In early decade of 20s and before that, 7-card stud game was the officially acclaimed popular poker game across the world. Soon, after with boom of Texas Holdem took the crown from the 7-card stud and became quite popular for both land-based and online poker rooms by the late 2000s. This game has gained popularity at such an enormous rate that today players consider it as a sport professionally.
The reason behind its brewing popularity is its ease to learn gameplay and faster turnaround time to play one hand. Texas Holdem Poker happened on one of the casino streets of Las Vegas in the late 60s. Player, bill Boyd took the responsibility of training the fellow players and since then, the Texas Holdem started spreading gradually. Soon after the Poker Boom where cable TV started streaming the poker game live transformed the poker game industry completely and now, Texas Holdem is the highly preferred poker game and its popularity is the mark for poker game development company.

Why Texas Holdem Gaining Popularity Than Other Poker Variations?

Though Texas Holdem doesn’t have any other variant in competition but Omaha Poker comes next in terms of popularity where players receive four hole cards, instead of two. The demography plays a critical role here as Americans prefer Texas there Europeans took like to Omaha. Yet, we have seen full tables for Texas Holdem in online and land-based casinos which gets often amiss in Omaha. This clearly says neither Texas Holdem poker game development nor Texas Holdem game will lose its popularity anytime soon. The reasons are as

1. Easiest poker games to learn, grasp and play.

Texas Holdem gameplay prepares the foundation of the basics of the poker game.
Though, Omaha has similar rules as Texas Holdem put but the decision to opt the two out of four hole cards makes the game exciting yet confusing, Even expert poker game developers concludes that Omaha poker game development is much more challenging than texas holdem poker game development. Few players still find seven-card stud easy where as the argument pulls this statement off is Texas Holdem comprises lesser streets and it becomes easier to determine who is going to act first on each street.

2. Texas Holdem Poker Game Has the Players of The Best-in-Class

The new players are looking to get training with strategy development to improve their poker game skills. This skill-building is evidently helpful for the games of Omaha and other poker game variants.
This is why these poker game variants comprise of great professional players which makes Texas Holdem a great gaming space for all levels of poker players from novice to veterans.

3. Texas Holdem Poker Game Development Could Become A New Trend in Gaming Industry

With the constant transformation in the poker game industry with technology, poker bot development, improved gaming experience, chat and immersive communication mediums among the pool of poker players, it seems we will be witnessing more variations in Texas Holdem poker game development.
Texas Hold’em is simply a game of plain strategy with more complexities and challenges, that allure new players to never get tired out of the game. It can be foreseen that in the coming few decades, Texas holdem poker will still be ruling over the other poker game variants.
You can also be a part of this evolving industry immediately, all you need is to buy a poker game app or rent a poker portal from the best Texas Holdem poker game development company.

^{(sorry for this repost, more details at the end})
As some have said a couple of times in the last months, NANO is great, but it lacks a lot on adoption. There is no "Killer App" that makes users interested in NANO. It might be great, but if it's not used it won't succeed.
​
Introducing PlayNANO
PlayNANO it's an attempt at fixing this. On PlayNANO users will be able to earn Nano by completing all sorts of tasks; Play multiplayer games with friends and earn Nano for winning; Bet on multiple casino games; And lastly spend their Nano on all sorts of digital products. Oh and also, no account or login required!
See why Nano is the best crypto, with fee-less and instant use cases. Earn, play, bet, and spend - no account or login required.
I might not be the first doing something like this, but I'm aiming for better than what we have now.

• First - it will be for-profit. I love this community and a lot of the projects built, especially in the last couple of weeks. But most of them aren't for profit, nor targeted towards the end-user, and if we keep on making projects that don't generate money, we won't have the means to reach the masses. Many say the "Feeless, instant, green" markets for itself - I don't think I agree - that sentence won't reach the ears of many people unless it's paid to get there.
• Second - there is an affiliate program, for the same reason - because people are much more willing to share if there's money involved. On PlayNANO you'll be able to earn 1% of everything your referrals earn. (approx. 30% commission)
• Third - I've made the effort to focus on UI and UX. As many might have noticed the last couple of weeks, we have great developers, that build awesome things, but we are lacking in the user experience, which nowadays it's so necessary.

​
PlayNANO's Roulette
Play the European Roulette with Nano - fee-less and instant as Crypto should be!
My favorite feature so far, a provably fair multiplayer roulette. Instant betting and very quick payouts - sometimes you even get your payout before the roulette stops spinning! ^{(and yeah, I'm gonna leave this as a feature to showcase the power of NANO xD})
With this multiplayer roulette, you are not betting alone, you will also see other players bets on the table, for a more fun and immersive experience. And it uses a provably fair system to make sure that all numbers/spins are fair and can't be manipulated by anyone.
​
PlayNANO's Jumper
I've also created Jumper - a simple game with simple rules, but there's space for great strategies! Each game starts with a 12 by 12 grid, and the objective of the game is to be the last one standing on the grid, by sweeping your opponents off.
Compete with other players and earn NANO by sweeping them out of the game!
Next steps
This is the first release but I have got a lot planned for the future! Starting with a multiplayer Texas Holdem Poker feature; more games to be added to the Play section; more ways to earn Nano, and add way more prizes to the spend list.
Quick FYI: I'm using a 400$/month server, with a GPU, to handle the heavy PoW generation. Within the last month my server has sent over 45.000 transactions, mostly due to the Earn - Watch Videos feature - which is getting quite popular on Venezuela, Indonesia, and Central Africa. So I don't think I'm in love with the future v21 PoW increase xD
​
The end
I'm not saying PlayNANO is the "Killer App" we need, but it's something. I intend to make a living out of it and use the profits to make Nano reach more people, whether through marketing, donations to the development fund, maybe help fund the next Build-Off competition, and/or other things.
So go ahead and try it out, maybe show it to your friends to show how awesome Nano is ;)
All feedback will be much appreciated.
​
^{(Once again, for those who caught it, I'm sorry for the repost. I made this repost because last time I posted I was in a hurry, the post was not well-formatted, I made a mistake on the title, I didn't pick a good time to post, and all that made that post's exposure quite low. This is my do-over, won't do it again!})

