February 2006 Newsletter

Editorial

Hello,

for the second time. We have received good reactions about the first issue and we hope we will continue to bring you good articles.

First of all we would like to congratulate Andre (forum handle y2x10) for winning the Newsletter Subscription Raffle Prize! We hope you'll enjoy the prize.

We'd also like to thank MJM Magic, Magic Pro Shop and PokerShopping for donating prizes for our latest card tricks contest. Check out the http://www.21ace.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4282 thread for more info on the contest.

And now something for you. 5StarDeal is offering 10% OFF the entire inventory* from now until February 14th, 2006. Visit our http://www.21ace.com/Discount-Poker-Chips.html page for the code and the link!

We hope you'll enjoy the reading :-)

I like to consider myself as a "Conscience Cheater". As I have treated some other cheaters with tar and feathers, but I could not bare too "steal" someone's money by a false deal or shuffle.
The Question is... Are you able to spot the cheat?
In the next newsletter I'll give some pointers on how to spot a cheat.

Sreen

Bad Beats

Anyone who has played poker for any amount of time knows EXACTLY what a bad beat is. Let me clear up what a bad beat really is. I'm sorry but a bad beat isn't a guy drawing to a flush when he has the pot odds to do so, that's called +EV play to draw. A bad beat is when he can catch 5 outs or less in the deck to take the pot, from you. Shit happens, how else would I be paying my bills? If everyone played correct poker all the time there would be absolutely no way to beat the game, it's impossible.

The famous 1 to 5 outers are what I'm always bitching about to some people. However, I seriously sometimes have to bite my lip not to say anything to the donkey that just hit a miracle river on me for a pot. The worst thing any good player can do is tell a bad player how bad he is. In the past I have fallen victim to this myself but if you take anything away from this article, have it be this concept. I'll say it again, after taking a bad beat DON'T tell the player how horrid he plays or how shitty he plays(whatever terms you want to use), just don't do it. Bite your lip if that's what it takes. Force a smile and say NICE HAND, anything to encourage drawing without pot odds and other bad plays.

If you have ever read the book The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky, then you know the concept of the Theorem of Poker, It states in short that if you would play your hand exactly the same as if you knew your opponents exact hole cards then you profit, if you would play it differently then your opponent profits. It goes on to talk about how you make money when your opponents make mistakes. Example: You have JJ in CO it is folded to you and you raise, bb calls the raise so you go to the flop HU, the flop comes 2c6d9h rainbow, the bb checks you beat bb calls, turn is a 4s no back door draw comes in total ragged off suited board great board for you, bb checks you bet bb calls. River card is a 7 bb now donks out? Where are you in this hand? You only get 3 bet by hands that beat you and this player would probably fold 40% the time and call 60% of the time with bettor and worse hands, I don't see a raise as the best play here though sometimes it might be correct against a different opponent but this one seems not to make this play without a hand that beats you… lets assume you call (we can debate raising and calling in my blog if you'd like) and he shows 77… 2 outed on the bloody river, at this point you want to slap the player, but you refrain like we talked about because this: You got 2 bets in PF when you were about an 80/20 favourite over your opponent. On the flop you become about a 88/12 favourite to win. And on the Turn you are a 95/5 favourite to win. You had this guy commit 1bb PF, 0.5bb on the flop, 1bb on the turn, so you got 2.5bb out of this guy with an almost lock hand when he had no odds to play, plus the SB is dead money in the pot so you have 3bb + 1bb when he misses and calls going to the river so 4bb with a 95.5% chance to take it down, the 4.5% of the time he makes a miracle hand you lose 1bb when behind!!! Sure you loose the pot but do you see why you should be happy? You only paid 1bb when you were beat badly, he pair 2.5bb when he was beat badly… which would you rather have? Sure he takes the pot from you this one time but damn did you make it very incorrect for him to try for it. This is why some people say celebrate your bad beats, because if you don't say anything to that player other then nice hand, he is guaranteed to make the same mistake again and again. If he thinks his play was justified when there was no way in hell it was then that's great!!!

If you'd like to see some bad beats I have been dealt and some I have dished out then check out my blog post, because I have some hand histories for you.

