Chapter 4 Ep. 5 Superstitions & Lucky Charms

0:00Take your seat, the cars are flying high. Shuffle up and deal at the ACES line. Long as running, show you we've seen it all. From the river to the rail, we answer the call. Hello, A team, and welcome back to another episode of the NEA poker podcast, where every hand is an opportunity, every player is a friend, and every episode is a winning experience. I'm your host, Joe Scales, and this week we have another great show, and I'm excited to get into it. We have a special guest joining us on table talk, and I know I'm going to be spending a little extra time to give Patrick a hard time about the Super Bowl. So I don't want to spend too much here, however, there is a lot happening in the NEA nation. So let's hit a few quick announcements. First, if you're listening on Spotify, you can now watch the full video version of the podcast there as well.

1:03We've been putting time into upgrading the video side of things, and I'm really happy with how it's coming together. Of course, you can always catch us on YouTube, and that audience keeps growing, which all of this is really exciting to see. But wherever you listen, if you can leave a rating or a review, that goes a long way in helping us reach more everyday poker players. Speaking of everyday poker players, don't forget about the Patreon home game. It's just $5 to join the raise level of Patreon, and that gets you into the game. It's just it's another way for the 18 to connect beyond just listening each week. If you haven't jumped in yet, we'd love to see you there. Now, let's talk live poker. The NEA poker tour continues to build momentum. Our upcoming stop at Hila River and Lone Butte is coming up fast,

2:03and they've added some really fun events, including triple draw games, a $1,500 high roller PLO event, satellites are already running, and I think we'll lead all the way up to the series, which we're going to talk more about on table talk. But there's plenty of ways to get in. We'll be on site. We're going to be recording, hanging out, and making sure that the everyday poker player gets the spotlight. As a reminder, also, the NEA magazine is free. If you're looking for strategy, player profiles, interviews, stories about the people around the game, like the amateurs, the staff, the behind the scenes group that make this game so awesome, go check it out. That's always been a focus, and we're very proud of it. Also, keep those hands of the week coming. Turn them at hands, cash hands, the ones that keep you up at night.

3:05Don't forget, also, call the floor questions. L.A. does a great job breaking down these rulings from a director's perspective. All right. That's enough business for now. Let's get into table talk. Let's welcome our guest and Patrick. My friend will be talking about that Super Bowl. But that's all I have for now. So let's get on with the show. Welcome to the show. You're on the 18. Stack your chips and chase the dream. Joe's got the booth is Mike's on fire. She's taking it higher. Ellen, I are back around the poker table with a guest. We've got Tia Bacon here coming in live from Arizona. How are you? I'm good. How are you guys? We're good. We're getting closer and closer to the next stop there at Eela River.

4:08I know you guys added some things around the main event. So let's start there. Tell us a little bit about some of the new things that have been added and what what players can expect when they come out. Yeah, I only added a few. I've added the mega stack. It's like it starts on March 17, $300 buy in that way players can start something small. Have a little fun. And then same day around 4 p.m. We're going to do a $500 triple draw, which is eight to five, two to seven. And Badookie. That's going to be so much fun. I'm really bummed that we're not going to make it out there in time for that one, but we'll be there for the rest of them for sure. We hope to catch the tail end of triple draw though, because I want to see that in action. We don't land until around 4 o'clock that afternoon. So hoping to get there and see. I just like saying the word Badookie, but I was going to be playing it.

5:10And due to seven is a fun game that we like to play with our Patreon folks, at least, I don't know, once or twice a year. Yeah. So it's become a fan favorite. So I'm really excited to actually see that live tournament style. Yeah. It's not very often. And then there's, there's a high roller PLO as well, right? Yes, we're going to have one on the next the following day, which is March 18th, around 4 p.m. 15 or all buy in. That's like a little bit after registration for the main event. That's going to be select few who loves PLO who likes playing high limit. We're excited for that. Yeah. What's going to be, it's going to be Illinois's first time coming to Arizona as a whole. So what, what do we expect? What's the weather going to be like when we get there? It's gorgeous. It's beautiful. Today, I was outdoors.

6:10I think the high was 60. It was a little windy today, but normally you get the sun. Even if this 60, 70, you feel like it's 80. It's, it's just beautiful. Perfect time in February and March. A lot of festivities, a lot of activities. You can go walk, take a hike. Nice. I don't know if you like, but everything is so close by. Just outdoor dining would be the best. If you ever go to restaurants and stuff because right now it's just perfect weather. Yeah. We do have a couple of days built in after all of the tournament action is over. A couple of days that we built into the schedule to be able to do some things. Are there any hidden gems that we need to look for? I mean, close by, we have the world win. That's like a golf course by a wild pass. It's a world class facility with two championship courses. They're actually hosting a LPGA for a championship around March 26 through the 29.

7:14So you got like pro golf level happening right next to us. Amazing weather. And then at night you could play poker. I don't know if I long be with just the best poker room. You have all this also. Wild pass has a lot happening. There's a lot of dining. But overall, I think Arizona has a lot of festivities. You can go through the schedule. We have ostrich festival. I mean, amazing places. Ostrich festival. What is that? It's like a state fair close to state fairs for the locals. Okay. I'm definitely. I'm like going to Google that immediately as soon as we're done. So ostrich festival. I may have just signed up for a festival. I didn't even. Oh, and we got these shirts. Yeah. And we wait. I know you guys were sending these, but we got them in. Perfect. I love it.

8:14Some big Annie up there. And then of course we love the logo. Yeah. I really like when folks. When people do that. Can you hold that up just a little bit? It's on the sleeve. Yes. The lone view logo is on the sleeve. So we're excited. Can't wait to throw those in the wash. We're going to. Be wearing them around and on our YouTube and stuff like that. Coming up soon. And especially we'll have them when we're out there. So thank you guys so much. Yeah. Absolutely. We have the team members going to be starting to wear about starting in March to promote. What about some of the satellites? Because you guys already have some satellites. That are that are flowing into that main event. The 18 through the 22nd in March. So how are those going? Amazing. They're great. We have night satellites starting off in. January, February, but starting in March. We will have morning satellites. Those are players favorite 11 a.m. And we'll have a milestone couple milestone satellites for that too.

