“Oh Yeah!”

It has been way to long since my last post. My only excuse is that I have been way to busy losing my bankroll. I have been grinding hard, but unfortunately not heading in the correct direction. I typically play two tables at a time. One is Omaha-8 and the other Limit Holdem. Most of the time I win at one table and lose at the other, breaking even for a session. Occasionally I will bust through with a nice win. Anyway I will spare you the sorrow.

I did go to Houston for the Thanksgiving holiday. My brother hosted a poker tournament. I get there in time to play the third tournament. I got knocked out by my sister-in-law when my top two pair were smacked on the river, when she hit her flush draw. She won twice against me on the river and another hand I made a stupid call out of frustration. The game was progressing just way to slow for my taste and it was already 2:30 AM.

There were two controversial topics that came up during this evening that I would like to toss out for discussion. In the end I think we got it right, but lets see.

The blinds are $25/$50. Player A goes all in for a total of $90. Player B calls. Small blind folds and the big blind raises $100. Player B calls. The question is how much should be in the main pot for Player A to win. What initially transpired was that I stated move the $200 from the Big Blinds raise into the side pot and lets go. That was met with resistance. The second opinion was that the main pot should have $270. I stated well what about the small blind. We ended up with the main pot having $295 and the side pot with $250. Did we end up in the right place?

The next argument that came up a couple of times was when playing heads up who should be the small blind. I stated that the dealer should always be the small blind. How can that be? I stated well this came up at another game I was at, so I paid close attention to the WPT. The dealer is the small blind and is first to act. After the flop the dealer has position and the other player is UTG. Well “I watch the WPT too and that is not how they do it!” “What you are saying makes absolutely no sense!” “Dealer should not never be the first to act!” I will watch more poker soon, but what is the correct procedure for heads up play?