I played another private game at Venetian. I won 18k during a Wednesday session, came back and played today and tried to just cash out 10k and they would not let me. They said I need to talk to their director of operations before I can cash out any 5k chips. New policy for this private game. Sounds like a load of bullshit 🤷‍♂️

Finally
My first royal flush

The Truth is Out!

Played a 300$ buy- in last weekend. I reached at the last level of registration and as I gave the staff the money, I noticed I didn’t have the casino card on, so the same staff printed a new one for me ; while holding my cash.
He moved in to the second screen to print the tournament seat and ticket and invited me in, when another angry guy that was waiting for all of 15 secs, . Loooked at me and said “ am actually in front of you sir, wait in line “
Me and the staff tried telling him that I was in fact in front and was printing a ticket. But he kept getting angrier and blurted. “I hope you get knocked out in the first hand.”
I said good luck to you too and went to find my seat.
And surprise first hand I get Ak… shove my 15 bigs and get called by JJ and lose.

After a couple of mins thought , I said what the heck and rebought.
And luck was on my side. I cracked aces with 88, and then had a heater along with soft tables.
5-6 hours later was at the FT. And chip leader.
Who was there? Still having a scowl while looking at me, the angry dude who also sported a big stack. And he said “am gonna bust u fucker”
And kept trying to 3 bet me and get into pots with me.
I laid down a couple of marginal hands. But then I flatted a hand he was involved in with JT suited , flopped the Straight, and he kept betting big like crazy on a dry board.
He dumped 60 bigs…. And he had a low pair🤣🤣🤣

He Went out 7th and kept mouthing mfer along with other stuff .

Whole table exploded with laughter and applauds . Seems he made a lot of enemies.

I chopped 3 ways and got like a few hundreds away from first.
And I was almost gunning it to the parking after that first bust out.
Poker

Cash home game, PLO double bomb pot. Went to the river, heads up, villain goes all in and covers me. I tank for a bit and consider folding. Villain then breaks the silence and says he completely missed the second board. Not fully on board so I asked explicitly “you sure you’ve got nothing?”. Villain follows up with “absolutely nothing, not even a pair”. I reluctantly flick in a call. Villain tables and says “sorry I lied” and scoops.

Thoughts?

I’m a regular at this 1/3 private game which is fun all and all. Free drinks, food, etc good vibes. But it plays pretty big 800 max + 75% MTS so it’ll get pretty deep especially with max Dallas straddle going up to $25.

Essentially we have a BTN straddle on for $10
Player A (who is the complainer) in this scenario decides to limp UTG.
MP opens to $45, few players in LP calls
And now the UTG limper (player A) decides to 3! Squeeze to $300.

The dealer decides to announce “limp raise to $300” in a joking way
Now we all know Player A limp raised cause we’re aware of the action that he’s first to act pre. But the player called the dealer out saying, “why would you say that”.

The dealer then proceeded to apologize saying “I’m sorry it wasn’t my intention to screw you over, it was just in the moment”. Player A was angry though and started berating him.

Majority of the table started laughing but he was the only one that was furious. The whole table ended up folding and man what do you know! He tables AA and proceeds to say the dealer fucked up his action.

I personally defended the dealer saying, “we all saw you limped UTG we’re not stupid you don’t gotta say that to the dealer though”.

He just had a huge grudge towards the dealer for the rest of the night and stopped tipping everytime he’d win. But I was lowkey calling him out saying “it’s okay he can’t afford to tip I’ll just do it for him, he needs the money more than we do”

I mean personally, I don’t have anything against it cause I’m socially aware on what’s happening and even if it happened to me, I’d laugh and move on. One time I even announced myself I was “check raising”.

Is the dealer in the wrong here or the player? Should I even have said anything or just kept myself out of it?

$1/$2 live, $200 effective against SB (loose recreational player), ~$500 against MP (fairly straightforward player).

Hero opens AA to $15 UTG. MP and SB call.

Flop ($45): 9♠6♣6♦
SB checks, Hero c-bets $25, MP calls, SB calls.

Turn ($120): K♥
SB checks. Hero?

I’m genuinely torn between betting again for value/protection and checking.

On one hand, we’re still ahead of plenty of their flop calling ranges: 9x, 77–88, 87, etc. SB is relatively short, and I don’t particularly want to give hands like 87 a free shot at making a straight.

On the other hand, how much worse actually calls a second barrel here, especially three ways?

