production crew, and now they were getting their revenge by calling him uptight. He kept bringing up ways he might have acted uptight during the Final Table and was pre-rationalizing them for Paul, who was enjoying it all.
This went on for the first 15 minutes or so of the show, with Haralabos worrying and moaning non-stop about being called “uptight” and wondering how they were going to edit him to look that way, until Paul finally let him off the hook. According to Paul, Haralabos didn't believe it was a practical joke and kept worrying and griping longer, until he saw for himself that it was just a standard WPT show with no unfair editing involved.
I'm not going to put too much on Haralabos for being so worried about his portrayal. Players really did believe that a good edit was the difference between a lucrative endorsement deal with Budweiser or Nike and getting nothing. The sky seemed to be the limit. BUT... the notion that Bob was just playing an inside joke and didn't really care about being known as a “playwright, piano player, and philosopher” didn't quite match up with his defensive and concerned attitude that day.
Sources:
Source for Story #1: This is a very famous poker story that was talked about amoung players live and on 2+2 (the dominant, high-traffic poker forum back then and perhaps now) a lot when it happened. You can find snippets and references on twoplustwo.com. I'm sure other long time and knowledgeable players will verify hearing a version of this story before.
An account of it was given by Haralabos himself on the podcast “Big Poker Sundays” which he used to co-host with Scott Huff, but has long since disappeared. It was a part of Poker Road Radio, which was run by Barry Greenstein's asshole son before closing. As this story is now close to 15 years old and poker media is on life support, many previous accounts from blogs and recording are now gone, and thus a lot of it had to be reconstructed from memory. Part of the reason I'm re-telling it is because it was gradually being lost in time, and that is a motive to re-tell it now, for a new generation.
Source for Story #2: I got the exact WPT description of Bob's bio from the 2+2 Archive (http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=5504109&page=0&fpart=all&vc=1). The story of the altered DVR description and Paul Phillips came from the memory of Paul's old blog on LiveJournal (“extempore”), which has long been deleted, and from my own correspondence with Paul Phillips at the time (we were pretty good “online friends” before the invention of Social Media. Anyone remember r.g.p. on Usenet?). Again, unfortunately memory had to play a large role.
I by no means want to pretend Haralabos and I were close. I knew about him and tracked him more than most poker players due to my sports betting background, but Bob was just one of a hundred different and strange characters in the gambling world that you'd recognize daily, none of whom you'd want to spend a lot of time with. We had some mutual friends, that's about it.
Both stories were written under the Geneva Convention rules, which explicitly states that all gambling stories worldwide may contain up to 15% of exaggerations in order to make the story more entertaining or dramatic and still be called “truthful”. Like all good gambling stories should be told. But the core elements are as faithful a retelling as I could make it, including the WPT description, and the key dialogue by Bob that was quoted the most at that time. It's the dates and locations I'm least sure about.

Good poker chips for home games?

Wanting to start a home game

First time playing live? Here are some tips!

We've been getting more than a couple "I play online a lot but I've never played live, so I'ma try that -- what should I do?" posts around here.
As a primarily $1/$2 live player who has only occasionally been dabbling in online play, I thought I'd write up a short post with some general tips for people who haven't played live. Other live regs, please feel free to add what you can! Thanks!
VERBALIZE YOUR INTENT
This is very important. There are some rules in live environments including "chips across the line are in play" and "a single chip is a call" that might mess you up. To remove doubt, until you're more comfortable handling and cutting chips -- announce your intention before you start putting chips over the line! This will also help in situations where you'd like to bet using a denomination of chip you don't have -- for example the pot is $25 and you want to bet $26 because you're a big ol' jerk.
A SINGLE CHIP IS A CALL
This is a pretty well-known rule, but it surprises me how many people people sit down who haven't heard it. If you toss in a single chip, it's a call, no matter what the amount you're calling is. Similarly, if you put fewer chips across the line than the aggressor bet, and you don't say raise, that's a call, too. A common thing is for you to be facing a bet of, say, $75, and you, intending to call, toss in $5 to let the action continue while you figure out how many chips represents $70.
THE MAGICAL LINE ON THE FELT
Most (all?) felts have a big oval-y line around the table. Consider that a barrier between things that aren't in play and things that are. When chips go across it, those chips are committed to the pot. When cards go across it, unless you're at showdown, those cards are in the muck. If action is to you and cards are face down across that line, the dealer's probably going to take them -- just be clear about your intent. Use a card protector or a chip on top of them to signal that you're still considering your action.
Now, whether the line exists and what it signifies can vary between casinos. I think the most common rule is the one above, but as others in this thread have mentioned, they've played at places where it doesn't matter. This all really comes down to making whatever your action is obvious and deliberate -- you don't have to worry about the line at all if you properly protect your cards, properly cut your chips when betting, etc.
LET THE DEALER DO THEIR JOB
Related to the last part of point 1: The dealer is there for a reason. If you need change, they'll make it. If you want to top up, they'll do it. If they're fast, friendly, or both, tip them a buck out of the occasional won hand, and a couple out of the monster pots. If another player just puts a bunch of chips out, the dealer will usually count 'em up to announce the bet, and if another player goes all-in you can ask the dealer to count the size up. One thing they can't do is count up how much is in the pot -- that's on you. You can ask them to spread the chips out a bit so you can count if you want but it's better to just keep track as the action is going.
BETTING, IN GENERAL
Ok, so most of these actually apply to online as well, but since computers do math for us, and since we so often just think of betting in terms of some fraction of the pot, there actually are rules that you have to follow.

