At the Orleans are flyers for a “Reno Hiltons 1st annual World Poker Challenging January. Is this the Carnival of Poker moved to the Reno Hilton, or have they dropped the Carnival of Poker and the Reno Hilton was the first to move in on those dates (I think this time period used to be the Four Queens before the Carnival)?

Answer 1:

It’s the latter, Harrah’s canceled and Hilton jumped in to try to grab those dates. Hilton always has good room rates, probably $25 or less including weekends (especially in the Winter), but at $300+ for the events it will be interesting to see how many travel to it, I don’t think there will be many Reno tourney players in that league.

Answer 2:

Since the “Carnival Of Poker” had not found a home, the Reno Hilton Card Room Manager, Mike Gainey grabbed the dates and arranged to host the “1st Annual World Poker Challenge”. An exciting tournament is being planned with $25 room rates for the players.

Answer 3:

Think you are wrong!!!!! In fact I know it! The combination of Mike Gainey, Dave Lamb,Scoff, Barbara and Rudy Lotieff(I hope Rudy is feeling better)Rick Takemoto, Amy(don’t know her last name) on the board, middle limit buy ins, cheap room rates, and reasonable vig is a guarantee of success! What I don’t know about is the smoking? Does anybody know if this is a non smoking event??? How about finding out for us Barbie? At any rate, even if they allow smoking, I am going, and I know a few others from SoCal who are also going, and I doubt whether Kennie, Tex and the bunch from the Northwest would miss it. I expect that this tournament will be a record breaker for Reno!

How much can you earn per hour in average in a 15-30 dollar game.

Answer 1:

The received wisdom is 1.5 big bets an hour ($45) if you are an EXCEPTIONAL player. A more realistic expectation might be $15-$30 per hour. As always in poker, it depends – factors such as the skill of the opposition, your own skill, and the rake/time charge will all influence hourly expectation.

Answer 2:

The quality of your opposition will greatly affect how much you win. For example, I used to earn just less than 1 BB/hr playing 9-18 holdem. My card room then stopped spreading that game and started spreading an 8-16 instead. This game attracted a lot more of the poorer 4-8 players and as a consequence my hourly rate has shot up to nearly 2.5 BB/hour (I have played more than 300 hours so far at 8-16).

Answer 3:

As the best player $40-50 2nd best $25-30 3rd best $10-15

This hand took place about 6 or 7 years ago when I was playing in a low limit stud game and I haven’t forgotten about it as it isn’t too likely to ever happen again in my playing days. The pot was multiway action with 6 players (as one would expect in a 2-4 limit stud game at the commerce casino). The player in seat three started the hand with a deuce showing and he was calling all these raises and reraises and I couldn’t understand why. He had rolled up deuces as it turned out. That in and of itself is not amazing. What is amazing is what happened after that. On Fourth Street he caught a queen. On Fifth Street he caught a queen. On Sixth Street he caught another queen and by now you can probably figure out that on Seventh Street he caught the fourth queen. Has anyone ever seen this happen before?? He made quad queens after starting with rolled up deuces. At the time I didn’t think much of it but since I have seen that hand I have never seen anything like it. That’s all for now. And yes if you have any poker brains at all you will be as amazed now as I was then that someone would call his bet with three queens showing. I don’t remember what the other guy had but needless to say he was in second place.

Answer 1:

Recently in a recreational game I ended up with quad Jacks, all up in a seven card stud game. I was happy, to say the least, and the opposition had to concede.

Answer 2:

In a stud game in Reno, on 6th street one player had quad 4′s showing, I paired my door card 6. He bet, I raised with my pocket sixes. One hand I always remember.

Answer 3:

I’ve seen hands like these go six cards, but it’s rare for the hand to even get to Seventh Street because everybody usually folds to open trips. However, some years ago I had open trip aces on 5th street and had two callers. Then I caught the case ace on Sixth Street, for four aces up, and the same two people called! It was a bad-beat jackpot game and they both had straight flush draws. Neither caught their card, unfortunately.

Mason Malmuth apparently believes that there exists no range of games for which it is correct to always raise when opening the pot (first one in) in early position in hold’em. He seems to say that he has never seen any successful player in a mode of raise-or-fold when the pot has not yet been opened early. What do you think?

Answer 1:

I would think that a player could be successful with a “pump or dump” strategy, but it would be more profitable to expand that strategy. Surely there are some hands to be played from early position that want to see the flop cheaply. Since we’re discussing MM’s approach, I remember reading him saying that he’ll sometimes limp in with a small pair in early position in the hope of luring in more limpers. Of course the benefit of always raising when opening from early position is that you don’t give any information away. I guess the question is do you gain enough from this to overcome not being able to play certain hands.

Answer 2:

“There is no one that I know of who is successful and raises every time they are first in.” I believe Mason intended to say “most every” time as I doubt anyone would claim “every” time. In early position, say the first three, I would say at least 75%-85% when I am first to open, it is with a raise. This too is what I observe of successful middle limit players. Towards the middle and especially the back, open raise 90%+. Frankly, at the cut-off position and button, it will “nearly” always be an open raise. I would rather flip the cards in the middle than limp for reasons stated earlier. Your points related to more of a spread limit game, 50-100, and bring it in for say 10. That is a different game calling for different strategy.

