Free Poker Tourneys

"Tavern Poker" is the name for poker tournaments hosted at bars and other locations.  Players do not have to pay anything to participate (in order to prevent arguments that gambling is involved). Locations

Here are a few places I've found online that have tournaments in the NJ/NY area:

• World Tavern Poker -- lots of locations; website looks the most professional.
• World Free Poker -- a big selling point is they supply dealers.  Tips expected.
• Bar Poker Open -- I find the NYC website nearly usable but it looks like events are weekly. 

The Rule of 2 and 4

The rule of 2 and 4 is a useful way of estimating your odds a winning a particular hand.  Put simply, for an all-in decision on the flop, multiple your "outs" by 4.  Otherwise (i.e., on the flop or turn), multiple your "outs" by 2.

Your odds are the number of unseen cards that causes your hand to be a winning hand.  For example, if you have AJ, the flop doesn't pair you, and you think your opponent has a pair of tens, you have 6 outs (3 aces and 3 jacks).  That means, you have an approximately 24% chance of winning an all-in on the flop, and a 12% chance of your hand improving on the next card.

The rule of 2 and 4 is approximate and not totally accurate, but it's surprisingly useful.

To learn more, Google is your friend.  Also consider this book: Essential Poker Math, Expanded Edition: Fundamental No-Limit Hold'em Mathematics You Need to Know

Raise First In

One of the first things you'll learn is when you're entering a pot (and no one else has bet), it's almost always correct to raise, rather than limp.

Limping allows the big blind to see the flop for free.  You usually don't want the big blind to see the flop for free.  Bad stuff can happen.

Let's say you have      and you decide to limp, because the big blind likes to 3-bet.  The big blind calls.

The flop comes:  .  You're pretty excited (top pair; decent kicker), and so you bet 1/2 a pot after the big blink checks.  The big blind calls.

The turn is .  Now you have two pairs.  The big blind checks. You make a pot sized bet.  The big blind calls.

The final card is .  The big blind checks, and you make another pot sized bet.  The big blind raises and is all-in.  You scratch your head for a moment and call.

The big blind flips over:  for a full house.  Ugh.  😟😠

Here's what one author says about open limping:

Limping in is terrible. Advanced Concepts in No-Limit Hold'em: A Modern Approach to Poker Analysis

Here's a longer article on the topic:  https://partypokerlive.com/en/news/theory-fundamentals-raise-first-in-part-1

More about the 100K Challenge

I posted some of the results of my 100K challenge below.  This post will outline more of the thinking behind the challenge.

As noted, I’m interested in trying to ramp up my skills. I’m intrigued by the idea of Poker Snowie — available at http://pokersnowie.com.

I’ve decided to try to play a thousand hands at day using the Poker Snowie training mode, and see how (and if) I improve. This will not be my only method of training.

Starting Point:

 At the start, Snowie Poker evaluated my play as a “Beginner” — an error rate of 22.98. Let’s see where 100 days will put me.

The Plan:

 When I can, I plan to play at least 1,000 hands a day for a total of 100 days, and plot my progress. I will be grouping days into approximately 1,000 hands.  (That is, each "day" is not actually a single day and I can’t guarantee consecutive days.)

 The theory behind learning languages with Rosetta Stone is that there’s something special about immersing someone in a language — after all, this is how babies learn. In this case, poker is the language and I’m the baby. I’m hoping the constant positive & negative reinforcement from Poker Snowie will push me toward unconscious competence. Book & other types of learning will hopefully cement any skills I gain through training.

Please note: this theory is my own and could be a bad one. It could be, for instance, that book learning should come first rather than as an adjunct. It could also be the case that Poker Snowie is unhelpful to the learning process. (After drafting most of this post, I did find at least one other person who embraced a similar theory.) Here are a few other thoughts.

The Goal:

 Become a competent poker player!  Wish me luck.

