Poker News

Jan Fisher

As I write this column, the mercury is reaching the century mark for the first time this year and air conditioners are working overtime. So rings in the summer season full of poker tournaments, live action, poker boot camps, and other related events. Life is good!

Speaking of good, the eleventh Oasis Open Poker Tournament, held at the Oasis Resort and Casino in Mesquite, Nevada, just ended. I am the special events tournament director for this player-friendly property. If you are looking for a great place to get away that is close to Las Vegas, but far from the hustle bustle of the big city, Mesquite might be what the doctor ordered.

For information about the property, please check out http://oasis-resort.com/. The resort is located about an hour’s drive north of Las Vegas up the I-15 (watch out for the speed traps) and is within an easy day drive of some of the most beautiful and scenic areas our country has to offer. Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and Zion National Park are but a few of the outdoor places you must see when in the area. Then be sure to come back for the poker. If you don’t leave, there’s more golf and spas in Mesquite (per square mile) than anywhere else I know of!

Our event featured eight tournaments and fields that averaged 200 per. One of the unique aspects of the tourney is the tag-team event that we hold. It is half hold’em and half Omaha/8. All of the results are published in Poker Player, but I just wanted to mention that two father and son teams finished first and second. Kudos to the Rich Reussow team (both Senior and Junior) for the win and to the Greg and Ray Jamison team for their fine second-place performance. Third place was a Mother/Son team as well! The next Oasis Open will be Labor Day weekend, August 30 through September 4.

Onto a more serious topic, there is a rule in poker I want to address and clarify. Since the huge growth and popularity of no-limit hold’em, some of us who cut our teeth on limit poker need to relearn some of the things we thought we knew or took for granted. Acting in turn is one of them and it is treated a little bit differently in limit than in the no-limit version.

In limit, if the player to your right says bet or raise, you can go ahead and act; be it to reraise, call, or fold. In nolimit, this isn’t the case. Until that player has completed that action with the bet or raise amount, it is not your turn to act! Why is that? Well, in limit, you are playing for a fixed amount each betting round and the bet or raise can only be that specified amount. In no-limit, a player may bet anywhere from the size of the big blind to all of his chips.

If you were to fold after this verbal declaration by the aggressor, you’d be giving him information to which he wasn’t entitled, enabling him to change or modify his bet amount. Same thing if you were to say reraise. Suppose he was bluffing? He could now make a minimum bet and muck to your reraise. If you think about these scenarios, it will be clear to you how this can influence the action and create an unfair playing field. Please act in turn and wait for the player on your right to complete his action before moving. Until that time, be a statue!

Moving right along…

Please email me with your poker-related questions and comments as well as column ideas. I personally will answer each email I receive.

Filed under: Poker News