Category Archives: Poker

Texas Hold’em at Facebook

Zynga first hand

I’ve been playing Texas Hold’Em on Facebook courtesy of Zynga. It’s a cute flash game. Nothing like a real money game at a casino or a home game with friends of course. It is not hard to get virtual money. You don’t have to pay any real money. Which gives the tournament games an interesting dynamic. Most people just go all in at the first round. And, if they fail (like they usually do), then they start another first round tournament game and try again. These games start immediately, so there is no real discouragement to people using these tactics. Of course, I hope to have pocket Aces when against these people. Usually, I wait for a very strong hand to call people going all in.

Zynga Poker Math

Of course, there are bugs with this game. It doesn’t keep the odd chip whole when more than one person wins an all-in bet. This fractional money gets even more distorted due to rounding errors as it keeps getting split. I have also seen it make you call an all-in bet when you already have all your money in. “Call 0?” is definitely a broken behavior.

Zynga bottom straight flush

Of course, I am going to call with the second best hand in this situation. And, if you have the Ace and King of Hearts, then good luck to you…

Zynga won final table

Finally, after a lot of playing, I win the third round of the tournament! This gave me a chance for a free trip to San Francisco.

Low limit hold-em

Poker hands

William hosted a low limit poker night in an effort to get more people comfortable with playing poker. He had helpfully created these charts for new people. There was one new person who had some good starting hands (I think like 4 pocket Aces). After watching the first two people with pocket Aces loose the hand, I was worried when I got them. But fortunately they held up to someone who had an Ace and I think a Jack. When the flop had an Ace in it, I bet strong. And by the river, there were no possible flushes or straights that could beat it.