The Social Aspect of Live Poker Level 4: 100-200, ante

Earlier today, Nancy Todd (right) shares something on her iPad with Kara Scott, who started the day at the same table.

You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night. You pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for the bus:

1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.

2. An old friend who once saved your life.

3. The perfect man (or) woman you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car?

Think before you continue reading. This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application.

You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first; or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. However, you may never be able to find your perfect dream lover again.

The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer.

He simply answered: “I would give the car keys to my old friend, and let him take the lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the woman of my dreams.”

Never forget to “Think Outside of the Box.”

Read great Buddhist quote stating the complexities of mankind “Its man nature when he only has legs to want a bicycle. When he gets a bicycle he wants a car. When he gets a car he wants an airplane. When he gets An airplane he wants to be younger. ”

Read great Buddhist quote stating the complexities of mankind “Its man nature when he only has legs to want a bicycle. When he gets a bicycle he wants a car. When he gets a car he wants an airplane. When he gets An airplane he wants to be younger. ”

The marriage of political advocacy and poker wouldn’t surprise close observers of both; indeed, the two zero-sum games are really two sides of the same chip. As esteemed political prognosticator and poker savant Nate Silver told me, “politics and poker share the feature of being both very prosaic and very poetic”: Building your chip stack by grinding with careful mathematical calculations is akin to developing a sound get-out-the-vote effort through micro-targeted polling and door-to-door canvassing; riding an electric run of great cards and lucky flops is as thrilling as being uplifted by a gifted political orator. Of course, Silver—who poetically surged to near the top of the of the leaderboard on Day 1 of the Little One event, only to meet a prosaic bustout on Day 2—concedes that poker is the “more refreshing” of the two contests: “It’s pure, undistilled competition, with no intrigue, no B.S.”

There’s also no disputing that the two games require similar skill sets. A career in politics could in fact prepare someone quite well for a life at the poker table. Consider:

• Serving up fiery, red-meat orations at partisan rallies or stump-speaking amid hostile, heckling crowds at open events can help a poker player perfect the art of projecting confidence… or alternatively, vulnerability… and shape a poker face to confuse opponents as to the strength of any particular hand.

• Retail campaigning—the hand-shaking, back-slapping, and baby-kissing—enabling someone to observe, listen to, and really understand people, can be employed powerfully in a game in which you have to read the strength of your opponents’ hands by their facial expressions and body language.

• Late-night, smoke-filled, back-room, legislative negotiations—tests of endurance and concentration—provide invaluable practice for sitting long hours at tables with adversaries who’d say or do anything to provoke you or otherwise knock you off your calculated strategy.

• Waiting out filibuster blockades, partisan stall tactics, and special-interest foot-dragging—to win even the smallest of policy victories—can equip anyone with the resolve to withstand days of numbing boredom at the poker table, and to resist all temptations to take risky gambits that could send the player to the rail.

7/3/2013 6:50:59 PM PST (about 7 minutes ago)

That is How the Game is Played

When we last saw Nithin Eapen, the native of Kerala, India was playing the “Millionaire Maker” event, alongside his countryman Jay Nair. The two had been randomly seated next to one another, and after a bit of small talk, Eapen and Nair discovered that they were from the same area of their homeland, spoke the same regional dialect, and knew the same people back home.

Today, Eapen was kind enough to stop us to offer a quick thank you for capturing his improbable meeting in print, and soon thereafter he rewarded us with the following gem of a hand.

The action was caught on the flop, with the board reading and Eapen having checked the action to recent bracelet winner Jason Duval.

Duval responded to the sign of weakness with a standard feeler bet, putting 800 into the pot, and Eapen flatted to see the turn come .

After another tap of the table by Eapen, Duval splashed out a bet of 1,725, and that’s when the fireworks began a day early. Eapen appeared to be cowed by the aggression, looking back at his stack seemingly in fear, before staring over at Duval across the table.

“I have a piece of that, don’t think you can just push me off,” he said, still looking apprehensively at his stack.

“So if you only have a piece, that means I can three-barrel the river and you fold, right?” answered Duval, his demeanor exuding confidence. “If you just have a small piece, why mess around?”

After appearing ready to release his hand a few times, Eapen suddenly announced himself all in, and Duval wasted no time in making the call with his . Having turned a set, Duval had no doubt that his hand was good against Eapen’s “piece” of the board, but he was shocked when he saw the hit the table for the nut straight.

Before Duval could even process the bad news, or pray for the board to pair up, the dealer dropped the on the river to give Eapen a superfluous flush. The gracious amateur offered Duval a handshake while the pot was pushed his way, but the Canadian pro was simply too shocked to notice, walking away from the scene of the wreckage to commiserate with his friends on the rail.

nithin eapen 19,600 19,600 Jason Duval 0 -16,800