Seven Deuce

Seven Deuce Stories from poker players.

Volum 1, Issue 1

How to play texas Hold ’em: Top hands, skills, bluff’s and much more.

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Editor’s letter

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he purpose of this magazine is to tell others what experience they have while they play poker and what they learn while playing poker.

One other thing about this magazine is help you see what others experience, and maybe you learn a few things from them.

There are no tricks and no cheating way in poker. Maybe bluff your way through it;eventually it catches to you. but the rules are simple and easy. One reason why I called it seven deuce was because, ,some of the poker pros play it, and if you win with seven deuce you get a certain amount of money that the players agree on paying to the winner. well the purpose for seven deuce is said that its imposible to win a hand with those two cards.

That you really can’t make a strait or any good plays with it. It’s more like an imposible hand to win with. So i decided to call the magazine seven deuce and hear from others for the readers to learn and make something better out of it.

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contents 4 How play Texas Hold ’em

rules and best hands to play in small turnaments. try to have fun and make the best out of it

5 Top Ten Hands

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Poker Tales

By Ruben Martinez

8 How I Started

by Oscar Mancilla

11 Her Expererience

By Noemi Rodriguez

12 Poker’s Most Powerful DecisionMaking Method

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How to play Texas Hold ’em A Texas Hold’em poker game goes as follows:

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epending on the limit and betting structure, players will place out blinds and antes so there is an initial amount to get things started. This is called posting.

After the betting concludes, the dealer burns again then flips another communal card onto the table. This is called the turn.

The player to the left of the dealer begins another round of betting. In many The dealer shuffles up a standard types of games, this is where the bet deck of 52 playing cards. size doubles.

Each player is dealt two private cards Again, the dealer burns a card and face down. These are called your hole places a final card face up on the cards or pocket cards. table. This is called the river. Players can now use any of the five cards Then there is a round of betting on the table or the two cards in their starting with the player to the left of pocket to form a five card poker hand. the blinds. This is the preflop betting There is one final round of betting round. Like most games of poker, starting with the player to the left of players can call, raise, or fold. the dealer.

After the betting round ends, the After that, we have the showdown. dealer discards the top card of the deck. This is called a burn card. This Players who have not folded reveal their hands, beginning with the player is done to prevent cheating. to the left of the last player to call.

Players use a combination of their The dealer then flips the next three pocket cards and the community cards face up on the table. This is cards to form a five card poker hand. called the flop. These are communal cards that anyone can use in combination with their two pocket cards to The player who shows the best hand form a poker hand. wins! Although sometimes players with the same hand split the pot.

The player to the left of the dealer starts another betting round.

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1. Ace-Ace

Top Ten Hands

A pair of aces, also known as "pocket rockets" (and sometimes "American Airlines") is the best starting hand for Texas Hold 'Em.

3. Queen-Queen

2. King-King

Second on the list is a pair of kings, also known as "cowboys" or "King Kong."

A pair of queens, also known as "ladies," rounds out the top three best starting hands for Texas Holdem Poker.

4. Ace-King (suited)

This is where people start to disagree. A suited ace-king, also known as "big slick," is my pick as the fourth best starting hand for Texas Hold 'Em.

5. Ace-Queen (suited)

The suited "big chick," or "little slick," the nicknames given to a pocket ace-queen, is fifth on the list.

6. Jack-Jack

A pair of jacks -- also known as "hooks" or "fishhooks" -- checks in at number six on my list.

7. King-Queen (suited)

A suited royal couple, king-queen, is next in the list of Texas Hold 'Em Poker's most powerful starting hands.

9. Ace-King (offsuit)

8. Ace-Jack (suited)

Nicknamed "blackjack" for obvious reasons, and sometimes called "ajax," the ace-jack combo rates eighth.

Only one offsuit non-pair makes it into my list of the top 10 best starting hands for Texas Holdem Poker -- the "big slick," an ace-king.

10. 10-10

This is the only starting hand in the top 10 without a face card: a pair of tens (aka "dimes").

Some players believe that a suited king-jack is a stronger starting hand.

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Seven D Poker Tales By: Ruben Martinez

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have been playing poker for a few years now and I like how every hand is different. You never have the same scenario twice; every hand has a different outcome. You cannot be discourage by loses and instead learn from experience. Learn and get better that is my motto. When you lose a hand you have to look back and see what you could have done different and at the same time study your opponent.

Most players have the tendencies to bet when they only really have a hand and fold when they don’t have anything. Once you pick up tells on your opponents you gain an advantage on your opponents. If you notice that your opponent always bets on the flop every time no matter what you can assume most of the time he doesn’t really have a hand. In this case you should re raise them and see what he does. If he folds then he didn’t have anything, if he calls then if might have okay hand, but if he re raises you then you must fold because most of the time he really does have a hand.

