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THERE ARE many prayers offered at the poker table, but the most frequent among hold'em players must be: "Please, God, don't let my big blind be raised."
Published: 2004-12-01
 POKER
Independent, The (London), December, 2004 by Nic Szeremeta
THERE ARE many prayers offered at the poker table, but the most frequent among hold'em players must be: "Please, God, don't let my big blind be raised."
This applies equally to the limit, pot limit and no limit forms of the game, and as much in tournament play as in live cash action.
The only starting hands where a player does not mind being raised - either on the big blind or on any other position - are pocket aces or kings.
Even the holder of a pair of pocket queens or A-K is going to feel a little uneasy when confronted with a raise. What to think and what to do when faced with this situation are both difficult decisions to make.
The type of big blind hands where a player definitely doesn't want to be raised are the entire range of small pairs, an ace with a small kicker - side card - of the same suit, and almost any suited connectors below J-10 - 62-72, for example.
These all have some promise, but parting up with three times as many chips for the privilege of seeing the flop can be a painful experience - especially as the player on the big blind is "out of position" (that is to say, he has to act before the rest of the participants apart from the player in the small blind).
Trash hands - any two cards that would normally be thrown away for even a minimum bet - have a chance of developing into something in an unraised big blind scenario.
The appalling 7-2 off suit can flop 2-2-2 or 2-2-7, for example.
More commonly, two odd cards, such as 10-2 of different suits, find a slop of 10-7-2. This is a 50-1 against shot, but it still occurs often enough to create "interesting" hands.
The point of all this is that the player in the big blind is not going to like being raised 99.1 per cent of the time - every time, in other words, except for the rare occasions when there is an A-A or K- K tucked away.
So the conclusion to draw is that if a player wishes to enter a pot it is nearly always correct to raise a sufficient amount to give the big blind a decision to make. Even a player holding one of the two big pairs should raise.
Failure to do so means that the holder of the big pair is playing against a totally random hand with absolutely no information to go on.
And there is a useful corollary to this: players who consistently fail to raise the big blind when entering a pot have got it wrong. They are asking for trouble and the poker gods have a way of making sure they sometimes get it.
Copyright 2004 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
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Stakes are pretty low in this poker league
Published: 2004-12-01
 Stakes are pretty low in this poker league
Peoria Journal Star, December, 2004
Thirty years ago a group of high-rolling and high-profile Peorians, including then-Bradley basketball coach Joe Stowell, got busted at a high-stakes poker game above Jimmie's Lock Shop. If they played their cards right now, those players might find themselves on television in homes throughout metropolitan Peoria. Such is the changed state of gambling.
Of course, they couldn't play their games in this part of the country today any more than they could have three decades ago. In Illinois it is illegal to play for money or prizes unless the games occur in a licensed casino. That's what put the Peoria Poker Club on dangerous ground recently.
The club, started in September by two young brothers, supplies cards, chips and tables to bars and restaurants that want to host poker tournaments. They've had up to nine gatherings each week, with nearly 100 people at the most popular. Taverns pay the brothers for organizing games and bringing in customers on slow nights. In the spirit of competition, Brad and Ryan Heid had been giving out prizes to the winners - $25 gift certificates, poker table tops and the like, nothing of great value, though a Las Vegas vacation was in the works.
But recently the Illinois Liquor Control Commission wrote letters to some area bars advising them that giving out prizes in games of chance is illegal. Police visited at least two area taverns to stop tournaments in progress. The brothers got the message. The playing continues - the law doesn't forbid it - but they're only awarding attaboys.
Gambling enthusiasts we aren't here, for a number of reasons, but mostly because of the harm that comes when people lose money they can't afford to lose, and sometimes home and well-being go, too. There is also the frequent link between gambling and organized crime. But nobody's going to lose a house in a game without an entry fee or wagers. As for the Mafia, it is highly unlikely to take serious interest in a poker tournament that gives out 25 bucks to the winner.
It could be argued, we suppose, that friendly games of poker can produce addicts. The same could be said, then, of computer poker, which is legal; or of poker without prizes, which is legal; or of video poker, which is legal at the Par-A-Dice.
But mostly, it just doesn't make a great deal of sense to see no reason for government to object when people gamble to the hilt on floating casinos but to see every need to call the police when people are losing nothing but their time. On the list of activities government should concern itself with, this ranks near the bottom - close to harmless. The Legislature should change the law.
Copyright 2004
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
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