Seriously this actually matters; there are many variations of the game.  It affects how you pick your hands and how to approach each hand.
 
 A. First there is regular no-limit Omaha, which is making the best poker hand using 2 of the 4 cards your dealt and 3 of the 5 cards on the board, you are also able to go all in at any time.  In no limit, you should be a little more cautious about each hand to play, remember this; you're always in danger as long as you don't have the nuts.  Examples of hands you should play is when you have double suited, (club, club, heart, heart) (when you play suited cards, make sure you have the ace, this will make sure you have the nut flush, for example ace of clubs and three of clubs, ace of hearts and jack hearts), another is connecting cards (5, 6, 8, 9) (again if you don't have the best possible straight, don't bet too crazy, for example if you have this hand (5, 6, 8, 9) and the board is 7, 10, K, 2, J, don't go crazy because someone could have Q, A) and the last hand is pairs like 6, 6, 3, 5.  Just like in hold em you want to punish the table if you hit your set, but you don't want to get too crazy if someone might have a straight, flush or a full house.
 
 B. Second is limit Omaha, which is the same except you can only bet so much and raise so much, you can bet and raise more after the turn as well.  In limit, you can play a lot looser, to a point though.  For instance if it's the turn and you have a gut shot straight, go for it.
 
 C. Third is pot-limit Omaha, still the same as the last two except you can only bet the size of the pot.  This turns into no-limit really fast so nothing special here.
 
 D. Fourth is no-limit Omaha hi/lo, my favourite.  This is perhaps the most technical of the bunch.  In addition to having a poker hand, you can make a low hand, 8 or better with a wheel (A, 2, 3, 4, 5) being the best.  Now this is were you can really mess with people.  They have to make the decision of whether you're betting with a low hand, high hand, or even both.  But once again, you can be filthy rich quick or broke quick depending on your luck of hitting the nuts or not.  Also you'll find yourself playing odd hands like A, 2, 5, 6 because of the low chances.  Like if the board is 7, K, 8, 3, Q you would have the nut low using your 2 and A.

Well that's it folks, hope you enjoyed it.  Maybe, if I'm allowed, I'll get more, in depth on each game in the coming articles.

1) How did you first get into chips?
It was when I watched WPT on TV and saw how those guys were doing some cool tricks like shuffle and flips. At that time I didn't even own any chips. but those tricks amazed me so I borrowed 20 chips from my sister's poker set. After I purchased my 2 sample packs of Paulson JB´s (14 chips) that's when things started to happen. I got totally hooked, it was like a drug.

2) Does poker play a big part in your life?
Yeah it does, I love playing poker. Me and some friends play at least once a week and sometimes 2-3 times/week, but we don't play for a lot of money so there is no financial gain in my poker =)

3) Do you perform chip tricks at the Poker Table? Why? What's the reaction you get from other players?
Actually not that much I shuffle, twirls, flips, rolls and some combos and once in while do a bounce back.
I always play with the same people so don't get that many reactions any more, they think it look cool and all but I've pretty much done the whole trick arsenal for them so they are used to it.

4) Have you ever met or plan on meeting up with anyone who shares a common interest with you in cards or chips?
Hmm I don't think so, I try to teach some of my friends, but I haven't met any one that is so crazy about cards/chips, but I would love to meet people with these interests. It would be cool to meet some of you guys at 21ace.

5) What chip trick took you the longest to learn?
Shuffle, but that was because I've never even held a chip in my hand before that lol, later trick that took some time to learn was Butterfly. Oh yeah that fu*king Caterpillar lol that's the only trick I've tried and almost gave up on hahaha, but I got it down and its one of the hardest tricks to do I think, but it looks very cool and that's what matters.

7) Do you carry chips around with you? Where do you practice chip tricks?
Yeah I have at least 4 chips with me at all times.
I practise at work, I'm a male nurse and I work nights at an old folk's retirement home. Since nights are very calm, I get down a couple of hours practice every night I work. The best thing is that I can concentrate a lot better at work than at home, and time flies by when I keep my self busy at nights. At home I practise when I'm at my computer surfing. The thing is that I'm right handed, but I can still do tricks better with my left than my right, so I try to practise some tricks with my right hand at work and since I'm holding a mouse in my right hand when computing I automatically practice all tricks with my left hand initially.

