Helping a host at a poker tourney

I found this site www.homepokertourney.com and while it's not really a place to play good poker advice (well there is some), it's an excellent resource for organizing a home poker game.

I've been organizing poker games at my home for 2 years and every time I do, I learn a lesson in some shape for form like I have said in a previous post. I did find an interesting post which talks about helping the host.

Some key things to remember when hosting a tournament:

1. In many cases you may know more about poker then the one who doesn't. If you don't know as much, you're going to have a tough time hosting.
2. Make sure you have enough chips. I can't stress this enough. My very first poker game was a ring game and I had 300 chips between 7 players. Needless to say I treaded water with a 5 dollar buy-in with a 5 dollar re-buy. In my next game I had more chips now totaling 800, but pay particular attention to the weight of the chips. 11.5g gives the feel of a real casino. I had 8g chips. They were playable, but a couple of people noticed. It wasn't until last year I upgraded my chips. Now I have 850 chips that are 11g which is good for a 16 player tournament. I haven't felt the need to go beyond this. I still use the 8g chips for my side ring game on tournaments.
3. Have food for the players to snack on. You can either designate a list where people can pick off and bring something or do it yourself. I usually have things for my guests. I will stock beer, but I always say BYOB so they don't expect it. This is going to bring me to number 4.
4. Do not expect your guests to chip in. Meaning, take a buck or two from guests. This can be construed to making a profit for playing in a "home casino" which can be illegal, definitely in California. People offer to drop money, especially when they won. I don't expect this and usually turn them down like an Uncle who took third did. Basically he doubled his buy in and wanted to give me the profit. I didn't feel comfortable with it because he was giving me his winnings. I was going to get my money back and then some (I took first, but even if I took second, I would have made money)
5. Finally you should be hosting because of the love of the game.

However if you do get invited to a game, people tend to leave the house once they are eliminated (which hosting a side ring game would keep them around). What would be nice to help the host would be to help pick up beer bottle which are laid out around the house. I swear I was picking up beer bottles for two weeks, I would stumble on to odd places like land mines after my last game. You can also help out with changing out smaller chips with big one as the blinds go up. You can player permanent dealer. Just little things to make the game go smooth.

Beckham signs with LA Galaxy

Since the MLS has lifted the salery cap, things have gotten interesting. The most interesting thing that has happened is Beckham signing up. As on article it was calling instead of Bend it like Beckham it was called spending it like Beckham.

One of my concerns is MLS is following the old cliche', those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. NASL went into a spending spree and not many years later, went bankrupt. It pretty much caused us not to have quality soccer for nearly a decade.

Of course financial discipline is not the only thing MLS needs to do to get their act together. They need to be more accordance to FIFA. They tried their marketing BS like the shootout and letting star players get away with murder.

It's true. It seems that when a referee for example goes national and has MLS opportunities they need to conform to MLS, not USSF, but MLS or forget about refereeing that league. I seen two cases of this first hand.
I won't name names, but the first time I was on the AR spot and noticed a few players that were playing out of control. A few cards I felt should have been given and the goalkeeper for one team, I swear he was on something like PCP because he was complaining but not making a lot of sense. When I asked why he let so much go, he said, "He needed to cater to the fans who want to see action." I had my opinion on that statment but since I was new in the division I was AR in, I bit my tongue.
Years later I was on the line for another National Referee. Another one who didn't clamp down on dissent and let things go, including potential cards. I was not a vetren now and didn't hold my tongue too much. When he said he should have giving that one player a second yellow for the reckless challenge I said "It should have came sooner" as the guy was heckling me most of the game. He also let a goalkeeper come out to challenge me after I saved the referee's butt in a PK call and later finding out almost cautioned the wrong man. I didn't get that card until after he was scored on he said something in spanish in regards to my mother.

Back to the MLS, the question lies to: Are we signing up a quality player or are we getting a used farrari which has some problems that will haunt him and the MLS? He's had a fair share of injuries over the year. His performance in the world cup was sub-par with just a free kick.

If this doesn't work out we'll never see the San Jose Earthquakes again. Why? Becuase the MLS will be bankrupt.