I went to Shreveport this weekend for a guys' trip. This is my experience. This will be long and a lot will be common knowledge to live grinders. Believe it or not, I did cut out A LOT of unnecessary info..
I just want to start by saying the 1/3 game at The Horseshoe was AMAZING compared to the 1/2 games I've played 8+ years ago at Chocktaw/Winstar. I really hate low stakes NLH because of the 6-10x standard open and capped buyin, which basically turns the post flop game into a short stacked 2/5 game. 1/3 at The Horseshoe allows you to buy in and match the biggest stack. All of a sudden those $20 opens aren't so crushing. I've heard there is a 1/3 at Winstar. If you play there, please let me know if they have the same buyin setup.
First night, I get there, they just opened a new table, and I was able to sit down with people who also just arrived. I asked about the straddle situation. I do enjoy the button straddle element to the game, but rarely use it. They said if the table agrees, we can do a straddle/button straddle. We agreed. They put a small sign next to the dealer that indicates straddles are allowed. For those who don't know, a button straddle is where the button can double the big blind and take over as last to act pre. Once a button straddle is on, the small blind is now UTG and first to act. This table ended up being the best table I've played with probably ever. Most were drinking. There was a decent amount of action. Table talk was fun. I was immediately surprised how comfortable these players were that sat down. They all seemed to play very regularly and seemed like they would be good. Spoiler, they weren't. The players were limp/calling pre and very passive post for the most part. I get the feeling most would describe their game as TAG or LAG, but nearly all were completely Loose-Passive and Holdem Manager would label over half the table as fish. In online terms, I'd say this was a 45VPIP/10PFR table, which for my nitty game usually means cha-ching! I was right. By the end of it, I was in for $400 at 7:45pm and out at 11:30pm for $918. The free drinks were great and I got a bit drunky, which is mostly why I got up. I'm usually the worst drunk poker player ever, but managed to stick with the strategy this time. I didn't play a flashy game. I was nervous and had shaky hands for the first hour. I just played super tight, fold or raise pre(only limping blinds and rarely), big squeezes with premiums, and take it down on the flop or turn. I would have liked to have made smaller value bets to keep players in, but I was pretty determined to post a win and was quick to take them down. That way I can talk my wife into letting me play live more. I haven't played live at a casino in 2 and a half years and that makes me sad. Profit: $518 over 3.75 hours Stack: https://i.imgur.com/c2341xO.jpg My stack next to my buddy's absurd stack. He's a genuine LAG and much better than I am. https://i.imgur.com/6TDlVCh.jpg You can also see the button straddle sign in red next to the dealer
It was a guys' trip and we don't all play poker, so I didn't want to spend all my time at the table. I continued the drinky, including celebratory shots, and went to bed at 1am. Sadly, the dad in me woke up at 7am anyway. Two of my friends wake up at 8:30 despite staying up til 5am. We all get ready and watch Tiger play at the hotel until the only place we could find that has TV opens up, Hooters.
At 12:30, I'm back at the table. I'm pretty sure most of the players came from a dwindled 2/5 game because I look around and see some mega stacks from multiple OMCs. At least 3 have black chips($100) and I see a lot of green chips($25) out there. I think the big stack had about $2.5k. This table was a lot tighter preflop overall. I'd say this was about a 30VPIP/15PFR table. I play my same game waiting for cards. I end up about $150 up after an hour. I picked up queens and had a good flop. Took down $100. I did the same with an AK hand. Then I ran into a couple of OMCs that were not havin' it. I squeezed to $22 in position with AQo. OMC pops it to $225 after having limped originally. I let it go. Another hand, the King OMCs raises to $10. I raise to $25 with AJs. King OMC calls and the flop is AT3 with a flush draw possibility. I have top pair and no flush draw. Yay! I lead out for $25, which now I think I'd rather have checked. OMC pops it to $65. I think this is an easy call and see what happens, but this man has made zero plays so far. I mean, he has just sat there and I'm at times genuinely concerned he might be dead. Not this time. He woke up and I just folded. I had a weird feeling and let it go. Not long after that hand, and I shit you not, another OMC walks up to his king and at some point I hear the words "I wish they could hook this straight up to my veins." King OMC laughs in approval. I am not making this up. About this time, I'm ready to leave. I was super hung over, my hands were shaking even when I wasn't in a hand, and I had one of those back of the eyeball headaches. And let's face it, this table is not a great one for my game. In for $600 at 12:30 and out for $634 at 2:30. Profit: $34 over 2 hours (Did not take picture of my $34 profit stack)
I go back to my shithole room at Diamond Jacks and take a nap while my buddies hit up the pool. When I say shithole, I mean the tv is an old tube that cuts off the far right and left of every channel. Nice Jacuzzi tub, though. I can't complain too much. The room was only $250 for Friday and Saturday nights, which means I only paid $125 since we split the room. The TV: https://i.imgur.com/IeDtjtD.jpg https://i.imgur.com/EYaNrXJ.jpg Not bad Jacuzzi tub: https://i.imgur.com/5hKcyv5.jpg
After the nap, we eat and I'm back at the tables at 7:30. I'm super groggy this time. The table is great for action, but full of shady individuals who don't talk. I watched one guy pick up his big blind after the dealer forgot to scoop it in the pot. A few of us noticed, but didn't say anything. I later found out the guy he screwed out of $3 was his own brother. I have a few good hands. I had queens again that won me $40 preflop when I squeezed to $80. I picked up another $60 when I get AsJs and 5 $12 callers. I flopped two spades and bet $35 to take it down. Headache is gone, so that's a plus. Good news. After almost 2 hours, I'm up nearly $200. I decide to go ahead and pack it up. The trip has paid for itself, I'm too exhausted to concentrate, and time to get drunk one last night before it's back to reality. In for $400 at 7:30, out for $598 at 9:15. Profit: $198 over 1.75 hrs Stack: https://i.imgur.com/VwBOWbJ.jpg Again, my buddy's stack on the last night. He ended up winning all 3 sessions with over $2k profit for the weekend: https://i.imgur.com/hAoSVYP.jpg
Total of $748 over 7.5 hours ~$100/hr Yay!
TL;DR Went to Shreveport for a guys' trip. Had a great time. Found the 1/3 game is big and players are generally passive. Won some money and my friend won a lot more. I highly recommend it for those internet grinders who want to leave their basements every once in a while and try out live poker.