9:18Okay. So. Tell us about the room a little bit. Is it a good mix of of tournament players and and cash game players? This we're going to be there. You know, during spring training. Do you have a lot of people that come down into the poker room? That are there for spring training games. Yes. We have snowboards, spring training. We have a lot of guests coming in for coughing because it was perfect weather. Most, I think the Long Beach is known for friendliness. The, the friendly, the familiar vibe. Everyone is super friendly. It starts bomb. You know, the host to the team members. Everyone know each other's name. Just. Not a, it doesn't feel stiff or intimidating. It's super welcoming. Very social and it really feels like a community when it comes to Lockheed. And for. The room is split in half.

10:18Majority tournaments and a lot of emotions. So this is why we have to split them up like if we have a main event or major tournament events. Then it the room is reserved for that. And then when we have. We're given away 36,000 in one day. There's no tournaments. We have to share the room. And we're only growing. We were 30 tables last year. We're 36 tables now. Okay. Sometimes we have to reserve one for the other. But majority of the time is half out. We have putting crowd night crowd tournaments. And then. I'll players. They come in starting at 11 o'clock to 11 p.m. I know I'm already looking forward to it. It's like, you know, cheers. Where everybody knows your name. Yeah, yeah. That's what we look for. We hope to. Yeah. And we hope to spot like, you know, those. Those local players. And. The everyday player obviously. Because. First place. I know that they're going to get. Obviously the money. They're going to get.

11:18The trophy. Everybody loves a trophy. And then they get to be. Yeah. On the cover of the next issue of the magazine after the tournament's over. So I'm, I love that. Because we get to. Give that spotlight to the to the local players and they everyday player. So. It's my favorite part. We do have a variety of games. We have hold them games, peel games, no limits. And then I'll, no limits. They go pretty. Intense for the two alone. It goes up to a thousand dollar buy in. Um. games. Sometimes they do it. They go all the buy-ins up to 10,000. I mean, we have small limits, three, six hold-em, four, eight. It's for everybody. If you want very low limits, to have fun, you'll be welcome with the three, six. Everyone just played friendly. They're there for the promotions, you know, all the giveaways that we do. We give away $10,000 every day daily. We go all the way up to

12:22$36,000 on special events once a month. And then we have $50,000 give away for a break back. And then $75,000 for a whole week of high-hand. That's one of our new promotions that keep players love. Five days straight. They come in and play for about $75,000 a mystery high-end. Wow, we just had five last week. And then we also have six 12 mix. Players who want to just play come in, have fun with the mix game. They're more than welcome to. But we start any games, any limits, any player want, as long as it's under regulation, of course. You know, it's, that's interesting, because a lot of rooms will say that they have a mix and they're for, you know, all levels. Yeah. But that what you're explaining there is is truly a level, you know, whatever you want to play, you can play it as I was like, that's awesome. Yeah. It's not, it's not often that you find a room that can actually handle that. So, so I love that. What other, you know, one of our favorite things

13:30is better and better. Yeah. That's what we truly love to see and talk about and promote. And I know you guys have some of that there. Tell us a little bit about some of the charity side of things that you guys have. Oh, two favorite charity events that we do is in December, we have Santa's helper, the toy drive, like our polka community, very giving, super, super giving. Last year, probably, they donated over $8,000 worth of toys. It's big events where we would line up the whole wall with toys. They bring in bikes. I mean, amazing, amazing toys. Just really, really great. The second charity events that we also love is the school supply. Backpacks. Yeah. Big, huge event. Very new. That is needed. You don't even have any idea how many kids show up to

14:33school without a pencil, but out of pencil. And even the broken ones are the really, really short ones from the year before. It's like you got to be able to equip them with the basics to be successful. So I mean, our players, they are just amazing. They fill up three to four polka tables of charity, toy drives, school supplies, just you never expect anything, but they come full on. Those are two of our favorites, charity events. So, yeah, poker players really are just like some of the most giving, it's one of the most giving communities, you know, we might complain about the price of a sandwich, but we're gonna donate a bite. Even by any expression of the things, yeah, the coffee's not hot enough. The soda doesn't have enough carbonation, but I'll be happy to throw down $500 for school supplies. It's true. Yeah.

15:39It's absolutely true. It's the principle of it. Yes. Yeah. And one of our, we did want to mention this week, one of our favorite charity poker championships is coming up. And if you're not familiar, it's called Camp One Step. Their annual charity poker championship is Thursday, April 6th. So even though it's a, oh, April 16th, sorry, you're right. Even though it's a couple of months off, we wanted to start mentioning that as well, because registration's open now. It is. And also, are we allowed to share that one of our ambassadors? Yeah. Bob Popper is actually going to be a bounty. He's been dealing at this tournament for years. We actually met him in person for the first time at this particular event. Jonah, I've been twice in the last couple of years. We're not able to make it this year, but Bob's gonna be representing Annie out. And so we just would love to spread the word that it is happening again at the Galleria Marquetti in Chicago, which is an

16:43awesome venue. And what else can we share about it? Well, two things. You mentioned Bob Popper. Yeah. When you actually, I'll put a link in the show description, but if you go to camp one step dot org and click on the events link, and you'll see the charity poker championship, click on that. When you get to that page, you're going to see Bob Popper dealing. But also, it's important to get registered now, because the first 100 people will get an extra 5,000 chips. So get registered. Be one of those first 100 people so that you can get that those extra. Yeah. And have you ever noticed that if you if you play in a charity poker tournament, people play a little differently. It's kind of like they're willy nilly. Or they're just they're a little bit more daring. They they want to continue to throw cash at the table. And so the rebuys are unreal. Like I couldn't even keep up. I was one of those people on the iPad and swiping

17:43people's cards and tapping and tapping and like, you know, got to get rebuys in before a certain time. But this event has a high roller room with some awesome things that had really cool bourbons in the past and like a TV up and a whole bunch of things. And then also the main ballroom is full. I mean, there's like 25 35 tables. All set up and broken down in one day. But you will hear things like it's for the kids. This particular charity event actually is it's near and dear to my heart for it's with kids with cancer. They're able to go to camp. They're able to do virtual camps. Their parents or siblings are able to have a respite weekend away because of all of the extensive care that they've been giving for someone with cancer in their family. And it's just a really cool night to be able to come together. Throw some cards. There's also a $10,000 seat to the WSOP on the line, which is huge. And so if you are at all in that area on April 16th, please, please, please sign up. Yeah. And I wasn't laughing at the

