The Nut Can - ITH Community

I have been reading a lot of posts from the past semester when I was on my poker hiatus, and I have also been hearing reports in the IRC chatroom of people misunderstanding 53o, and others wondering where it comes from.

It was suggested to me that I offer up a word of caution as some people seem to be mislead by the fun many of us have with 53o.

It all started here:

http://www.internettexasholdem.com/phpbb2/a-funb-night-at-ub-vt1073.html?highlight=35o

After that night, I started playing it in the ITH tourneys, and managed to hit a couple flops and cracked some premium hands. Soon after that, it became a bit of a game for some of us at the ITH monthlies to see who could win a hand with 53o.

It was all good fun. And still is. Matthew played 53o in the WSOP this year.

Now for those of you who are getting yourselves into trouble, let me say a few things about it. I never play it in a real game, tourney or ring game, unless it is a move I would make with any 2 cards. There is a right time to make strong plays with junk cards. It is just fun to show it when it wiorks with 53o as the junk cards, and you are playing with those that share in the history of the hand.

I also play it from time to time in my home games with others who know that it is my pet garbage hand, and that it has taken on a life of its own.

So for those of you who know what you're doing with it, do whatever you want. But for the more inexperienced players out there, this is a losing hand most of the time, and if you don't have the skills to recognize which opponents allow for a profitable bluff or steal, I'd recommend that you continue to fold it.

I just checked my poker tracker stats, and it is the 8th most frequent hand I have been dealt in ring games. Now mind you, my database is being rebuilt from scratch as of this month, as I lost my old data in a reformatting disaster, but I have seen it over 1% of all hands, and it loses me .15 BB/hand. I have called 3 preflop bets with it. All of them in the $25 NL6-max games from the small blind where the implied odds are very high. In my tournament games, I have called it twice pre-flop in the first level of party SNGs where it is only 1/3 of a bet to complete the blind in unraised pots. I'm not crazy, and don't recommend that you be crazy either.

So there you have it, the history of the 53o, and my cautions about playing it. I hope that this satisfies the request from those that asked for this info, and clears up a little of the history for those new to the site.

rob

What do you think about the legendary 53o? Click here to join the discussion

Action Poker Reviewed Following US Re-entry

One of the great things of being tasked by ITH in handling the research and review process of their affiliate online poker sites, is that I get to look at a lot of aspects of each poker site I review. This allows me to form an educated opinion about the myriad differences of each site. This, in turn, affords me the opportunity as a bonus chaser to pick the right bonuses and games.

The review process requires that I open an account with the pokersite in question, as many will not give access to their tables or cashiering services, for instance, without an account. I have roughly 70 accounts [6 funded] on my computer, constantly updated as I review and maintain them for fresh information. I currently know there are over 450 online pokersites. Some are very small. Most are skins.

My pick this week: Action Poker.

Recently I had the opportunity to re-evaluate Action Poker, the name-site for the Action Poker Network. They recently changed management and decided that the former management’s policy on disallowing Americans was short-sighted and are welcoming Americans with open arms. This was the impetus for re-evaluating them.

This site is a diamond in the rough. Traffic is very low, unfortunately. At peak hours [noon – 9PM Eastern], traffic reaches it’s zenith at 2000-3000 players, most playing NL Holdem, MTTs or SnGs. They offer other games, including Guts, Chinese Poker and Pan, but do not have the traffic.

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Poker Players are Never Satisfied

A tinker and his dog enter a bar and discover there is a poker game going in the back room. The tinker's had a good week so he decides to join in. Most of the players are locals, but one guy, a big winner, is also a stranger in town. The tinker does OK - up a little, down a little, generally holding his own. His dog sits on a chair beside him and watches the game.
About an hour into the game, the tinker gets a good 7-stud starting hand. On fifth street he makes a club flush. Unfortunately the stranger appears to be working on a spade flush and his highest up card is bigger than the tinker's highest card. As 7th street is being dealt, the tinker pats his dog on the head and says, "Girl, I sure could use an ace of clubs. "

The dog jumps down from the chair, runs around to the stranger and bites his ankle. As the stranger reaches down to grab the dog, a card falls out of his sleeve. The dog quickly picks it up in her mouth and brings it back to her master. The stranger, realizing he's been caught cheating, leaps up and runs out the door with several locals in pursuit.

The tinker takes the card from the dog's mouth and starts to swear, "You stupid, goddamn dog! Can't you get anything right?"

The barkeep chides him, "Mister, why are you swearing at your dog like that? She just saved you a lot of money by catching that cheat!"

The tinker responds by throwing the card face up on the table, "I tell her the ace of clubs and what does she bring me but the goddamn ace of spades!"

Submitted by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (MadMary)