First and foremost, here is a landscape screenshot of the HUD I programmed via mobile Excel and have been using for the past year and a half in L.A. casinos with great success. It has earned me roughly $48/hr playing the $3/5 NL holdem games in L.A. over about a 1,000 hour sample. I'd estimate my expected EV is running right about average, and this winrate will look the same (give or take $5/hr over 10,000 or 100,000 hours). I take some credit for being an on-and-off player, but consistent winner since I learned the game at 18 (I'm 31 now). But this HUD has a lot to do with my winrate being where it is, and frankly keeping me from being bored to tears playing live poker for the past 18 months or so.
As are many of you, I'm a former U.S. online player who stepped away from poker after Black Friday turned my world upside down back in 2011 (Full Tilt, thanks for everything). I've had a few decent, middle of the road analyst-type jobs since and have recently left my last one to pursue my Master's degree. While doing so, I have been playing live poker seriously to cover living expenses and supplement my income.
Early on around the spring of last year, I realized that the biggest obstacle I had in adjusting to live poker, especially after 4 years away from the game where I was used to 16-tabling at FTP, was managing the slow crawl of being dealt 18-25 hands per hour of NL holdem. This was a far cry from the 700-900 hands per hour I was used to from my online days. However, to compensate for the slow drip of cards to work with in live games, I noticed that the players I faced when actually receiving playable hands, were absolutely horrendous on average. The slow crawl poker that I thought was a joke during my online days was actually a huge benefit in a sense, as I noticed that patiently waiting for premium or semi-premium hands in loose L.A. casinos almost guaranteed significant winnings in the long run assuming the hands weren't butchered by me post-flop. Everyone else gets 18-25 hands per hour to work with as well, and most of them get impatient at some point or another and KJ suited starts looking like aces to many.
However, even as a patient player, I was still extremely bored folding 84 offsuit all day and actually seeing a flop with a playable hand 3-5 times per hour. I could manage my time browsing the front page of Reddit or watch a mindless YouTube video about how to make a great pizza and still make an ok profit on most days, but I wasn't learning much about my opponents while in between hands. If I managed to stay attentive after repeatedly folding my hands and watching the action, I was picking up on play styles of my opponents, but not to the extent my HUD allowed me to passively do when I played online and everyone's stats just popped up next to them as I played... it was mostly to the extent where I'd noticed seat 3 at my table played a lot of hands and bluffed lots of flush draws, or seat 8 was nitty and seemed to be sacrificing all his blinds. Getting this vague, but incomplete understanding of my table, while knowing how vital it was to pick up on every piece of information I could to ideally play my 3-6 flops per hour as perfectly as possible with these 8 other guys around me... That's when I had the idea to create this live HUD. As much as players say you can get plenty of info just by watching people play their hands (which is true), I wanted to take it a step further. And despite the common consensus that live HUD's are too small of a sample size or too much of a pain in the ass to ever be worth using, I'm glad I went through with this idea.
My biggest worry in making the program was that it would be far too time consuming to be on my phone entering tedious numbers while a live poker game was going on and people were all around me asking me "what game am I playing... that looks weird." Well, I can honestly say that around half the players at my local casinos are browsing on their phones and tuning out while waiting for their next hand. In general, people don't give a shit at all what you're doing on your phone, and even if the floor came over and were genuinely interested in what my program is (which they never have and will never care), I could tell them the truth and they would most likely just find it "cool." I do occasionally have an old timer in the seat next to me take a peek at my phone, but they have no idea what they're looking at. If I don't really care for them and they ask, I'll tell them it's a spreadsheet for work. If I'm cool with them, I'll tell them exactly what it is and joke with them that they should start playing more than their 17% of hands they're playing, or everyone will think they're a nit. They'll usually just laugh when I tell them, and compliment me or ask how "the stats say they're playing". I'll lie and tell them something like "the stats say you're gonna donate all your money to seat 2 in the next 10 hands"... because I'm a poker player.
My next biggest worry in making the live HUD was that half the players in L.A. casinos play for around 1-2 hours at most before going bust or leaving with what they made, which means I'm only getting about a 40-50 hand sample size. I figured this wouldn't do me much good until I realized that the differences in play style statistics in casino players become apparent much, MUCH more quickly than online. I'll explain...
In full ring online games, extremely tight players' VP (voluntarily put in pot) percentages were between 10-13%. Loose players' VP's probably were around 20% and above. In 40-50 hands online, tight players could easily play 20-25% of their hands just by being dealt a good run of hands, making that sample size pointless.
In LIVE games, on the other hand, I quickly noticed that players' VP's (in my casinos) ranged anywhere from 10% to 90%. Yes, 90%. Casual players who come over from blackjack and don't really know much holdem strategy will sit down and literally want to play every hand unless the action has a $500 all-in preceding them, and the player looks down at 62 offsuit and has to begrudgingly fold. In fact, after about 5 sessions of tracking stats, I deducted that the average VP in my casinos is around 28-30% (note that this screenshot is from my most recent Thursday afternoon session, and my table was tighter than typical for this location). And this was among plenty of casino regulars. This average VP in my live games would be considered a MANIAC VP on a Full Tilt ring game back in 2008, when online players were frankly loose and terrible. Yes, tight players in live games will still get a hot run of cards over 40 hands and have a deceivingly high VP%, while loose players can be card dead and be deceivingly low. However, they will usually balance out to within 5-10% of what they are after just 50 hands if you played with them for another 200. You will not see a player play at 20% VP through 50 hands, and be at 45% after 100 hands. It just doesn't happen, unless there's some uber-tilt going on, which is easily picked up on without any need for a HUD.
The point I'm making is that I was noticing that just after a 15-20 hand sample size at any table, I was seeing some players playing 15% of their hands vs. others playing 60%, 70%, or 80% of hands. And this was plenty sufficient to at least give me a ballpark estimate of a player's style without having to mentally remember whether I keep seeing common players playing lots of hands, as most live players do to label players as tight or loose in their minds. The longer these players stayed while I tracked their preflop stats, the more detailed of an analysis my HUD gave on their ranges and play styles. 50 hands of data on a player in a live game is equivalent to about 200 hands of data on an online player, simply due to the DRASTIC percentage differences in VP, PFR, 3B, and even Fold to C-Bet stats among live players.
Finally, probably the most glaring concern, and the one I have spent by far the most time addressing, is the amount of time one would have to spend entering data into the spreadsheet after every hand. Keeping track of what every single player is doing after every single hand is a giant pain in the ass. However, only having to keep track of non-folding players makes things significantly easier. Especially when just tracking preflop stats (the most important stats), which is essentially what my HUD does. By making folds as blank cells by default, and only counting hands where at least one number has already been entered in its respective column, I was able to create a spreadsheet where the program counts everyone's action as a fold by default until a 0, 1, 2, or 3 is put in its place. This cuts down the time it takes to enter stats for each hand by about 80%. If seat 1 raises preflop and everyone folds, I am putting a "2" in row 1 to signify they raised, and leaving every other row blank. That's it. The program automatically calculates row 1's raise into their VP, PFR, 3B, and all their other stats, as well as the overall table stats, while automatically tallying up a fold for seats 2 through 9 in all of their respective stats. If seat 3 raises preflop, seat 5 reraises, and seat 3 folds (along with everyone else), I'm entering a "2f3" (to resemble a raise and fold to 3bet) in row 3 and a "3" in row 5 (to resemble a 3bet). Done. If a new player comes into the game, I'll enter what hand number they started on, and all hands before it are automatically entered as "0"s for that player, which tells my data to ignore those "0" hands for that player.
To debunk a few other commonly brought up myths as to why keeping stats during live games is supposedly pointless:
1) Casinos, at least in California and most in Vegas outside of crazy high stakes games, couldn't care less as to what you're doing on your phone. Apart from being on your phone with a buddy in the middle of a big hand and asking them what you should do, casinos do not want to make it their business as to what you're doing on your phone while you're out of a hand (or even in a hand, as long as you're not slowing the game down). Entering in a couple 1's and 2's into a spreadsheet to gain an analytical edge that they can't comprehend is far from a casino's concern. Even if they wanted to know what you were doing, nothing in any casino rules even hint at this being frowned upon.
2) It is NOT difficult to follow the action preflop, enter in a couple one-digit numbers into a spreadsheet, and then go back to whatever it is you're doing at the poker table. If you already folded your hand, you can enter in whatever seats actually had an action immediately. If you're actually involved in a hand (eg. you raised from seat 1 and had seats 5 and 9 call you), just play your hand as normal and enter the appropriate three numbers when your hand completes. If you miss a hand or happened to have tuned out while watching a cute dog do a somersault on aww, it's not a big deal. The spreadsheet doesn't care. It's at your disposal to give you as much information as you want to take from it.
3) People do NOT treat you as a nit and give you no action just because you keep glancing at or using your phone. It's 2016, and people all around us are on their phones and tablets doing god knows what. In fact, what I've found about live players, is that they're impatient, and even if they KNOW you're studying them or playing nitty (which I do on occasion, but not always), live players are bad and they really can't help themselves. If they have K9 offsuit and see you 3bet them. They aren't focusing on the kid who keeps playing on his phone... they're focusing on the fact that they have K9 offsuit, and maybe this is the time they'll finally peel off a flop and see three 9's hit... because they're totes due!
I can address several other things about my HUD, such as the "action graph" at the bottom of the screen that fills as you play or the shading of each player's cell in column A, which is lightest for the most profitable seat at the table based on the loose/tight players on your left or right and darkest for least profitable seat... But this has turned into a pretty long explanation already. If you have questions, I'll try and address them in the comments. No, this is not currently available for public use yet. But I'm not opposed to releasing it to the masses at some point should it gauge enough interest. I'd ideally like to find some other individuals who are actually enthusiastic about my project and perhaps even find a few app developers with a poker background and turn what is essentially a full-fledged backend spreadsheet into a frontend app with an actual table interface with 9 seats where each seat could simply be tapped, double tapped, etc. to signify limps, raises, etc. for each hand. That is the dream at least... I have no idea at the moment whether it could plausibly ever be a reality. But I can assure all that having this program at my disposal while I've played has been +EV for me, helped me in a couple very key spots where I would have never known to fold my two pair or steal blinds with my junk, or 3bet light, and it's given me some advantages that most would consider unheard of in live poker.

I've always played poker growing up. Played NL holdem just about every other day($5-$10 buy in normally, with like 5-10 people, sometimes more) for 5 years growing up.
Then after my friends all moved away, I started playing online poker, and did freerolls(even put a little money on).
On top of this, I used to always watch WSOP, and watch NL poker strategy videos. I'm familiar with a lot of basic concepts.
However, I'm completely clueless about "getting a good deal" from the house. I am not that familiar with "rakes", or what levels of rakes are good. So, I normally just play tournaments.
I've never played a Tournament at the Casinos, but I live less than an hour from Atlantic City. I was thinking of starting to play some Online Poker(NJ has a few sites like Borgada, and Poker Stars, plus I've been playing international BetOnline.com, which has some good freerolls for practice), against lower level money players.
I understand that right now, I'm probably not that good against high tier poker players. But, I want to get some SERIOUS practice in(and start potentially earning a little money).
Wondering how people recommend starting a career in poker. Is online, or in-person more profitable, in general? Does anybody know of specific casinos/tournaments in AC, that would be low buy in? I'm not even sure if they exist, but I'd be looking for like a $10/$20/$50 max buy in.
The lower the buyin, the better, as I'm doing this for experience, and while it's possible I'll place in the money, I'm not counting on it(and I'm pretty poor).
Basically, I'm not likely to ever work a real job. It's either Stand up Comedy, or Professional Poker, or bum who dies in the streets(funnily enough, both of those careers often lead to the latter). So, I understand this isn't a career that works out for everyone. But I don't have many other things that I'm willing to do, and i'm willing to do this, so I want to give it an honest shot. Plus, I enjoy poker, and am pretty good at it(relative to my competition, which is admittedly, not that good).

Soon, I'm going to be away on holiday near a casino (specifically Jupiters on the Gold Coast, AUS). I'd love to play live poker, because I think it would be a very fun and interesting experience.
I'm writing here to ask for some advice, because I'm definitely a bad player. I play very casually 1-2 or 2-5NL cash games, and I usually break even and I'm prone to tilt. I've never played live before, and I would certainly benefit from some backup information that protects me from making a fool out of myself.
This is a link to the casino's texas holdem page, which shows the blinds/buy ins. I'm confused by this $2-$3 blinds business, but they're probably the stakes that I'll play at. And yes, I'm prepared to potentially lose $300.
Specific questions I have are:

1. What kind of playing patterns are more common in live games compared to online? (I've heard that lowish stakes at casinos tend to have more limpers pre-flop).
   
2. Are there any rules/etiquette that I should always keep in mind at a live table that I may not currently be aware of?
   
3. What strategies or playing styles tend to work better in live poker as opposed to online play.
   
4. How the fuck do I manage physical chips? Also, what's the best way to keep counting the size of the pot to ensure good sizing?
   

