I was invited to the APL Poker Night held at the Southern Hotel in Gawler by my dad and Joe on Tuesday night. Usually on Tuesday nights I have dinner with dad at his house, but he wants to learn how to play Texas Hold ‘Em.
There’s a lot of difference between the poker nights I hold and what seems to be the “official” Australian League way of playing it.
To begin with, all four suits are organised in a square shape on the table, with each card within the suits visible. Then the cards are turned face down and shuffled on the table by moving the piles around with the players’ hands. Then each player picks a card in order to determine who gets to be dealer.
The selected dealer then shuffles the deck as much as they wish whilst the blinds are posted. Originally the blinds are 25 (small blind)/50 (big blind) and are posted by the two players to the left of the dealer with the person to the left posting the small blind. The blinds are raised every 15 minutes to 50/100, 75/100, 100/200, 200/400 and 500/1000. There is 30 minutes of play in the first round, and then a 20 minute break (which is way too long, imo), and then back into the game until the final table. Before the third and final round there is another break, but I’m unsure how long that is.
Then the dealer places a red card next to the person to the left of them and the deck of cards next to that. The person to the left then cuts the deck, puts the top half on top of the red card and moves the bottom half on top of that pile. The dealer then deals to their left in a clockwise fashion, giving themselves the last card. Each player gets two cards.
A round of betting commences. All players must bet if they want to stay in, the minimum bet being the big blind. All players can fold at any point and may not retract their cards. I don’t know if there’s a re-raise limit, we never got to that point. It would be good to point out at this point you cannot bluff, it is impossible. You will get called (someone else matches your bet) and you’ll be in the deep end. Once everyone’s bets are equal, the chips are put into the middle.
One card is then burnt off and then the flop is put out. Another round of betting happens. Players can choose to check (not place out any money), or bet the minimum or more. If a player has checked and another player on the table has bet, then the player must bet if they want to stay in. It is still impossible to bluff, you will get called. All bets are equalised and then the Turn card is put out.
Another round of betting, and the River card.
Another round of betting and then the remaining players can choose to turn over their cards or fold. The player with the best cards win.
The next round the player to the left of the dealer of the first round now becomes the dealer.
Enough of the rules, here’s how my night went.
I started on table 3 with Joe to my right and dad started on table 1. Joe was the dealer, so I posted small blind. I did very well for the first round, becoming the chip leader for the table. During the break free nibblies were given out and players got to take a break for 20 minutes. After the break it got a little more serious. By this time, the blinds were raised to 100 and 200 and people seemed a little more cautious on betting. I kept getting Queen/2 as my dealt hand, which was frustrating after fishing for the queen for two hands and losing both of them.
There were a few memorable hands in this second round.
The first was with Aaron, a player sitting across the table from me. I was being cocky and thought I had a good hand with two pair, so I bet large. The conversation went something like this: Dealer: deals out the flop Me: bets 500 Aaron: So you want to play then? Me: nod Aaron: Alright, I call. Dealer: deals out the turn Me: More please. puts out another 500 Aaron: Still playing? I call. Dealer: deals out the river Me: check Aaron: check
Aaron got a three of a kind and won. The bastard.
The hand after that I got dealt a little better so I was still cocky, but my ego had a sizeable dent in it from the previous hand. It ended up being Aaron, me and another player. From what I remember I had three of a kind and Aaron had two pair. I won my chips back, and a little more.
Another hand was with Woggy sitting across the table and to my right. The cards on the table were nothing special, beside a queen which paired with the queen in my hand. I had a Queen/4 and unknown to me Woggy (who apparently went to the Regional championships) had a Queen/2. So we bet large, thinking we each had a better hand. It turned out to be a split pot because the cards on the table were better than we had in our hands.
The hand Joe went out on he went all in with 100 (I think) and had a two pair by the end of the hand and Aaron had a full house.
The final hand I played in I was moved to table 1. I was dealer and missed burning off a card somewhere. I could’ve missed burning the flop card and if I did then a 6 that came out on the flop would’ve been the burnt card and there would’ve been the card immediately after the faux River card that was dealt. There were three or four of us left, with the guy across the table from me having a pair of sixes, but if I had burnt off the six in the flop like I was supposed to (and I’m sure I did), then he would’ve had nothing. The real river card that should’ve been dealt was a queen, and I would’ve won. I basically dealt myself out. I came 12th overall and I plan on doing better next time, maybe more caffeine would help.