Champions of Poker

Hello,

I just want to ask and share something.

Recently, I joined a live tournament in a northern Minnesota casino. Well, if I could remember it right, the buy-in was $150. We actually started with 170 players and then later on was trimmed down to sixteen players divided at two 8p tables.

I heard that the tourney was paying 15 players back then so we were pressured. Eventually, 10-15 got $150, 9th $200, 8th $400 and on up to $9,500 for first. With 400 antes, blinds were $4,000 and $8,000 while chips in total was $850,000 therefore the stack was about $53,000 in average. At the table were some of the big stacks but players just around were only near the average and no player has $100K or so. Me, after posting the $400 ante and the small blind had $36,000. Pot was $15,200.

At some point, everyone folded while I had A8 off-suit. Afterwards, a player maybe at his mid-20’s sat at the table. He has about $55,000. I was wondering then as he haven’t seen any thing.

Later part, I raised all-in while with AT he called me. Few minutes later and a ten came and so I was busted out.

In your opinion, did I played just right? I believe I made pretty well with regards to mathematical call, however, I’m not sure about my strategic call. Any thoughts?

I hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks in advance!

Billy Stout
Billy,

A-8 offsuit is a poor choice for a starting hand in general. If you are raising from late position to steal blinds, that may be fine, but if you get called, you are in trouble.

Without knowing more information, I can’t say whether you should or shouldn’t have pushed all in, but based on the fact that you had a solid stack and push with A-8, I must lean towards that being a poor play. A-8 is easily dominated, and in your case, it was.

Hello,

I played poker the other night with two friends James and Matthew. James had an Ace with two aces on the board back then while Matthew had pocket jacks with a jack on the board. Matthew eventually discovered that James had the ace and so put up his cards.

James had 3 aces while Matthew had a full house jacks full of aces. However, Matthew haven’t discovered this until later on when James took the chips and placed them in pile.

By the way, the situation looked like:

James- A 3 Matthew – J J Board- A J 8 6 A

Do you think Matthew should give James the money? Or else he should just keep it safe as James had an error?

Thanks,
Haarstick
Haarstick,

If this was in a casino, the dealer should have divided up the pot and sent the money to the other player. If your friend discovered the error during the hand, then James should pay back the money. If the error was discovered or thought about later, there really isn’t much that can be done since the next hand has been played.

Hello,

I’m wondering if cards always play themselves in poker, particularly in Texas Holdem or else it’s actually on the hands of the player to determine the best 5 card. What do you think?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Joe Schmidt
Joe,

In a casino, cards speak. This mean it is the dealer’s responsibility to award the pot to call the hand and award it to the correct winner. The player should know what their hand is, but it is not required.

Hi,

At the card room the other night, the table got to heads up and both hand were turned face up. Quite surprising, the dealer called the hand wrongly and then had the card and mucked them out of a sudden. Afterwards, the floor person had the mucked cards back and revealed them. He then awarded the pot to the true winner.

Any comment?
Thanks!

Coble
Coble,

In a casino, cards speak. This means it is the dealer’s responsibility to award the pot to call the hand and award it to the correct winner. Since the dealer made a mistake, the floor person is responsible to correct the error. Proper procedure was followed in this instance.

Hi there,

I have a concern regarding chip stacking. Just the other day, I watched a live game. I’ve seen that the chips of one player were colored out with two colors. Also, he had his larger chips hidden behind the cheaper chips and had a cheaper chip on top of his larger chips. I don’t know why he exactly did such but I guess he wanted to deceive his opponents. Well, it actually appeared as if he had only stacks of cheaper chips.

Eventually, his opponent went all-in and unfortunately didn’t win the pot. Well, what’s surprising is that they later on discovered that they had the same amount of chips. Losing player was so upset and actually did question the rule about chip stacking and all. Any thoughts on this?

Thank you.

Regards,
Olson
Olson,

In a casino, larger denomination chips must be visible at all times as to prevent deception regarding stack sizes.