Why We Play

Hey Everyone,

I have often talked to my friends who play poker about our motivation to play. These conversations usually occur after a bad stretch of losing or a horrific beat received. We lament about our luck and why we even continue to play in the first place. Sometimes we critique our opponents play and other times we criticize our own. After moments like these I have to make sense of it all. Why am I here and what am I doing with this poker thing?

A person plays poker for a few core reasons. The first and most obvious is monetary gain. Gaining money using your wits alone is a very enticing objective indeed. For those of us who grind everyday at jobs that we sweat and toil at, sitting at a poker table and raking in a days worth pay in one hand is an idea we can't help but desire. Winning a sum of money that gives us permanent security is a worthy goal and a dream many of us strive for. In short, money may not equal happiness but it can give you peace of mind.

Speaking of peace of mind, what is more satisfying and secure than good company from great friends. Many of us play for those moments with the people we care about, where we can bring the personal connections we have as friends and family to the poker table. I can speak from experience that there is nothing more fulfilling than busting a family member or a buddy in a home game. No matter who we are outside of life, at the poker table we all get dealt the same amount of cards from the same deck, and connecting at a base level is an essential human need and an integral part of how the game of poker functions. You have to interact if you want to play the game.

Basic human interaction evolves when two or more people compete for a prize. The bigger the prize or the more worth given to what is being played for, the more intense the interaction can be. Winning can be a drug. A need to be the best can be the sole drive of a human being. Some people play to be the best. There is only one place for them, that's 1st. They study the game, compete against the best and constantly strive to achieve to be on top. The money is nice, friends to chat with are great, but the core of who they are is the person who longs to be is champion. They want the recognition first over all else, from themselves and others.

Most of us fall in the first two categories. They play for money or the social interaction that poker brings. They know they will never be the best. Their priorities are elsewhere and poker is just a game. It has a means and an end. It passes the time and the game gives them a thrill and then they move on. Like an amusement ride, when the ride stops they get off and look for the next ride to thrill them.

Then there are those of us who know there is something more to this game. It's shown on the surface with the million dollar payouts and the bracelets. It's more than that though, it's freedom. It's personal fulfillment and lifelong security. It is a dream that could become reality. You can be the best, have financial security and be able to enjoy the company of friends and loved ones without the interruptions of financial obligations that separate you. You could hold your wife in your arms and not worry about the rat race tomorrow, there no longer is one. One day you could wake up and realize that your dream is now a reality. Every time you sit down at a table you can sense it, and you begin the hunt. Will you stay true to who you are or one day give up and become one of the other two types of people? Only you truly know who you are and where you will end up.

Rough Around the Edges?

The smallest increases gained over time can become huge gains over a lifetime. Every percent on a loan over the course of thirty years equals thousands of more dollars you will spend than the cost of the original purchase. Each percent is another hour you work, another moment spent toiling instead of living life. These small percents make men rich and keep men poor. Life is all about the small edges you can gain over the next guy.

In poker these small edges are there but not always so evident to most. There are many aspects of equity of a pot. How many chips you have, your hand strength, how likely are they to fold, and so on and so forth, etc. etc. The size of the blinds and antes usually dictates what we are willing to risk. Will I risk my whole stack when I have 100 big blinds on a coin flip? Probably not. Will I risk my whole stack on a coin flip when I have 12 or less big blinds? Absolutely. Will I risk ten big blinds to move a spot up in the money without being at risk myself? Most of the time, yes. Will I jam k5 suited in the small blind when we both only have 14 big blinds? Yeah, I will.

For some of you this is obvious. For others they ask why? Why would you risk your whole tournament or stack on that spot where you only have a slight edge or you slightly have the worst of it? The answer is I will take any edge I can get. Over time those small advantages will turn into bigger ones and my bankroll will benefit from it. Over a lifetime I know those small gains will turn into giant ones. Without those edges I lose my advantage over most of you and I play a lot of break even poker. I don't want to look back on my poker career in thirty years and know I never made it because I only managed to keep my head above water.

If you played your entire lifetime and only managed to one percent return on investment, you would not end out great, but you would end out good enough to buy some things you never would of otherwise. If you increased that by five percent, you have found some security in your investment and got a sound return on your money. Once you get above ten percent on your investment you start to become free. Your money works for you and you move beyond security and start to experience freedom. In my opinion, freedom to live our lives is what every human being strives for in the first place.

You may see me make mistakes at the poker table. We all do. Mistakes can be costly. I try not to make many of them. Remember this everyone: The biggest mistake you can make as a poker player is not having the courage to get your money in the middle when you have the best of it. This is an absolute statement but won't yield you an absolute result. Sometimes you will lose when you had the best of it. Not every time you had the best of it will you be getting it in. Overall though, failure to play the small edges in poker will not only cost you money you will never see, but also security and freedom you will never experience, as well as dreams that never became reality. Just something to think about.

Be Well
BigJoeJones

Felt Fanatics Tournaments This Week

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for being a little late on the tournament announcements. I had a few busy days leading into my birthday yesterday and I could not quite catch up to all I had to do :P Raise your hand if you just love landscaping! Then raise your hand again if you love doing it for more than ten hours in a row, lol. So the lawn looks great and I'm sore and the wife is not scowling at me quite as much anymore... so that must mean that BigJoeJones has some spare time and some tournaments to announce!

