Online casinos and poker

Here’s a close call in stud at the poker table that you’ve probably faced many times. It’s the kind of difficult decision you should be lucky enough to frequently make.

You are dealt three cards of the same suit, the exposed one an ace. One or two of your suit are exposed elsewhere. One player, showing a high card, raises the bring-in and one or two other players call. You call too, looking for the flush. On fourth street, sure enough, you get your fourth suited card. You play your flush draw conventionally, checking and then calling the initial bettor. The other players fold. It’s heads up going into fifth street.

On fifth street you get the fifth suited card, giving you a
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flush. Your opponent does not show a pair. He just has his premium card from third street. You are still high on board with your ace. No other aces have been played. You suspect your opponent has a premium pair – perhaps two pair.

Here’s the question. Do you bet your flush or check it?

Each action has its merits. You have an unusually strong hand on fifth street – an ace-high flush against a probable pair. You’re certainly in the lead and likely to stay there throughout the hand. You clearly would like your opponent to call you on fifth street and thereafter. A check might induce your opponent to continue to bet and to lull him into thinking, incorrectly, that you don’t yet have a flush. Your bet on fifth street might convince your opponent that you caught a flush. He would then probably fold, depriving you of money on sixth street and the river. So perhaps a check is best.

On the other hand, your check might be followed by his check, causing you to lose a bet. And it might look suspicious – especially to a good opponent who might expect you to bet an exposed three-flush on fifth street whether or not you made a flush. He might check behind your bet and then fold on sixth street when you bet, convinced that you caught your flush.

Pennsylvania-based Lightning Poker, Inc., one of the two largest makers of electronic poker tables for use in live-action casinos, has been awarded a patent for one specific element of its products.

Patent #7,306,516, for an ‘Electronic Game Table’, specifically deals with the center monitor of Lightning Poker’s devices, which display the multiple community cards available during any given hand of poker. The patent was awarded on Dec. 11, 2007 and announced on Wednesday. Brian Haveson, Lightning Gaming’s CEO, stated, “This patent protects a critical feature of our automated poker tables, the center monitor, which is a key component to the player experience.” The patent joins others already
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garnered or applied for by Lightning regarding elements of its electronic products.

The 10-seat Lightning Poker tables continue to be distributed under an agreement signed last year with leading casino-equipment supplier Shuffle Master, Inc. The automated Lightning Poker tables offer both Texas Hold’em and Omaha programming options and are available for play in several casinos in the U.S., along with installations in Canada, Australia, Macau, Germany, Australia, Bulgaria, Romania and Lebanon among other countries. Lighning also recently announced its acquisition of Poker Automation, formerly the third largest maker of automated, live-play electronic poker tables.

Look out, fellas, and step aside, a new player is in town and her name is Lauren Failla, head of the High Heels Poker Tour.

One only needs to speak to Lauren, hearing the enthusiasm in her voice, to know she’s excited and driven in her push to bring more women into live poker. Lauren took her passion for poker and launched the ladies-only High Heels tour in June of 2007, including a website at highheelspokertour.com. The club’s annual fee of $30 makes one a member and brings notices of upcoming events, hotel discounts, giveaways, eligibility for free seat drawings, specials, and perks of the High Heels tour, such as private receptions and hospitality rooms.

Based in Florida and
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spreading across the Gulf and East Coasts, HHPT is moving into the big time with several upcoming events. Tunica, Mississippi’s Gold Strike Casino will host its first HHPT event on January 6, 2008 as part of the WSOP Circuit stop. A second event on February 24, 2008 at Harrah’s Horseshoe in Council Bluffs, Iowa is also on the upcoming schedule, with more to surely follow with other Harrah’s properties. The Harrah’s staff has made some changes at Lauren’s urging to make the event more enticing to the lady players. This year the starting stack will be 10,000 chips with 40-minute rounds.

A new affiliation with the WSOP Academy offered HHPT members the opportunity to win their way to the ‘Ladies Only’ poker camp January 25-26 at Caesars Palace. All one had to do was join the HHPT to become eligible for the drawing. The winner was drawn New Year’s Day and is being announced here: Congratulations to Paula Ettline of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. If you didn’t win, here’s an added bonus: all members will receive a $150 discount on their entry to the event, from the original cost of $1,699.

Another great way to win a seat in the WSOP 2008 is getting underway. Several poker rooms are beginning to host ’step tournaments’ or qualifiers to advance to a main event taking place in March. The main event will be hosted at the Seminole Casino in Hollywood Florida on March 1st with a direct buy-in of $450, with $125 satellites available at seeral Florida locations: Seminole Casino Hollywood, Seminole Casino Brighton, The Isle Casino and Racing at Pompano Park, Miami Jai-Alai, Flagler Magic City Poker Room, Club 52 Melbourne Greyhound Dog Track, Naples Fort Myers Greyhound Dog Track, and Daytona Greyhound Dog Track. Total attendance and prize pools will determine the number of World Series seats to be given away.

Given Lauren’s enthusiasm and dedication, this new ladies tour just might have staying power. Certainly, HHPT will have its growing pains, but it joins a group of organizations catering to the growing women’s market. Nor is this all from the HHPT, as several new announcements and affiliations are planned for the coming months.

Dubai World has increased its stake in MGM Mirage by five million shares, which it purchased from the Lincy Foundation, a charitable organization founded by Kirk Kerkorian. The acquisition by the investment arm of the Dubai government brought its holdings to 19.5 million shares or 6.5% of MGM Mirage stock.

Dubai World and MGM Mirage entered into a joint venture back in August relative to the development and ownership of MGM Mirage’s Las Vegas CityCenter. As part of that deal, Dubai World was slated to purchase 14.2 million shares of MGM Mirage stock. In October,
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Dubai World tendered an offer for the shares at $84 but was unable to get more than 350,000 shares under the offer. According to a recent SEC filing, the purchase price of the Lincy shares was $84.80. The SEC filing also stated that pending regulatory approval, Dubai World would be seeking to designate a member of MGM Mirage’s Board of Directors.

Harrah’s Buy-Out Imminent

On Christmas Eve, Harrah’s Entertainment issued a press release announcing that it had cleared the last regulatory hurdle associated with its proposed acquisition by private equity firms Apollo Global Management, L.P. and TPG Capital. While the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) is still finalizing its review, they notified Harrah’s that they had sufficient information to give the go-ahead for the buyout. Harrah’s operates a number of casinos on Indian lands which fall under the regulatory purview of the NIGC, an independent federal regulatory agency of the United States. The Nevada Gaming Commission had given its blessing to the deal late last month leaving the NIGC as the last regulatory hoop for the Harrah’s acquisition. Harrah’s has been targeting early 2008 for completion of the sale; analysts now believe the sale could become final before the end of the month.