The K is a pretty terrible card for extracting value from 9x. I expect a straightforward MP to fold hands like T9/J9 fairly often if I bet $50–60 again. Smaller pocket pairs probably fold too.

Meanwhile, 6x obviously never folds, and we’re just building a pot against hands that crush us. SB being short makes it even more awkward because a bet could potentially commit us against him.

So betting feels like it might accomplish the opposite of what we want: folding out much of the range we’re beating while getting continued action from the strongest hands and some draws.

But checking also feels overly passive with AA against two recreational players, especially when there are hands with meaningful equity that we’d like to charge.

Are you betting ~$40–60 for thin value/protection, and folding to MP’s raise, or checking to keep their ranges wide and potentially extract value on safe rivers?

And if we do bet and get a call from MP, do we just check/fold river unimproved?

And if you check, what’s your plan when MP bets the turn or someone leads a blank river?
Curious whether people think this is a straightforward second barrel or a spot where pot control actually makes more sense despite having AA.

I’ve been playing online poker and home games with friends for the past 4 years, even taken some time to learn a lot of GTO. Ive recently turned 21 which is the legal gambling age in my country. Now I’m planning to visit my local casino/poker club for the first time, but I’ve never actually played in a proper live poker room before.

So let’s say, boom i get there…. what then?
Do I go to a cashier first, register with someone, get on a waiting list, or just walk up to a table? What’s the usual process from the moment you enter the room to actually sitting down and playing?

I’d also appreciate any common house rules, unwritten etiquette, or things that might be obvious to regulars but aren’t necessarily obvious to someone coming from online and home games.

I don’t want to accidentally commit some etiquette violation or look completely clueless on my first day lol. I’m familiar with the game itself, but the live poker room experience is completely new to me.

And yes, I’ll tip the dealer.

Any advice from people who’ve played in live cash games, especially things you wish you’d known before your first session, would be appreciated

Are the pocket jack curses true ? I have seen most people agree with it. Share your opinions and your curse stories

This situation has come up a few times now at my local cardroom, and no one seems to agree on how to handle it. The room also currently doesn't have a full time manager, and the floor people are hesitant to make a concrete ruling.

The game I play has been starting earlier and earlier, as players have had to arrive early to get a seat. This has caused frustration among the players, as the people that didn't get a seat now have to wait, often for hours until a seat opens, or a must move starts. The must moves are often shorthanded, which further frustrates these players. There are often a few action players on the list that people want to play with, so there is an incentive to get them in the game.

We play spread limit, with blinds of 5/5, and a $100 max bet. I would say about 60% of hands are straddled. Pots often get pretty big, so adding the straddle doesn't affect the final pot size all that much, but in a bad game, it can be useful. Generally though, there isn't much of a difference between the 5/5 game, and the 5/5/10 mandatory straddle game.

The first incident was on one of the days that the 5/5 was running, and several people on the waiting list decided to ask the floor to start a 5/5/10 mandatory straddle game, in the hopes that it would start up, and people from the 5/5 would come over, while breaking the 5/5. The 5/5 players were not asked if they wanted to play the 5/5/10. The table opened, and the players that were quickest moved their chips over, leaving the remaining 5/5 players without a game. They weren't asked if they wanted a seat at the new game, or given the option to change their game to 5/5/10, with the new game being a must move. The argument on one side was that it was a blatant attempt of the people on the waiting list to cut the line, and get a hand picked lineup, as a few of the 5/5 players were given a heads up that the new table would be opening, while other players had no idea. The argument on the other side was that it was good for everyone if the action players that were waiting to get in the game now had seats, and that players should be allowed to play with people they wanted to play with, and making them play with nits/pros isn't fair.

The second incident was today. The game, which is now always 5/5/10 was running, and several people from the first incident were on the waiting list again. They decided to start a 10/20 game, and asked an inexperienced floor person to start the game. This particular floor person isn't normally making rulings, and is basically a cashier and brush. The regular floor wasn't there. This individual doesn't really understand the nuances of the different games, and was persuaded by the players that a 10/20 game with a $100 max best was different than the current 5/5/10 $100 max bet game, so the game opened, and sure enough, several players from the 5/5/10 joined it, leaving the 5/5/10 short. There was on open seat for a while at the 10/20, but we all thought it was unfair to break our game, which had several regulars that showed up early to get a seat, so we had an unspoken agreement that none of us would go to the new game, and we'd try to keep the 5/5/10 going, despite the other game being better. We felt that it was unfair to people in the 5/5/10, that there game would be broken, so we did what we thought was the right thing for the long term health of the game, by staying put. We were not given the option to change our game to the 10/20 main game with the new game being a must move, with the reasoning that the games were different. The first game has $20 in blinds, and the new game has $30, but since it's spread limit, they play very similarly. Several of the players in the 5/5/10 were regulars and were very pissed off by what happened.