Any tips or roasts telling me to kiss $300 goodbye would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Edit: formatting n stuff

Before the trip
About 8 weeks ago I was casually scrolling though the EPT/UKIPT schedule. I'd never played a major festival event before, and I wasn't really looking for an event to play, just wanted to see if there were any 2-7 draw games going, unlikely, but that's my thing. As I scrolled past the high rollers and main events something peaked my interest. 9pm, Thursday the 16th of October, a £220 deep stack turbo deuces wild event. At £220 it was within the cheapest band of entry fees and subsequently within my budget. I also considered the fact that 2s wild would appear as "a bit of fun" for a lot of less serious players, making for a weaker player pool. Along with that, the fact that the event was right at the end of the festival and at 9pm made me think that if I could sleep all day and be fresh for the event I'd have another small advantage. The thing with small edges... add them up and they can make a significant advantage. Once I committed to the idea of playing the event, I made my travel and living arrangements and started preparing.
Back at uni I played hundreds of hours of home games. About 25% of those games were the later part of 12 hour sessions when things would get less conventional. 8 card omaha, irish, 3 card holdem and most importantly a lot of wild card games. While I'm sure other people have played wild card games, the previous experience let me go in far less nervous, and as I would come to learn, much more prepared than many players in the field.
Before I even got to London I was doing all that I could to prepare. Unfortunately 2s wild is a very popular form of video poker, so searching anything out online was slim pickings. This article however gave me a decent idea about what to expect. I reached out to Will, a redditor who cashed the same event at a different stop on the EPT and we discussed his experiences. I also spent a reasonable amount of time just dealing flops with a deck of cards at a desk, counting outs for different hands containing a 2. Anything I could do that my opponents weren't doing was to my benefit and I pushed that edge as much as I could.
The day before the event
The day before the event I arrived in London. After checking into my room I walked the route from my hostel to The Grand Connaught Rooms, where all the EPT tournaments were held. I took a look inside to familiarise myself with little things. Where is the bar? Where are the bathrooms? Where is the information desk? Little things I didn't want to be worrying about a half hour before the cards are in the air.
My next stop was The Hippodrome, the official casino of Pokerstars at Leicester Square. They did have a free shuttle car service from the two venues which was an excellent thing to see, because the cash games only ran at the casino and due to some legal issues they could only accept cash buy ins at the Hippodrome, so anything to assist players in registering was a good thing. I walked however as it was dry and I had a lot of time. I knew from the promo information that I would need a Hippodrome card and a Friends of Pokerstars card in order to play. A quick visit to reception and the players lounge and I had everything I needed. I paid for my entry with cash there and then, receiving a receipt which I was to use to get my seat at the Connaught rooms later. I then went about enjoying the rest of my day in London. I did try and stay up extra late though, in order to sleep in later.
The day of the event
I woke up around 11am. Got myself up and ready for the day. Before the event that night I had a few more things to prepare. Going into the event I didn't know how long it would last. I had no real idea of what the number of runners would be or how late I could be up. As such, I went out and bought some aspirin, ibuprofen, bottled water, cereal bars and some emergency caffeine. If I felt a headache coming on at midnight I wanted to be prepared. I wandered the city for a while, went a napped a bit in my room, got diner with a friend and then it was time to go to the event.
I arrived at Connaught rooms about 40 minutes before cards were due to be in the air. As there were several events still in play, I took the time for find my table and seat among the 3 or 4 rooms which had tables set up. Screens mapping out what was where made this very easy. I found the screen with our tournament info on. 20/20 players it said. "Wow" I thought to myself. Really small field then?! One of the dealers pointed out it hadn't been refreshed in a while, so I moved past the thought. I peaked my head into the other rooms, saw a few faces I recognised from TV/Web casts, although names escape me. Before long at was 8.55pm, so I headed to my seat at Green Table 10, Seat 4.
The event I took my seat and the first thing I made sure to do was clarify the unique rules for the event. They were as follows.

• Any deuce in the whole cards or on the board can be played as any card in any suit.
• If a player is dealt pocket deuces, they must open their hand when the action is on them. They win the Blinds, the Antes and THE BUTTON
• 5 of a kind is a legitimate hand. It is ranked higher than a straight flush but not a royal flush.

Oh, blinds were 15 minutes and stacks were 15,000.
With the rules confirmed and the other players in their seats the game began. At this time most of the tables had 4 or 5 players, which I found odd. However over the next 30 minutes most of the tables gained more players until the field hit 70 players. After the first level, the tournament director also made the decision to play the remainder of the game with 8 handed tables, presumable due to the smaller field size, but I'm not too sure.
My opening table consisted of 5 players. A middle eastern guy in seat 3 (I'm in seat 4 remember). I could tell as his phones language wasn't in English. Two women in seats 5 and 7, and a middle ages white guy in seat 9. I was pretty happy to get this table draw. While outside of the poker table I don't discriminate or try to make assumptions, at the tables I will use generalizations and stereotypes until given a reason to think otherwise.
Within the first orbit we quickly got a taste of how easy it can be to make a huge mistake. To be brief, the woman in seat 7 raised, and the man in seat 9 called. The action went bet call flop, bet call turn, bet call river. Seat 7 shows 28o with an 8 on board for trips, seat 9 shows AA and lost about 7k of his 15k stack at 25/50 blind level. Pocket pairs really don't have any weight to them. Only on one occasion after that did i play a pocket pair, when the button shoved for 6bb when I had 50+bb and I held KK. He had JJ and I won.
Very quickly it was established that most players weren't playing hands without a 2. But I saw many spots where people were over playing weak 2s. It felt a lot like omaha, where the nuts often ran into the second nuts. Case and point was this hand I played at level 2. The UTG player in seat 3 raises to 3x, (50/100 level) I call with 8c2x. All other players fold. Flop comes 6c5c2x. I've flopped a 9 high straight flush. He c bets 500 into 750. I raise to 2000. I could have any number of straights, sets, flushes, quads. Which means he can have these hands too. He makes it 6000 and I shove for 13000. In hindsight a call of the 6000 would likely have been ok as I has the nuts unless 5 of a kind comes in. Regardless he calls and shows 4c2x for the bottom end of the straight flush. I double up and he is crippled. Coming in I knew I didn't want to play big bloated pots without the nuts and this is why. In this case, 7c8c9c with a 2 all beat 4c2x. Very strong hands were everywhere. 4h2x on a 4x2xJx board is quads. And that happened a lot. One observation I made after a couple of levels was the value of holding any AKQJ or T with a 2. This is because these hands can all make a royal so long as the board contains a 2 and any 2 of the other 4 broadway cards in your suit. This happened surprisingly frequently, putting those hands at a much higher value than 92 and 82.
By the end of the first hour, our table had gained a couple of player, the field was set at 70 and the prize pool confirmed. 9 places paid. A hair under £4000 up top. At this time our table broke. This is because all EPT events break tables high to low and table 10 was the largest number. I move with around 30k to another table. This table has a lot more young grinder type kids which is no fun, but I have a lot of chips compared to several stacks at the table. Over the next couple of orbits I knocked out 4 players when they shove and I call with a better 2x, (and the kkvjj hand from before). I was up to around 80k, still well over 100bb deep before my next table break. Down to 32 players, average is 33k. My next table has several Norwegians who are drinking and chatting. I made my first 5 of a kind on the river and knocked out a player who made a straight flush which was fun. But then the card dead period began.
In 6 or so orbits I saw 1 deuce and managed to steal the blinds a couple of times making use of my evidently nitty image. While I managed to maintain my stack, the blinds were racing up, the antes even more so. Since my initial double up back in level 2, I had simply been avoiding bad spots and pushing my good ones. Cruising my way along watching the field grow smaller. I knew I was getting more tired though. Finding the nuts at showdowns was getting to be trickier. Although this was usually after and all in and call where all 5 cards appear very quickly, rather than me having time to think and act. The dealers and floor staff did and amazing job of making sure pots were awarded fairly and correctly though. Throughout the whole tournament though, I took all the time I needed to correctly assess where I was in the hand and what I held. This was extra important when making thinner value bets on rivers, where a lot of 2s would call with very bad hands and lose to say a straight or flush.
Eventually we broke to two tables. And I could feel myself edging towards the money. When we broke to two tables, we redrew seats. The loud/drunk Norwegians moved to table 2 and I was on table one. While I had just above average at this time, most of the chips in play were at table 2, so I had most of my table covered and there were several short stacks. We began to see the first instances of multiple pre flop all ins with 2xXx vs 2xXx. Often they just resulted in chop pots as any 4 to a straight would make a straight for both players with the 2. I maintained my stack and then soon we were hand for hand. We would be going to a 9 handed final table and 9 places paid so this was the moment we had been waiting for. There were a few very large all ins on table 2, which the bigger stacks spent 2 or 3 minutes deliberating a fold or not. This really hurt with the blinds at 5k/10k(1k) with 15 minute blinds. A player from table 2 did eventually bust and we redrew onto table 1. Now I'm at seat 2 on the final table. 1 of the shorter stacks busted pretty quickly. Then a very important hand happened. I don't recall exactly the hands that got me there but I had about 200k. In the BB i pick up Qx2x. Action folds to seat 8 who shoves for 30k. Seat 9 shoves for 55k and I call in the BB. The hands were 42, 72 and Q2. The board runs out and 72 makes a straight. Seat 8 is eliminated leaving 7 players and seat 8 wins a 150k pot, which had I have won would have put me in a much better position.
Now the shoves are coming thick and fast. There were 4 or 5 all in and calls but they all ended up in split pots or the smaller stack winning. By this time the blinds are 10k/20k(3k) With 1,050,000 chips in play, that's 50bbs on the whole table. Unfortuanelty I catch no 2s that double me up or help me, the blinds go up again to 12k/24k(3k) and I'm all in for 1bb with KJo vs 82. I don't improve and I get knocked out for 7th place for £670.
Ultimately I'm very happy with how I played. I ran pretty well, didn't do anything stupid and had fun. It's a shame a couple of cards didn't come differently for a much bigger score, but given I can now brag about having a 100% cash rate at the EPT and have a good story to tell I'm not going to complain. If this event remains in the schedule I'll do my damned best to play it again that's for sure.
Thanks very much for reading. I know it's a wall of text but in this instance that's kinda the point.
GothicLord
PS- The /poker championship vids will be going up soon. For some reason (possibly the size/length of the videos) sometimes they crash and I have to start the uploads again.

