I plan to take a trip to Vienna in the near future.  I would be interested in playing in a tournament or two (I prefer no limit HE events) while I am there. Can anyone provide me with information on where to play, types of tournaments available, etc.? I would also be interested in information on ring games that are available.

Answer 1:

The ‘official’ casino operation company (where you will also find BJ, roulette, craps and slots):

Answer 2:

In Vienna there are two main poker clubs – The Concord and Poker World.  They both are open 24 hours, have lots of cash game tables, and run regular tournaments with buy-ins ranging from ATS100($8) to ATS500 ($40).  The $40 tournaments usually have a prize pool guarantee of ATS100, 000 ($8,000) and are run on Tuesdays & Saturdays at 7:00 pm at the Concord and Fridays at 8:00 pm at Poker world. The concord is known for regularly having ATS100-200 Stud and HE tables running, while Poker world has lower limits usually 20-40, 30-60 and 50- 100.  Both offer Pot Limit Omaha, typically with 2 blinds of ATS 50 and a buy-in of ATS 2000.  The Omaha games come and go, depending on the mood of the players at the time.  Best times are tournament nights as well as Monday nights, don’t ask me why. There are also government-run casinos in Vienna, Velden, Baden, Seefeld, Bregenz, Innsbruck, and maybe other places as well, but these have limited hours, limited number of tables, the rakes are high, the toke expectation is ridiculous and the personnel treat you like you are there to serve them and not the other way around.  I personally avoid these like the plague. I think another poster gave the websites of the above casinos.

I’m looking for a furniture-style poker table for a game room in my new home. It’s going to have a bar, kitchen area, suspended TV’s and a pool table –not for family entertainment, just poker. I want a sturdy round heavy table at least 6 feet in diameter and preferably round (sometimes we fit in 9 or 10). I might consider oval but the casino-style tables I’ve seen have the dealers “box” built in chip rack which I don’t need and I would prefer a wooden furniture antique type of table.

Answer 1:

Since you want an “antique” look, why don’t you find an antique table with a heavy pedestal base. If you can find one with a damaged top it should be less expensive. Remove the top and bolt on a piece of heavy plywood in the diameter you prefer. Cover the plywood with padding designed for poker tables, then stretch card table felt across the top, securing it with a staple gun on the bottom edge of the table. Next, have a woodcrafter make a “ring” for you, about 5″ wide, which will be approx. 3″ wider than the able. For example, if your table top is 60″diameter, the ring will be 66″ diameter, thus overlapping 3″ all the way around. On the underside of the ring you need to secure a smaller ring, perhaps 1″wide and 2″ high, which will fit snugly around the table top to hold the ring in place. Pad the 5″ ring with heavy foam, and then cover with naugahyde, etc. Set the ring on top and you are ready to go. You want the ring to be removable so you can change the felt and pad as needed. There are variations to this, but if talk to a furniture maker about the ring and explain the idea. I’m sure he can help. Maybe make the ring out of solid wood that matches the table base. Just make sure the base is VERY heavy and stable. These tables get pretty top heavy. Especially when people lean on the edge while playing.

Answer 2:

Billiard supply stores are the best place, but you can build one for 1/5 the price and it will look better.

Answer 3:

The home game I play in is hosted by an accomplished carpenter. He has built two pretty cool tables- one with five sides, and one with 7. These are extremely well done regular pentagonal and heptagonal- topped tables. One thing I don’t like about the tables is he built in “chip troughs.” So player stakes are out of view- I’m used to knowing what everyone has.

I would like to kindly ask a few questions about the legalities of online poker.

1. Is it legal for an American software company to license poker software to online poker casinos and accept ongoing royalties (either a fixed amount, or as a percentage of the gross) as part of their license fees?
2. Is a U.S. citizen in violation of U.S. laws by having his/her name on an off shore credit processor account?
3. Is it legal for a U.S. citizen to advertise/market for an off shore poker casino? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1:

There is precious little rules (either existing or proposed) that deal with on-line casinos, so you have to draw from the existing gambling statues. I don’t think there is anything at the Federal level (nor most states) that prohibits developing gambling equipment. The answer to the second question is that, with the exception of a few blacklisted countries, there’s nothing that prohibits it. The answer to the third question is that, Not right now. But if the current Internet Gambling bill passes as written, it will pretty much make such agents of “Gambling Businesses” illegal.

Answer 2:

My concern isn’t with the questions above (which IMHO would never be universally answered in a court of law) but with the larger question of how the recent Internet Gambling Bill will impact on-line poker. Basically the law seeks to stop on-line casinos and sports books by requiring US ISPs to block access. My question is whether or not this applies to poker rooms such as Paradise Poker? Also, keep in mind this may impact practically all US Internet users. It isn’t just AOL, MindSpring, etc that will block access but ALL ISPs including UUnet, PSInet, etc that provide internet access for corporations and educational institutions. If the bill passes and isn’t immediately challenged in court you may want to consider checking with your ISP about their plans to block access to such sites.

Answer 3:

People keep saying this, but the bills as currently written don’t say that. The only requirement on ISP’s is for their direct subscribers who happen to be ‘gambling businesses.’

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!

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.