[TimmyP]

San Juan, Chips, Poker and A royal flush.
Just got back from San Juan, here are a few thoughts.
Got to play with huge stacks of Chipco’s, Bud Jones, Paulson’s, and believe it or not Sopranos (in a casino).

In a casino Paulson’s are a bad choice. In my stack of chips they went from, pristine with square edges to round, noticeably smaller and dirty as sin.
Bud Jones chips; even the old chips still look good. Bud Jones with coin inserts, some of the coins rattle and spin, some chips in the deep part of the dealer’s rack the coins had fallen out of some of the chips, but these chips I think are the same chips they have been using for the last 10 years since I have been coming here.
Chipco’s, we have all seen the abraded ring and they hold dirt more than the bud Jones less than the Paulson’s.
The Intercontinental had nice looking Bud Jones on the main casino floor but in the poker room (More of a poker cubical.) they had hot stamped Sopranos. They only hold a nightly tournaments, of ether NL Omaha or Texas holde’m, with buyin’s of $65 - $220, with rebuy’s, on the nights I went. A lot of strong players by the way, some were world ranked players.
The Soprano's were in bad shape. Most of the hot stamping was long gone, the chips were separating and huge chunks of some of the chips had peeled away. The Black chips were the worst for separating and the center edge spot color missing. All of the players discussed the poor condition of the chips nightly.


A royal flush story:
I folded pre flop, but three people called an early raise, by the player just to my right. The flop came, Q 10 J all Hearts, the table went nuts. An Old guy at the table stood up excitingly proclaiming ‘Possibly Royal!’ He claimed he had a set of Queen’s, still he wanted everyone just to check all the way to the river.’ Half of what they were saying was in Spanish so it was hard to follow what was going on. The other three players all agreed the player to my right was the only one who was a little reluctant. Turn and the River were both rags. They all turn over their cards. The last to flip was the player to my right and, there it was the A K of harts, he had flopped the ultimate nut. The place exploded!
They called a break as the TD came over and a casino floor manager to check the deck. Turns out they have a progressive jackpot for a Royal Flush during a tournament. He collected $12,800 for his, Royal Flush.
Why they checked to the river? If you need to see the turn and river to make the Royal Flush and they don’t happen, nether does the Royal flush.

[jamby]

Thanks for the chip review and trip report, Timmy. Great story about the Royal.

[whataboutj]

WOW great story. I guess needing to check to the river makes sense - especially for that much $$$. It was cool of the other players to do that too - I know plenty of people who would potentially blackmail (so to speak) someone who stood to make that much scracth on a hand. Did he toke the other players?

Crazy abot the tourney chips BTW

[weak]

sry to get a bit OT, but i thought you have to bet the river if you have the nuts?

just recently i played in a local tournament and a girl got a ten minute penalty for not betting the nuts on the river.

[TimmyP]

Originally Posted by weak

sry to get a bit OT, but i thought you have to bet the river if you have the nuts?

just recently i played in a local tournament and a girl got a ten minute penalty for not betting the nuts on the river.

A rule that makes you bet? That to me would be odd? Was she trying to trap or didn't she call in atempt to send chips to another player? Each house has it's own rules this was how they did it there.
By the way the TD and floor manager came over and were genuinly thrilled for the guy.

[sn0wstorm]

Originally Posted by weak

just recently i played in a local tournament and a girl got a ten minute penalty for not betting the nuts on the river.

Edit: nevermind, misunderstood this...

[weak]

I was surprised too. The explanation of the Floorman was that she was not allowed to go easy on the other players by checking the nuts at the end of the hand because it would be unfair or something like that.

Originally Posted by TimmyP

A rule that makes you bet? That to me would be odd? Was she trying to trap or didn't she call in atempt to send chips to another player? Each house has it's own rules this was how they did it there.
By the way the TD and floor manager came over and were genuinly thrilled for the guy.

[DubleDex]

Originally Posted by weak

sry to get a bit OT, but i thought you have to bet the river if you have the nuts?

just recently i played in a local tournament and a girl got a ten minute penalty for not betting the nuts on the river.

That's ridiculous. If the board is scary and a check comes around to you, and you're holding the nuts... it doesn't always make sense to bet. Especially if you think your bet is just going to make everyone fold.

(I admit, this wouldn't stop me from betting the nuts, as someone may think you're bluffing.)

Of course, that idea makes a lot more sense in a cash game, where you're just there to get money, so checking through doesn't affect how much cash you actually make. But the same principal applies to a tournament. If you don't think you're going to actually get any callers, then it's your perogative to check it through.

If it didn't check to her, maybe she was slowplaying and trying to check raise. Another good strategy if you've got a couple aggressive players left in the pot. If they happen to get scared and slow down on the river, you had no way of knowing that, and you just lost out on cash because you were trying to check-raise.

However, it wasn't "unfair" to anyone. It was simply a style of play.

(Cool story on the RF, too!)

[weak]

Originally Posted by DubleDex

However, it wasn't "unfair" to anyone. It was simply a style of play.

(Cool story on the RF, too!)

I had about the same thoughts, it's a crappy rule. and of course it isn't unfair to any of the other players.
There's however a reason why they might have such a rule: to prevent High Hand jackpots. If you can't check your High Hand on the river there's a good chance everybody else will fold, no showdown, no jackpot. Although the casino isn't making any money from it as far as i know, but that's the only reason that makes any sense to me.

anyway, sry again for threadjacking