Hi everyone,
I've been playing at the low limits for about 3 years now. I cut my teeth at the commerce casino which is known for being very tight, even at the low limits. No one is there to have fun, it's just all business all the time.
I have studied basic poker strategy, i've read the 2+2 book "small stakes holdem" (but i admit there are parts that still confuse me) and I know how to calculate odds and outs, ect, I never let my emotions factor into any decisions made at the table.
That being said, I can't seem to turn a profit! I went to the card room on friday, and came up 100 dollars in two hours. Granted, I did get extremely lucky, hitting trips four separate times. Still i knew when to value bet these strong hands and it paid off.
Then I go back last night and lose about 200 bucks. At the low limits, it's common to chase draws to the ends of the earth, except, I never seemed to connect. I got my aces cracked twice, i folded two pair, and then another time my two pair was cracked when some guy flopped the nut straight. I just kept leaking away my chips even though I was making profitable calls.
The above example seems to underscore my experience with live poker at low limits so far... occasionally I will have a good run, but it doesn't have anything to do with the way i played. I just seem to get lucky playing whatever hands, or really fucking unlucky when playing the hands the way I should.
So my questions are..

1. Should I just move it up to 40NL? Or would I get annihilated? I feel like the way I play is more suited to NL
   
2. Am I just fucking unlucky or what? I do not record every hand live, but I can assure you I have had some really fucking good hands cracked on the river against some donk hand that the prick should have folded before the flop to a three bet
   
3. Am I just not as knowledgeable as I thought? I realize without the knowledge of the specific hands It's hard to relate how I've been playing. But I keep seeing these guys win with donk-ass hands like five duece off! I fold those sort of hands with the patience of a celibate monk, yet when i get the hands i need, i don't connect. I let the button pass me twice before calling. I mean come on
   

Judi Poker Online
Estimates promote that some thousands among dollars may be spent over poker, more than anything else for around the internet gaming, tournaments, buying nick sets in addition , training study systems. Some people today enjoy losing real moolah through within the web casino pastimes. There are many spots to path down the ways many the public are serious in poker-online games utilization of real profit. Online gaming sites generate income via taking another percentage to money alluded as 'rake 'from any player.
The rise in popularity of public poker tourneys has inspired to a single dramatic boost in each number akin to people which one want to help you judi poker online. Suppose you may very well be one involving these people, but please do not want into go all over the difficulty of going to a complete live casino, you has to try another goods texas holdem website. At an internet poker website any person can be all along with the games that that regular casino offers on top of that you may do it also from the comfort along with your acquire home. This particular includes certain games such as the exponentially known New jersey Hold'em, Omaha and Omaha hold'em Hi/Lo, and Seven Card Stud. During a head poker business site you will most likely register to obtain free and simply begin taking part immediately.
Online poker room was a wonderful option with entertainment regarding the privateness and peace of a new home. Regardless of whether you please to participate in far than just one particular game located at a time, then web-based poker online business is our right options. You just don't have to wait in support of a desk chair. Just log on of the exact online poker on-line website and as a consequence start is way better instantly. Funds transaction may quick as well as , efficient to be ensure exquisite security about your loan company account or maybe credit bankcard banking. If you cherish to go forward with the world wide web poker sites, then search for commissioned websites whom satisfy special criteria.
In acquire to be sure that that an individuals visits with regard to the poker on-line site could be pleasurable, look at to assurance that each of our site has a reputable poker package. This is actually the program which people will maintain to use with every last visit and so notice a company with another good easy in order to use software applications to neck playing their lot new pleasurable, accomplishing and .
One primary to this situation is so as to keep nonstop vigil a lot your money and just do not exceed the actual capacity. Customers must know your capacity and be retained to corner desks with tiny stakes and that somebody have considerably chances out of winning. To suit this, they need to be brutally honest information on your be the owner of capability as well as have an realistic check of the ways far buyers can go.
The poker hand is dealt. You enjoy two credit cards. The second move clients make is in fact the quite a few important. Cell phone or times more. It may crucial returning to remember it to attempt on an incredible initial hand is a fabulous common vigorous principle on professional texas holdem poker. Do not likely call the actual event that you generally have anything worth asking professionals. the employed of you may winning a fabulous straight within 8 can highly unlikely, as ideally as a definite three at a nature of any sort of card younger than 7. Users should turn into going straight to a section with if at all possible both playing cards same suit, with eleven and back up playing greeting cards.
There is usually a new concept that most has actually been started throughout the online party games where that this website yields free poker games as well as , also doable you for earn financial. They definitely will offer to the players in view that they get a hold of money starting from their advertisers. So at this time are you should always chances together with earning absolute cash if you haven't got any deposit at everything. Seems attractive right? Getting an option to purchase real money and hold your finest poker matches online without having to any stock. This will be a smart strategy this also brings increasing and better people toward play on line poker.
All options of poker, whether the site is some kind of online take pleasure in poker title or land-based, have these following gambling on choices: betting, folding, checking, calling and raising.

Whats up guys, I'm turning 21 this weekend and I'm heading to Atlantic City with my girlfriend to hit the casinos. I'm really not trying to make any of money, I'm just hoping to make enough to cover our hotel and drink expenses(I'm unsure of how realistic this is). I personally love playing holdem but considering I've only played online and never played live with real money, I don't think that would be my best strategy as a beginner. I've heard that blackjack was a good way to make money if you get out when you're on top.
Can anyone offer some suggestions on good games to play, how much money I should bring for betting, and things to avoid as a total noob?
I read through the beginners guides that are listed here and theres some great stuff but I just need someone to point me in the right direction for what my goals are.
EDIT: Also lets say I do play holdem in the casino, how much money should I bring? I'm not sure what casino minimums are like
EDIT: I'm openly admitting that I am a beginner and am completely inexperienced with a casino so if you are coming here to say "sounds to me like you're a beginner and you are probably going to lose" then you are correct, but please don't bother posting it because I'm already aware of that. I'm simply looking for advice on how to optimize my experience there. I'm playing for fun with the hopes of maybe coming out with some extra money to pay for my room, if I lose it all it doesn't matter. If you have any advice in regards to

1. good games for beginners to play
   
2. how much money to bring
   
3. cheap table locations
   
4. things to avoid
   
5. suggestions on anything else
   
6. anything to prevent me from looking like an idiot
   

It would be much appreciated. Thanks
EDIT: I'm staying at the Trump Taj Mahal, so if you have any advice regarding that specific casino, please let me know, thank you!