We have a couple of good options this week to play here this week. I encourage you to play them all, especially Doyle's Room and PitBull Poker. We are affiliates for both and your involvement on those sites helps us out here at Felt Fanatics. If you are going to deposit, please click the banner on the side of the web page. Speaking of banners on the side of the web page, PitBull Poker is offering ten dollars free just to check them out! Yes just sign up for an account with PitBull Poker and they will give you ten dollars! If you like free money and you play poker and you want to play with us here at Felt Fanatics, you have no excuse now not to sign up! Just click the banner on the side of the web page that is advertising the ten free dollars for PitBull Poker.

I'm gonna list the tourneys below in a simple format for this week. The Doyle's and Pitbull pokers need a minimum number to continue or we won't be able to continue offering those tournaments. That means we really need your participation! Please come out and show some Felt Fanatic spirit!

We have two tournaments this Tuesday...

What: Fanatical Tuesdays
When: 16:00 @ FTP
Format: NLHE
Buyin: 1.50
Password: fanatical


Here's Doyle's room adding $25.00 to a Feltfanatics buy in tournament


when:tuesday june 9th at 8pm
where:Doyles
buy in:2.20 with 25 added
password:ffwin
good luck all...don't have a Doyles account?just use the banner on this site plus if i,m not mistaken i,m running a contest for depositors



Heres Pitbull Poker adding 25.00 to a Feltfanatics game


Type of Event: $1 Buy In with $25 Added

Name of Event: Feltfanatics June #1
Date: june 13th

Start Time: 8pm est

Password: ffrules

Min Players: 10



I hope to see you all there :D That's all for this week! Be well and be good to each other.

BigJoeJones

FF News

Hello Everyone,

My name is BigJoeJones. I am a newly appointed monitor for FeltFanatics and I am also the representative for all clans here on FeltFanatics. I'm very excited to be here and I wanted to take a moment and introduce myself to everyone and talk to you a little about what lies ahead for myself at the site and what lies ahead for the site itself. So away we go!

I intend to be a very active moderator and I value your feedback as members of this community. A lot of the things that lie ahead depend on member participation to succeed. I'm asking for your participation, feedback and your ideas because without you, FeltFanatics is just a forum. We want to grow into a large community! Without you, growth is not possible.

I will be coming up with a schedule of real money buyin tournaments for FeltFanatics for the month of June. We will play three times a week and will play assorted formats and they will be on Full Tilt Poker for the time being. Once we can achieve a sustainable following for them, I will start implementing a rankings system and we will look into prize options (That is not a guarantee of any kind, just a promise by me that we will look into it :D). I will have that schedule out and completed by June 7th and will post it on this blog and elsewhere on the forum. Everyone should have no problem obtaining information about our tournaments. As for the freerolls, I will include them in the schedule when we decide to hold them.

I will be holding two tournaments weekly for my clan. The first one is TPR Weekly Joust and it is every Wednesday at 19:00 at Full Tilt Poker. Buyin is $1.50 and format is NLHE. Password is bashem. The second one is The Kings Table and is every Thursday at 22:00 at Full Tilt Poker. Buyin is $1.50 and the format is HA (Pot Limit Omaha AND Pot Limit Holdem). Password is bigfeast. All members of FeltFanatics are cordially invited and I encourage you to attend. I wish to get to know some of you and what better place to do that than the place we all love, the poker table.

We plan to have a blog category on the forum in the near future. You will be able to write just about anything on a daily basis. I hope this area of the forum grows exponentially as it encourages dialogue, the exchange of information and the ability to express yourself intelligently in an informal setting. It will also give us all a better chance to communicate and know each other better through the blogs themselves and our comments on them. Keep your eyes peeled for blogs in the future!

I would encourage of all you to spread the word about FeltFanatics. Invite people to join. Tell those you know online or in person about our forum. Our community is your community. We want to be filled with your friends, family, acquaintances and loved ones. Start a clan and then start recruiting members and invite them to the forum. Invite them to our tournaments and let them know what's going on here at FeltFanatics. A fire starts with one single spark. Everyone is important and everyone needs to be involved. This is your forum and I want it to be the greatest spot to play and exchange information on the net. I hope to see and hear from many of you soon.

Be safe and well this week.

BigJoeJones

Watching a Community Grow: An Introduction to Clans.

One could say that a community is a group of persons committed to a common goal or purpose. In my eyes, that is a pretty decent definition of what a community is to me. When I think of a community, I see people who want to be together, working together and growing together with a greater purpose in mind. Ideas and information are exchanged, each member has distinct responsibilities and functions to perform, accountability starts with the leadership and ends with each individual member. In short, a community is an idea that is personified through it's members and carried out through their actions.

We are starting a new community here at FeltFanatics. Our goal is to share information, grow as players and people, in membership, and make money individually and as a collective. We also come together as a community to play together and show our support of the site and the forum. It is that pride and sense of community and our need as human beings to come together in family sized groups that is the foundation for what is called a clan and what I believe will help grow our membership base for the future.

What is a clan? Simply put, a clan is a group of people who congregate within a community, as a community themselves. For instance, if you attend college and you are part a fraternity, a fraternity is similar to a clan. It functions within the collegiate community, yet has its own goals and structures. The backbone of most colleges are fraternities and they are a valuable asset to the communities they serve. They provide fellowship, entertainment, support and mentoring to their members. Many members enjoy fellowship and affiliation to their fraternities for their whole lives. The ranks of many successful communities are filled with these sub communities (clans). Look at the armed services, churches and civic groups and you will see respective clans in each organization. Clans are an essential part of how we socially function as human beings.