18:49for the kids part of it, except for that there was another charity tournament that was happening in Nevada. Was this recently? Is this what Chicago Joe told you? Yeah, Chicago Joe sent me this article about the guy who rebought 32 times at $100 a pop. It was it. So that was obviously planned. I mean, I would love to be able to show up to a charity event and do the same thing, but I will say charity cobras harder. It is hard because it's all free. It's because it's unpredictable. And that person was saying my table. I believe he never looked at it. Or I need to move now because I don't know what to do or I would just fold or something who knows. But yeah, there were a lot of times that he would go all in, never even looked at his cards, rebuy, get the chips all in the next hand, never looked at his chips. We know a couple of those guys, we know a couple of those guys that camp one step and they're fun. They're a fun group of guys who like to show up and and have a good time and play a little serious, but then there are people

19:53that are like super serious. And then do you remember that do you remember the guy two years ago that had never played ever and he made it to the final table? And I had to sit next to him and get him sandwiches and drinks because he was like, I could tell he was shaking. I'm like, what have you eaten dinner? And he's like, no, I didn't know I was still going to be here. And I mean, it's just anything goes literally anything goes at a charity poker trip. Yeah. So I am super excited to see the lone viewed room kind of bringing it back full circle. Yeah, all the things that they're doing truly poker players, our community is one of a kind. And we can't wait to get out and see your community as well. Tia, we're so glad you're able to join us. We cannot wait, wait, wait to get out there on the ground in Arizona. I mean, look at me. I'm still cold in my vest today. And that weather is just calling our name. Right, right. Sure. But I know Tia, you've got to go. You got a lot going on there. I think you're getting ready

20:58going vacation. Yes. Yeah. I'm going to wait for a couple of weeks, but I should be back. Ready. I'll be ready for the event and I alert what Jack and I were trying to do is trying to even do a live stream for the final day. Have on Facebook because we have a own Facebook lone viewed poker room Facebook page. We want to do a live stream for the main event. If not for the main, the main table. Just have a camera having live stream and stuff like that. So Jack and I were working really hard on trying to get that done. Yeah, that would be so fun. Well, let us know if that's up and running because then we can also post the live feed or some type of a link on the website. We would love to do that and post it out on our socials as well. And then that way we could have some of our any up crew with us. Yeah. You guys are going to meet Jack. He's great. He's amazing. Jack will be hosting the event all day to pass for the four day event and then even on the final day hopefully you can stay the whole time,

22:00but if not, we'll have a live feed up. Okay. That's great. All right. Awesome. Thank you to you. So much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. You're welcome. So have a great time. Yeah. And look, I don't know what the food scene is going to be like there. Oh, I'm not worried. I'm right, but here. You know, when you just get so tired of your local. Yeah. And it's expensive. I'm just going to say we had mom here the other night for burgers. We ended up making our own burgers. What else do we have? You went and got French fries. Oh, I did go buy fries. Yeah. But I mean, for for under 20 bucks. Yeah. We all had burgers and fries, which normally would have been like $60 eating out and you never know what they're putting in it. Right. And that's the big thing, right? So you just can't tell what if you're sticking to a program. The problem, the problem I think that we run into isn't so much about trying to eat healthy as much as just it gets to be nine o'clock

23:02and we're like, Oh, God, we haven't eaten yet. And you know how I am with chopping vegetables. It takes me forever to chop vegetables. Oh, this is true. I don't know. We're talking in a long time. Yeah. A long time. Anyway, I don't like doing it, but I certainly don't want to be doing it at nine p.m. Yeah. So we have got long days and it's been really helpful to have factor meals ready to go. I cannot tell you the weeks that we've had them. It we're like, whoa, we just got dinner done. Right. And it tastes real good. So yeah, I don't think people have a hard time eating healthy. It's it's that no one has an extra three hours to plan to cook to clean up. It's just it's a lot. And factor allows you you don't have to prep the recipes. They're you throw them in the microwave for two minutes. Yeah. And it's already ready. If it's cold, if it's solid, it's ready to go. Yeah. And you're eating real food.

24:06It's prepared by chefs. It's put together by dieticians. Yeah. So you've got whole food ingredients. What are they? No refined sugars. No artificial. There's none of those refined seed oils that you have to worry about. Like basically what we would cook if we don't have a super busy week with all of the prep that has to go into getting things ready. When we prep and we're ready, life is good. Right. And so what we typically will say is we need some factor meals because we know it's going to be a week or two of crazy intense scheduling. And sometimes it just happens. It's not all the time. It's just sometimes. But if you want something more calories, smart Mediterranean, they've got ready to eat salads. There's a hundred rotating meals every week. You're not getting bored ordering from factor. They've got a pro muscle line for strings and memory. You know, you just get to actually pick what your goals are. Yeah. And it's not frozen. It's not showing up frozen. It's fresh. There's no cleanup. There's no dishes. It's awesome. Yeah. It's

25:09it's they're they're slogan. It's not motivation to eat better. Yeah. It's eliminating the reason you don't which is the perfect tagline because that's exactly what it does. And we do have a code. So how do we get there? If you go to factor meals.com slash anti up 50 off and then use the code anti up 50 off which I know sounds kind of redundant. But you get 50 percent off your first box plus free breakfast for an entire year making healthier eating easier. Yeah. So we had a lot of snacks last week. And I do have my ice coffee this week. I'm kind of enjoying having a little something while we're recording. But we cannot go into the weekend without going back to those prop bets because let me just tell you nailed it. Did I or did I not nail almost every one of them? Okay. I have done the the math here. And I honestly I didn't do as bad as I thought I did.