[Short] Software developer confused about startups, funding and risks. My skill set is programming and my projects target audience/environment. Would like to get funding to support me in the home run of getting my product to launch by going full-time instead of part-time.
[About Me] I am a software programmer and have been the sole developer working part time on a complex project for 5 years and have also been working fulltime during that period to support myself. I would like to gather funding to go fulltime on my project, to provide an income stream that enables me to cover my cost of living and maintain some disposable income, effectively a salary that would substitute my fulltime job, to enable me to finalize the project for public release. The project is already functional, however there is probably 6-8 months fulltime work to do closed public testing, polishing, bug squashing, website design, marketing and QA. At my current rate it would 2-3x times that before I could publicly release my product, I would like to speed the process up.
[My Project] My project is a software tool used to write AI [Artificial Intelligence] to automate and/or filter the play of 'Texas No Limit Holdem Poker' at online casino sites, also known as a 'pokerbot'. Texas No Limit Holdem Poker is the most popular form of online poker, and is known as a game of incomplete information, which still to this day has not been conquered by computer AI. Many attempts by Universities around the world have shown a professional level human opponent can still outplay AI attempts. My project over the 5 years has been the evolution of research and book reading to understand the mindset and approach of a professional player, the mathematics behind decision making and exposing these information systems to the end user with a scriptable programming language and UI.
Originally the project started as a personal pet project, I wanted to keep in-house for my own use, as a tool to make money playing poker online. Over the last 12 months, I have found that time restrictions of only working part time on the project along with the scope of time investment already commited by researching poker strategy, it would be better to expose the tool commercially and allow public users to focus on the AI aspect themselves and to make an income stream that way instead.
There are 3 commercial competitors in my market, currently my product exceeds their offering in many ways, which I do not wish to disclose publicly as this is a public medium.
My product will be offered on a base annual subscription, with optional upgrades available on top of that base subscription. Also a marketplace will exist for users to lease their self created 'AI' to other users enabling them to make a income stream themselves, with a royalty fee attached. All these methods provide a renewable income stream for the product itself.
[My Question] I am not familar with the options available, what they are called, and how I would present my business case. I am curious as to what risks are inherent with being successfully funded. I am completely confused by startups and venture capital funding, equity crowdfunding, angel investors, Im just a developer with a nearly finished product looking for financial backing to get it over the line quicker.
Some of my concerns are;

1. What typically will be wanted in return for funding?
   
2. If my product is highly successful, is there an ability to 'cap' royalties by a fixed term period or upper boundary?
   
3. Do I loose control of my business, if so in what ways?
   
4. What risks am I taking on board by accepting funding?
   

[Product Confidence] I am aware that every startup believes they have the 'best thing sinced sliced bread', an idea which is faultless and guaranteed to be successful, in their mind. I'm aware of being so passionate about an idea that you become blinded about the realties of how a third party really sees your offering.
I have been disciplined for 5 years of working solely on the same project, and overcoming hurdle after hurdle, adding layer after layer to build what I have today because Im confident of the fruits of success that potentially exist because I've examined my market...

1. The online poker industry is massive and growing. China has been speculated in the poker news media to legalize online poker in the next few years.
   
2. Poker AI is an unsolved computer AI problem, solving it provides a financial advantage over a human player. This tool provides a medium for users to attempt to solve this problem themselves or collectively as a group.
   
3. My customers are gamblers, they are already commiting financially to play and are more likely to commit to purchasing this product to improve their success and are aware of 'bots' being one means to achieve that.
   
4. My competition is small, only 3 products exist currently in the market space. My product already exceeds their offering in multiple ways and solves a major hurdle that limits their market capture.
   
5. The largest of these 3 competitors has been in business since 2008, is a 2 man team and claims to sell 15,000 license subscriptions annually at 129USD. High traffic public forum shows demonstrated participation with the tool.
   

Thanks for your time, I appreciate any direction and advice you may have to offer.

Verified? (This bot cannot verify AMAs just yet)
Date: 2012-10-12
Link to submission (Has self-text)