Home Poker Games

If you ever want to throw a home poker game don't do like I first did and just throw one on the fly with knowing the minimum. If you did like I did, you would find yourself in a world of trouble. Drinking more than my fair share of beer didn't help matters as it made my temper fly when someone was being an ass.

On my next ring game I got a little smarter. I didn't drink so much alcohol. Not only I doubled, but everyone had fun.

When I threw my first home tournament, it was after Thanksgiving. It was basically friends and family tournament. That one ran smoother but one lesson I learned was posting rules on late players, and players who invite others without so much as asking the host if there is a seat available as one did. However in the grand scheme of things, the good side, bigger pot. Down side of having 9 players on a 8 player table is one doesn't get a rack and it's crowded.

Since people had a great time with that one I held a tournament after mulling it over with my office. Had 12 people which was a good turn out. Evite is good for these kind of invites. You can get your yes, no, and maybes. You can even tell if someone has even read the invite. Two drawbacks is not everyone is email savvy and there are those who don't even have email (shocking I know). You can limit the amount of guests (you don't want 20 showing up when you are prepared for 16). You can also control whether or not they can invite guests or not. I recommend you control this aspect because I tend not to play poker with anyone I don't know. Just follow the if a friend is a friend of an initial invite then it should be good enough for you. I read though one guy who runs tournaments said if there was cheating involved and it was a friend of a friend, he would cut the stranger's thumbs off and the person who brought him.

You also want to control the time it starts. I will say, no game starts at a certain time on the dot unless you are playing the WSOP. So what to do? Request people show up at 7pm but the game starts no later than 8pm and stress to them that they may lose their seat or playing rights by showing late. More on that later.

Another problem was the game went slow. Be aware on how the blinds are set. If you want to give a large sum of money ( I did 1200) then make it so the blinds are sizable by the 3rd hour. Otherwise it will take a while and my first game of hold em ended at 2am. I now do 1000 and I keep the blinds small in the beginning but make dramatic jumps in the end..

My next game was my birthday. We only had 7 players. Not certain what happened there but it was fun none the less. However that was due to a last minute add on and a last minute drop out. The add on was a pleasant surprise but soured by a cancellation. Not so big pot. But people still had fun.

In August I did another and I had 7 (seemed to be my lucky number). I nearly had a cancelation but thanks to my stern lecture on how this affects everyone, I got her to show. I added a re-buy option in this game which increased the pot. It was used quite a bit as there were 3 re-buys. I cut down the amount of money and as a result, the game ended in a decent hour. By the way, if you have a laptop, for timer purposes I go to www.pokerroom.com. There is a poker timer software which organizes the time and blinds schedule. It's a great piece of software and it's free. It also makes your tournament look professional as I have had nothing but great comments on my timer and it automatically restarts vs. a kitchen timer which dings. You can pause if need be.
Lesson Learned: Need to clamp down on flaky people and not count on them. If they reserve a seat and don't show then there should be consquences for that. I don't me never invite him, but make it known it's frowned upon.

On my Novemeber game in many aspects, it was the best ran tournament I have had yet. We had 15. We would have had 16 but a last minute cancelation blew that. This time I had poker rules. Very important and it's a miracle that I survived this long without them. Have them posted in the room and given to the players prior to the game so they know what they are walking into. If they choose not to read them and then say "I didn't know that." then you have something to fall back on. Willful ignorance is not an excuse.

Few examples are in my game in betting, you just have to meet the minimum blind (or all-in) to play and you can bet any amount after that big or small. In other games, they enforce the minimum bet. There are pros and cons to this.
Pro for not enforcing the minimum raise amount is the game is more lax, people are having fun without the intensity of meeting this and that. Many have stated this. However I read in some published home poker rule that if you announce Raise, but don't (you put in the minimum bet for just a call) then what is the minimum? So before my next game either I have have a clause for people that does this or I have to enforce the minimum bet. Problem is it's not posted and in my first poker game, I had one cutthroat player on table 2 (I was on table 1) who was enforcing it. Worked to his advantage too. See the problem? Nobody hemmed or hawwed but it could have been worse.