“You should always h wait for a better oppo can make a move on and wait for a better opportunity where you can make a move on a opponent.

Wait for him to make the mistake not the other way around. At the same time you cannot let yourself get bully.

Don’t always fold to a raise call and see what the flop gives you. You can have 5 6 and the flop comes 7 8 9 Never try to be a hero and make a and your opponent can have KK and dumb mistake like going all in pre flop have beat and he doesn’t even know with small hands like A2 or A3 you are it. You can learn something from this easily beaten with a hand like AK or situation if you were the other player AQ. You should always have patience you have to raise 3 or 4 times the big

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have patience and ortunity where you n a opponent.” blind so the other player can fold the 5 6 and never see the flop. There are a lot things that have to be learn at the poker table sure you can read them in a book but its’ not until you actually experience them that you actually understand.

Like when someone bluffs you can read it but until it happens to you is that you realize what just happened to you. It might happen to you once but you cannot let the same player bluff you again. In the years I have play the most important thing I have

learn is don’t be afraid to gamble a little. Sometimes you might have to call the river with one pair or call the bluff of an opponent but as long as you’re right one out of three times then the risk is worth the reward. Poker is like life if you don’t gamble a little you are not going to win; you must not be afraid because sometimes you win and sometimes you lose but the times you win are more satisfying then when you lose.

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How I Started

by Oscar Mancilla

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ell I never was that into poker I recently got into the game, it’s been a year or two since I started playing cards. Not knowing how to play. I use to think of it as a waist of time and money as how my girl friend Noemi says, but I guess, I never look in to it that much. Not until my girl friend one day she decided to buy a deck and play speed for fun.

Well we did; things change from one day to the next. A few of my buddies had remembered that I had a deck of cards. They decided to play poker that same night; since we didn’t have much to do. Asking me for the deck of cards and wanted to play Texas hold’em. Well Ruben and Julio are brohers which they knew the rules and how to play.

But before that night my coworkers always play at lunch time, they play a dollar tournament. just to pass time.

Yet I still didn’t know what they were playing so I didn’t bother. At first I was a bit confused not knowing the rules.

Once Ruben had explain how the game was played it brought my attention towards the game.

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So we started to play at my house, this was a weekly thing. About 10 to 8 people would come and play. we would play from 10 at night to maybe 5 in the morning with out noticing.

There was a few times where we played all night and hardly slept the next day.

After a few times playing the game I started to get a bit better. My friends and brothers started to play smarter and would try to bluff every one they could. One thing about me I’m not scared to play, specially with a nonlimit game where any bet goes. Min bet has to be a dollar. Well it also depends if I have the money to just throw out, I’ll do it.

Well at first to started with poker chips, after awhile the chips seem to get boring and less interested. Ruben brought out the idea of playing with quarters. The minimum bet was a quarter and the maximum bet was a dollar. You can only re-raise it a dollar more. The reason why it was a dollar was because we don’t like to take people money and we want them to have fun too.

“We would play from 10 at night to maybe 5 in the morning with out noticing.”

But it’s nice knowing you start with 5 bucks in your pocket and winning at least 40 or more from two or three of your friends that are always trying to bully you.

Well the experience as a poker player has brought me to meet some people; specially knowing that those friends know old friends that you haven’t seen in a while.

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“It was a great experience and it got me into going to the casino.”

I have an old friend that back then use to ask me to hang out, with him and his friends that they play poker. At the time I wasn’t that in to poker yet, so i would always pass on the invites. Not until one day we had stopped playing poker at my house for a while i decided to go and check it out. Yeah it was fun and all but, it was a challenge to keep up till the end.

friends house where they have a 20 dollar tournament every two weeks depending if they are not busy. it was my perfect chance to take Ruben and his brother since they play smarter than me, which I don’t care.

But the reason was to get Ruben play some one challenging and to get my money back if he wins the tournament which he does. We don’t make it too A couple of months ago I was invited obvious or we will get kicked out, and to play poker over my friends house. I maybe never invited again to play at was waiting for that moment in a while their house. We don’t cheat we team due to the fact that we haven’t played up that’s all. Trying to have better poker at my house since a long time. odds.

My friend Noah had invited over his

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Noemi Rodriguez

M Other than that I try to have fun on tournaments which I try not to be the first one out, since there is no re buying in. Many people will consider that as cheating. At times I try to play some good hands knowing I have really bad luck In gambling; so I tend to play a little bit of bad hands that people won’t play. Yet I have Ruben that tense to get mad at me, for playing hands that aren’t the top ten hands.

