Sensei’s Poker Dojo

While this will probably be of no use to most of my loyal readers (thanks for being DC members, woooo!)¹, DeucesCracked is offering our videos for free viewing by anyone between now and October 4th. So if you aren’t a member yet and want to watch some high-quality poker videos, gogogo! I hope you see how awesome the videos are and decide to upgrade to a premium membership.

Free Flash Weekend!

If you’re not a poker player (Hi mom!) but are curious about what I actually do for a living, then you’ve got your chance! Our poker strategy videos may seem boring and confusing to you, but we’re definitely the best at what we do.

1. Although actually it is a good chance to remind you of the refer-a-friend program which can net you some free months! [↩]

Introductory notes for those of you who don’t play online poker: When you play a large number of hands online, poker sites will give you “frequent player points” because you are contributing many dollars in rake. Similar to comps in Vegas, you earn more points for playing more hands, and the players who put in the highest volume are rewarded with additional VIP promotions. Additionally, the sites have stores where you can spend these points on various items ranging from t-shirts and other branded trinkets to flat-screen TVs and even fancy cars. See Full Tilt Store, PokerStars Store.

Now most of the items in the store are things that I wouldn’t want, and of the remaining cool things (mostly electronics) I already own most of them. I don’t need another flat-screen TV, computer monitor, laptop, Xbox, or iPod. So my points tend to just slowly accumulate over time. However, one thing that I did not have was a nice camera, and so I spent a small portion of my points on this one:

I’ve never had an SLR camera, nor do I know the slightest thing about photography, but I figured it was about time to change both of those things. So now I’ve got one, and I’ve been asking all of my friends who have interest in photography to help me out, and I’ve started to learn some things. It is nice to have a camera capable of taking high-quality shots, and I’m enjoying learning how to use all of the intricate little features and settings to produce exactly the shot I’m looking for. Previously the largest impediment to my getting into photography was the idea that I’d be that guy behind the camera instead of the fun-having people in front of it, but I feel that with a more capable machine to work with those concerns are lessened. I’m still very much a beginner though, so if you have any useful advice on books I should read or anything else related to digital SLR photography, please let me know!

Today I invented a new poker term. Well, invented may not be the correct word. I did not actually create the term itself, I simply chose a pre-existing term from soccer that seemed to apply perfectly to a unique situation in poker.

In soccer, stoppage time is the last few minutes of a game¹, added to the clock at the referee’s discretion to make up for time lost by injuries and other delays. So in poker, stoppage time is the short series of hands that you play after the last fish leaves the table but before you have to pay the BB again. Most players probably tighten up during those hands to avoid losing any of their profits, or if they happen to be stuck (but still wise enough to leave the table when the fish are gone) they might loosen up to try and win some of it back. When I have already posted my big blind and the dead money leaves, I’ll post the SB too so that I can see whatever free hands I’ve got coming until it comes back around.

This afternoon I was fortunate enough to win decent pots in both of the 2 stoppage time hands I played, thus inspiring me to coin the term while I was relaying the results to Krantz. Huzzah!

PokerStars Game: Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball Limit ($200/$400 USD)
Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Wrasse ($16796 in chips)
Seat 3: jmonnett ($3165 in chips)
Seat 4: DJ Sensei ($15125 in chips)
DJ Sensei: posts small blind $100
Wrasse: posts big blind $200
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to DJ Sensei [As 8s 2c 4d Ad]
jmonnett: raises $200 to $400
DJ Sensei: calls $300
Wrasse: folds
*** FIRST DRAW ***
DJ Sensei: discards 2 cards [As Ad]
Dealt to DJ Sensei [8s 2c 4d] [4s 9c]
jmonnett: discards 1 card
DJ Sensei: checks
jmonnett: bets $200
DJ Sensei: calls $200
*** SECOND DRAW ***
DJ Sensei: discards 2 cards [4s 9c]
Dealt to DJ Sensei [8s 2c 4d] [Jc 3c]
jmonnett: discards 1 card
DJ Sensei: checks
jmonnett: bets $400
DJ Sensei: calls $400
*** THIRD DRAW ***
DJ Sensei: discards 1 card [Jc]
Dealt to DJ Sensei [8s 2c 4d 3c] [Ts]
jmonnett: discards 1 card
DJ Sensei: bets $400
jmonnett: folds
Uncalled bet ($400) returned to DJ Sensei
DJ Sensei collected $2198 from pot
DJ Sensei: doesn’t show hand

Seat 1: Wrasse ($16596 in chips)
Seat 3: jmonnett ($2165 in chips)
Seat 4: DJ Sensei ($16323 in chips)
Wrasse: posts small blind $100
jmonnett: posts big blind $200
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to DJ Sensei [6h 9c 4s 2d Qh]
DJ Sensei: raises $200 to $400
Wrasse: folds
jmonnett: calls $200
*** FIRST DRAW ***
jmonnett: discards 3 cards
DJ Sensei: discards 2 cards [9c Qh]
Dealt to DJ Sensei [6h 4s 2d] [4c 3d]
jmonnett: checks
DJ Sensei: bets $200
jmonnett: calls $200
*** SECOND DRAW ***
jmonnett: discards 2 cards
DJ Sensei: discards 1 card [4s]
Dealt to DJ Sensei [6h 2d 4c 3d] [Qc]
jmonnett: checks
DJ Sensei: bets $400
jmonnett: calls $400
*** THIRD DRAW ***
jmonnett: discards 1 card
DJ Sensei: discards 1 card [Qc]
Dealt to DJ Sensei [6h 2d 4c 3d] [3c]
jmonnett: checks
DJ Sensei: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jmonnett: shows [5d 3h 5h 7d 2c] (Lo: a pair of Fives)
DJ Sensei: shows [6h 4c 3c 2d 3d] (Lo: a pair of Threes)
DJ Sensei collected $2098 from pot
DJ Sensei is sitting out

1. or, more accurately, a half [↩]

Finally, the long wait is over and real sports are back! No more boring baseball or unwatchable WNBA clogging up my HDTV. I can’t say I’m particularly optimistic about my Jaguars this year, but they have a chance. I just hope they get off to a good start and don’t suffer any serious injuries. As for my fantasy team, I am much more optimistic this year than usual. For one, I watched Joe Tall’s video on fantasy football drafting and thus had a better idea of what I was actually supposed to be doing. I actually participated in the draft this time too, instead of letting the computer auto-draft for me because I was off doing something else at the time. For your consideration, here is my team (in the order that I drafted them):

LaDainian Tomlinson, RB, San Diego*
Clinton Portis, RB, Washington*
Terrell Owens, WR, Buffalo*
Brandon Marshall, WR, Denver*
Philip Rivers, QB, San Diego*
Jonathan Stewart, RB, Carolina
Owen Daniels, TE, Houston*
DeSean Jackson, WR, Philadelphia*
Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh
Donald Driver, WR, Green Bay
Philadelphia Defense/Special Teams*
Neil Rackers, K, Arizona*
Sammy Morris, RB, New England
John Carlson, TE, Seattle
Chicago Defense/Special Teams
Josh Scobee, K, Jacksonville
(* – week 1 starters)

Feel free to heckle my team, but I probably won’t be able to hear it behind my massive championship trophy or above the cheers of my adoring fans.