Good News America

Your government may not be dealing from a full deck of cards, but you do not have a monopoly on idiocy, donkitude, retardedness....whatever.

Yes, I've been back on the Party Poker tables for the first time in a while, and though they may be less crowded than previously, the standard is no better than I recall.

There's enough cold calling of two and three bets pre-flop to make Ed Miller weep.

“Your opponent cannot fold if you do not bet or raise.” – Abdul Jalib

“Your opponent cannot fold.” – Div

It might seem strange - perverse even - to return to Party on the weekend when their greatest source of fish was cut off, but three words should explain it all - Bad Beat Jackpot.

I've been hammering away for the last three hours or so, during which time it broke through the $700,000 barrier and is now approaching $735,000.

If there was any justice in the world, I'd have finished healthily in the black, but I had to settle for a mighty $19 profit from a mix of $1/2, $2/4, and $3/6 tables.

Not having played on Party for quite a while, I definitely cost myself a few dollars with some plays that are more effective against tighter opponents. A lesson which I am forever learning, forgetting, and relearning.

When third pair medium kicker is assumed to be good against a pre-flop raiser, and second pair bottom kicker is assumed to be good in an unraised multiway pot, there really is no hope of pushing people off a hand.

That seems to make AK, AQ, more tricky to play, since people will habitually call two or three bets cold with 88, then happily call down with several overcards on the board.

Of course it also means AA, KK, etc. tend to get handsomely paid off - or cruelly cracked in huge pots - which makes it all worthwhile. Eventually. After variance. I think!

Time for bed now, but if the jackpot is still climbing in the morning, I'll be back at the tables then.