JesAnne's blog

All-In Pre-Flops Drive Me To The Doctor

I recently had surgery, and as a result, have not been able to go out and play much poker or visit any casinos. Instead, I sit at home – all day – leaving only for the occasional physical therapy session. While there are definitely perks to this “forced laziness”, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t be doing it.

I’ve been playing a lot of poker online, and it’s been ok. I’m not playing for any “real” money, but I’ve increased my stash by about 50k, so I’m pretty happy about that. I try to limit my playing time, simply because I’ve grown completely annoyed with how some people play.

Texas Hold'em Is Taking Over

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I love playing poker, and I love all kinds of poker. I’ll play it all: Stud, Pai Gow, and heck, I even like Crazy Pineapple.

I’ll also repeat that I love playing with friends, and while that’s probably my favorite, I really do enjoy playing at tournaments. The problem is, all you can ever find are Texas Hold’em tournaments – and it drives me insane!

Obviously when you go to a casino you’ll be able to find tables of other poker variations, but it’s very difficult to find actual tournaments of games besides Hold’em. If you look hard enough, you can occasionally find a tournament of another variation, but the cost to buy in is usually too great, or the pay out too small, or the number of people too few; It hardly makes the search worth it!

No Kandu In Kansas

The variation took flight in Kansas poker rooms. Known as "Kandu", this variation of Texas Hold'em allows players to see the order of the cards before they're played. However, judges in Wichita, Kansas, have recently said this violates the state’s anti-gambling laws, and has banned the game from being played at APL tournaments, and other game rooms, as well.

Kansas already pushes the rules by having people rent a "chair", as opposed to actually buying into a hand. Typically, there are two tables of Kandu that are played at the back of the room as people get booted from other games. Other restaurants have Kandu played at all times. However, the game has been shut down in a cease-and-desist order at every poker hall in the state.

New Casino Game Gaining In Popularity: Find The Poker Room

In the last 3 weeks, I’ve made my way into about twelve different casinos. From Michigan, to Missouri, I’ve played everything from Roulette to Blackjack; Poker to Slots.

Some of the casinos that I hadn’t been to in a while had gone through some dramatic changes. Specifically, the one thing I noticed the most was the addition or moving of the poker rooms. If the casino hadn’t had one, they now did – and if they did have one, it was now hidden. Yes, hidden.

At one particular casino, I had to finally ask where it was moved to: Upstairs, around the corner, behind the door in the opposite corner.

Harrah's Is Horrible!

It seems like lately, not matter what casino I’ve gone to, I’ve had some pretty bad experiences. However, recently I stepped foot into the Harrah’s Casino in North Kansas City, and I have to tell you – Harrah’s is horrible!

I’ve been to other Harrah’s casinos before. While I don’t think they’re the best casinos in the world, I have no problem going to them, and have found them enjoyable. I would have never consciously planned a trip JUST to visit a Harrah’s, and that’s even more accurate after my last Harrah’s visit.

Poker Ashes 2009 - From the Field to the Felt

For over 130 years, Australia and England have competed against each other on the field – the cricket field. And now, they’re taking it to the felt.

888.com is having their annual “Poker Ashes” Tournament starting July 15th, 2009. The term “Ashes” is in reference to the long standing cricket competition between the two countries. The premise takes cricket and poker players from both countries and plays them against each other. Teams play one on one, no limit, Texas Hold'em hands against each other and each winning hand counts as a point. In the end, the team with the most points wins a donation to the charity of their choice.

Family Fun Poker - #3

Recently, my nephew turned five and we took him to one of those children’s fun play places that are owned by a monkey, a rabbit, a mouse, or some other ridiculous animal.

There were three of us adults, for the single five-year-old child. Adults got to ride free, with the child, and since it was slow, all of us adults got to ride. Honestly, I think there were times that we had more fun than Xander did.

However, in addition to rides, Xander got excited every time he saw those bright yellow tickets come out of those machines. I don’t know if he realized how much it was costing to get just a few tickets, to turn into a few dollar store prizes, but his excitement was contagious, and pretty soon all of us were on the mission to get as many tickets as possible.

Soaring Eagle's Poker Tables Don't Even Get Off The Ground...

As previously mentioned, I just spent some time up at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. The trip started out kind of rocky: We got to our room and there was a giant wad of gum on the remote control; we were told there was a kitchenette in our room, and there wasn't, the list goes on. It was mildly rectified when we called down to the front desk and they not only brought a new remote, but gave us a refrigerator, too.

Walking Away - In The Middle Of A Hand????

He had to have been the stupidest casino worker I’ve ever met.

We had been at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, for several hours.** We were curious if any poker tournaments were going on: There weren’t. We were also checking to see if they were only offering Hold’em, at the time, whether they were Limit or No Limit, and what other variations they had going: Pai Gow being my favorite.

While all the tables were maxed out and full, there didn’t seem to be a lot being offered at the time. Two tables of No Limit, and one of Limit, and that was really it. The lady in front of us had asked to join a table, and wasn’t able to, and with the two of us asking, they could have easily moved two other people to start a fourth table – but they didn’t. My friend, Greg, who had joined me on my journey to this casino, had wanted to play one hand, at one table, at one casino, just to say he had. And I, personally, really wanted to see him do this.

Family Fun Poker #2: A 10-Year-Old Kicked My...

A 10-year-old just kicked my ass in poker. Worse than the fact that she is young, is the fact that she’s my cousin, and I’m the one that taught her how to play.

Still on my Michigan “Vacation”, I’ve been spending a lot of time with my cousins. My aunt is planning a trip to a casino soon, so I was helping her bone up on her Blackjack. Slowly, my cousins started to join in, too. Pretty soon, my aunt was gone, all four girl cousins were there (ages 16, 15, 13 & 10) and we were playing Hold’em. I was thrilled to be the one to teach them the game!

I started by walking them through the rankings of cards: High Card, Pair, Two Pair, etc. Then we played five hands with cards face up, walking them through what would be best based on the situation. Then we played two hands where we had hid our cards until the end – and then we played for “keeps” with pennies. It was awesome.