26:18But I talked to the commissioner tried to get some things to go my way. It didn't work out too well. But you even got a message from somebody during the game that was like, did you miss any? No. No. No. I don't think I did. Okay. So let's go through them. We'll start with the national anthem. It was over under 119.5. I told you he's going to keep it short and sweet. Yeah. This is one of the ones I went to the commissioner about because you originally said over once you learned who it was, you changed it to under. You gave me that opportunity. You asked me a question. Don't put me in a place to change my answer if you're not going to go with it. My final answer was under. It was. And it was 16 points. And let me just also say his family wasn't able to make it out there to be there. But they were all crowded in an awesome just family environment watching him sing from far away. Oh, that's so cool. Yeah,

27:20so it was awesome. All right. Then there was the coin toss. Got it. I said tails never fails. Yeah, you chose heads. Yeah. So in our grand daughter apparently tails does fail. I'm roughly about 50 times. So that gave you a two-nothing lead. Golden Gate Bridge. Next was the Golden Gate Bridge. We both said that. I never saw out the dress. I don't think they ever showed up. I saw the full house. What are they call it? This is terrible. I don't remember the name of them. There is, I think it's like the painted ladies or something. I can't remember the name. There's specific name for those houses. And then the curviest road, which was insanity. Anyways, so we both got that. But now Strieker, we both missed this because we wouldn't either one of us said there was going to be a Strieker. I bring it up because Alex Gonzalez actually ran onto the field and shout out to to just cards because he provided a link to it in the discord. Just cards helped with this. Yes. I see you. I hear you. This guy coming to get you. This guy. He bet on himself to do it.

28:26So there really was a Strieker. It was. Yeah. You got to be kidding. And he was wearing pants. Just say no. You're not a Strieker in my book unless you're near. There is no Strieker. Here's the thing. I see no Strieking. That's just interrupting. That's just interrupting. You're not Strieking unless you're but naked. As we say, naked down here in the South. I went to the commission around this one too. Because who is the commissioner? Ollie. Our dog. Our dog. You asked our dog. Didn't go for it. But I thought I should get a point on this one too because I was right in that he was considered a Strieker. And he had pants on. So it didn't fly. Next. Next. Our special guest. Cardi B. She was there but she didn't sing. It doesn't matter. It was it was a point for me. We both sing. It was still a point. She was still

29:27considered to be there. All right. Next. Miss Kick. This is where I tie things up. I think I should have gotten an extra point. No. No. No. No. No. No. The commissioner didn't agree on this one either. But you're really pushing it with these rules. We're going to make extensive rules next year. I think there should be bonus points for some things. In this case, the kicker for the Seahawks broke the record for most field goals. You thought there was going to be a missed kick. And he did the exact opposite. He broke the record for most field goals in a Super Bowl. You just don't like that you lost the perfect admit it. And that listeners were messaging us during the game. It's true. Okay. It's true. I look. I know. I know I lost. I know I lost fair and square. I'm just really giving you our time because it came down to the Gatorade color.

30:29And what did I tell you when I made that bet? Yeah. I was pulling. This is who I was pulling for. It had to be a Seahawk color. That is. And as soon as they dumped that Gatorade, I was like, I did. I know you. Yes. I said it was going to be orange because I was like, they're just going to go with the region. Absolutely not. Not when you have a Seahawk color available. No. What's fair? Way. You're fair. It's fair. So you won that one and you won. But I didn't. I didn't lose as badly as I thought. Before I started tallying them all up, I thought I was just like five to nothing. Burnt toast. Yeah. No, you did pretty good. Sorry. Yeah. I at least got to feel like I was tied for a minute. Okay. Keep remembering how that feels. Yes. This is the second year in a row, too, that you've won. Okay. Which I think I hate that more than losing. It was the fact that we didn't put anything on the line here. That's true. That's your fault.

31:37And noted. But in all seriousness, we literally just got off the phone and have some interesting news to share. Yes. I'm excited about this. Are you ready? Because I have a sound effect. Okay. As soon as we as soon as we got off the phone, I was like, whoop. Are you ready? I'm ready. So let's leave. Anybody know what that is? You're doing right. We're cruising. We are cruising again. We are. We are headed back to the open seas. We cannot share anything until it's 100 percent signs healed delivered. Right. But we will have that for you next week. Yeah, and, and it's so exciting. Where this has been a thing that's been in the the works for a a year. We've been, we have been holding onto this for quite a while and it's finally starting to come together. We're partnering with some very well-known people. Yes. And yeah, I'm excited.

32:45I'm excited. We probably could have waited until we had more details to share, but I couldn't, I couldn't hold it. It's a great way to go into Valentine's Day weekend with you. I will say that. Yeah. We are headed to eat wings and drink beer and listen to the band that played at our wedding. That is true. And it all came together just by half-in-stances. This is not something we orchestrated. We are not big Valentine's Day people, but we certainly have a lot to say cheers to and look forward to this year. Yeah. For sure. So as always, it's a pleasure being around the table with you. Likewise. Elliott Shector joins us each week to see how he would ruin situations that come up in your games.

33:49And he's with us again this week. Elliott, how's it going? Going pretty well. This isn't any up sweatshirt. Got a long go. Nice. Absolutely. You're actually, I'm not actually sporting a logo wear this time. So you're a step ahead of me this time. Folks, we have a wide selection of outerwear and paraphernalia. So help out the cause and promote a great pope community. Yeah. Check it out. It's on the website under shop at the very top. There's a little tab there. So go check that out. And in the meantime, check out this. We get another interesting one. I'm really interested in seeing what you say on this one. We have a cauliflower sent in by Cade Dyer and Cade is playing a multi-day tournament. So it's day one A of this tournament with

34:52late reds open through the end of a break, right? Once the next level starts is when late reds officially closes, which is the way most usually it works. So Cade had played, had been playing up to that break and he got knocked out right before that break. He said it was a pretty tough beat and he took it pretty hard. So when the break started, he had stepped away for a few minutes to clear his head and give some more cash to buy back in. As the break was winding down, he said a few players had seen him walk into the bathroom with about three minutes left before late reds closed. He comes out and he heads straight to the registration line and gets in line before the level restarts. When the new level begins, he's still in line at the cage. I guess he's next in line at the cage. And so then when he gets to the cage, the staff tells him that late reds is closed

35:59and that he won't be allowed back into day one A. He says they tell me I will have to wait until or wait to read and register for day one B instead. So Cade asks to speak with the tournament director. The TD comes over, listens to the situation and after a brief discussion tells me that the system won't allow them to register him anymore. And Cade says that explanation doesn't sound right to me. From his perspective, he says I was eligible for reentry. I got in line before registration ended. I wasn't trying to delay the game. And this is a multi-flight tournament where registering on day one A and day one B absolutely matters. He says if a player is physically in line before late reds closes, but the level changes before they reach the cage, should that player be allowed to register? And how much of this decision is actually system limitations versus tournament policy?

