Props are generally used to start games and generally are good at short handed play, when the table begins to fill they are generally required to get another table going thus perpetuating the cycle. Props to my knowledge use their own money to play and get a kickback on their rake or some get an hourly wage depending on the table. They live and die by the play of the cards just as everyone else does, the only additional info they have is their experience. As for their need for props, I can only imagine it is to get tables going in games that may be having a slow start. At Party's level it wouldn't appear they would be needed much but what do I know... Most who try to collude are bumbling idiots and are either caught by the operators and lose their bankrolls and banned or discover eventually that if they lose on their own that they just lose twice as fast with a partner. If it takes place it is at much higher levels of the game like say 15/30 and up. If you are playing at that level I would hope that you are not a fish and can tell when things aren't sitting well at which point you can change tables or if you feel a couple of people are consistently raising you out of pots and then one of them folding prior to showdown etc... then contact management. Believe it or not, they are very thorough at checking these things out... how often do these people play together, are they dumping chips, are they raising with crap hands etc... I am currently playing the NL100 ring games and have not noticed any problems with collusion although I'd swear a couple of time people have ganged up to give me huge pots I think a lot of the collusion worry leaves once you have a big enough bankroll and enough experience to know that you are a winning player. A lot of what looks like collusion at the lower levels is just plain stupid play on behalf of your opponents, or what they call the schooling effect, fishy stuff. Also stay away from twoplustwo, if everyone starts going there then I'll have to find a different profession P.S. No I don't play any tourneys (SNG's) unless just for fun, the luck quotient goes way up. Your odds of winning are based on your ability to stay in the game long enough to reap the rewards of those odds, one mistake in a tourney and your out. Still fun to play once in a while and dream about. wdbaker Denver, Co
You know, it is amazing how the markets have gotten so bad that many traders simply stopped trading and started playing online poker full time. Simple patience and discipline is enough to consistently win at single table tournaments. No effects of deteriorating volume & volatility in online poker.
You guys are killin' me with these tales of poker success! I bought 4 Hold 'Em books, Brunson's SuperSystem and Turbo Holdem. Been too darn busy to get much practice tho. Only live about 3 hrs from Vegas. Hey, I saw Cris Ferguson at the Reno Hilton a couple months ago. Good luck to all in your poker adventures.
So I am trying to figure out the odds of flopping a Royal with AKs. I found the following stats: Being dealt AKs = 331:1 Flopping 10JQs to make Royal = 19,599:1 Obviously my college education went to waste because I don't remember how to correctly figure out the combined odds. Anyone?
Much easier to calculate than you might think. Odd's of being dealt suited AK's => First card odds = 8 / 52 (you only need any A or K out of deck) Second card odds = 1 / 51 (you MUST get suited match for your A or K from first card, just one card of remaining 51 will work for you. So, overall odds of getting suited A-K = (8/52)*(1/51) = 8 / 2652 = 1 / 331.5 (i.e. one chance out of 331.5) So, once we have suited A-K, what are the odds of getting a flop of 10-J-Q? Flop card #1: 3 / 50 (any of the 3 suited cards, out of 50 remaining) Flop card #2: 2 / 49 (similar logic) Flop card #3: 1 / 48 (only one remaining card will work, out of 48 left in deck) Overall flop odds = (3/50)*(2/49)*(1/48) = 6 / 117,600 = 1/19,600 (i.e. one chance out of 19,600) -Eric
Thanks Eric, So the combined odds would just be: (1/331.5)*(1/19600)= .00302*.00005=.0000002 OR .00002%; 1 in 50,000?
=> No. The combined odds would be (1 / 331.5)*(1/19,600) = 1/6,497,400 => One chance in ~6.5 million (roughly the odds of winning the lottery in Virginia). Maybe you should have bought a Lotto ticket that day!
Just for completeness, let me do a quick calculation of what the odds would be to get four aces after the flop (i.e. after five cards). Note that getting this would involve getting one useless card, that wasn't an ace. This makes calculation of the odds a little more complex. For the sake of simplicity, the notation for an ace will be "A" and the notation for any other card (2 - K) will be "x". Also, note that you can get four aces after the flop in five ways: AA AAx (we'll call this "I") AA AxA (II) AA xAA (III) Ax AAA (IV) xA AAA (V) To correctly figure the overall odds, we must calculate the individual odds of each of these scenarios (I through V) and sum them up to get the total overall odds. Odds of getting scenario I: (4/52)*(3/51)*(2/50)*(1/49)*(48/48) = 1/270,725 Odds of getting scenario II: (4/52)*(3/51)*(2/50)*(48/49)*(1/48) = 1/270,725 Odds of getting scenario III: (4/52)*(3/51)*(48/50)*(2/49)*(1/48) = 1/270,725 Odds of getting scenario IV: (4/52)*(48/51)*(3/50)*(2/49)*(1/48) = 1/270,725 Odds of getting scenario V: (48/52)*(4/51)*(3/50)*(2/49)*(1/48) = 1/270,725 => Overall odds of getting four aces after the flop would be the sum of all of these which would be 5/270,725, or one chance out of 54,145. From this, you can see that it is much 'easier' to get four aces (1:54,145) than it is to get a royal flush (1:6.5 million). -Eric
I funded my account tonight at Partypoker & just gone done playing for the first time online. I played for about a hour & finished the night up $15, Just sticking to the .50/1.00 tables for now. I can really see why this can be much more enjoyable then trading. How has everyone been doing? Any updates?