Answer 3:

Players who do indeed raise every time they are first in. Just because you guys don’t do it doesn’t mean nobody at all does it. In my limited experience with hold’em, these are not technically sound players. They are, instead, the type of poker player who relies on aggression, instinct, bluffing, and people-reading skills. Using these tactics they can often beat a soft game, especially at lower limits, but they don’t have the right stuff to play in the major leagues. You certainly run into these types in stud. They raise immediately after the bring-in with any playable hand, no matter how many over cards are still behind them to act. I do not pretend to understand their rationale, but of course they always have one, as do all poker players.

How much can you earn per hour in average in a 15-30 dollar game.

Answer 1:

The received wisdom is 1.5 big bets an hour ($45) if you are an EXCEPTIONAL player. A more realistic expectation might be $15-$30 per hour. As always in poker, it depends – factors such as the skill of the opposition, your own skill, and the rake/time charge will all influence hourly expectation.

The quality of your opposition will greatly affect how much you win. For example, I used to earn just less than 1 BB/hr playing 9-18 holdem.  My card room then stopped spreading that game and started spreading an 8-16 instead.  This game attracted a lot more of the poorer 4-8 players and as a consequence my hourly rate has shot up to nearly 2.5 BB/hour (I have played more than 300 hours so far at 8-16).

Answer 3:

As the best player $40-50    2nd best $25-30     3rd best $10-15

This hand took place about 6 or 7 years ago when I was playing in a low limit stud game and I haven’t forgotten about it as it isn’t too likely to ever happen again in my playing days.  The pot was multiway action with 6 players (as one would expect in a 2-4 limit stud game at the commerce casino).  The player in seat three started the hand with a deuce showing and he was calling all these raises and reraises and I couldn’t understand why.  He had rolled up deuces as it turned out.  That in and of itself is not amazing.  What is amazing is what happened after that.  On Fourth Street he caught a queen.  On Fifth Street he caught a queen.  On Sixth Street he caught another queen and by now you can probably figure out that on Seventh Street he caught the fourth queen.  Has anyone ever seen this happen before??  He made quad queens after starting with rolled up deuces.  At the time I didn’t think much of it but since I have seen that hand I have never seen anything like it.  That’s all for now. And yes if you have any poker brains at all you will be as amazed now as I was then that someone would call his bet with three queens showing.  I don’t remember what the other guy had but needless to say he was in second place.

Answer 1:

Recently in a recreational game I ended up with quad Jacks, all up in a seven card stud game.  I was happy, to say the least, and the opposition had to concede.

Answer 2:

In a stud game in Reno, on 6th street one player had quad 4′s showing, I paired my door card 6.  He bet, I raised with my pocket sixes. One hand I always remember.

Answer 3:

I’ve seen hands like these go six cards, but it’s rare for the hand to even get to Seventh Street because everybody usually folds to open trips. However, some years ago I had open trip aces on 5th street and had two callers. Then I caught the case ace on Sixth Street, for four aces up, and the same two people called! It was a bad-beat jackpot game and they both had straight flush draws. Neither caught their card, unfortunately.

Mason Malmuth apparently believes that there exists no range of games for which it is correct to always raise when opening the pot (first one in) in early position in hold’em.  He seems to say that he has never seen any successful player in a mode of raise-or-fold when the pot has not yet been opened early.  What do you think?

Answer 1:

I would think that a player could be successful with a “pump or dump” strategy, but it would be more profitable to expand that strategy. Surely there are some hands to be played from early position that want to see the flop cheaply. Since we’re discussing MM’s approach, I remember reading him saying that he’ll sometimes limp in with a small pair in early position in the hope of luring in more limpers. Of course the benefit of always raising when opening from early position is that you don’t give any information away. I guess the question is do you gain enough from this to overcome not being able to play certain hands.

Answer 2:

“There is no one that I know of who is successful and raises every time they are first in.” I believe Mason intended to say “most every” time as I doubt anyone would claim “every” time. In early position, say the first three, I would say at least 75%-85% when I am first to open, it is with a raise. This too is what I observe of successful middle limit players. Towards the middle and especially the back, open raise 90%+. Frankly, at the cut-off position and button, it will “nearly” always be an open raise. I would rather flip the cards in the middle than limp for reasons stated earlier. Your points related to more of a spread limit game, 50-100, and bring it in for say 10. That is a different game calling for different strategy.

Answer 3:

Players who do indeed raise every time they are first in. Just because you guys don’t do it doesn’t mean nobody at all does it. In my limited experience with hold’em, these are not technically sound players. They are, instead, the type of poker player who relies on aggression, instinct, bluffing, and people-reading skills. Using these tactics they can often beat a soft game, especially at lower limits, but they don’t have the right stuff to play in the major leagues. You certainly run into these types in stud. They raise immediately after the bring-in with any playable hand, no matter how many over cards are still behind them to act. I do not pretend to understand their rationale, but of course they always have one, as do all poker players.