37:09That sounds like a whole bunch of questions with only one question mark. Well, usually you see Ron sentences, but you rarely see Ron on questions. Very. So should that player be allowed to register if they were in line or in the queue before the registration period closed? Personally, I feel yes. It makes sense. It's fair. It's a pretty common standard. It's reasonable, but that doesn't mean it's actual or possible. Some of the poker software out there in used by various rooms can allow for late reds past whatever time or level you designate as closing the registration period simply because there is

38:12no connection between the clock or the registration software. There's very little difference other than the transferring of player entries to the clock. There may not be reverse communication from the clock telling that the registration software what level they're on or what time is elapsed. The actual clock time of the tournament might be programmed into the registration software. So yes, at this level, we will begin at this level, the break happens at this level, the next break happens at this level we're done. And it obviously knowing how long you program the levels to be, it will then determine that yes, the registration period has laps. No more registration will be allowed. So yeah, it is absolutely in the realm of possibility that the software itself will keep players from being registered based on the parameters that were set by the tournament director programming the tournament into the software. And again, I mean sometimes you just can't accommodate everybody

39:18who's in line. The tournament has to get off with some semblance of order. I mean, if seven tables worth of players showed up in two minutes before the end of the registration period who didn't play in the tournament and wanted to get in now, I don't know if it's reasonable that all seven tables worth of players get registered into that tournament. They had all those levels and the break to actually think about it and wait until the last second, somebody's going to miss out. Haven't forbid it's actually you. But yeah, sometimes the things just can't work out. The thing that comes to my mind immediately is it's in the room's best interest to have as many people register as possible. So they're they're not not going to just make a ruling that you can't register just because, you know, so it serves them

40:21no purpose to turn you away. And unhappy customer who's not thrilled with service and decisions is not going to very likely go to the casino and then spend lots of cash. It generally doesn't work like that then only they get in the car and leave. So yeah, right. Yeah, the casino was not interested in making you unhappy or interested in and turning you away. Sometimes a boundary is set. I mean, if this were a horse race and you were at the ticket window and you intended to bet, but then the trumpets had blared and the bell had gone off and the horses had left the gate. You're not going to be able to bet on that race, even though you were in line before the race had started and they were still taking action on the race. And the two are not equal. I fully get you. A horse race is not a hand of poker or a poker tournament. That much is true. The in line waiting to pay

41:26identity. So in not every circumstance will somebody be in line ready to pay the eligible to actually pay for said. The reason I found this so much of an interesting submission is because this is one of those things that I think I've been probably on I probably error on the other side of that. Like if I'm planning on buying it, I'm probably going to do that first so that I have that taken it taken a care of and I can get to the seat later. You know, I can buy my seat, pay for it, get my slip, then go to the bathroom and then make my way to my seat rather than as your point is well taken. The player clearly states that they had stepped the way to both clear ahead and retrieve more cash with which to buy in. So as a tournament director, I'm supposed to

42:33build in some time to allow these players to access the ATMs and various cash with draw receptacles and devices. I have worked with a couple different softwares and yes, I've tried to build into the allowance for people to actually register the barring disaster. So yeah, if they're getting a cash advance, I mean that's not a 30 second process. You got to sign your life with the cage and prove who you are before they're released to cash. And again, as a casino operator, it is my job to allow somebody to give me cash. It's my job to collect it for the casino and to enhance the prize pool and our revenue. So again, I'm not thrilled that this happened. I think our hero has a great point. They were in the line before the registration of the registration period before the exploration.

43:38Yeah. So again, I empathize. Again, if they're not equipped to run the software correctly or if the software cannot be overridden, they got to do what they got to do. And that may not be good, but at least it's definitive and at least it's fair for everybody. I mean, a good chance there are other people in line too who couldn't get registered. I certainly understand wanting to play day one, A versus day one, B. There may be a lot of different things in play. Day one, A may be a shorter field and maybe easier to advance. There may be a double bag bonus where if you can advance through both flights, you're going to get a significant bounty or at least a mean cash, which again, if you only register for day one, B, that's not available to you. So yeah, I see the advantages here. This is the tough part because nobody ever says this and it's not written on the format sheets or tournament information handouts. But communication is key. If you had intended on getting cash

44:42to come back to play the tournament and re-enter, letting the people of the registration desk or the TD know that, look, I have to go to the ATM or do a cash advance. I'm going to try to be back as soon as possible. I am absolutely playing this event. Let me go get my money. Especially if you've already had an entry in. Again, as soon as you communicate that to somebody who can actually assist you, very likely they're going to find a way to make it happen for you. Even if they have there and I don't recommend this, especially if you're in a regulated jurisdiction and you're an operator, don't do this. They might actually pull an entry for you and if you don't come back with money, they'll void it out. Okay. I've done that at Casinos for the highest tier players. Look, I'll be right back. I've got to go get some cash. We looked them up and the system and all of a sudden, yeah, they're the absolute highest tier

45:45that Casino offers at the players club. Yeah. The golden rule applies. He who has the gold gets accounted for. So yeah, you got to communicate too and it says it nowhere. It's not in the fine print. It's not in bold letters, but communications key. If you ask for help, you're almost always going to get it. Does this bring up a point of like a bigger point here that are Casinos running on an antiquated system with only taking cash? Is it? Well, overseas a lot of Casinos are moving to the cashless and tournament registration is certainly becoming cashless and I dare say with the advent of various systems in place around the world and soon to be at the World Series, that tournament poker is very likely to become cashless pretty soon.

46:49Would that make things easier? Yes. But not in all cases. And I mean, there's going to be a lot of jurisdictions where using a credit card to buy a new tournament is just never going to happen. Yeah, that's fair. And some Casinos are still not going to allow you to use your checking account. So if you're using a debit card, it's going to have to be an actual Casino wallet card. But yeah, we're heading in that direction and that would make things a lot simpler for everybody. But again, now you've still got a local card and getting money into the card may not be the most easily easy thing to accomplish. So again, while we're heading there, we still haven't worked out all the details. It doesn't doesn't necessarily solve all of the problems such as this either because people are still going to wait until the very last second that they can

47:53and you're still going to run into well, but I was but see what happened was what had happened. Yeah. And again, we get that a lot. You advertise a 7 p.m. tournament with late registration through nine o'clock or something. Well, three people show up at seven o'clock. You cancel the tournament because nobody's here. And then of course, 25 people show up at nine o'clock. Where's the tournament? Well, you can start it now. No, it had a start time of seven o'clock. Registration was allowed through nine. It didn't say we'll start later when everybody shows up. Right. The start time was not merely a suggestion like serving juice and milk and toast with the bowl of cereal. It's not a serving suggestion. It's an absolute start time. And I'm not keeping my dealers around twiddling their thumbs for a couple hours waiting for everybody to show up for a tournament that should have started already.