9) What are you favourite chips (both for flourishing, and just for collection purposes)?
I'll take Paulson over any other chips. It's absolutely awesome to do tricks with. For example Top Spin, you can't do that trick with many chips, but with Paulson's razor sharp edges it's no problem. So Paulson rocks! That's my tip anyone who wants to do chip tricks get some Paulson, it will definitely help with your progress.

10) Are there any other chip flourishers floating around the internet that are worth mentioning?
When I first saw those chip vids at 21ace and other forums, I lurked for a while before registering lol, and I wasn't that impressed actually. Same tricks in every vid. Even though I had done chip tricks for only 3 months I knew there had to be more to chip tricks than those vid I found online on different forums.
That has changed, there are so many talented chipsters at 21ace right now, to name but a few.
Pwner has some wicked fast moves, Scooter got a lot better to (I think its cause he's using Paulson now lol) Twirl and Chipmaster have some skills too =)
Then there are those on TV Antonio The Magician, and Evelyn Ng is those two I'm most impressed with.
I'd like to mention all you guys at 21ace for sending in all those cool tricks.

11) I heard you attracted the interest of De´vo. Want to tell us about that?
De´vo contacted Eric and asked for my email and when he popped up on my MSN I didn't believe it was actually De'vo lol I thought someone was joking with me, but it was De´vo so he asked me if I could make some vids for his next kickass vid.

12) Recently you have been playing around with Cards, why did you decide to expand your repertoire?
Just cause I always though that card flourishes looks so much cooler than chips. So thought I'd give it a try. Since chips came so easy to me I thought that I could learn cards real quick, man was I wrong lol. Here is where my private tutor comes in lol, Kris (DeadPeopleAllOver) have pretty much helped me out with vids and a lot of tips, so I have a lot to thank him for when it comes to my card flourishes.

13) How is the flourishing going? Making progress?
Yeah I'm making some progress, I'm looking at vids and so on trying to learn from the masters =) I love cuts and Sybil's of all sorts, so that's what I'm trying to learn right now.

14) Collecting cards is another hobby of yours. How many decks do you have? What are some of your favourites?
Hmm I don't know how many I have maybe hundred or so, I buy decks all the time and everywhere I find them lol.
My favourite decks right now is Ghost and Vipers. I have over 20 decks opened so I switches decks all the time, so I cant put my finger on one deck, but I like mainly Bikes and Tally's, Bee's are nice too.

17) Is there anything you would like to say to the 21ace community?
Yeah 21ace Rocks, there is some pretty fu*king nice guys at 21ace.
I've been treated with respect from the start in this forum. That's why I feel at home here =)
Thanks to Eric for a great site, and thanks to Kris, Martin and Alex who are the guys I talk to on MSN on a regular basis.
And thanks to all of you other awesome guys and girls.

Peace TheEMan

Count's Sleight-less Triumph

I later discovered by reading a Marlo publication that a similar method was created long ago called "Cheek to Cheek" by Grant.  Now, I've never studied this method so I'm not sure of the precise subtleties, but I would surmise that the handling is similar to my own.  However, since I developed my handling independently I feel entitled to share it with you now.  Later, I'll offer two follow-up articles to this one where I describe; what is perhaps a more spectacular effect that employs a similar handling, as well as an article describing how to use this particular effect in a routine.

Method:
You begin with a gimmicked deck, that is to say, half the deck consists of regular cards (we'll assume blue backed cards in all cases here) and half the deck consists of double backed cards (again, blue backed on both sides).  The ordinary cards should form the top half of the deck, while the double backed cards should form the bottom half of the deck.

