Category: Throwdown Thursday

We are now eight months deep into this current pokerless void, and something must be done. As we have mentioned before, we were very fortunate to be on a poker trip to Tampa Bay when the world stopped spinning. I believe we got in exactly one tournament back home in early March before the world REALLY shut down. And since… crickets. While our neighboring New Hampshire opened their poker rooms over the summer, we have not been in a position to enjoy the live game, and likely won’t be for months yet. Which brings us to online poker.

Paul and I both played online poker before Black Friday, and Paul recently wrote a heartfelt plea for all states to make it legal once again. Recently, we have had some opportunities to play on the Pokerstars home game site. Paul is so happy to get back to some form of poker (any form of poker) that he would play daily if he could. I, frankly, hate it. So we thought, what better topic for a Throwdown Thursday. Online poker: love it or hate it?

First up is Paul, lover of all things digital.

Paul: Playing vs. not playing at all seems like a no-brainer. Live or online: you play your cards, track your opponents’ tendencies, and come up with the best strategy to win. Seems like the same process to me, absent the occasional political discussion that makes me put my headphones on.

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A few months ago, Heather and I debated the merits of playing in the World Series of Poker Tag Team event. We ended up deciding that the costs and risks didn’t make sense.  But as we were planning our Las Vegas trip and the poker tournaments we would consider, we stumbled upon a much less expensive tag team tournament at Planet Hollywood.

The significantly lower cost and “switch” element had Heather intrigued once more and me returning to a foetal position pleading “don’t make me!”.  Instead of playing one stack of chips and alternating players at will, the “switch” aspect means we each get a stack. When the tournament director announces “switch,” we trade seats and play the other’s existing stack. Basically this now doubles the chance that Heather will view me as a moron by tournament end.

So, of course, we’re signing up for this, because why not; except for all the reasons I listed in January. So the following is our live throwdown of this event.

Pre-Game Jitters

Paul: I am very concerned that we will not be speaking to each other by this evening.

Heather: It’s simple.  Just don’t blow off my stack.

Paul: Even when playing my brilliant, sophisticated game, bad luck happens. AA gets cracked. Which by the way will be my story no matter how I bust out. I may pay off my table-mates to confirm this.

Heather: If anyone tells me that my husband lost my stack playing 7-10 suited, you’d better run for the hills.

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This summer, Paul and I are going to be in Las Vegas to do some work for Advanced Poker Training at the same time that the WSOP tag team event is running. For $1,000, teams of 2 to 4 players can enter this event and each participant can play as much or as little as they like. I think that the tag team poker event would be a great way for us to enter a WSOP bracelet event. Last summer when we were in Vegas we played a couple of Daily Deepstack events, but the bracelet event buy-ins (mostly over $1,000 per person) are generally a bit too rich for our blood. Instead, we played a few of the wealth of other tournaments across the city that piggyback on the WSOP’s popularity.

I think the thrill of working together to play a WSOP bracelet event would be incredible. Paul doesn’t quite see it that way, and has taken to referring to the tag team poker event as “The Divorcemaker.”

Paul: You can’t even stand being at the same table as me when we play as individuals! Watching me play 4-7 suited hands causes you involuntary neck spasms. And apparently brings on some sort of Sudden Onset Tourette’s Syndrome.

Heather: I certainly don’t plan to watch you play. That’s for sure. I figure you can play the early hands where a wider range is appropriate and I can take over when the real poker starts.

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