48:56So, right. Yeah, sorry how time is important. Getting things done on a schedule is important. Knowing how to manage your labor and resources is important. So accommodating everybody is great, but that comes with instructions, boundaries, and reality. So yeah, not everybody gets to be the last person to register. Not everybody gets to wait until the last second. So if that's going to be your strategy, you got to think it through a little bit because sometimes they're going to close the window. Right. Yeah, I think bottom line late registration doesn't close when you get in line. It closes when the tournament says it does. And it's once it's closed, it's closed. So yeah, Kate, I love this one. I think it's another great talking point.

50:00And I appreciate you sending that in. If anyone has a call, Laura, that they would like to know how Elliott would rule, send it to podcast at anyupmagazine.com. Please keep it calm. Elliott. Yeah, I appreciate you again. We'll see you next week. Look forward to it. Patrick's a fish, but he's learning fast. He's all in this hand might be his last. Welcome to Hand of the Week. We're Patrick, our resident fish and I dive into listen to submitted hands. Each week, we tackle everything from questionable bluff to hero calls and the hands and make a scratch your head. Whether you're looking for strategy tips or you just want to see if you would have played it any better, we've got you covered. Patrick, you recovered? You doing all right? Yeah, it's what turned out to be a miserable Sunday evening. One might call it Super Bowl Sunday. I don't know what the hell we were doing.

51:08Anyway, yes, I'm recovering slowly but surely. Hey, look, I mean, it's only like what a few weeks to baseball season. So yeah, yeah, that's true. The Olympics are on. That was nice to watch right afterwards. You have all feel good moments. It was it was a shellacking. I can hand up, you know, when I'm wrong on something. I did say, you know, my buddy Drew, who does, I think, listen, he and I did say, you know, we either find a way to scrap it out and when we play perfect or we get, you know, it's a 14 point plus loss. You said 17. And you were very close. It just, they dominated in all facets of the game. And if it wasn't for our defense, shout out for everyone as defense, we would have lost by 35. I mean, at one point, I thought the field goal kicker for Seattle was going to get the MVP.

52:13Yeah, I mean, the most points court are suitable. I mean, that's just what it is. I mean, wow, you know what, good for them. We got there. We shouldn't have been there. I mean, we should not have been there. But we made it there. And, you know, we're still better than, you know, 30 other teams, 30. Can I just throw out one more point before we get into this hand of the week? If you get me fired up, I will fire back. So continue. Is anybody ever made the comparison of Dan Marino to drink me? I have not heard that. I think Miami Dolphins fans would probably be a little disturbed by that. But, um, no, I have not. Here's why I make this comparison. Okay. Drake May, second year, right? Yep. Yep. Made it to the Super Bowl. Dan Marino, second year, made it to the Super Bowl, both 23 years old. Both had very similar stats in the Super Bowl. Well, Dan Marino never made it back to another Super Bowl. Just saying, let's go to the

53:19hand of the week. Cyclists. I got nothing. No. Drake May is not another coming of Dan Marino, although Dan Marino is a Hall of Famer, but he didn't. He didn't get back to another one. I thought he just didn't know what was it. One Super Bowl in a second year and never made it back to another. I will say that there's no way that Drake May is another Dan Marino. And only because in this day and age, we don't, we're not as loyal as, I mean, as we used to be. And, you know, social media, calls for cry. I mean, I don't think if he was to last, you know, five, six years, and we never even made it back to another one, I think there would be an uprising. I think we would have to trade him in all seriousness. Listen, I loved the guy. I would be shocked if Drake May

54:27was as good as he was during the regular season this year if he continued to do so, and didn't make any more, you know, playoff runs if we were still talking about him six or seven years from now. But I think he's going to. I absolutely do. I very much like you, but I the fact that you brought Dan Marino up is disturbing it best. All that note, I was still will be talking about this long before the first pitch started baseball. So we will address this again next week after I've calmed down a little bit, but in the meantime, I think we should play. Let's get it to a hand of the week. Maybe that'll cheer you up. I love it. This hand of the week sent in by Dan Hamilton. Okay. And Dan is playing in a $400 buy-in, no limit hold them tournament. It's day one. Late red just closed. So the blinds are one, one K, two K with a two K big, big, big, big blind ante. And the average stack is 45 K. Dan says, I am in the hijack in this hand

55:36with about 52 K to start the hand. Action folds to me with the ace of diamonds, queen of diamonds. I like it in the hijack. 1,000, 2,000. Do you play different in tournaments than you do every day games, every week games? Yeah, without a doubt, right? Yeah, yeah, got good. Well, we're obviously playing bed size. You're saying bed size, so I'm assuming you're not just calling. No, I wasn't planning on it. Thank God. Yeah, absolutely not. Listen, Patrick, a year and a half ago might have just called. It was a fair. Probably 10, 10 K. Yeah, no too much. A lot. The way I do tournaments is I'll start the game out at three times.

56:41And then I'll go to two and a half times. Oh, you go the opposite way. Okay. Yeah, because your stack sizes in comparison to the blinds. So you don't have to make it as big. Okay. Well, if we're still on day one and relatively early on, if you know, lay registration is closed, is that too big? I mean, five times? I think it is too big. Okay. Okay. Two and a half times would be. That's 45,000, 5,000 correct. Yeah, yeah, three times is 6,000. So that's good to know. Dan says, I opened to 45. So he was in the same, which has been the standard open size for this blind level. He says, A's queen suited feels strong enough to open and continue if we get some pushback pressure. And I want to build a pot against worse aces and Broadway cards. He says,

57:44so villain in the cutoff three bets to 12,500. He says, villain starts the hand with about 78,000. He has been an aggressive player opening a lot of pots. Hasn't shown down many hands. And I haven't seen him show up with junk, but is definitely a playing pressure. Well, we're calling for sure. I'm not calling. You're raising. I am raising. Count me in. See? Hot dog. Let's go. So 12, five. What was it? 12, five? Yeah. Like I'm getting my chips in no matter what. About about 10. I was going to be in anyway. All right. 12, five. You're going to, you're going to double them up or more. So you're going to what? Are you going to 30? You're going to show exactly where I'm going. 30,000. Okay. 30. Yeah.