The minimum bet is the previous bet. The obvious example is that you're first to act and so the minimum bet is two big blinds. However, let's say the action goes: UTG raises to 3 big blinds, which is a 2 BB raise. UTG+1 then min re-raises (which is a raise of 2 BB, because UTG's raise was 2 BB), so that the total bet is now 5 BB. It folds to you on the button -- if you'd like to re-raise, the minimum is still 2 BB, because that's what UTG+1's bet was, for a total of 7 BB. Say you actually raised it to 10 BB -- that's a bet of 5 BB, so the next player's minimum raise is 5, for a total of 15.
There's this thing called "string betting" and it is NOT OKAY. When you bet, you have two options: Dump some amount of chips onto the felt all at once or verbally announce your bet and then put the chips out. "String betting" is putting some amount of chips out and then immediately following it up with some other amount. That isn't allowed, and the dealer will refuse to accept the second portion of the bet.
A player moving all-in is just the same as any other bet. The minimum re-raise is still twice the difference between the all-in and the previous bet (although chances are, unless the guy is very short stacked, you're probably going to have to shove over the top to isolate it if that's your goal).
Regarding chip stacks: So, technically, if, before a hand starts, you announce to the dealer that you'd like to top up, and you put money on the felt before she deals everyone in, the dealer can announce to all players that your chip stack is whatever you topped up to. Like if you have $100 in chips and you put a $100 bill on the table and announce that you'd like more chips, then, while the floor is getting your chips, you technically have $200 in chips to play with -- it's just not physically there. I've seen weird situations where the dealer has to just tell people that you've got $X in play when you don't have any in front of you -- this goes back to "Let the dealer do their job." They'll help you out.
For the most part, just to make everyone's life easier, it's a good idea to try and keep bets/raises to a multiple of whatever the most common denomination of chip at the table is. For $1/$2, this is usually a $5 chip unless you're playing pot-limit. If that means you've gotta round your intended $18 bet to $20, man, it's just two bucks. You'll live!
Again, when in doubt, see rule #1: Verbalize your intent.