Another recent problem was dealing. People were having an issue on how some were burning the cards. Maybe cheating. However, I may need to state all burn cards on the table, face down, no peaking.

If you need good poker advice go to www.homepoker.com. This has made things simple.

Blatter is a buffoon.

I know it may be bad politics for posting this, but since I am never going FIFA, I can care less. Basically I read that Blatter apologizes to the Italian team for not being there to present the World Cup trophy himself like FIFA Presidents are supposed to. That didn't sound to be as his reason for not going.
It seems in the opening game he got boos and whistles for well....being Blatter. And because of this he was afraid he was going to get boos and whistles for this one too. Well Mr. Blatter, you know what the referees have to endure when the set foot on the pitch and to bitch about them doing this or not doing this, it's easier said to do the right then, then to do the right thing.

I wonder if the jackass ever apologized to Valentin Ivanov . The russian Referee who booked 16 yellows and 4 reds (coincidently doubled my last game of 2006).
If you look in his Bio, he has no referee experience. It would explain some of the stupidity behind his comments. Remember the the game where Grahm Poll and his english squad was on and gave 3 yellows to one player before sending him off? Blatter wanted the forth and fifth officail (USA referees) to run on the field and yell stop to the center. Apparetnly Stott had his hands full with the bench and I don't know where Lawery was at the time. But again, it's easier to say what the right call is and harder to make the right call.

It's amazing...

..after ten years of doing technical support that the same habits have still taken place. People do not do enough research on product before purchasing them to do the things they want them to do. They see a cheap price and it's buy now and damn the consequences later.

If you are reading this, my suggestion if you are buying any kind of computer equipment is to do your research on it and the system you are adding too. Write a list of your requirements and then your secondary desires. When you look at this piece of equipment whether it be a scanner, hard drive, printer, software, see if it will do this.

Example, I can tell you Adobe Acrobat Standard will create PDFs for you, but will not let you create fillable forms like Adobe Acrobat Professional does. But people expect them to.

Then their pissed they can't return the opened product. Do your research beforehand, it will save you headaches later on.

Outted first for the first time

Played poker at my local comic shop and I went all in on pocket 6's and walked into kings. I had a better chance of hitting a straight. Need to use my head more.

Got offered to referee in a Tournament in Las Vegas

It would be a nice opportunity to work on my Texas Hold em skills, but after a few hours of considering it, I did promise I would take time off to help my wife with her sewing room (Since Gabe was born I no longer have a full fledged bat-cave). I bought her this cool, but collapsible sewing table for her embroidery machine and sewing machine. She's got plans, I'm excited about her plans enough to help her see this through. More excited then a trip to LV.
Since I have reffed in the State of NV already it would not be new to me (if you didn't know, my goal is to referee a soccer game in as many states as I can).

Back to normal

Well today is the first day I have set foot in the office since before xmas eve. It's been busy as the company I work for decided that January 2nd was also going to be considered a holiday. Because of this we are flooded today.
Xmas holiday was good. I really couldn't complain except I was sick for most of it. My wife spoiled me with good presents. I managed to come through with my "something romantic" which was nice, funny, and on the side we both could joke about in the process leading to xmas morning. I know she didn't see her presant coming, but observing her the following days, I know she was pleased.

Happy New Year 2007

My resolution? To have a better year then 2006.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a merry xmas and happy new year. Here is a clip of my daughter ice skating.

Filling in for Batman and Robin

You know for a multi-millionare, Brucie was too cheap to give us costumes.

The hanging out of the GP's

Just us boys hanging out.

I hate Xmas shopping

Now don't get me wrong...I like buying presents for my wife, kids, and anyone else that is on the list. What I can't stand is the stuff surrounding it. Example I went to pay for a couple presents and these days most are smart to ask for my ID. Taking for granted they can read the "Please see California driver's license." Well the clerk looked like he wanted to see ID after looking at the back of my credit card. So taking cue, I showed my ID. Not a problem. Then I asked him, "You were going to ask me, weren't you?"