58:47And we started at 45. So we're not far off. Yeah. Do you just shove? Well, it's just getting ready to say that's only going to leave us about 11 big blinds behind. Yeah. So are you going to see this flop and run if need be or shove? I think that, yeah, I think I can see the, if they go, if they shove, yeah, you're calling. More than likely, I'm calling it. Unless I get some kind of crazy read here. Yeah. I'm probably calling, but not shoving here and leaving myself 11 big blinds. Actually, I feel like puts the pressure back on them. They know that most of the flops are going to be a shove. So I still have options, but they have all the pressure. Got you. So I'm going to bet 30,000 and, um, let's see, Dan just calls. He says, I don't love foreboding here.

59:51Okay. Uh, he says, I don't love foreboding here because villains stack covers me. I don't want to turn Ace Queen into a bluff. Folding feels too tight. This deep and calling keeps worse hands and bluffs in. So, um, instead that makes the pot 30,000. And our stack after the call is 39,500. The flop is Queen of clubs, aided diamonds, five of diamonds. Well, there's not a, I mean, there's definitely better ones out there for us, but that's, that's a thing of glory. That's pretty darn good. Top pair top kicker. Top flush draw. And we're first to act. Do you have the guts or the, do you check into them

1:00:58and let him go? I think that's where I'm going. Yeah. I think that's what I'm doing. Here's, my goal is to get it all in there, right? Absolutely. And if I lead out, I might get them to fold. If I check, it still may go check, check, right? Yes. Very well, Mike. They were the preflop aggressor. So as played, I think I can check and they probably see Bet then nice shove. So that's, that's, see, this is where I would have, no, I don't know how, you know, the villain would have responded. But if I lead out for significantly more than that, you know, 4,500 or whatever it is, and they just call that I was the preflop aggressor. Now I've got everything, my whole strategy. So listen, I end up, I would have messed that one up. But I'm definitely checking here. I'm stomaching a check check for the record. I wouldn't say you messed it up because it's just a different way of playing it. So you just would have had to continue your aggression or whatever. But it's just, it's just a different style,

1:02:04just a different way of going about it. So I wouldn't say you messed it up. But Dan checks as well. All right. The villain does bet. He bets 9,000. I love it. So I mean, we just put it all in, right? Yeah, right. You come over it's out. Yes. Dan says, this board favors the villain, which I completely disagree with. Okay. And when he bets small, it feels like aces or kings wanting protection. I don't know why we're being so quick to rule out king queen, jacks. Ace King makes sense here too. So I think king, queen, queen, jack, king, jack, ace, jack. Yeah. So Dan actually just calls

1:03:07which makes the pot 48,000. And we now have 30,500 in our stack. The turn is the nine of spades. So the board is queen of clubs, eight of diamonds, five of diamonds, nine of spades. Really would not have made them on 10, jack, but 10, jack got there. Right. That's exactly what I was just thinking. But I don't think it, if, well, and maybe this is part of my problem, I mean, if I'm sitting at the table, I really don't make them on that. I see it, but I don't make it on it. Right. No, the fact that you and I are doing hanging in the week right now, you know, I don't think they could have jack 10. I mean, they can. They can. I don't they have jack 10 here. I don't either. I think the question is, do we then, since we check called, do we check call again? Or is it too risky for them to go check, check this time

1:04:13and give them a free river? Do we just go ahead and put it in now? Yeah. I mean, I think I do. I would have wanted to on the last one in the Senate. You know, I want to have them paid to see anymore. And I definitely want to now. So I mean, if they're sitting on Ace King, you may catch a fold. Maybe. Yeah. King Queen, you're not that though. Do we want them to fold Ace King here? No, we don't. But the same. Yeah. I mean, Ace King, I mean, King Queen, you're catching a call, King Jack, you're probably catching a call. I think I'm still going to check because they've been aggressive each street. So I let them go ahead and continue aggression, although it is dangerous because they could go check, check. But then, I mean, we're getting a free card too. We still only have top peer top kicker. So it's not like,

1:05:17it's not like we are holding the nuts here. But I'm going to check Dan also checks. The villain bets 18,000. Okay. So still shoving right shoving. Yeah. No matter what. Yeah. But here's the deal. And this is a good point. If you, if you lead out to him by shoving, you may not get an extra 18,000. I mean, he may not call. So you never know. But yeah, I think checking is a great move there, Dan. So Dan says this card changes a lot. Not sure that it changes a lot. It allowed the Jack tend to get there. It opens up a few more draws with Straits. But, but yeah, I'm not sure it changes a lot. He says, now I'm in a weird spot.

1:06:22Calling leaves me 12,500 going to the river. So Dan says I jam for the last bit of my stack and villain calls. And shows team Queen. We're in a great spot because they also have Ace Queen. Oh, great. Acer clubs, Queen of spades. Show me the diamond here. Yeah, we want that diamond on the river. But it looks like it's the three of clubs. So we miss our flush and end up splitting the pot. So he asks some questions. Is calling the three bet preflop standard here or should this be a four bet or a fold? It's not a fold. But I do think it's a four bet. He says, on the flop,

1:07:22do you ever raise for protection slash value? I think we've answered all of these throughout the hand. So we did. Yeah, we got we got there before even though the answers on the turn is jamming actually better than calling. Where are we just lighting chips on fire? No, we did that one already too. And the last question is, how much does stack depth and tournament life matter in this spot? And the answer there is a lot. A lot. Yeah. But not enough to justify playing scared. Yeah, I said, well, I think that's a delicate balance. And for I mean, Dan's probably significantly more an apt to, you know, answer this as well for himself. But I mean, it's definitely something to think about. But you got to go into it knowing, okay, well, you know, keep in mind how many blinds you have left, but you cannot change your strategy and play, like