The reason why I am talking to you about this is that I am very happy to announce that clans are coming to FeltFanatics. The ownership has been very gracious and is going to embrace this concept and make it an integral part of this community. Clans will be another great benefit of membership here at FeltFanatics. Each clan will hold private tournaments, have their own sub forum, and offer their own sense of community and fellowship to their members. The clans as a whole will have their own collective sub forum as well. As the clans of FeltFanatics grow, we will compete against one another in seasonal competitions. Being in a clan will provide the community as a whole with rich options for tournament play, a valuable way to congregate with friends and enjoy their friendships.

Any member can join or form a clan. To join a clan all you have to do is notify the clan leader you wish to join and at that point you can discuss membership. You aren't guaranteed membership by asking, most clans have guidelines and policies they wish you to follow and if you can't abide by those guidelines, you probably won't be accepted for membership. That being said, most clans guidelines are common sense and most have some basic moral behaviors they wish you to follow, such as: treat others with respect, cheating is prohibited, don't beg for money etc etc. Most people have no problems abiding by those rules, so it isn't an issue. In addition, all clans strictly adhere to and abide by all the policies and terms of service of this forum.

If you are interested in forming your own clan you will need to contact me, BigJoeJones at FeltFanatics. I am the representative for all clans. You will need to tell me why you want to form a clan, what basic functions you will serve within the forum, your clan name and who will be your clan leaders. I will discuss with the ownership your desire to form a clan and within a few days you will know our decision. Again, we will use a common sense approach to forming clans and will always put priority on what is in the best interest of the forum.

I am proud to announce that The Poker Royals will be the inaugural clan here on FeltFanatics. I am the leader of the clan and would be happy to talk to any members of the forum about joining the clan. In the weeks to come more clans will form and your options will increase, so I encourage you to think it over before you make any decisions. The Poker Royals hold two weekly tourneys on FTP and talk exclusively on Yahoo messenger, my screen name is BigJoeJones there as well. I look forward to talking to many of you soon, those who wish to join the clan and those who wish to form their own, and am very excited for what the future holds.

Be Well,
BigJoeJones

Pathological Poker Player?

Pathological Poker

Is it fair to ask someone who plays primarily, or exclusively, poker whether he is a compulsive gambler?

Is poker even gambling? Does a person who plays day and night and wins, making a good living, have a gambling problem?

Of course, he might have a different problem. He might be a workaholic.

The tests that have been developed to uncover gambling problems are pretty good. The most famous is the Gamblers Anonymous 20 Questions. These ask about things like gambling interfering with work and home life, feeling guilty, being unable to quit, breaking the law to get money to gamble, and thinking of suicide. Most compulsive gamblers answer yes to at least seven.

But these tests are not specifically designed for poker players. For example, number 14, "Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned?" won’t work with home games. I have never heard of a social game where players did not go beyond the agreed upon end time, for "one last round."

Poker has gotten the attention of mental health professionals. But many of these do not play, or if they do, they may not appreciate how different poker can be. Someone who plays once a month in a social game is different from someone who plays every day as a professional. Games played in private homes are different from those played in hotel rooms, which are not the same as licensed card rooms.

And then there is the Internet. You can play for free, for micro-stakes of 1 and 2 cents, as well as for big money. A player who plays occasionally at one table online is not the same as one who plays four, or even eight, tables at a time, all the time.

To help poker players determine whether they might have a gambling problem, I have created my own test. I don't claim it is entirely scientific. But it is not made from scratch. I've looked at the literature and discussed this with professionals who treat compulsive gamblers.

I am interested to know what you think. Some of these questions may be way off. Let me know if any seem simply wrong, or don't tell us anything. Or if I left anything out.

I don't know how many you need to answer to be a compulsive gambler. My guess is that if you are answering yes a lot, you should call a gambling hot line, like 1-800-GAMBLER, to see if you have a problem.

Questions for Poker Players:

1. Do you play for stakes that you know are too high?

2. Do you sometimes feel you can't quit because you are behind?

3. Do you sometimes feel you can't quit because you are ahead?

4. When you lose, is it often because of bad beats rather than your own bad play?

5. Do you often get angry at other players at the table, for such things as slowing down the game?

6. Have you gone on tilt more than once?

7. When you are losing, do you increase your bets to try to get even?

8. Do you often stay in too many hands?

9. Do you drink a lot, sometimes going on binges?

10. Do you sometimes forget important social obligations, because you are playing?

11. Have you misled or lied to your family, friends or at work about how much poker you play?

12. Are you increasingly using the ATM?

13. Have you lied to get money to play poker?

14. Do you feel bad about things you have done because of poker?

15. Are you more interested in poker than sex?

Fighting the Good Fight

There has been a huge activity in the legal world of online gaming in the U.S.A. as of late.Barney Frank has introduced a new bill that is designed to freeze current UIGEA restrictions and give U.S. residents the right to play poker online.Barney Frank the current Massachussets representative is introducing a bill that will halt current UIGEA restrictions and give the Department of Treasury the licensing and regulating authority, and provides for the consumer, protections the gambling ban does not offer, including age and identification verification, responsible gaming systems, and measures against money laundering and cheating.Of course we knew all along as soon as the government could make a buck on it,we stood to see a change in the laws,and this bill also allows tax on winnings, players used to pocketing winnings on a regular basis without reporting them to Uncle Sam will now find their take a little lighter. Frank includes clauses that require the online gambling operator to set aside taxes against winnings before paying patrons.The bill will adress age verification issues and,and fair gaming practices along with measures against money laundering and cheating.Now as to the how n why outside countries should feel the need to be licensed and governed by an outside authority,remains to be seen...i imagine the the profits of allowing U.S. residents to gamble far outweighs the any hinderence to the casino,but will this further open a door where all countries will expect the same courtesy...this remains to be seen...to me it seems unfair that a land based casino in Monte Carlo{for instance}doesnt have to get any kind of licensing from the U.S. but if the same casino opens an online casino suddenly the U.S. expects to get revenue and have a say in licensing...whats next state and local licensing also?Though i agree we need strict regulations and fair practices in online gaming,i also feel the approach is narrow in its view of looking at it thru the eyes of only the U.S.,instead a consortium of countries needing to ban togather and form an alliance and create a world wide commission,that has a focus on gaming licensing and regulations on a global context.As for taxing...this i knew would soon poke its ugly head,but i,m wondering if they will do the right thing and allow us the right to also claim losses...if the governments wants part of the players winnings they should also take in to account the losses the player incrues in getting his wins,and since the amount could easily be tracked..i feel this should be a major concern,as its not like the untraceable amounts a player gets in placing his cash in a land based casino...on the contrary,this also shows through deposits exactly what the player wins and losses are. So the player should not be taxed on the winnings of say $1000.00 win,without being able to claim the losses he has incrued also....taxing winnings without being able to offset the overall investment made by the player is short sighted and out of date.....if your going to tax winnings then its only fair that a player be allowed to write off his losses,in my humble opinion.What do you think?

Blocking Bets

A blocking bet is used when you think you might have the best hand after the river card, but you are not entirely sure. A blocking is usually made against a single opponent, when you are out of position so that after the river card is turned over, you are first to act. Even though being out of position is normally a disadvantage, by putting in a blocking bet here, you are actually negating your opponent’s positional advantage.

One of the advantages of adding a blocking bet to your game is that you set the price of finding out if in fact, you do have the best hand. Let's say the pot is 1200, and you put out a blocking bet of 800, making the pot 2000 in total. A few things can happen.

Your opponent can call with a better hand, but had you not put out the blocking that your opponent likely would have a possibly a higher price than you wanted to pay, setting up for a difficult decision. In this way you avoided it.

Your opponent can call with a weaker hand or the same hand as you. Either way, once again you avoided making a tough decision based on what your opponent does first. This gets down to the basic fundamentals of poker in that power and advantage is an extension of aggression.

Your opponent can fold. This is a clear indicator that your suspicions were right all along and you did have the best hand, and your opponent was likely on a draw, or planning to take the pot away from you by bluffing on the river. You're blocking bet took that play away from him.

THE KENTUCKY DERBY

With the one hundred and thirty fifth Kentucky Derby this coming this Saturdays,race fans and sports betting fans everywhere will be tuned in on the action!So if were going to bet on this race lets look at key factors in making that decision.First and foremost should be how well these competitors have fared against each other in .

Since late December, the leading California-based 3-year-olds ran against each other on several occasions at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. Pioneerof the Nile won each of these encounters, and the horses he defeated have since shipped out of town and run well or won major Derby preps in Arkansas, Louisiana and New York, further boosting the credence and quality of those California races.

Papa Clem finished second to Friesan Fire in the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds, then went on to beat the early Kentucky Derby favorite, Old Fashioned, in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

I Want Revenge twice fought out close finishes with Pioneerof the Nile in California, then shipped to New York to demolish the 3-year-olds in Aqueduct's Gotham and Wood Memorial.

With so many collateral form lines to take into account, it seems a logical assumption that Friesan Fire and Pioneerof the Nile are the two best horses in this year's Kentucky Derby.

For wagering value, Friesan Fire (5-1) and Pioneerof the Nile (4-1) will go off at decent odds. It might be wise to bet both to win and place, although the latter is preferred to get the win.

The exacta has been forecast already, so for trifecta and superfecta players, key the above two with Papa Clem, I Want Revenge and Dunkirk.

Finley has been handicapping the Triple Crown races for more than 25 years

Computer analysis

Liam Durbin, owner and handicapper at E-ponies.com, has correctly picked the Derby winner the last three years in a row. Speed score is based on early speed and total speed. Class score evaluates the quality of competition the horse has faced and how he performed in those races. Form measures consistency. Last is a composite of the first three, but only considers the last 50 days. The computer picked Pioneerof the Nile to win by a slight margin over I Want Revenge. Last three categories show changes in jockeys, equipment and weight.