CHECKING
Have you ever played Blackjack? You know that thing people do when they want to hit, where they just slap the table like their hand is a wet noodle? That motion is also a thing in poker -- it means "check."
If, for some reason, you don't want to actually say the word "check" out loud, like you believe it would signify weakness or some silly thing, or if you're the coolest kid on the block who don't need no words ... you can rap the table with your knuckles, or tap it gingerly with your fingertips -- any sort of "up and down" motion with your hand will signify your intent to check to the dealer.
If somehow you have performed this simple motion and your intent is still not clear, the dealer will ask "Was that a check?" in the same tone your girlfriend might ask "Are you in yet?" Avoid being in that awkward situation by announcing "check" or knocking on the table like you're knocking on a door. Or do both! As long as you're clear!
CHOPPING THE BLINDS
Some places let the blinds chop a pot. If preflop action folds all the way to the small blind, and both he and the big blind agree to a chop, they can both announce their intention to chop to the dealer, and if the house allows it (I'm not sure I've seen a place that doesn't, but who knows), then the dealer will push the blinds back to the players and the hand will end.
If you're the small blind and you want to be a cool dude, offer to chop before you've looked at your cards. If you look first and then offer, that's often a pretty big sign of weakness and it's kind of a jerky thing to do imo.
I did see one guy do that, looked at his cards and then offered to chop, and when the big blind refused, the small blind raised, which was surprising; big blind called, flop came K high, sb checked, bb bet pot, sb raised to 3x pot; bb shoved; sb called; bb flipped up KQ; sb flipped up AA and they held. "I offered to chop," he said, and we all had a good laugh, except the guy in the big blind. Sucker.
CHIPS ON THE TABLE STAY ON THE TABLE
Unless you're racking your chips up to leave, once a chip is in your chip stack, it's in play. You can't be pocketing chips beyond the initial buy-in -- the only exception being that if you want to keep a stash that you can use to top up with (for example you buy in for $300 and only play with $200, using the remaining $100 to top-up when needed) -- but even that's kinda weird and unnecessary.
DON'T BE A DOUCHE
Don't be that guy with sunglasses, a cap and earbuds. Nobody likes him and nobody's gonna want to get into a pot with him. You're grinding for at least a couple hours -- have some fun. Make some friends. Poker's a social game. I know it's a job for some of you, but you're allowed to enjoy your job, right?
Also, one douchey thing people sometimes do and it's pretty frowned upon is hitting and running -- when they scoop an enormous pot and immediately leave. Seriously, that's a dick move. Stay for at least another orbit. If you wanna grab a rack and start racking up chips while you're hanging around for as long as you feel morally obligated to, that's cool; even if you fold every single hand, whatever. You want to at least look like you care about giving people the chance to get their chips back. I'll usually hang around for another twenty minutes or so, enjoying the free ("free") drinks and just playing super tight or something. If I just took down a $500 pot, I don't care about a few orbits' worth of blinds/limps/whatever.
STRADDLING
This is a thing that I haven't seen allowed online but exists in live games. There are two common types of straddle: UTG and Button straddles. A UTG straddle is when you're under the gun and, before you look at your cards you announce that you're straddling and put the straddle amount out (usually 2bb, but in 1/2 it's often gonna be $5 to make it easy on everyone). If you do this, then you are now last to act preflop, not the big blind. A button straddle is similar, but you have to be on the button and do it before anyone has acted, and then preflop action will start with the small blind.
It is not normally +EV to straddle, but if you're super deep stacked and want to play a little loose and fun, go for it, man.
NOTE: I'm not sure I've ever seen a tournament where straddling is allowed. This is purely a cash table thing.
YOU ARE NOT CEMENTED TO YOUR SEAT
Most places will hold your spot for up to an hour if you need to take a break to grab a bite to eat or whatever. Just let the dealer know. They aren't gonna blind you out. If you're just zipping off to the loo, you don't even need to tell anyone, although if you wanna verbalize your intent to take a piss, whatever, man, that's poker, I guess.
On the topic of food, btw -- food is totally allowed at the table (after all, you've probably got alcohol there, so why the hell not) -- but don't be a jerk about it. Don't be sitting there with a big stinky plate of curry or something. It's pretty common to see people bring snacks like nuts or sweets and if that's your thing, by all means, go for it. Just don't make a mess.
PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY THE DAMN GAME
It is generally much harder to isolate people preflop than it is online. Online, if you're playing full ring and you're under the gun and you raise to 5 bb, you're probably not gonna get a lot of action. Usually that's what you want. In a live game, however, you'll often get called by the guy with suited connectors, and the guy behind him with K7o will call because that's his favorite hand, and the guy on the button will call with T4s because they're suited. If your gameplan is to get a couple callers into a bloated pot with a monster, that's great! Just watch out you don't get mugged.
If you really want to isolate, you're gonna have to bet really fucking big, and the drunk whale with 450bb might still call you with 69o because "it's the old college hand, get it, 69, HAHAHA," that motherfucker.
PEOPLE WILL DRAW TO ANYTHING
Similar to the previous point: If you think your opponent is drawing, they will often call you all the way down to the river. Value bet the shit out of whatever medium-strength made hand you have.
TELLS: LEARN THEM, LOVE THEM
This won't help much if it's your first time, but you might be able to pick some things up anyway. Watch other players and how they act. Pay attention, mostly to their faces and their hands. People are creatures of habit. If you see a guy stare at the board like he's gonna murder it when he bluffs, remember that shit.
STEREOTYPES: YOU AREN'T BEING RACIST, SERIOUSLY, OKAY MAYBE A LITTLE
There are some live stereotypes that can actually be pretty accurate. Obviously your mileage here will vary but, for example, that old asian guy who's in every single hand actually is playing as wide as you think he his because he's here to gamble and when you bluff re-raise him he's not gonna respect your shit because you're a punk-ass kid. The old man reading a newspaper (seriously) and playing 1% of hands is 4betting? Lay down your queens. The large, pissed off black dude isn't aggressively betting for value; he's trying to steal the pot.
PHONES
The rule of phones is simple: You can have it at the table, but you can't be using it if you're in a hand. As soon as you fold, you can whip it out to do whatever, but if you still have cards, keep it in your pocket or in your lap. A phone is a good way to keep notes, btw, if you're the type to do that.
DON'T TAP THE GLASS
Sometimes I'll see players berate other players for making bad moves. Don't do that. That's -EV. You want players making bad moves. And what's more -- you want them feeling comfortable and enjoying themselves while making bad moves. Fish are a healthy part of the player pool, get it? Besides, we were all fish once. Most of us probably still are. Don't you hate it when some guy calls you a horrible player because you called his mega preflop raise with J9s in the small blind and flopped a boat? And wouldn't you want another player doing that, because most of the time they aren't gonna hit?
Part of being a social butterfly means accepting that just like you aren't the best player, you probably aren't the worst, and people are gonna do donkey shit that makes no sense. Learn to love it. Take advantage of it. And most of all, keep them at the table.
DON'T TALK ABOUT YOUR CARDS IF YOU AREN'T IN THE HAND
This should be obvious, but I actually see it pretty often -- if you fold, wait until the hand's over to discuss it. You aren't in the hand any more -- you shouldn't be influencing it. And if what you folded is a monster, that's fewer monsters for the players who are still in it to worry about, you dig? If you're sitting there looking at a QQK board and muttering "damn, I shouldn't have folded my Q7," well, obviously there's only one queen left in the deck, so the guy with the K is feeling pretty damn confident about his top pair now, and the guy who was going to semi-bluff his Jacks is gonna be pretty pissed at you.
Most dealers will actually reprimand you if you do this in an obvious way, or if you're purposeful about it, and if it becomes a problem they'll kick you out. It's a pretty egregious breach of rules.
Now -- one note -- this should go into the "live tells" section. A lot -- seriously, a lot -- of newer players will huff and puff to themselves about the hands they folded. Sometimes I'll look around the table at the players who aren't in the hand as the dealer's dealing the flop, because if you see them do a sort of "pssh, dammit" kinda face, that usually means they would've hit a piece of the flop, which is one less thing to worry about from the other players in the hand.
I think that's it off the top of my head. If ya'll have more points or feedback on those ones, I'll edit it. Thanks dudes.