How should the poker room handle this? Should this be viewed as a blatant attempt by people on the waiting list to cut the line, or should the poker take the stance that getting the action players in the game is worth it, and the players should have the freedom to start new games, even if an existing, very similar game, will probably break? If you're a player, do you prioritize the long term health of the game, or do you do what's better in the moment? It was correctly pointed out that there was a seat open in the 10/20 for at least 30 minutes. Any one of us could have grabbed it. I felt that staying in the current game was the right thing to do, and that leaving and breaking the game was unfair to the regulars that would now be without a seat.

Hello,

I used to play competitive tournament chess, but moved away from the tournament scene and started studying a bit of poker now. In a few months after some more study I may try a bit more in person tables, I've only played 2 tables in person so far.

I was curious though, because in Chess, I felt like I got to exercise a bit of a creative muscle, when I found a really interesting move, or a combination or tactic, that some players would not have been able to find. And that came with a rush. Would I get a feeling like that while playing Poker?

Maybe it would be like a Hero call situation, or Hero fold situation where I am able to get away from a bad spot, or something like that?

Also, the mental strain of tournament chess was kind of the main thing that pushed me away from the game. Would you say poker is less mentally strenuous? Maybe a bit less so, but a bit more frustrating when you make the right play, but the cards don't follow the stats? haha

Would love to hear the pros and cons of people who have been in both arenas.

Thanks.

What does this guy look like in your room? In mine it's always an older guy with a mustache who has to let you know he folded the winner

I have no one in my life to talk about this with.

I've enjoyed watching Palma play cash on live streams, and for awhile I wasn't sure if I was rooting for him or against him. But in a world of emotionless pros, I'm happy to see some life brought back into the game. And in Poker Masters 2026 Event #2 I was rooting for him because he was the only one having fun, talking, joking, laughing, (and complaining) plus I wasn't sure why David Coleman was being a jerk to him, but that made me root for Nicky "Parm" even more, and I'm glad he took it down.

Anyway the posted link is at the just before the river, if you want the full hand it starts here: https://www.youtube.com/live/Ycwi0TIlbkg?si=MqSnbQWKE2ZZUF7h&t=16161

I recently turned 21, and I’m going to a casino with my buddies. I play poker with friends regularly, but it’s normally just each player gets 2 cards, 3 flop immediately then the 2 river cards. Is that kind of poker the same in a casino? What else should I expect - look forward too?

Pre flop heads up, Player A had pocket Queens and Player B had Pocket Aces, Player B bets out $100 and Player A goes all in, Player B calls, both hands were table but the dealer accidentally mucked Player B's pocket Aces. Floor manager ruling was because both hands were table and it was an all-in scenario, both hands were live regardless if it was muck or not. Player B dont remember what Pocket Aces he had, so floor manager checked surveillance to find out which two Aces were table. When the floor manager went to retrieve the Aces from the muck, it turns out the Aces wasnt in the muck and it was mix with the main deck. Because the Aces wasnt in the muck and they couldnt retrieve it. Floor manager ruling was Player B get back his $100 bet and both players just chop the pot. Should the floor have gone through the stub to pull out the Aces and run out the board, even if it meant reshuffling?

UTG: whale, covers table

MP: just bought in, $245 effective

BTN: Hero w/ $460 to start hand.

UTG raises to $40 after 1/3/6 straddle. MP calls $40. BTN (hero) 3! to $200

both call, $600 in pot.

flop is T73r

UTG leads for $300, MP calls.

Hero has AKo with $260 behind.

This is a snap call right?

Recently I have switched from NlH to PLO 4, and its going alright(around breakeven right now). But one thing that is super annoying is I find that after a hand, I don't really have a way to review it and see what the correct decision was.

I play online where pots are nearly always multiway, so the solver doesn't work for that.

Is there any other way to review hands?

1. GG asks for USDC deposit to a USDC(Ethereum) wallet.
2. Numerous casual crypto users confused by the name send ETH.
3. The ETH is never credited to their GG account.
4. The players contact support and find out that the funds are "unrecoverable".
5. In reality, the ETH arrives in the USDC account because it is just an ETH wallet. The USDC part only being that the system looks for USDC and not for ETH in that wallet.
6. The ETH is then transferred by GG (directly or through their payment provider) to a bigger wallet.
7. The player funds are never credited or returned, but GG has them.