1:08:24you said, tentative or scared because if you do, you're just going to lose your chips anyways. You might as well give them go do whatever. Right. Right. I mean, I think we had top pair top kicker, right? Yep. Plus the nut flush draw. Yep. We dominate their ace queen without without the diamonds. Right. We dominate a lot of hands that they have in their range. Correct. Yep. And we actually have strong equity even against made hands there. So getting chips ends not reckless. You know, you're you're just you're forcing the villain to make hard decisions, which is what tournament poker is all about. And while tournament life matters, this is not a survival spot. I feel like calling in those spots feels safer, but it's really not. Even though shoving may

1:09:24get you out of the tournament, it may bust you sometimes. Calling is to your point this slow, unavoidable death busts. Yeah. And you lose and you lose all the control. Yeah. So so I think that this particular position, this particular spot, it's not reckless to get the chips in there. And even though survival, it's a tournament that is important, but it's not you can't play scared. You've got to be able to get those chips in there. So yeah. That's a good one though. Have we haven't played a tournament in a while? Thank you. Thank you. No, we haven't. I would if anyone has some more tournaments out there. I would like to see it. I think they're some other other folks, you know, expert leveled in office. What what what as well. So if you've got more tournament hands, bring some tournament hands. Yeah, I want to turn them it with Omaha. No. No. You want to see my head explode on life? No. Actually, that would be wild

1:10:36to play. Tell me and no. Hey, also on, you know, hand up, I my apology, significantly when you've got two kids for missing a patreon game sports kid sick. Yeah, my apologies. So it is on it will be on the calendar for next month. Do you have the date right in front of you, Joe? For everyone? You have. I know the mix. I know. I know. I know. I'm not against that one either. I just mentioned this is a triple driver. Do seven triple draw. You're going for the low hand. Oh, I know that. You're out. Why don't you just say that? Why's you going to have a crazy name? Well, it's not. It's it's due to seven is your your lowest hand, right? Right. What's the triple draw? You got three of them throughout. They get the draw three times. Okay. So you can discard cards and get cards. So that's next Thursday. It is a week from from everyone listening to this. It's it's yeah, week from yesterday. Correct. Yes.

1:11:41All right. All right. All right, Joe. Let's see. He's up, man. It's so sensitive. The last couple days. We need you in the chat. We need you in the game. Comes. I mean, hey, look, what's up doc will be in the chat. Hello, fellow Patriot. Okay. That's man. You guys can commiserate together. Listen, by next week, I might be, I mean, the Bruins are playing great. There was a there was a quote in the Wall Street Journal. And and without butchering, and I got to read it to you. And it was spot on for how great of fans we have. I mean, the best fans in all sports, no offense, the bills or anything. Both are. Royals. If the Patriots win, which we didn't, I know, it's already happened relaxed. If the Patriots win, that will be ring number seven. That's a lot. So that means we have six because we didn't win, but stuff six. Which should keep New England satisfied for a

1:12:44couple of weeks until they start yelling at the Red Sox. Which is very true. Pinders and catches report next week. So let's go. Yes. Yes. We're going to be we're going to be in Arizona for an any of tourist out. I like it. When during during spring training. Yeah. Oh, it's beautiful. So hopefully I can go down and catch a game. I'm working on it. But I like it. Yeah. I've never I've never gone to a spring training game. So I'm I'm really looking forward to it. You know, I did as a kid. We actually used to do swing breakdown at Disney and my my father very connivingly snuck us off across the state to a baseball game one day. It was great. So nice. Yeah. Nice. Well, we got completely off of the subject here. Then thank you for sending that in. Great one. If anyone has a hand of the week that they would like to know how Patrick and I would play it, send it to podcastedanyupmagazine.com. Patrick, we'll see you next week. We'll see you in the Patreon

1:13:47game. And you know, sorry about your team. Yeah. That was hard felt. But thanks. Sounds good. See you next week. It's Friday the 13th. For some people that's going to mean don't walk under ladders or avoid black cats or maybe don't register that tournament today because obviously the poker gods are going to be planning something. It's Friday the 13th after all. Poker and superstition, even sports and superstition, they've all gone hand in hand. Lucky hoodies, special card protectors, maybe the same pre session meal. I've seen rabbits feed at the table.

1:14:54I've seen crystals, actual crystals at the table and like specific chip stacking rituals. And if that's your thing, I'm not judging. But here's my take. I try to stay away from superstitions as a whole, but especially in poker. Not because I don't understand the comfort factor I do. The game is volatile. It's unpredictable. It's emotional. When you're sitting there at the table and the river peels off a one outer against you, you want something, anything to blame. But here's the danger. It's not that a lucky card protector won't help you win. It's that if you don't have it, you start thinking you're doomed. And that's where it gets you. Because poker is already psychological warfare.

1:15:59The last thing you need is to convince yourself you're starting the session off at a disadvantage because you forgot your lucky hat. The moment you believe the universe is working against you, you're going to play different. You may hesitate or second guess yourself more. You interpret normal variants as some kind of punishment from the poker gods. Now, instead of focusing on ranges or stacked depth player tendencies, you're thinking, of course, it's Friday the 13th, this was bound to happen. And that subtle shift is where mistakes creep in. We crave patterns. We want causes. We want to believe that wearing the red hoodie is why we final table last week. But it wasn't the hoodie. It was the decisions. And if you attribute

1:16:59success to luck rituals, you rob yourself of ownership. And if you attribute losses to bad omens, you rob yourself of accountability. That makes growth harder. I'd rather anchor myself to process rather than luck. Because process travels with you, you're lucky rabbit's foot, it might not. And the irony is sometimes those superstitions actually increase your fear. You start to be afraid to change seats, afraid to wash the hoodie, afraid to break routine, afraid of Friday the 13th. Poker can already be intimidating enough. Why add ghosts? Now, if carrying a card protector makes you smile and relax, great. If it centers you, fine.

1:18:08But understand what it really is, a comfort object, not a strategy. The real edge comes from preparation, from emotional discipline, from understanding that the deck has no memory and knowing that variance doesn't care about calendars. Friday the 13th is just Friday. The cards don't know the date. And the poker gods, they're not checking astrology before dealing the river. So instead of worrying about curses, maybe focus on playing well, making good decisions and accepting the outcomes. Because if you bus today, it won't be because you forgot your lucky card protector. It'll be because sometimes in this game, the other guy just gets there. And that's not superstition. That's poker. That's today's one outer and that's today's

1:19:15show. I'll see you next week, A team. And until then, I'll see you at the tables. If you'd like to advertise, sit an email to editor at anyupmagazine.com.