16	Pioneerof the Nile	Gomez	Baffert	4-1	34.6	40.7	20.0	3.0	0.0	4.6	103.0	N	N
13	I Want Revenge	Talamo	Mullins	3-1	39.1	26.1	18.9	4.3	0.0	6.2	94.4	N	N
7	Papa Clem	Bejarano	Stute	20-1	42.1	30.8	15.7	4.2	0.0	0.9	93.7	N	N
10	Regal Ransom	Garcia	Suroor	30-1	8.4	55.6	16.9	8.6	0.9	0.6	91.0	Y	N
2	Musket Man	Coa	Ryan	20-1	38.8	20.4	26.2	3.3	0.0	0.9	89.7	N	N
6	Friesan Fire	Saez	Jones	5-1	40.5	19.0	20.7	3.9	1.4	3.7	89.2	N	N
15	Dunkirk	Prado	Pletcher	4-1	36.3	16.2	24.5	2.9	2.4	4.6	87.0	Y	N
5	Hold Me Back	Desormeaux	Mott	15-1	33.5	24.9	20.3	3.7	2.5	1.2	86.2	N	N
9	Join In The Dance	DeCarlo	Pletcher	50-1	56.3	10.4	11.4	2.3	2.4	0.4	83.2	Y	N
1	West Side Bernie	Elliott	Breen	30-1	34.9	28.7	13.4	2.6	0.0	0.6	80.2	N	N
12	General Quarters	Leparoux	McCarthy	20-1	34.4	19.9	12.9	3.4	1.1	0.9	72.6	Y	N
8	Mine that Bird	Borel	Woolley	50-1	33.5	21.0	13.9	2.6	1.0	0.4	72.3	Y	N
11	Chocolate Candy	Smith	Hollendorfer	20-1	33.4	17.0	17.6	2.8	0.0	0.9	71.7	Y	N
19	Desert Party	Dominguez	Suroor	15-1	7.9	34.9	21.2	4.3	0.0	1.2	69.6	Y	N
4	Advice	Douglas	Pletcher	30-1	31.8	17.4	13.1	2.7	2.4	0.6	68.1	Y	N
17	Summer Bird	Rosier	Ice	50-1	31.8	17.5	14.0	2.5	0.0	0.4	66.2	N	N
14	Atomic Rain	Bravo	Breen	50-1	41.6	8.5	11.1	2.5	0.0	0.4	64.0	N	N
20	Flying Private	Albarado	Lukas	50-1	37.0	11.7	9.0	2.7	2.3	0.4	63.1	Y	N
3	Mr. Hot Stuff	Velazquez	Harty	30-1	30.8	8.9	11.8	2.4	1.8	0.6	56.3	Y	N
So in looking at these findings i,ll make my predictions. To win:PIONEER OF THE NILE Win,Place and Show:PIONEER OF THE NILE,FRIESAN FIRE,I WANT REVENGE. My longshot pick is:CHOCHOLATE CANDY at 20-1 What will i be doing to celebrate this weekend?On Sunday i,ll be joing the rest of the FELTFANATICS in a $5,000.00 private freeroll at SPORTSBOOK POKER,this is a great way for any player to increase their bankroll!Hope to see you there FANATICS,and good luck on the felts.To enter the $5000.00 freeroll just follow this link and create an account.

No country for poker players

A few nights ago, I was rail birding it,
(which means to sit and or stand and
a watch players play poker). It was
really interesting, mainly because the
players in the game were playing
pretty high stakes. It was a $5/$10 blind
table(pot limit). The hands were furious.
$300 or more average pot every hand.
To a novice like myself, I wasn't
intimated as much as I was becoming
frustrated. How could money be
thrown around in such away with out
much care. I say this because the
$10,000.00 that was on the table roughly
could have translated into a small
business to the average guy. I.E. me.
LOL. I know despicable right? Any way
I observed and I chatted at the table.
In a way I was much like these players.
I've risked probably just much as
they were risking and jabbing at them
telling them they were reckless. Hey,
I have been migrating from micro tables
to free rolls, and was now witnessing
complete and utter disasters. Any
normal individual would have thought
the same and maybe held there thoughts in.
I'm sure in some strange way I made some
points that were use full to those folks.
I couldn't have been a complete annoyance.
They could have ignored. They didn't. They
countered back and deservingly so. In a world
were money equals power, they were pretty
understanding and not snotty. I appreciated
that and it was a lesson learned. In the poker
world lessons, hit everyone and it becomes
a building block in your thought process. So
as time elapsed so did players. They disappeared
off the tables, some held strong. It was way into the
night 5:30 am or so. I ditched and went to bed.
Life changing amounts of money on a hand of poker,
seamlessly being dealt as I was dreaming of my big chance
of winning a tournament enough to be them one day.
Moral of the story. Take what you can get. Be who you
are. Respect is shared. Lessons are binding.

The dark side of "War"

I am talking about the card game kids. Not your mommy and daddy fighting in the kitchen about who cooks Christmas dinner and why the grandparents are coming so early.

You want to be a professional poker player or gambling player? To succeed is simple, as far as the gambling aspect, you must be a idiot and at times very compulsive, which usually only works 1 times out of 50. Like for instance if you would have bet on the Tampa Bay rays to make the world series, some Handicappers had the line set 100,000 to 1, so if you would have been extremely stupid and put 100 dollars, on them to win the AL, and just MAKE. the world series. You would now be living on a small island that you owned.

Okay, so here is my story, I consider myself to be as good as anyone at poker, however with a lot of room for improvement, I just mean I have sound fundamentals of the game and usually great timing on when and how to use them . I was playing sit and gos for like 8 hours. I ended up losing like 10 in a row, to weak players. I was just out of it, time to quit, I lost a lot.

So I go to Doyle's room Casino, which is a option always looming in the poker back ground. I look at the table games, and see "War". I started laughing because I played that in 3rd grade. Now just in case, you are well just a idiot, let me explain to you how it works. you get one card face up, they get one card face up. your card has to be bigger than their card(if it is: you win, if it's not: you lose). Okay. If the card ties, you lay 3 cards down on the table, and turn one up. Again your card must be better than their card, and you get all the money plus double the bet, if you tie a second time you win, table rules there.

Seems like a 50/50 game right? the house has a slight advantage of 6% or so, with ties.

