Quest of a Closet Poker Player

As you know, PokerWorks is a website whose revenue comes from advertising and signing up for poker sites.  I’d been asked to look at Duplicate Poker, which seemed like another in a very, very long list of poker sites.  I even downloaded the software to check it out.  Seeing very few players, I shrugged and filed it away as another site not to worry too much about.  Then I received an email from Nolan Dalla.

There are very few people in poker I respect more than Nolan.  If there is someone, I’m not sure who it is.  He is the consummate professional, always willing to assist anyone during the World Series.  He’s a friend, and when I received an email about Duplicate Poker, I opened it amid my inventory of emails.  Here is the press release:

New York, NY – September 13, 2007 – It’s been a tough year for poker players. With the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) last September, millions of Americans suddenly found their favorite online poker sites gone or unable to accept deposits without going to extraordinary efforts.

Until now, that is. With the entry of DuplicatePoker.com into the market, poker players now have an option that is safe, legal, and fun.  It’s also something original.  DuplicatePoker’s innovative twist on Texas Hold ‘em removes the luck of the draw and lets poker players rely on their skills to win. Furthermore, since DuplicatePoker is viewed as a skill game, it’s legal in most jurisdictions in the US.  Poker players can deposit funds using Visa, MasterCard and American Express. No online poker site has been able to accept US credit cards since 2002.

DuplicatePoker is based on a concept with its roots in tournament bridge. Players in corresponding seats at different tables are dealt identical poker hands (hence “duplicate”), and prove their skill not by how lucky they are, but in how well they play each hand in comparison with other players who have the same cards. A run of “bad cards” in traditional poker can be devastating. But in duplicate poker, a player’s opponents are getting the same cards, good or bad. A run of bad cards that are played well can win just as easily as a run of good cards.

Duplicate(2007), Inc., the operators of DuplicatePoker.com, is a US company with headquarters in New York City.  It is the only online poker company based in the US. The company was founded by Pinhas Romik, a champion bridge player who has held both the US and European bridge championship titles. The company has attracted top talent, including VP of Marketing Dan Goldman, who piloted PokerStars.com’s meteoric rise from a startup to the world’s largest online poker site; Nicolas Lev, who built and managed affiliate marketing for 888.com, one of the world’s largest online gaming and poker sites; and Nolan Dalla, Media Director for the World Series of Poker, who was instrumental in taking the WSOP from niche coverage to one of the world’s most heavily-covered media events.

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I’d downloaded it, but now I’ll definitely look into the site and try to figure it out.  I’ll even try to deposit with a credit card as it says in the press release that it should work.

I had a pretty rough day, really a difficult week this week, and so I decided what better time to play a bit.  I actually played a $0.10/0.25 NLH 6-max on PokerStars.  I was doing it more to work on my aggression.  This hand sent benwahballs through the roof, and he proceeded to wait for me at a $10/20 NLH table (which I declined to jump to) then berated my play elsewhere for about thirty minutes.

POKERSTARS HOLD’EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) Table ‘Galene V’ 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: Uhle82 ($22.70 in chips)
Seat 4: csquard ($36.30 in chips)
Seat 5: benwahballs2 ($25.30 in chips)
csquard: posts small blind $0.10
benwahballs2: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to csquard [Kd 8c]
Uhle82: folds
csquard: calls $0.15
benwahballs2: raises $0.75 to $1
csquard: calls $0.75
*** FLOP *** [3c 3d Ks]
csquard: checks
benwahballs2: bets $1.25
csquard: raises $2.55 to $3.80
benwahballs2: calls $2.55
*** TURN *** [3c 3d Ks] [7s]
csquard: bets $6
benwahballs2: calls $6
*** RIVER *** [3c 3d Ks 7s] [8h]
csquard: bets $9
benwahballs2: calls $9
*** SHOW DOWN ***
csquard: shows [Kd 8c] (two pair, Kings and Eights)
benwahballs2: shows [Ac Kc] (two pair, Kings and Threes)
csquard collected $38.60 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $39.60 | Rake $1
Board [3c 3d Ks 7s 8h]
Seat 3: Uhle82 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: csquard (small blind) showed [Kd 8c] and won ($38.60) with two pair, Kings and Eights
Seat 5: benwahballs2 (big blind) showed [Ac Kc] and lost with two pair, Kings and Threes

I actually missed that I’d paired my eight on the river, focused more on staying aggressive in these short handed scenarios.  Horrible me?  OK, whatever.  How bout re-popping me on the flop then?

I ended up with a very big session (for me at least), up +$425 or so.  This one big monster pot was the net basically as I lost some/won some at other tables later (about $200 of the losses came on five re-raises/continuation bets that didn’t seem to work out so good as I had to fold to the rest of the action).  I emailed this hand and did the math later, and I don’t think I have the odds to call (I’m like 19% or so on the flop given the exact hands).

POKERSTARS GHOLD’EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) Table ‘Laomedon V’ 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: csquard ($345.85 in chips)
Seat 2: champ400mks ($107.80 in chips)
Seat 3: MrBrightEyes ($199.40 in chips)
Seat 4: RC’s Game ($376.85 in chips)
Seat 5: kriegskeks ($345.90 in chips)
Seat 6: ofishstix ($217.35 in chips)
ofishstix: posts small blind $1
csquard: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to csquard [Ac Kh]
champ400mks: folds
MrBrightEyes: folds
RC’s Game: raises $2 to $4
kriegskeks: folds
ofishstix: calls $3
csquard: raises $10 to $14
RC’s Game: calls $10
ofishstix: calls $10
*** FLOP *** [7c 4c Qc]
ofishstix: checks
csquard: bets $34
RC’s Game: raises $44 to $78
ofishstix: raises $125.35 to $203.35 and is all-in
csquard: calls $169.35
RC’s Game: raises $125.35 to $328.70
csquard: calls $125.35
*** TURN *** [7c 4c Qc] [3h]
ofishstix said, “lol”
csquard: checks
RC’s Game: bets $2
csquard: calls $2
*** RIVER *** [7c 4c Qc 3h] [Kc]
ofishstix said, “lol”
csquard: bets $1.15 and is all-in
RC’s Game: calls $1.15
*** SHOW DOWN ***
csquard: shows [Ac Kh] (a flush, Ace high)
RC’s Game: shows [4s 4h] (three of a kind, Fours)
csquard collected $257 from side pot
ofishstix said, “lol”
ofishstix said, “do bsf”
ofishstix: mucks hand
ofishstix said, “osdjoisap”
csquard collected $649.05 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $909.05 Main pot $649.05. Side pot $257. | Rake $3
Board [7c 4c Qc 3h Kc]
Seat 1: csquard (big blind) showed [Ac Kh] and won ($906.05) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: champ400mks folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: MrBrightEyes folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: RC’s Game showed [4s 4h] and lost with three of a kind, Fours
Seat 5: kriegskeks (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: ofishstix (small blind) mucked [8c 5c]

Sometimes it really isn’t about making the right decision as much as it’s about winning a big, monster pot.  Or I’m just horrible, either way.  I’m not sure if I take the above line if two folks weren’t there with me, but I slalomed through at least.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 6:08 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.