Questions	Answers
What's the craziest bet someone have made?	Hmmm. The craziest would probably be a double down bet on a hard 20. They were playing at a fairly high stakes table and they were at max bet; around 3 grand. They, sadly did not get an Ace.
Why would they double down on a hard 20?	I don't know why they did it. That story of crazy betting was another coworker's experience and not my own but I have seen my own players double on a twenty just not with a few grand on the line. Some do it out of frustration, some just think they can get lucky while others don't know better. I've seen some pretty crazy plays before.
Do you have to announce that to the floor?	Yes dealers ares supposed to announce when someone is doubling down on any hard hand.
Did they do a walk of shame out of the casino or did they keep playing? :P.	They keep on trekking. It's crazy to watch.
What do you say in those instances? Do you try to give people advice if they don't know what they're doing?	If it's obvious that someone has no clue what they are doing, I will try to steer them in the right direction. Our supervisors are the only ones who can give advice, so usually I tell them to help a customer out.
Why wouldn't they split? They can double on the split, depending on the house. ಠ_ಠ	People will sometime split their tens, and we allow for them to do so. Like I said, people do some interesting stuff if they have a "feeling" about a hand or if they are just grasping at straws.
Do you like your job. 2. How much do you make? 3. How do you become a dealer? I need an occupation change.	I do like my job. Some days it is monotonous and mind numbing. Some nights it just plain pitifull watching money fly out of their pockets but it' fun. I make a varying amount each month due to tips but they are pooled so it is roughly 1200 every two weeks. Seeing as how I only work for 4 days a week and I get a 30 minute break every hour and a half, I can't complain. :) As far as how to become a dealer, it depends on the facility. I got lucky and my place trained me for free! Very lucky. I recommend the job for. People who don't mind night shifts. I work 10pm-6am and I love it. Sorry the reply took so long. I'm actually at work right now :)
What is your win - lose ratio? Do you gamble sometimes, outside of your job? What's the pay like - enough to survive?	I don't know any specific numbers but I tried to recount a scenario tonight and I won about every 3 out of 4 hands. Sometimes it's better than that sometimes it's worse. Lots of basic strategy pushers will say that, by playing basic strategy, one can expect to win about 53% of the time. That may be the case, but that is following basic strategy wholeheartedly and probably over a long period of time. i.e. 5-7 hours of playing. I'm not an expert on actually playing and winning the game myself because I don't gamble. Most people expect a dealer to join in after hours, and a lot of my coworkers do gamble outside of our casino but it's just not my thing. The pay is most assuredly enough to survive, considering the cost of living in my area. I really think I have a good gig going.
Have you ever seen somebody completely lose it because of the money he lost?	Oh my goodness, yes. People can go bonkers sometimes. They have become irate towards me and also other players. Most of the time, players will just throw little fits and have weird, mumbling pity parties at the table as if they didn't know what the very essence of gambling entails. I was not there when this happened, but one player flipped a whole table over. He was obviously arrested for that one.
Easy.	Haha. exactly.
How come the dealer wins so often? Edit: Grammar	We win so often because we are the last to draw out of the whole table. Every player either hits or stays before my turn, therefore I have no one left to interfere with my hand when it's all said and done. I think the house edge is something like 5%. But if you play basic strategy, the edge can be knocked down quite a bit.
What's a good strategy for a player?	Good strategy, that I would play by, is basic strategy. It's fairly simple to understand and you can print out a chart online to keep handy. We let our players use them at the tables if they like. In fact, I think some of our stores sell the basic strategy cards.
I never knew you were allowed to used charts.	I don't know if all casinos let you use charts, but mine does. Basic strategy is common knowledge, so it's not a big deal to want to use it.
Thanks for the help. Now to convince the GF to go to Vegas.	No problem. Vegas is awesome.
Do you only deal blackjack? why not the other games? and if you do deal other games, which is your favorite? Craps is my favorite...	I do deal other games, and I'm so happy that I do. Blackjack can get very boring after awhile. I deal Three Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Holdem, Baccarat and this new game called Pick One 21. We don't have Craps or Roulette yet as they are dice and wheel games and our gaming commission is working on their approval.
What's the premise of Pick One 21? Never heard of it before.	Pick One 21 is like a mush of Baccarat and Blackjack. There are two hands; red and blue and players wager which one they think will get closest to 21. It's pretty simple and it's caught on a bit more where I work.
Truthfully, have you ever taken advantage of a clearly intoxicated player or know of dealers who do?	Truthfully, no I haven't taken advantage of a drunken player. There are so many cameras on a single table, the punishment isn't worth committing the crime. Also, I would feel bad. I make mistakes sometimes and I am always so thankful to the players who point out that I've done something like overpay them. I'd like to think that if I take care of them, they will do the same in return. Doesn't always happen but, it's something I try to uphold. There are a few people that have screwed some people over before. It's just not something I'd be willing to risk my job over. Besides, the drunk ones are entertaining. I want them to come back. :)
A player has pointed out you've overpaid them? I have gambled for a long time and I would never ever ever do this.	Karma.
Ever had one of those crazy high tips?	Yes! It was awesome. I only spend a small amount of time at each table and sometimes I will keep track of my tip balance for that portion of time. I've definitely made a good portion of my paycheck in 30 minutes. Like I said though, we pool our tips so I share that with the rest of the dealers. Pooling is nice, because I've have also made only 50 cents in a whole night...
Is Blackjack even worth playing when the payout is 6 to 5 for Blackjack?	A blackjack payout can be 6 to 5 at some casinos but ours is 3 to 2 or time and a half. The bigger you bet, the better that ratio looks. I'm not too familiar with the 6-5 payout, but to exemplify...A $10 black jack would get paid $12 with 6-5, but with a 3-2 rule a $10 blackjack gets paid $15.
How difficult is it to cheat? I mean cheating in every possible way.	If you're familiar with the game and handling cheques, cheating seems easy. People cap and pinch their bets a lot, and it's something I look for a lot though, I've never caught someone in the act. Card counting isn't really cheating but mostly frowned upon and will get you asked to leave a casino. We have machines that shuffle the cards for us, using multiple decks so it cuts down on that a lot. When and if someone is caught cheating, they are usually asked to leave for the day. If it isn't apparent, casinos love money so we aren't going to turn away a paying customer for more than a day, no matter how shady their plays may be. As far as a cheating player and the dealer is concerned, it is a big part of our job and it is something our pits hold us accountable for. We probably wouldn't get fired for not seeing someone cap their bet, but they will talk to us about it.
Continuous shoe, or just a shuffling machine?	We have both manual shoes and and continuos.
I think you might be thinking of "21" because "Holy Rollers" is about overseas ecstasy smuggling.	Here is a link to the movie Holy Rollers...the documentary one. Link to www.holyrollersthemovie.co Other one sounds good too though.
Any chance you could link me to a the strategy guide that you think has the best success rate? Thanks!	Sure! Basic Strategy is usually the best way to go and it's fairly easy to understand. The link is to a basic strategy chart. The chart tells you what to do based on your number and the dealer's number. Link to www.blackjackinfo.com
Have you ever had any celebrity or famous person on your table?	Personally, not that I know of. Ball players will frequent a lot, so it is possible that I dealt to one of them and never knew... But, famous people do come out and gamble every once in a while. Sometimes a few performers have been known to play a few games while they're in town. I've never had the pleasure.
Do many people try to cheat?	People do try to cheat. It's a very aggravating thing to have to deal with. We work a lot to maintain the game's integrity to keep both us and the player's in good hands, but someone is always going to try to get some sort of edge, be it on the tables or at the machines.
Have you ever had a card thrown at you?	Haha. No, I bet a poker dealer could answer yes to that question tho. Blackjack doesn't allow anyone but the dealer to touch the cards so that would be a feat.
This is not true. Some casinos allow players to touch the cards.	Really? I had no idea. Our casino seems kind of rigid about card handling.
Do you see yourself as a good blackjack player?	I would be terrible at playing the game. I'm much more comfortable on the side of the table with the bank.
I'm going to a charity casino night, I've never been to a casino before or properly played blackjack with other people. Is there anything I should avoid doing? table etiquette? Also is the game basically 21 but with gambling?	Charity events would be the most relaxed to play at (I can only assume), so it's a good place to start. I would look over basic strategy rules and learn when to hit, stay etc. because blackjack is kind of like a team sport. Everyone at the table is affected by what every player decides to do. I've seen people do very well by working together as a team and following strategy. And yes, I believe blackjack has also been called 21 in the past.
Why not the first biggest?	We are only the second because of how a casino's size is measured. It can be measured by square footage, in which case I do believe that we are literally the largest. A casino can also be measured by machine game count, which is why we are second. I think that answer is correct, but from what I've heard we are always neck and neck with other casinos for that spot.
If you live in the US, your casino is not the second largest in the world. Venetian Macau/Marina Bay Sands/City of Dreams are all larger than anything here.	I just know that second largest is how we advertise ourselves. Like I said before, there are different ways that a casino's size is measured so that has to be factored in when considering the rankings.
What is the biggest percentage-wise win youve seen? (for example; starting with $100 and going up to $1000 is a lot more impressive than starting at $1000 and cashing out $2000) Reason im asking; deadmau5 (the DJ) plays bj and some of his wins are pretty crazy. the first time he played for real at the wynn he started with $1000 and cashed out $100K, another time he started with $4K, ran it up to $500K and lost it all, and one other time he started with $4K and cashed out $200K. (he does play marathon sessions though: 8+ hours at a time) Do wins like those happen regularly (if so, i have to start playing bj)...or is he just one very lucky guy? :D.	Quite honestly, people come in and out so frequently and so often that I have never paid too much attention to one person's particular winnings. I know that winning as much as 100K definitely requires wagering big too. That's awesome that the deadmau5 guy has walked away with that much. And yes, I would assume that he won it over a time span a few hours. I think blackjack is a game best played for fun without expecting anything in return. Lots of people come to play expecting to walk away loaded but they are out of the game in around 20 minutes. It's more fun to play, if you are there to just have fun and play.
How does your casino deal with counters? How many decks in your shoe?	I don't really know how our casino would handle a card counter because I've never come into contact with one. But, I know that we take lots of measures to ensure that counting is essentially impossible due to the amount of decks and the shuffling machines that we employ.
worlds second largest casino. doesnt have craps or roulette. What? how does that happen? you would expect a casino that big to have what some would consider some of the most classic casino games...	Yeah, I know that new table games are always being considered but there are so many rules and regulations that come with implementing them that it takes time for the many approvals.
Are there really tough punishments for cheating? Like cutting off fingers and sodomy?	Haha. No cutting off of limbs, as we are fairly new testament in our punishments.
Ever seen a gambler pick up a cocktail waitress? That is, get her phone number, or a date or something? Thef get hit on all the time, so I figure it would be a feat.	I don't know. I'm not a cocktail.
I love playing Blackjack. My goal is usually more to find a fun table and have a few drinks than it is to win big. (Though that doesn't hurt.) My question is this: I try to have fun with the dealers and kinda backtalk a little, but always in a playful manner, never crossing the line. Some of them enjoy this but a lot don't. Is this because they experience this throughout their shift and tire of it or am I just an asshole?	If I were to play the game, I would be like you; have a few drinks and talk to people. It would just seem more fun that way. I don't usually mind it if people joke around with me, but I know that some people do. I look at it this way; it is our job and sometimes people just don't want to be at work so if someone has ever given you the cold shoulder, it's probably because they can't wait to clock out.
I'd imagine you're right for the most part, but people also tend to tip well when they win big, which is something the dealer can't control and doesn't want to happen.	On the contrary, I DO want people to win big. Sometimes those who win big will tip big, and it's always really great to work with them
How can I make money counting cards, without the casino trying to keep my winnings or backrooming me.	I don't know a lot about counting cards. I've never had any interaction or experience with that situation so I don't know how it would be handled but I'm sure basic protocol is to just ask a counter to leave.
Are you going to answer any other questions?	Yes.

Last updated: 2012-10-12 23:23 UTC | Next update: 2012-10-13 00:23 UTC
This post was generated by a robot! Send all complaints to epsy.

Hey Meddits!
Hopefully this will be of value to someone looking for a story such as this that will enhance them further in living a peaceful, prosperous and non-programmed life.
I always 'tried' to meditate for as long as I can remember..but it never really clicked until last spring while I was experimenting with my thoughts.
Okay, I moved to Philly for work May 2013 and I am not sure if you are familiar but there is a casino in all parts of Pennsylvania (it's quite crazy if you ask me) Well, while I was sitting in the hotel room and doing nothing with my life, I found my way to a local casino.
Now looking back, I should have never went there to begin with just based off the fact that it was dead smacked behind a full blown prison. I mean the collective consciousness of there was probably negative, it was also in a semi run down part of Philadelphia.
Well long story short, I was hooked. It got so bad that I would lose entire paychecks at a time and come back to the hotel feeling depressed until a point of it being noticed by my co-workers. I really thought someone may have put a spell on me because as the money came it went - like clockwork.
The bad thing is: it wasn't paying my bills, nor was it used to safeguard minimal life necessities. It got so bad - this addiction, that my girlfriend thought it would be better if we broke up and she told me to seek all types of counseling. This is when I said I would stop. Maybe until next payday!
This cycle went on for 1 whole year, I mean it was truly an unfun roller coaster ride whose ripples I am still feeling now.
The beauty is the faster make the decision to stop the better. Don't misconstrue this because the ripples will still come but trust me an addictive lifestyle such as gambling, drugs, or whatever will always have repercussions after it is stopped. Basic universal laws.
Thank the universe and my source that my girlfriend decided to stay with me after all that. By that I mean, eviction notices on the door, bills not getting paid, lying constantly, depressed, never went out, cycle of a paranoid, fearful state. I borrowed so much money around that time to feed my addiction it was not even funny!
One night after losing a good amount of money, I came home and dashed online to a forum for gamblers and it opened my eyes! I mean, I never wanted to admit to myself how bad it has gotten but some of the stories shared were crazy example:
I just lost all my savings - and I want to die!
I left from the gamblers anonymous meeting and went straight to the casino.
Why can't I stop?
My husband is going to kill me, I keep lying about the money and I'm not paying bills!
I owe my bookie XXX amount of dollars and now he's looking for me.
I stole money from my parents.
Granted most of them were online texas holdem players but you get the gist. It was bad. But this needed to happen because what came next truly has been rewarding and I am blessed in every way and grateful for all that my creator his given me... the power is within me. I know I wasn't going to go to any counseling... that just wasn't going to happen!
At the gym one day - a sign smacked me right in the ear and i got instant goosebumps from it. Even to this day.
I was listening to music through my headphones and really not thinking about much, just pacing along. This track I listened to chorus came on and a voice said "YOU GOT A GAMBLING PROBLEM"
I stopped right away- and looked at my phone to see if the song had anything to do with that. Like maybe, I thought, the song was about gambling - who knows. Nope! To this day, I haven't listened to that song again to see if it was even there or was it truly someone/something else letting me know!
Before I go further let me give you a synopsis of my life (real quick). I started a business in 2009, it was now 2014 and I didn't have much to show for it! I was living in total fear, not taking action and certainly not putting money in it. I remember I got a letter from someone that I was working with - whom was suing me for 10 Grand for misusing a logo that I hadn't finish paying for yet. He started to not believe the random "This week.." or "I'll get it to you by the end of the month" emails. I worked in Philly, I had a business on the side (clothing brand) and I spent my time as if I was going to get any of it back. I was sleeping my life away. I didn't keep up with my family - partly due to not having enough gas to get to work AND back home to Jersey where my family lived.