Anyway I was lucky with my betting patterns, and ended up making 1100 dollars (going back on a hot steak at first won half that) in one hour. Not bad for a hour's worth of work, and it even surpasses any amount I have made as a poker professional in an hour.

So sometimes being stupid and throwing yourself out there, really pays off. However this was a pretty compulsive stupid thing to do. Now I realize my odds of going broke where very slim, I'd have to bet like a idiot. I do bet on sports from time to time, however, I usually do not play things out of the realm of skill.
Poker 90%, sports betting 10% that's it. Sure you only need to be lucky once if you gamble, but there is just no money involved in luck, because you cannot control it.

Now for those of you that think poker is a game of luck, you are massively retarded which is why, you will work 8 to 5 until death. For those of you that think Betting on sports is luck, you are just somewhat retarded, I'm not talking about mentally slow people, who cannot help it, that I love and respect so much. I mean you aren't legally retarded, as in you are a idiot.

The reason poker isn't luck? that can be proved with math, the reason sports betting isn't luck? it's no more luck than the stock market. If you were to bet 100 times on a team that would win 70 times out of 100 against another team, you would win in the long run, if you bet the same and also if you go against the betting public when they bet on a team over 79%, because the betting public loses in the long run to the house 55% of the time you would in in the long run, you see?. Also there is professional poker players, and sports betters, consider that as well.

So yeah, play games like war for fun, slot machines, why not. Sure I have 1100 dollars, and yes it was fun to win. However as a poker professional that was a move in the long run, that I would lose money on, I got very lucky and should be broke. You just can't be like that and expect to have success. Poker a game of skill gets you in enough trouble as in is.

So while it is okay to roll the dice once in awhile, with a marginal amount of money, win big, lose small. Without mental discipline and investing in games of skill, you go from cool poker professional to broke gambling addict pretty quick.
I mean everyone who plays poker seriously is addicted to it, usually for the mental warfare, almost like video games you get paid for but out of passion, not out of winning big that is just a plus.

So in closing don't do what I did at home, if you play emotionally out of anger, frustration ect. That leads to chasing loses, which leads to not being able to set limits, which leads to being a gambling addict.

Just say no, to compulsion and yes to skill.

Even though, I won and most people would be happy, if I ever ever let myself go off on another uncontrolled tilted gambling adventure again, I intend to quit poker for a year, as well as any other form of gambling cause I have a serious problem.

I think that may be why they have the casino link in the poker room. Smart business move to get poker players who go off on tilt, you know a spider catching a fly. Now you can't blame the good people at Doyle's room... you have to blame the flies for being stupid enough to get caught in the web. I won this time, next time......probably won't be so lucky.

Just be smart, like I Wasn't.

Do you think Online Poker is rigged?

Lets take a trip in my time machine, back to a few months ago. 60 minutes runs a special on ONE online poker site "Absolute Poker" and yes it is one of the online sites where I play, well mainly play, trust them 100% and Ubet.
Suddenly at my former security job, people were coming up to me acting like online poker experts...."You said you play online poker right? You going to quit playing now and finally get smart?".

Now normally my response to this would be to call them a idiot and walk off but I decided to try to hold out a intelligent Olive branch and try to have some Peace.
So I told them "Look.... yes there was a online user on Absolute poker who had a super account linked to the company, yes they/he/she stole millions of dollars and could see other players hole cards, yes Russ Hamilton a poker pro was behind it and his fat ass is in Vegas and was never brought to justice."

I usually like to start of agreeing with people, so they get a sense that I completely understand where they are coming from, then I will go ahead and prove my point.

"Did you not catch the part where everyone, who was stolen from got their money back with interest? Yes there were a lot of questions about how they could have handled this whole situation better at first, even denied it was possible at the start. However when the evidence was brought to light, it was handled very impressively, the player's money was given back with interest and Hamilton is now a outcast from poker, and black listed. Which is probably even worse than Jail time."

Usually when you say something that makes sense, people take a long time to search for something to say, really I think they were just trying to throw rocks at my glass house. People tend to label things and believe the first thing they hear when it comes to something they are not a part of. We will use tattoos for a example, when I did not have them and wasn't shaving my head, I got tons of job offers before the poker years, when I was in a band. Why because I blended in I was normal on the surface it was almost like mainstream society came up gave me a huge hug and said welcome to the family.
When I slowly morphed into the person I am today, the gap between them and myself in general became wider and wider.

Then I was accepted by a smaller group of people who were real. People at a few of my jobs, were asking me if I did or sold drugs, there was even a time when I was brought up as a suspect of destroying company machines. (which is all untrue of course no criminal record).

All of this came the more I became my real self, instead of trying to blend in. See none of the people who were putting these labels on me, had any tattoos, were into the music the band played, they had much different goals. Yet they were experts on how people with tattoos do drugs, guys with saved heads and tats have all done prison time,musicians are people who sleep around and cheat. You get the point I hope.

Online poker is the same deal, one bad example and suddenly everyone who doesn't play poker, or isn't a good poker is united that it is rigged. Or everyone who plays is a gambling addict (addicted to poker for sure).
You can search online, just search "(enter the poker site here) is rigged" you will find countless people complaining about how,THEY ARE ALL rigged, they lost to a bigger full house,lost with a straight flush to a royal flush, some stories are so utterly fantastic it is like listening to your drunk friend at the bar impressing a chick about his many years as a dolphin therapist.

