To blaaaathe!

[rpgdemon]

So, Princess Bride is a good movie. And poker is a fun game.

This is a thread for discussioning poker. Or Princess Bride if you want.

Personally, I'm a fan of Texas Hold'em, for poker. I used to think that Five Card Stud was the "real" way to play poker, but in recent years, I've been playing a lot more Hold'em, and I like that it's a much more interactive game than five card. You have a lot more knowledge, are given the ability to make smart plays, and not forced in with terrible cards, bleeding out hand after hand because of the ante.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

I agree on all points. A while ago I got seriously addicted to a Hold'em game on Facebook. I started with 10k, ended up with over a million in a period of 6 months. Now if only I could do that in real life...

[Melfice]

Never managed to figure out how to play poker.
I'm more of a Blackjack guy.

[rpgdemon]

Man, I absolutely hate blackjack. Blackjack is fools gold.

Mainly since I was up $40 one time playing Texas Hold'em, was bored/waiting on the person I was there with to finish his losing/winning, and was like, "Whatever, I'll sit down at the blackjack table". I then was like, "Whatever, I'll make a bet."

First hand, I got Blackjack, and was like, "Neat." Then I ended up losing like $20 of my winnings at the blackjack table, since each hand was over in like two seconds, and it turned out not to be at all a good way to pass the time as I waited.

So then I went to play Roulette, and decided that as it turned out, I didn't like Roulette or Blackjack very much at all.


But Texas Hold'em is a blast. I'm debating going to play tonight.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Yeah Hold'em is better because, though it's still largely dependant on pure luck, there is at least some strategy to it and you can fold and get the hell out if things turn bad, but with other forms of gambling it's basically a flip of a coin or a roll of a dice whether you win or lose and there's no way out.

Also there's nothing like the intense joy you feel as that 1 card you need appears you just know you're gona win, so you raise at just the right time and someone else foolishly follows you and loses everything.

[rpgdemon]

No, the best feeling is keeping an Ace-something, suited. And on the flop, you make your ace high flush, and know that there's no way you can lose, unless a pair pops up on the table and someone makes a full house.

[Seil]

Why do I have a sudden urging to do the "Blathe" monologue the next time I play cards?

"Oh, neat, 21. I win!"
"Liar! Liar! You said true love, Max!"
"Max? Who's Max?"
"Max?! You promised me you would never use that name!"
"Why are you doing this?"
"We were probably playing cards, and you cheated!"
"This is not what I imagined when I envisioned a fun afternoon of card games."

[rpgdemon]

Also, I'd like to put in my opinion that hand to hand, Texas Hold'em comes down to luck, but the overall flow of things in the long run accounts for skill.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

No, the best feeling is keeping an Ace-something, suited. And on the flop, you make your ace high flush, and know that there's no way you can lose, unless a pair pops up on the table and someone makes a full house.

Yeah, that's pretty good too I suppose. The worst feeling though was the first and only time I ever had a royal flush, right off the flop and I had to sit there and try to keep betting normally to not raise suspicions. Unfortunately the other guy folded right before the river so I never got to show him just how massively he would have lost. I felt so cheated.

[rpgdemon]

Dang, that is really upsetting. I'd feel cheated, too.

[Nique]

I do not gamble for real but I like a little poker every now and then - Texas Hold or Five Card Stud. Blackjack is like, the most unfun game ever.

[Melfice]

*shrugs*
It's better than playing a game I seem incapable of learning.

So, it has that going for it where I'm concerned. ;)

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Blackjack is the best because depending on the rules of the casino you can actually get an advantage over the house by counting. All the casinos were I used to go didn't use decks just continual auto shufflers using a massive card pool making counting pointless.

[Magus]

Yeah the auto card shufflers have made it pretty difficult to actually "play" casino games, it is almost pure gambling nowadays. I'm not even sure they use a single deck for poker.

[Nique]

Blackjack is the best because depending on the rules of the casino you can actually get an advantage over the house by counting. All the casinos were I used to go didn't use decks just continual auto shufflers using a massive card pool making counting pointless.

Right. At that point you're just playing a low-tech slot machine.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Well you can still maximise your betting patterns unlike a slot machine, just that you can't get an advantage over the house.


I've haven't seen a n autoshuffler in poker because they wouldn't make a lot of sense- couldn't you get 5 of a kind and things? Also most casino poker where I've beenf rom is playing not against the house but against other players with the house ust taking a buyin or a rake so they don't care who wins.

[rpgdemon]

Yeah the auto card shufflers have made it pretty difficult to actually "play" casino games, it is almost pure gambling nowadays. I'm not even sure they use a single deck for poker.

You have to use a single deck in poker, and it wouldn't make any sense otherwise. "I have a flush and also a full house"? Wat?

The way it works in a casino is it's you versus other people at the table, and the house takes a cut of each pot. The place that I go to when I play is actually really fair about it, and they only take like a 5% cut, and round it down. A lot of smaller hands, there will be no cut at all.