Clerk: "Huh?"
Me: "You were going to ask for my ID, right?"
Clerk: "Well, uh, you don't look like a guy who would engage in credit card fraud."
Me: "Umm what does a guy who engages in credit card fraud look like?"
Clerk: "uhhhhhhhhhhh"
Me: "Dude, to put it short, I got burned a few years back because someone didn't do their job. Now I don't shop there."

This was Macy's back in the year 2000 when I lost my debit card somehow and it took 3 hours to realize that I had and them 3 hours to make, not one, but two big purchases in Macy's. Basically had to swear on my family's life they were not my charges and I even contacted Macy's loss prevention to reprimand the two clerks that charged my account without checking ID.

Then you have the crowded malls. You have the sales, long lines. Basically I am done unless something catches my eye for the wife or kids.

Had a good christmas party/

Stayed at the Sante Clare in San Jose. Bueatiful hotel.. As a coworker said this morning though, "Free booze get me into trouble."

Just when you think a certain coach is a win at all costs...

...that coach surprises you. Basically was just told a story by a fellow referee who ran as AR for a soccer match. I don't want to give specific details since I am getting this second hand, but there is a point to this story.

Basically a team we'll just call Red, is on the attack and Blue is defending. Ball sails over to the Blue keeper which should be easy to pick up, which he does. Red is on full momentum, with slight hopes of getting the ball before the keeper. Keeper has the ball in hands, and then as the Red forward runs by, the keeper throws an elbow to the Red forward hitting him in the mouth.
The center referee decides to be nice and award a penalty and give the keeper a yellow card. Red converts a goal as a result and it's the only goal of the match. Awfully nice of the referee to give a PK and a yellow card.
The coach of the Blue team saw the AR offsite the next day by just chance and the coach said he suspended the keeper for 6 games and the school is reviewing the incident to see if he can be pulled from the team. Basically the coach finished the referee's job for him.
Now one may read this and say, "Justice is served." And I agree, it was. However, it was the referee's responsibility to administer the justice to being with. Deliberate elbows in the mouth are serious and need to be taken as such. Had the referee given the red card with the PK like he should have, maybe the coach wouldn't have felt inclined to take action on his own.
What is the point of the story? Am I giving kudos to the coach? Yes, I do give the kudos to the coach for trying to make a slightly correct much more politically correct that if I stepped in the middle, did my best and called a fair game, I would be confident he wouldn't give me too much grief for my efforts. However, the referee thought he was doing the keeper a favor by not sending the player off, and now instead of nature taking its course with a red card suspension, and have a chance of returning to the game, he now risks losing out the entire season. And it's his last year in the league.
We have heard of stories where the MLS has stepped in when an incident happens out of the referee's view (or worse in the referee's view) and dole out their harsh punishment even if the referee didn't issue a red card.

In summary, things can happen due to referees calling stuff such as a PK and a Red card. A team gets a goal most likely and a player gets suspended. However, you do nothing because you are trying to be nice then you may think you are avoiding a bad situation, where in contrast, you made a bad situation worse.

US Soccer is taking a turn for the worst

It turns out that Bob Bradley will be the US MNT interim head coach. This was shortly after Jurgon Klingsman turned down the position, even though geographically it would have been a dream job for him. The man lives in Southern California where the Home Depot Stadium is. I guess USSF is still pinching their pennies to bring in a man who brought Germany in the Semi Finals and was a top player back in the 1994 world cup.

So the main question is will Bob Bradley get the job. My vibes are telling me it's not that great of a move. This is a guy who has been known to lose it more than Arena did in his tenure of the MNT. I do know for California referees, two of them, both FIFA at the time have given Bradley his walking papers. In an international setting, he's going to run in to much less tolerant referees.

What I wish is for Klingsman to reconsider taking the position. He would be much better in the running then Bradley.

Day of struggling

It seemed like everything I did today was a struggle. Tried to put together a scanner and it was a struggle. Tried to take a test and it was a struggle. Tried to solved all of other people's technical issues and it was a struggle.