All this can do is fuel the US congress ignorance even further, the only reason they are against this in the first place is they can't figure out a way to make decent money of it. Full tilt poker alone makes 40 billion dollars a year, combine the top sites together, it would most likely surpass 100 billion dollars.
Right now they have banished online poker players to the far ends of cyberspace with some states having harsh penalties that rival drug crimes....idiotic and all from playing a game.
For the cry babies who post all over the net about these sites are rigged, you need to realize you are either on a long bad run that happens, or you just plain suck.

In Vegas players get drunk and blame a dealer for the bad run of cards, I have heard these players call dealers assholes and cunts. Makes me sick, they should be knocked out. Online the "sites are rigged". I will give you a example of how a bad player thinks online poker is rigged, I will probably lose you non poker people out there because you probably barely know what hands beat what. So I will try to make this simple.

A player who has won a few cash games, against friends gets online and thinks he can really play poker, that he is really really good (all poker players think they are better than they really are, even the great ones).
From first position (meaning first person to act) they have K J of clubs this player raises it up, one person in late position calls. The flop comes 10 Q A the bad, house game player thinks "Oh yeah baby hit a straight" So he bets the person in late position calls, the turn card is a 10. So the person with K J is betting big time, the person in late position goes all in K J calls, person in late position has AA giving him a full house Aces full of 10's the river is a dud because K J is drawing dead. He complains how online poker is rigged blah blah blah how it is a set up hand.

Lets break this down, K J, played a average hand in horrible position, he simply should have folded the hand, so what do we have him doing wrong already? Him over valuing cards. He hits the flop gets very lucky suck out against AA, he keeps betting not even taking into consideration what the other player likely has. Turn card is a 10, the best hand before the flop AA won. Again the player who played a average hand in early position not thinking about what the other player has bets out and the player with the full house makes the money off the weaker player. That is how poker works over time, if the donkey would have laid down the average hand like he was suppose to, never would have occurred but then again Pros and better players do not want him too.

Just a example really, or guys who lose with AA, who go all in pre flop which just how it works sometimes. AA doesn't mean it can't be beat, it just means you will probably win between 75% to 90% of the time depending on the hand match up of course.

So in closing anything over time, is going to have some bad things happen, no matter if it is your job or online poker and someone who isn't good at something or is unlucky is going to try and blame anything rather than accepting they are either unlucky or dare to accept the fact...they aren't as good as they think they are.
While there are some smaller sites out there, like any business that simply cannot be trusted and will screw you over, like any business good and bad ones.

The large and medium big name online poker sites are not rigged or set up, if you think so you are only 1 of 3 kinds of people. 1. you believe whatever you see on T.V or read. You are a dumb ass who doesn't play poker or you are just conservative and or your mommy and daddy had a gambling addiction. 2. You are a complete idiot who doesn't realize you are just being unlucky so you should quit poker and take the time to be a chess professional where no luck is involved 3. You are a bad poker player, a donkey, a fish. You need to believe your poker game is great because your life sucks, and you are in a dead end job. You need to quit and do what you can to better your life or tell me online where you play so I can take your money. Don't worry I'll spend it wisely : )

Oh and I wanted to set the record straight about Absolute poker, because I have read if you are in America it is really hard to get customer service here, and never by phone. You are all full of shit.
My first deposit which was only 100 dollars to test out, was mainly to check out the site, play some poker, black jack to pass the time, then invest thousands in my account. I am happy with the results and here is why.
My first deposit Absolute poker called me about 5 seconds later and I talked to Tom, he wanted to make sure all my information was correct, my credit card and everything was legit, he was like a long lost buddy on the phone and wished me a lot of luck. I know for a fact that Poker Stars and Full Tilt do not do this, and if they did sure would not do it for someone who deposited 100 dollars.

I know cause the last year I have put thousands of dollars on full tilt and poker stars.
You might be thinking Hey big deal, so what? Just a used car salesmen line.
I won a Pot limit Omaha tournament my second night on there, finished first out of 31.
I get a email from Absolute Poker saying I need to contact their security department by phone (toll free number). They wanted to make sure I was legit, went over the details of my account one more time, and it was great to see a company that would go in detail like that. So that is two personal phone calls in a matter of days.
I can promise you full tilt and poker stars does not do that.

There were two players, being overly rude on full tilt, and working together on a cash game Omaha table. I sent a email to support, pasted the logs, told them I thought it might be a team game. Another player did as well I was not alone.
Well 4 weeks later I still haven't heard anything back I know they got my email as well, amazingly the cashier department was right there to make sure my money got in and out okay, through email no hands on voice customer service.
I'm not saying Full Tilt is a bad place to play, In fact I think if you are a high roller that is the only place to play online mainly based on the Omaha 2000/4000 blinds. Honestly I get the feeling they are almost too busy to get back to medium and low level players.

So yeah Absolute is a great place to play, the people are great, the players are much nicer and respectful on there, then on the bigger two. They have cleaned the pest who was the insider and now they provide one of the best experiences online, along with Ubet. When it comes to online Poker. Be sure to click on our links and sign up for these great sites today.
People who post to complain on the net are just losing players(I would say 9 out of 10 times).

Thanks for reading kids.

A random poker insight

Online poker schools, damn them to hell.....

Full Tilt poker, got this idea to open up a free online poker school, all you have to do is have a account and sign up for free.
Cool, they don't care because they get rake anyway. If you are new to online poker, or have alot of leaks, I will be the first to tell you...this school will make you a better player. There is the problem right there, us lower level internet pros get screwed.