poker chip tournament denominations video

In any poker set the ‘base’ chip is the smallest chip denomination you will use. A typical base chip is a 25 point chip with a breakdown that has 25, 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 point chips in it. In recent years it has become much more popular to use a 100 point base set including 100, 500, 1,000, and 5,000 point chips - and if you need it, a 25,000 point chip too. Players must then play higher chip values. Poker chips offer an easy way to signify and play these escalating values. The goal is to keep collecting those chips and see your own stack rise. Why do poker players use chips, and what do the colours mean? Chips represent a cash value or a tournament chip value. Players in higher stakes, such as a $25/$50 games, will, of course, receive high denominations with quite a few $25 chips - and some hundreds mixed in as well and possibly even higher. Certainly, casinos will have even higher poker chip values for those playing at the very highest of stakes. Let's say you're in a tournament and they are taking away the small denominations of chips. For example, if the blinds are 10,000 / 20,000 with a 2,000 ante and you still have chips worth 100. While it is obvious what happens if you have exactly twenty chips worth 100 to be exchanged with a single 2000 worth chip, what happens if you have less than twenty 100 chips? Across all poker tournaments, and indeed all casino poker sites, it’s essential to recognize that the poker chip values are not the same as money. They may equate exactly to the buy-in amount when you add it all up, but they are not referred to in dollar amount, or euro amounts for the EPT, but in straight numbers. Tournament Pro Series 11.5 gram Poker Chips. With denominations of $1, $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, $500, $1000, $5000 and $10,000 to choose from. Coconut Tree Ceramic 10g Poker Chip. With denominations of $1, $5, $10, $25, $100, $500, $1000, and $5000 to choose from. Desert Sands Casino Ceramic 10g Poker Chip. Poker chip trays are extremely useful for handling and storing poker chips. At the beginning of the tournament they can be use to hold each players chips. This makes it easy to hand out the chips and assures that they are getting the right amount of chips. Tournament poker chips at 25,000 and higher vary widely from casino to casino. Even the WSOP uses vastly different colors for high-denomination tournament chips across its multiple chipsets. The WSOP Main Event chipset uses forest green for 25,000 chips, and lavender for 100,000 chips. Being a supplier of poker chips we are often asked what a good breakdown is for a poker game. Our immediate response is normally, “it depends”. Is it a cash game or tournament? How many chips do your players like to have in front of them? Do you ever see your stakes rising in the future? How deep do your players g A complete basic set of poker chips used in private poker games or other gambling games is usually comprised of white, red, blue, green, and black chips. Larger, high-stakes tournaments may use chipsets with many more colors.

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Chip Breakdowns - Buying Poker Chips - YouTube

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