Now you begin by having a card selected from the top half of the deck (I simply spread the cards in my hands as it makes for a very direct, clear and fair selection).  Table the deck immediately.  The spectator looks at the card and memorizes it, shows it to the other spectators (signs it if you like).  Now, pick up roughly three quarters of the deck, leaving the other quarter tabled and ask the spectator to return their card to the centre of the deck.  (It could be a good idea to make a point of using that word "centre" even though they are returning it to a point closer to the bottom, simply for the psychological subtlety not apparently planting the card at a particular position in the deck.)  You want to pick up three quarters of the deck because you want the card located roughly halfway down in the bottom half of the deck as it makes it look better later when spreading.

Dribble the three quarters of the deck you have in your hand onto the tabled packet with the selected card on top and ask the spectator to square the packet, this is extremely fair, much more so than you will typically get from any magician and really doesn't leave the possibility open for manipulation or control.

Once the spectator has squared the deck you can go into some patter if you like.  I'm not going to make suggestions on triumph patter, there are lots of ideas out there, but come up with a good presentation prior to performing this trick, as this handling in particular allows you to forget about the sleights and focus entirely on presentation.

Whatever patter you decide, cut the deck at the point where the ordinary cards meet the double backed cards (if you wish you could bend the two halves slightly prior to the performance, or crimp one card, or just riffle up the back of the deck and peek to find the correct location, it doesn't really matter).  Take the ordinary cards, turn them face up and spread them on the table with one hand, while spreading the face down cards with the other hand, demonstrating that they are in fact all face up and face down.  Then perform a tight dovetail shuffle and riffle the cards together.  Start pushing the packets together, and then, in an apparent attempt to be fair, ask an audience member to push the cards together and square up the deck. (Basically what you are doing here is getting almost the same impact as having the spectator shuffle the cards together himself, without the risk of exposing the double backed cards, it also makes the whole process seem very fair and gets the spectator involved).  Again, if you want, you can patter at this point, personally I simply say something like "for those who doubt the cards have actually been mixed…" and proceed to spread the deck, showing they are in fact well mixed, face up and face down.  Either way, that is what you want to do (spread them to show they are genuinely mixed).  Of course, the work was done from the time the spectator returned his or her card to the double backed portion of the deck so you can relax completely.

Next is the big patter section as you build up the trick, and, at the same time, the critical moment.  You are going to sweep up the spread as you would bringing the cards together to square them up, but in this sweeping up motion, just at the end, you're going to turn the deck over.  (A quick note here, due to the fact that some people might notice this action (it should really be very casual so it shouldn't be a big deal), it helps if you let one of the ordinary cards fall first when you riffled the packets together, so that no matter which way you turned the deck the audience would legitimately see the back of a card rather than be confronted with a back when it should be a face).  The key here is misdirection, because, while you're performing the action openly, and there's nothing wrong with doing so, ideally, you really don't want anyone to notice what you did. The way to go about this is to start into your patter and as you start to sweep up the spread and as you near the end, look up at them and away from the cards, turning the deck over as a part of the sweeping motion without looking at it.

The appeal of this handling is really an almost total lack of worry; everything is so fair and so convincing.  It is free of sleights and you can focus entirely on presentation.  My only worry is this, that at the end, you do have a mixed deck where half the cards are odd backed.  For that reason, I recommend you use this as a closer.  I'd also recommend you use this effect as a part of a larger routine, for two reasons.  First, because it will make the closer more acceptable, people won't be begging you as much to perform something else.  Second, because it provides a good convincer that everything is on the up and up as John Scarne would say.

Tips for improvement:
For those of you who wish to make this method more convincing I offer a few ideas.  The first, is to begin with the ordinary cards on the bottom of the deck rather than the top and rather than having a card selected directly, hold the deck face up and spread through about a third of the deck as though you'll have a card selected face up, but then change your mind, close the spread and turn the deck over, in the process, perform a turn-over pass and control the ordinary cards to the top of the deck, then proceed as per the aforementioned method.

Slide the top and bottom (2 aces') cards off the deck, making sure you only take the top and bottom card.

With the two cards gripped between your thumb and four fingers, prepare to do the right hand display (I don't know what it's called if it has a name). It's done by putting pressure on the thumb with the index finger and releasing the 3 other fingers (middle, ring and pinkie) allowing the card to flip over the thumb, revealing the two aces.