While we patiently await our poker pilgrimage, we try to explore new poker rooms and parts of the country whenever we can. Last winter we visited South Florida and Key West. This month we will be visiting the Tampa Bay area. And hopefully later this year we will have some time to check out the Philadelphia poker scene. We have perfected a system for identifying areas we would like to visit, researching them, and planning our poker vacation. So here we present the best way to plan a poker vacation. Read More
Author: Heather
CardsChat Interview with Debi O’Neill
CardsChat offers a variety of services to recreational poker players including news, resources, and a wonderfully friendly online forum. This week we had the pleasure of speaking with CardsChat’s long-time Forum Administrator Debi O’Neill. We interviewed Debi to learn more about the site’s offerings and about future directions for CardsChat.
Interview with Debi O’Neill of CardsChat
Heather: CardsChat has been around for about 15 years now, is that correct? Tells us a bit about the history of CardsChat? How was it conceived and by whom?
Debi: Yes, we celebrated our 15-year anniversary this past September! CardsChat was launched in 2004 by Nicholas Kisberg, it was right before the big poker boom when online poker was in its early stages. Players were looking for places to discuss poker and Nick wanted to provide them with a great site for that, where a friendly poker community could be formed.
How to Negotiate the Best Poker Chop
After hours of grinding through a 230 person tournament, you find yourself at the final table with a huge stack. Only five other players remain. One of the middle stacks says “anybody want to chop?” What do you do? Do you flatly refuse (and risk looking like a jerk)? Say “sure” and let the pot be evenly divided despite your 2 to 1 chip advantage on the second stack and two other players sucking oxygen? Or do you find a better way? How do you negotiate the best poker chop?
I recently found myself in exactly this enviable position at the Playground Poker Club outside of Montreal. The experience led Paul and me into our four thousandth discussion about chopping poker tournaments. While there’s no single right answer, we have some rules of thumb for negotiating the best poker chop in various situations.
5 Best Poker Apps for Recreational Players
Although we’re both likely past the midpoint of our lives, Paul and I both are dependent on our smartphones. I wish I could resist checking email (and the news) better than I do. But I love the knowledge that my smartphone brings to my fingertips. I have apps for the weather, apps for checking on my bank account, games, and, of course, poker apps. There are a lot of good poker apps out there, but a few are particularly helpful for players like us. We often travel to play poker, and are always looking for information about the best cardrooms, tools to help us track our game, and tools to help us play better. We have found the following apps to be the 5 best poker apps for recreational players.
Poker Pilgrims 8 Most Popular Posts of 2019
As we approach the holidays, we look back at our second full year of sharing our experiences with poker, travel and life in general. We are very excited to have introduced our poker cash table counts this year. A lot of work goes into tracking tables, but we are committed to continue this work and to eventually cover most of the poker rooms in the country, region by region. We also added eleven room reviews this year and updated three reviews (Greyhound Casino at Seabrook Park, Mohegan Sun, and Foxwoods) for rooms that had significant renovations.
Meanwhile, our travels brought us to Miami, the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and, of course, Las Vegas. We threw down over cruising, sugar detoxes, and tag team poker tournaments. At year’s end, we are both energized by our 2019 adventures and excited to see what 2020 will bring. But without further ado, here are our 8 most popular posts of 2019.