Poker Tournament

[ctrl-alt-delete]

How many of you would be interested in a monthly poker tournament between members?

I'm unsure of what format it would take. Zynga on FB is most likely, but it continues to get more and more annoying with ads and bloat.

I think it'd be fun though. If we wanted, we could even do it for small amounts of money. (All players put $10 or so into a single Paypal which distributes the money to the victor.)

[Gleeok]

I'm game. Now we just need another 4-7 people.

[Nimono]

That would be fun, but I have neither a Facebook nor PayPal account. :/

[Beldaran]

Zynga is high on my list of companies whose products I will never use.

[Brasel]

I never really understood the zynga hate. I'm not really a fan of their games or anything, so I'm not real knowledgeable about them outside of that they make crappy Facebook games.
I looked them up on Wikipedia and read the controversies section. Wow. What a bunch of dick heads.

[erm2003]

Does Poker Stars still allow people to create private rooms through their software? I thought I remember that being an option a long time ago. There is probably also a way to create a private room through yahoo games if that still works well. Not sure if they allow no limit though. Maybe there are other options too.

[NewJourneysFire]

I'm a huge poker fan. I'm in.

But I don't play with real money online, too many scams around. But I have an account on Pokerking Texas holdem

[ctrl-alt-delete]

I'm a huge poker fan. I'm in.

But I don't play with real money online, too many scams around. But I have an account on Pokerking Texas holdem

Does it allow for private tables? I'll do some research later if nobody else can, but private table would be good.

[NewJourneysFire]

I just checked, it does offer VIP tables at many different buy in values.

It's all play money, I don't like gambling online with real money so it's a personal choice.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

Anybody that is legitimately interested might check out that site or offer up alternative suggestions. We'll try to get a game scheduled for Saturday the 20th or so.

[Glitch]

I'm game. Only for real money though, people don't play the same if it's not real money.

Hit me up on FB with the details, Kolt. I'll probably forget I even replied to this thread.

[NewJourneysFire]

The problem with real money is that playing online has always been a controversial business. We are not certain if the cards being dealt are as random as they claim. I heard a Zynga player lost with a 4 of a kind aces to a supposed "pro" who had nothing. What happened? The pro called him, and conveniently landed the two perfect cards on the turn and river to get a royal flush. In a real game of poker, chances of beating a 4 of a kind with a royal flush is like winning the lottery, most players simply won't call.

I heard read in many sources that online poker is rigged in such a way that it favors interesting hands and encourages more showdowns. As in it is very often you'll get a straight while your opponent gets a flush, because both of you have great hands that psychologically are difficult to give up.

Now these accusations are just controversies, and are therefore often taken as so, just excuses for our losses, but that to me is a good enough reason to not play with real money.

Also, I've played alot of games with play money, and I learned two or three things.

1: People are less likely to cheat to earn play money.
2: Any RPG gamer can tell you how real fake currency feels. I finds it's instinct to play as if the money is real.
3: Sometimes you'll see a lunatic join the table who goes all-in on the table every match before the flop, but you're not the only one who finds them annoying. Most people finds another table, and still continue playing as if it's real currency.

[NewJourneysFire]

Bleh, I just did some research, pokerking seems rigged too. I found it odd that a nice few too many players scored a royal flush in less than a thousand hands. So I researched the real statistics of getting a royal flush and the real statistics is around 1 in 2 million. But yet the average online player can pull this amazing rare hand in just a few thousand hands.

So much for poker having a strategy. :)

[Gleeok]

Bleh, I just did some research, pokerking seems rigged too. I found it odd that a nice few too many players scored a royal flush in less than a thousand hands. So I researched the real statistics of getting a royal flush and the real statistics is around 1 in 2 million. But yet the average online player can pull this amazing rare hand in just a few thousand hands.

So much for poker having a strategy. :)

The base odds of a royal flush in a five card hand should be (5/52 * 4/51 * 3/50 * 2/49 * 1/48) / 4, or approximately 1 in 649,740 - not 1 or2 million; this number is clearly wrong by the given mathematical proof. However in hold-em there are seven cards, not five, so it's a little easier to get: about 1 in 40000 or so (disclaimer: rough estimate). Something else that's interesting is that people are less likely to fold high suited cards before the flop, and especially after the flop brings about draws like a straight flush or even a made hand with a redraw to a straight flush/royal. (These types of hands can get people foaming at the mouth, even with play money.)

So the question becomes; what is the probability of someone that plays up to 1000 hands of hold-em getting a hand that normally occurs 1 in every 40000 hands, and how many out of every 100 people will achieve this? ;)

(Not saying that some sites cannot be rigged, however)


It also sounds like real money is out, which is no big deal since we can do a tournament type structure or similar to prevent endless re-buys or idiotic/no-risk play. The winner would get bragging rights.

[NewJourneysFire]

Gleeok, good argument there. I am very impressed.

Simply having respect for each other and the game should be enough to have a fun game without those idiotic behaviors, but unfortunately, it is not, so I respect those choice in rules.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

I'm down for whatever. We could always make another sig image!

[Gleeok]

I used to play on Full-Tilt years ago. They always had excess tables for the "Sit 'n Go" type formats (Single-Table Tourny that starts whenever the table is full) where there was always completely empty tables most of the time IIRC. I'm sure Poker Stars and the other sites have something similar?

[NewJourneysFire]

Well, let's make a vote, the leading argument here is deciding to play with real money or not.

1: Real Money (if we're all being scammed by online poker, we're all in the same boat anyhow)
2: Play Chips (Psychologically proven to be no different than real money, and a friendlier approach)

[NewJourneysFire]

I'm up for a game tonight for fun, I'll be playing on GeaxGame Texas Holdem Poker, you can add me by email [email protected]

[NewJourneysFire]

Expressing my interest in this poker tournament, therefore I am reviving this topic.

On a random note about poker. I owned the table the other night, and some feller who lost it all just randomly called me an idiot and a fag 50 times, everybody else told him to stfu. I want to influence a fun game, and avoid any negative karma.

I love poker, and I play to win. I play fair, but I play smart, I trust my strategy because it works, and I take anyone on for a challenge, but I do respect good sportsmanship, and I do enjoy good showdowns, even if I lose them.

Who's game?

[ctrl-alt-delete]

I'm good for a week from tomorrow night. Who else?

[Gleeok]

Nights work best for me.

What client are we using? So far we have zynga hate (seconded), poker stars, and full-tilt mentioned.