• I told myself that I wouldn't make this a book but now I feel like I must give the whole story before the story-

So that day at the gym was an eye opener and now starts the beautiful part. I came home and put on the first hypnosis thing to stop gambling. It was okay. I said to myself, I am stronger than any addiction. I am strong and powerful! I am loved and blessed.
I had to first admit to myself that there was a problem to begin with and then... take responsibility for that problem. Without these two steps, I do not believe anything would have changed.
I started guided meditations which really made my girl start wondering what the hell was going on. I kept feeding my mind ALL day with the thought of how I created everything and all things are good .. and changing from a negative low life mindset to that of a success story. I meditated 3 times a day.. using different techniques.
I remember listening to Paul McKenna's Change your life in 7 days. Non stop. I mean everywhere I went it was in my ear. ( I might listen to it tonight again)
So after doing this (hold on let me grab my journal to make sure I a giving you the correct time frame)
Okay on June 4th I made the wrote about how I made the decision to stop gambling and wrote about the new person I will become. I was interested in becoming the person I was set out to be.
On June 5th I made a total of 5 entries. My journal was my FRIEND. I noted on this day to make a schedule for everything / finding my WHY and motivation. I was again diving head first into my business because I noticed within these entries noted lines from a seminar, business podcast or something I was reading. Wasted no time huh?
On the 7th I wrote that I will stay in the Philadelphia area until May 2015. Hmm I just reminded myself of it.
On the 8th is where the magic starts to happen! I kept telling myself that I need a new book, something that allows me to understand what successful person does. I was and still am into creating healthy habits by repetition and grit. Because I believe all life's creatures have to give and get. There has to be balance, therefore if I get rid of something negative such as gambling, I had to find something else then that can occupy my time. I have to fill a void with positive. I filled it with my clothing company. I filled it with LOVE. So on this day a book appeared out of nowhere and left on the break room table at my job - it was there for me. I asked and the universe works in very specific ways when intent and faith is there.
The 9th was a Monday morning. I get up and head to the living room and what do I see on the screen part of my window? A dragon fly. At first I was like "What's that thing doing there" - then I realized it was there specifically for me and didn't leave until I acknowledged its presence. I quickly looked it up and found that indeed, it WAS for me.
"When this spirit animal shows up in your life, it's an indication that it's time for change. Just like the dragon fly changes colors as it matures, you may be called to live and experience yourself differently. Stay open to the enfoldment of your journey."
I read that! And I was FILLED WITH JOY! I called everyone and let them know that the old person they knew was no longer available. They were dealing with a NEW & IMPROVED person. I believed this to be true. I walked the walk AND talked the talk. I was getting better at meditation too.
I started to focus on my breathing - new colors and shapes and vibrations would appear during meditation. I started to control my thinking or non-thinking more effectively. I started to turn ALL negative thoughts into positive thoughts. I was getting healthy (without killing myself at the gym) People noticed a change... my girlfriend was extremely happy for me and my friend and business pal asked me if it was temporary. LOL. I already know that this was it, I felt great!
On the 10th, I wrote in my journal that I was feeling great and still yet I want more..more desire ..more love..more freedom. "It takes work and I am willing" - and then another entry stated: How to apply fasting in my life.
I wanted to do everything because the power was there.
On the 11th, I had two posts both of which are for my business - one being a plan to revitalize my business and other congratulating myself because I have not gambled in a bout a week. This is about the time I got an idea for my business: Then I did something for my business that revolutionized it by giving it the jump start it needed to get going again.
The outcome was so successful: I wrote an eBook about it last month here! I think I mentioned in the book about the moving to Philly part but not the gambling part! - But what I did was only 10% strategic - the most important lesson is if you can believe it you ARE going to see it! http://www.preferredclassics.com/sell-tshirts-online-starting-brand-experience/
On the 12th - my entry said "Going to hang out with friends" AND I did! I went with a few of my old co workers to a cool place in Hoboken, NJ and we danced, drank and I had a blast. I did remember telling an old Boss of mine about what was going on with me and how I am going to overcome it. She didn't say too much that night but she sent me an email the next day and told me that she didn't take it for granted and that she respects me.
Which honestly, I was blown away I told her.
This is funny on the 13th, I wrote two journal entries, 1 of which said "Not really interested in drinking" HA! Maybe because I had a lot the night before? The other stated reasons for me being grateful and thanking source for the opportunities and doors to allow for change. Also, I recapped that my business model was working and I already sold some shirts!
15th - wrote in some business stuff with trying to 'measure' the brand
By the 18th I already started reading some books and also celebrated the 50th entry of journaling. But one entry stated that I was not in a cheery mood because the human variable (maybe meaning emotions) was still in play and my subconscious was fighting battles to stay afloat. I calmed myself quickly and changed the subject by stating that rituals and routines puts everything right bak in focus.
The 19th was just getting amped up having an awesome gym session. but the beauty is in the 20th
Mind you I had still been getting better at meditating. I have been doing it for 2-3 times a day faithfully.
On the 20th something happened. Something OUT OF THIS WORLD. I slipped into deeeeeep meditation and was alerted by sounds of long and short beeps in my right ear. Like: Beeeep beeeeep beeeeeep (tones) Then the vibration that I saw clearly in my minds eye was white and gray made up of shapes pounding against my forehead. I got out of that mediation with goosebumps.
And Even though I can continue on with awesome miracles - I gotta get in the shower but I'll give a brief run down.
On the 22nd. My selling strategy worked! and we sold out of the shirts! The brand is getting more recognition and I was happy.
The gist of all the wonderful things that happened to me, which I am forever grateful!
-Went to look for an office space in Jersey. No money in my pocket, or in the bank! (the ripple effects I mentioned before). I walked in the space and told the leasing agent that THIS ONE IS MINE. And by July i had an office space! -I started to not want to be around negative people. I actually will excuse myself fairly quickly if I find people are negative -I haven't watched any news networks since about July! My girl tries to sneak it in every now and then but overall she is happy and changing as well -I influence everyone I am around now.. with my positive lifestyle. -I keep getting little miracles like inside the shower curtain there was a beautiful imprint of a flower made strictly off the steam! I thought it was made as a pattern on the shower curtains but when I wiped it ..the flower was gone! AMAZING -I always looked up at the sun, moon and stars. I say good morning to Gaia and why I am grateful. -My home is a walking affirmation. I have affirmations on windows - in the bathroom - and on mirrors! - I truly enjoy life. -I furnished my entire office for $50.00 - I am clear to why I am here. -I started and completed an awesome project for my clothing brand. which wasn't easy and taught me a lot. - I released a Pretty Meditation t-shirt (If you like it! USE CODE: FREESHIP) on ME .. it didn't tie into any of my other releases but I needed to get it out into the world. HERE IT IS: http://www.preferredclassics.com/shop/pretty-meditation/ -My relationship and home life has gotten a lot better -I am focused beyond focused. I wrote that eBook in 3 - 4 hours. -I am LOVE + LIGHT
I really wish I could say more in detail but I must go. IF you want to reach out to me if you have any questions I am here to help anyone that wants it!
http://www.preferredclassics.com
Its funny because you can scroll through the blog posts and see EXACTLY where I turned around. Please follow and like our brand on facebook as well.
www.facebook.com/pclassicsbrand
My personal Instagram:
www.instagram.com/striz88
Remember the Pretty Meditation t-shirt!! http://www.preferredclassics.com/shop/pretty-meditation/