On the flip side of things, my darling daughter has been doing great in school. I got three spelling tests handed to me, two of them she scored a perfect paper and got a 90% on the other. Nice to know the extra help we have given her has paid off.

USSF registration is fast this year

I thought it was amazingly fast when they got my referee license in about a month's time of submitting the paperwork, doing the check vs. the new referee registration electronically. I was afraid my upgrading paperwork would slip through the cracks. Turns out my instincts were correct because the www.d3refs.com web page now suggests registering this way for grade 7 and higher since we have additional paperwork to turn in. Well with my instructors license there was no paperwork involved with the reg form so I decided to give the electronics a try. As it turns out I got my license for 2007 in even half the time. Looks like there is a lot of improvement on the process to get it out in such a timely fashion.

Spent the better part of my day tearing down a scanner and bring it back up. Not really what I wanted to spend the day doing, but maybe the first hour or two was worth while. The rest I don't know about. I have to do the same tomorrow while chasing a call down to make sure he is up and running even though I think it's his program doing the problem because it works on another system.

For fun and entertainment my sister sent me this

Winning streak finally shot down

Well after a few tournaments where I have walked away with cash, it turned out last friday I finally got the boot with no cash. Placed 4th out of 9th and what got me the boot was I went all in on pocket 8's knowing that one player was left. As it turned out, she had pocket Aces and I never hit my card.

Find myself missing an old passion.

No, not an old girlfriend. I've been finding myself more and more missing my old passion for fencing. I fenced in De Anza College . When I first took it, it was more of a "hey this could be fun to do between classes."

I remember my first instructor, Elmer Gates. He was an old gentleman from Indiana. You could tell from the way he says Italian (He pronounces it Eye-talian). I remember slow learning the first class. That was because we were spending much of our time learning the footwork. A lot of it without the foil. So it was no surprise when I was at the class I was screwing up the parries. I remember he stepped in to help me on many occasion.

When we got into bouting, I found myself wanting to be a director (they now call them referees). By then I was getting the hang of the fencing. Then I was so stoked, I wanted to fence in the summer and then in the fall. Then I was taking fencing every quarter by the fall, I was a teacher's aid for the beginning class. Even bought my own mask, foil, and jacket.

I then was started to get bored with the class because I wasn't learning anything new. But then a friend I made in the class found a maestro who was teaching at nights at my old high school. I decided I was going to take a few classes. His name is John DeCesare. He was an interesting fellow. Gave me a few finer points in fencing which was different with Gates and a few new moves that I hadn't learned before.

It was then that I started competing. I took second in my first competition. Then there was the De Anza/West Valley fencing bash twice a year. I made some friends there. I also placed 2nd on the inaugural and first from there on out until I left.

Thing was I was also refereeing soccer and it got to a point one of them had to go. I chose the refereeing. See my post of how I became a referee for details. Problem is when you get to the pinnacle of a course, then you can only tune up what you know.

I then moved a bit up north after Gates retired. Before Gates retired, they needed a successor. Unfortunately I didn't have a degree or I could have taught the class easily. So it went to a rookie. She did one smart thing and take individual lessons from Connie Yu. Her daughter Jennifer, placed very well in National Competitions. I went to seek a new fencing place. I found Sword Play Fencing Academy. I actually discovered it during my college years as I was competing in the amateur level. It was a nice set up I remembered and the host, George Platt was pretty cool. I decided that was going to be my stomping ground where it could gear me up for better fencing and competitions.
At that point I had a wake up call. My competing in college was nothing compared to SPF and USFA competitions. There were kids who were better then me. It was discouraging, but after a while I just rolled with it and tried to be the best I could be. Before I hung up the equipment I did finally get ranked. By now the rank is gone since it lasts 4 years from last competition where you would earn the ranking.
What prompted me to write this was I was in Fullerton visiting my wife's family and my nephew and I were playing with light sabres a little aggressively and then it just brought back memories. As my nephew was wailing away with his sabre, it took little effort to parry his and then my daughter's at the same time. I was once told by old timers, fencing is like riding a bike. Once you get back on, you don't forget how to ride. I didn't believe it until that day.