3 months ago, the games on full tilt were really lose, at the lower limits, very very easy to beat. Sit and gos, heck no problem. Once in awhile you would find yourself heads up for first place against another decent player, it made it fun.

Then about a month ago, I started to see, the games start to tighten up....slowly but surely, I found myself grinding it more, burning myself out. Waiting 4 hours of stealing pots, to hit a decent hand to make my money and leave.

I thought probably just at the lower levels, let me go to micros. Even though those games are easy to beat, the micro fish on full tilt started to tighten up as well.

I am talking penny games, 9/9 people, with a flop rate of 21% a hour. I mean it was very sick, then the light came on, if the micro fish are getting better, damn they all are. Just makes my job harder and the hours longer. Not hard as in, I can't beat them, more like hard as in, I really don't want to spend 12 hours at low stakes making money and that is if there isn't any suck outs. Rocks and calling stations folks.

Thank the poker schools, poker stars is now doing the same thing. Back in the good old days people would watch poker on tv, watch D nag making some rousing speech how, poker is like hockey, if you practice you can win at poker stars. All these chumps came online, there was this nice influx of horrible, to semi horrible players. (I like playing the semi horrible players much better, they are just stupid enough not to annoy me).

Not as many fish now, they all at least know something about poker. Thanks to online poker school....that's right. Another reason for the sudden tightness and the rock like players? We have lost that new influx of poker players, because of all the UIGA, that 60 minute special, also the economy slightly.

There is money to be made on those big sites do not get me wrong, it is just a little bit harder and time consuming now.

Euro players lower level, tend to be better omaha players than americans, worst vs worst players, but holdem, the oposite is true. Now I am not saying all Euros can't play holdem, I AM SAYING, a horrible player over there, is worse than a horrible player over here, 70% of the time at holdem. Make sense?

To find that easy easy easy money, you will have to drift away from the bigger poker sides, play the medium ones that don't have poker schools. You'd be suprised at the lower levels how easier it is to be on Absolute Poker, and UB. Especially after playing on tilt and stars at that level, you will smile see the holes and tell yourself "Now there is the fish I remember."

The lower you go the more fish,Carbon poker family sites and the cake networks, Doyle's room, Sportsbook poker, US bet, Players Only. All have very very weak players. I mean the 0.5/0.10 players on full tilt are better than some of the 1/2 players on those networks on average. Easy easy money. Also you will have to become a vampire, it is a euro donk fest in these smaller sites at these levels. Holdem is just the second game over there, Omaha is the number one game. I was in london last year, trust me I know. They give away their money, as do the late night horrible america players. (Again not saying euros can't play, saying the fish over there are easier to catch) also keep in mind with the cake networks, Another great advantage is their fair game policy, which means they do not allow any third party software while playing. Great advantage right there for you, why? They are flying blind!

Why grind it on the bigger sites, where everyone at least knows something, when you make easy money on the other ones. In tourneys I want to play against the worlds best! In cash games, my favorite game is whatever I am better at than the others at the table. So untill america decided what they want to do with internet poker, and the poker sites you see alot of tv, keep teaching these fish a thing or two. It might be best to pull some vampire poker sessions, and look for easier money, unless you like a good grind for money that is sometimes not worth it.

You want play cash level poker talent. Raider poker, and Gohard poker, have to be the worst cash game players I have ever seen. If you are a average player, or even below average player, you will play the role of phil ivey over there. The tournaments usually have under 100 people on the vampire shifts and are easy to beat. the traffic is around 300 to 150 people at night here in the states. Even during the day you may see 1,000 people on these sites. the buy in tournaments 10 dollars and over, sometimes get under 50 people in them, for 4,000 dollar tournaments. I seen a 10,000 dollar tourney played the other night 50 dollar buy in. That had 36 people in it. Players at any level have to realize, this is a goldmine. If you spend any amount of decent time on tilt or poker stars. You can beat these games.

So in closing, go the the mid, lower mid, and lower, traffic sites, the players aren't as educated on average, aren't as good, and better yet, you will make more money per hour in cash games, beat sit and gos more than seem normal, and have a good chance to pull in a decent cash.
Get a decent bank roll cash out, go back to the bigger sites, and grind it out on levels, that are worth your time.

Be sure, if you don't have a account, to use our links to sign up for these sites. I promise you there is dead money on these sites, and if you don't think so, you need to work on your game and go back. The dead money isn't leaving them.


El Donko

Welcome to Feltfanatics

Why did we build this site? Simple the love of poker and wanting to embrace those who share the same passion.Everything on the site wasn't paid for be a poker room, a dying family member, or a poker magazine. Management put this together out of thier own pockets, because they wanted to create a fun, unique online poker community.If you think "oh rich guys have to have a hobby" you are competely wrong. Just regular people who work hard, who put this idea together to create the most rich, friendly, informative poker forum online. I am not going to mention names of any other forums, but many times(Not all) there are really only two options out there. For you new players out there. If you are new to the game and a forum here is option A.) get a few anwsers and every other post, have some guy who has posted over 1,000 times call you a idiot newbie donk and leave. the last option: you are someone who knows the in and outs of the game, yet have a question, about a hand, poker problem, poker room ect, Option B.) Get a few more anwsers, followed by people who post way to much and say how horrible you played a hand, or how you are a donk. The good news? Hey! you posted a hand history so you might not be labeled as a newbie.You won't find that in this forum, what you are going to find here is a very intelligent honest people, great freerolls, interesting chat, and sharing advanced poker tips for free. The reward? making you a better player, plain and simple.