Final Table Report - 7/26/19

Another final table--3rd place.  Feels grand. 😎

Cash Winnings
Date	Site	Name	Position	Field	Winnings
7/26/19	SportsBetting	$200 Freeroll	3	75	$24.00

Cardschat.com

If you're not a member of cardschat.com, you should strongly consider becoming one.  In addition to a bunch of friendly members, the website offers freerolls on various sites, and a number of contests.

• Learn more about Cardschat freerolls.
• Learn more about Cardschat monthly challenges.

I'll be highlighting interesting posts that I come across; but do yourself a favor and join yourself.

So I decided to play 100K hands

PokerSnowie is an artificial intelligence poker training tool.  PokerSnowie learned to play poker by playing against itself -- over and over and over again.

Playing against human opponents, PokerSnowie did pretty well.  It would've made €12.3 Million in profit if it was playing for cash.

I decided to play 100K of hands against in and see how I improved.  In PokerSnowie, the scores presented the errors made -- a lower score is better.  (I've grouped my playing into ~1000 hand selections; they don't necessarily represent a single day of playing.)

Here's my first 20K of hands:

	Rating	Cumulative	# of Hands	Cumulative
Day 1	32.72	n/a	1035	n/a
Day 2	18.43	24.79	1036	2071
Day 3	19.83	23.16	1014	3085
Day 4	26.63	23.69	1010	4095
Day 5	21.99	23.23	1085	5180
Day 6	18.13	22.44	1079	6259
Day 7	19.53	22.08	1038	7297
Day 8	14.11	20.87	1061	8358
Day 9	19.05	20.71	1054	9412
Day 10	12.9	20.01	1015	10427
Day 11	13.85	19.48	1053	11480
Day 12	13.9	18.95	1000	12480
Day 13	15.87	18.67	1000	13480
Day 14	10.96	18.15	1000	14480
Day 15	17.44	18.1	1000	15480
Day 16	11.75	17.83	1000	16480
Day 17	17.2	17.79	1000	17480
Day 18	10.6	17.39	1012	18492
Day 19	8.49	16.92	1075	19567
Day 20	9.63	16.51	1000	20567

Ratings:  0-4 is extraterrestrial;  4-8 is world class; 8-12 is expert; 12-16 is advanced; 16-20 is intermediate; 20+ is beginner.  

The hope is that playing this many hands will give me a better intuitive sense of what I should be playing.  I don't think it can be my own learning method (as some of the guidance is hard to interpret), but it is nice to be able to play a few hundred of hands when the mood strikes.

Getting Started

How to get started in poker is a tough question.  The rules are simple, but the game is not.

In my opinion, the first step is your pre-flop play.  If you're playing too few hands, you're going to be eaten up by the blinds.  If you're playing too many, you're going to be playing with weak hands post-flop.  A difficult situation; especially for a beginner.

The next is your post flop play, and when to bet, call, raise and flop.  The choices are discrete but the strategy is endless.

A few books to get you started on your journey:

• Preflop Online Poker: The 4 Fundamentals Every NLHE Grinder Must Learn for Better Decisions and More Profits (The Dominoes of Poker, Book 1)
• Master Micro Stakes Poker: Learn to Master 6-Max No Limit Hold'em Micro Stakes Cash Games

A lot of content is also available at:  https://www.blackrain79.com/

Final Table Report - 7/21/19

Not a gigantic win, but always a thrill to make final table.

Cash Winnings
Date	Site	Name	Position	Field	Winnings
7/21/19	Party Poker NJ	$50 Freeroll	7	256	$1.00

Welcome to my blog

This my poker blog.

I'm a beginning poker player in New Jersey.  I focus on playing on New Jersey's regulated poker sites (in order of the time I play on the site):

• PartyPokerNJ
• 888 NJ
• WSOP NJ
• PokerStars NJ 

As a beginner, I mainly hang out in freerolls.  I also play low stakes aheads up or 10 cent blast from time to time.

This site will not be focused on the various websites (you can find somewhere to play on your own).  Instead I'll discuss the books I've read, the podcasts I've enjoyed, etc.  I'll also chronicle some of my wins & my progress from a beginner to hopefully something much better than a beginner.