Live Poker... with a computer.

Recently, the Montreal Casino has opened up a poker room for the first time. It is not however a standard poker room- all the tables are electronic-- meaning no dealers, no chips, no cash, no tips.

I was surprised with how easy and intuitive it was to use. You get a poker room players card, which essentially works like a prepaid debit card- you put on x amount of cash on it and swipe it at the table to put money in play. It is a cool idea and all, but something about playing live w/ a computer does not sit right with me. It is extremely easy to use though, and I can imagine it picking up at more casinos. I heard that they spread 25/50 a few days ago, but today the highest reg game was 5/10, 1k buy in. I played a few stupid hands at the 5/10 game, remembering how much I hate full ring poker, until me and another player at the table agreed to play heads up 10/20 nl.

He was a Quebecois kid, a professional poker player I'm pretty sure, and overall he played me pretty well. A few notable hands-

I open raise to 60 w/ 99, he repops to 220 which he had been doing a ton of. I call (think about 4betting but would prefer it w/ more history). Flop comes 28Q 2 hearts, he bets 295 i call. Turn is a 3 iirc, he bets 400 or so i call. River is a blank and he shoves for 900 or so, and I realllllllllllllly should have folded. I tricked myself into calling because of his river timing, but he really seemed strong and I let myself down w/ this call. After that hand I played better and didn't do anything stupid I don't think.

I limp 63hh he checks. Flop is KT7 2 hearts, he leads for 30 and I call. Turn is 8 of hearts. He leads for 85 or so, and I call again. I decided not to raise because I'd hate to represent exactly what I have, especially when I have the low end of my perceived range. Also this way, I can raise safe rivers and it becomes very hard for him to put me on a flush. River is a low brick and he bets 175. I raise to 625, and he shoves for 1875, and I vomit all over the table. No but seriously, thats a sick spot.

I basically played my hand the way I did because I thought it would make my range seem weaker, which in theory would dictate a call here, but the fact was I couldn't imagine him having a worse hand really. Lets go through all the possibilities.

Worse hands-

Total air, meaning he had something like QhJx (and didn't raise pf) and triple barreled me, and then THREEBET bluffed the river w/ air. Unlikely.

Made hand, going for a thin riv value bet, turning his hand into a bluff however when he realizes he is no good. Something like Kx could be played this way, but the likelihood of him betting the turn and riv seemed really small, as he hadn't shown a propensity for v thin valuebets (remember how I always say in my vids your opponents won't play as well vs you if you can valuebet thin? Perfect example here...)

lone ace of hearts bluff- This isn't omaha, there are so few Ah hands that he could have played this way to the riv, seems all but impossible.

Valueshoving worse flushes? Doubtful (24hh, 45hh etc... uhhh hell no)

Valueshoving sets/ straights- REALLY doubtful, def would just get a call from what he perceives as a great bluff catching spot.

Better hands- Pretty much every flush would be played this way.

All that amounted to enough evidence for a fold, so I laid it down face up hoping to get him to show as well, and he obliged by showing J2hh.

I got lucky versus him a bunch of times, cracking JJ w/ J9c on 2389 w/ 2 clubs. Also beat Q2 w/ j9 on TTQ. Then in our last hand together we got it in preflop w/ my KK vs his AQo and I held. I actually ended up breaking evenish for the session, and came back home fairly content. I gotta go to sleep now though, been up since 8 for some reason.

-Dani Stern
Card Player Magazine

News Added: 07 February, 2008

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