WSOP 2017!

Dear Herd,

It's been far too long.  But it's time to smash through the barn door as they say, or they should anyway.  Due to some veterinary issues, the Donkey hasn't had caffeine or alcohol in 3 weeks and it's time to take that frustration out on someone.  So, . . . 

Later today is a new tournament at WSOP.  It's Pot-Limit Omaha with unlimited re-entries for the first six hours.  That means people will be playing crazy aggressive and trying to build a big stack (or rebuy and try again).  The Donkey will be in action and blogging along, starting around 11am PST.  There's a possible delay to the start time as the Donkey's human accomplice, occasionally referred to as GLA (short, of course, for the Galloping Litigator of the Apocalypse), may have to deal with some late morning crap (no better way to describe it). 

A few notes about the game for people who haven't played it:

It is exactly like No-Limit Hold'em, the game you see on late night TV every evening, with two exceptions:

1. Each player gets 4 cards and must use 2 cards from the player's hand and 3 cards from the board to make the best possible hand.  The best poker hand wins the pot.  For example, if a player has 4 hearts in his hand, but there are only 2 hearts on the board, the player does not have a flush.  If there are 3 hearts on the board, then the player can use those three hearts, plus the best two from the player's hand, to make a flush.
2. Player's can only raise the amount that is in the pot.  This makes position very important.  For example, if the blinds are 100-200 and the player in seat 4 wants to raise, seat 4's raise can not be more than 700 (calculated as a call of 200 plus a raise of the amount that is then in the pot - i.e. 100+200+200).  If the player in seat 7 then wants to re-raise, seat 7 can raise up to 2,400 (calculated as a call of 700 plus a raise in the amount that is then in the pot - i.e. 100+200+700+700).  This "pot-limit" element impacts betting in dramatic ways (e.g. the "check-raise" bet is far more impactful) and subtle ways (e.g. one might be less likely to bet when they flop a nut flush draw because keeping the pot small will help them survive the betting on the turn if the flush doesn't happen).

As I did last year, each hand will begin with the position of the button on the table.  For example, B5 would indicate that Seat 5 is the button.  Accordingly, if we are in Seat 7, we are in the big blind for that hand.  This should help you identify certain players over time by their seat.

Finally, if you would please do me a favor and go to the blog site  click on the "Follow" button, and throw your name in there, I would appreciate it.  I know there are a good handful of people who get these emails, but I don't know who they are (except Schey, Jeremy and Gerbs who have already done this).

All the best,

Donkey