I have heard from GG that this has happened to many players, and personally confirmed one example (using Etherscan) where they received and then moved the ETH, while telling the player it was not recoverable. I have also been informed that GG staff asked management to stop labeling the USDC wallet "USDC(Ethereum)" as that confuses some people, but they made no changes and some players continue to be confused.

Sometimes, crypto might be lost in a transaction, but this is just stolen as far as I can tell.

Incidentally, if a payment provider refuses to fix the problem, or GG tries to pass the buck, regulators and the law say GG is responsible.

Its been like this for years. I always have some hope when I allow the pokerstars software to update itself.

The poker part of the platform is usually ok.

But Heaven forbid you want to use the Casino part of the platform. Even to just try to open a chest , or open the daily wheel spin or use free casino spins. Doesnt load, crashes, tells you out of the blue youve logged in on another device and therefore you've been logged out etc.

Its trash 🗑

I've been playing MTTs for several months, and things have been going pretty well so far. I'm currently playing ABI 5 and considering moving up to ABI 10.

I only play on Winamax at the moment (I'm from Spain), but I'm about to move to the Netherlands, and I've noticed that my options for playing online poker seem quite limited. I won't have access to Winamax or PokerStars, which are the two sites I play on the most.

I've also been looking into GGPoker, which I know is a well-known platform, but it seems that players in the Netherlands have to use GGPoker.nl.

Does this mean I'd be playing in a separate player pool, against different opponents, from those playing on GGPoker.com? I know GGPoker has a huge player base, but I don't really understand how the platform works in the Netherlands, especially when it comes to MTTs with low buy-ins.

I'd love to keep playing on Winamax, so I've also wondered whether using a VPN would be an option, but I'm not sure how risky that would be or whether it would violate their terms of service.

For anyone currently playing online poker from the Netherlands: Which sites do you use, and how is the MTT schedule and traffic at the micro/low stakes? Any advice would be much appreciated!

$1/2, 8-way double-board NLHE bomb pot, $5 each, $750 effective.

Villain is a recreational calling station who isn’t particularly inclined to fold strong-looking hands, even when they might be in bad shape.

Hero is BTN with T♥9♦.

Flops ($40):
Board 1: Q♠ J♠ 8♦
Board 2: K♦ T♠ 4♣
Hero flops the nut straight on board 1 and middle pair on board 2.

UTG+2 bets $40, MP calls, Hero raises to $150. UTG+2 calls, MP folds.

Turns ($380):
Board 1: 3♣
Board 2: 4♦
UTG+2 checks.
Hero jams $600 into $380.
My thinking was that I wanted to apply maximum pressure to hands that might have me chopping, while also getting value from hands I’m currently scooping.
Villain is a station, so I expect him to continue with hands like QJ, QQ, JJ and 88, some of which I’m currently beating on both boards.

I’m not expecting him to fold those hands just because I overjam.

At the same time, there are obviously hands that have me beaten on board 2, meaning I’m potentially risking a huge amount just to chop, or worse, getting freerolled.

Is raising the flop to $150 a mistake when I only have the nuts on one board? Should I just flat the $40?

On the turn, is the $600 overjam reasonable against a calling station, or am I massively overplaying a hand that’s often only entitled to half the pot?

How much does his willingness to stack off with sets and two pair on board 1 change the calculation?
Would you prefer checking back the turn and navigating rivers, or is fast-playing better when there are so many possible redraws?

Results:
Villain snap-calls with K♠9♠.
He has kings and fours on board 2, plus a spade flush draw on board 1, so he’s freerolling me for the scoop.
Both rivers brick and we chop.

MP also mentioned afterward that he’d folded a spade draw on the flop.

I’m trying to figure out whether the turn jam was fundamentally bad or just happened to run into the wrong part of a station’s calling range.

Started with Kc Jc 9c 8h 3h.

Pretty straightforward 3 clubs on the bottom and 83hh in the middle.

1st draw picked up 2c and Jh, so pretty easy decision.

2nd draw picked up 2 more hearts, so I set the flush in the middle, needing just 1 club with 2 more draws.

3rd draw got no clubs but picked up 2 Qs, so obviously they go on top.

Going into the last draw I still need a club to not foul, but this is a super strong hand already if I can find a club. Instead I pick up the Qc and 8c at the same time, allowing me to put QQQ on top, which is worth 20 points by itself.

My opponent was not amused.