Yet I don’t care, I do it for fun and to chill with friends,that’s all.

y boyfriend and his friends made it a habit to play poker every weekend. Every friday night about 10 people gather at his house to play.

The pot is a minimum of 25 cents sometimes a bit more. At first I didn't want to play since I didn't know how and I always thought it was a waist of money.

Then one weekend I decided to bud in for a game or two. I won a couple of games and thought to myself," hey this is fun". So I kept on playing. A couple of weeks later my luck started running out. thats when I decided to call it quits. It was a great experience and it also got me into going to the casino.

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Poker's Most Powerful Decision-Making Method

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oday I’m going to discuss one of my advanced poker methods. But don’t be scared, it won’t bother your brain. Even beginners will be able to understand the concept clearly.

I know something about you. You base your decisions about folding, checking, call- ing, betting, and raising on evaluation of the traits and tells.

Duh? What else is there?

Sev So, it would seem as if I’m going to have a tough job selling you on the concept that the cards shouldn’t be your primary focus in making decisions. But you’re going to be easy to convince, simply because you are intelligent and want to win.

“What if I told you that most poker decisions aren’t influenced by the cards?”

I hear you. That’s the obvious way to go about it, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Except, oftentimes that isn’t the best method for making poker decisions at a world-class level.

Not influenced by the cards What if I told you that most poker decisions aren’t influenced by the cards? You’d say I’d lost my mind and my credibility. And I expect you to say that, because you’re intelligent and care about winning.

“Poker would be muc there were simple ans

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ven Deu n Deuc Borderline

Besides, I’m going to hypnotize you.

You’re relaxing, becoming very sleepy, whatever. Hey, I’m not very good at hypnosis, so help me out. Now, listen.

makes you happy. You feel that happiness spreading throughout your entire body, happiness because there are no simple answers.

Most of the decisions you will make at poker won’t have obvious solutions. Advice that “you should always raise if” this or that should usually be ignored and from now on you will ignore it. There are few actions you should always take. Poker would be much easier if there were simple answers. There aren’t and that reality

You realize that among all the decisions you’ll ever make at poker, the only common ones that are easy are hands that should be folded. And the majority of those obvious folds occur before the flop. Most other decisions are close, and not so obvious.

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ch easier if swers”

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n Deuc Let’s try an experiment: The next time your decisions aren’t obvious. You see that now. you play poker, you will pretend I’m paying you to play and am watching every decision you make. Imagine it now. It doesn’t matter to you whether you win or lose. It only matters that your decisions please me. Now, every time you have a decision, think of me.

What should you do to please me?

Imagine that a startling truth is slapping you hard across the face. Feel the slap of truth. Except for those obvious folding situations in the beginning, most of the time you won’t be sure which decision will please me most! You’ve been playing poker for years and never realized how many of

You have choices! There’s usually no clear answer. You shouldn’t always do one certain thing in a defined situation. From now on, you’ll think “I should be more willing to call” or “this means I should add more weight to folding.”

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“I should be more willing to call” or “this means I should add more weight to folding.”

ce Sev Because you now realize that most decisions are close, as I pay you to play, you’re confident that I won’t fire you for choosing one way or another in a borderline situation. Either way will be acceptable, unless you do one thing too often: Making yourself so predictable that astute opponents can take advantage.

“Making yourself so predictable that astute opponents can take advantage.”

Three-way choices

Borderline decisions aren’t just between folding and calling, calling and raising, or checking and betting.

You’re now realizing that you face three-way decisions — and each choice is reasonable! You’re experiencing an example right now!

You're in a nine-handed, No-Limit Hold ‘em game holding KH 10D on the button (dealer position). You see those cards now, because this is really happening. Everyone folds up to the

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player to your right,who calls the big blind. Should you fold, call, or raise?

Your mind refuses to answer, because there is no answer — yet.

You need to know more. You could fold if you’re in a situation where the blinds are aggressive and likely to raise, or if the caller is tricky enough to make decisions about what the flop will mean more difficult. You could call, knowing that you’re going to be in the act-last position on future betting rounds, especially if the blinds are timid and likely to let you see the flop for just the price of the big blind. And you could raise if the caller was very

Sev loose and unimaginative, hoping to chase the blinds out and isolate yourself against just him.

Each of those decisions can be reasonable. You’re not going to get fired,

“you should always raise if” this or that should usually be ignored and from now on you will ignore it. unless you do something silly like more all-in for 100 times the big blind.

But that isn’t the secret you will wake up knowing! And the secret isn’t even

“Unfortunately, I never learned to snap So, when I clap my hands, wake up and

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ven Deu n Deuc that in poker most of your choices are borderline and you need to decide in accordance with the traits of your opponents.

And you’ll profit from just considering those. If your pre-deal decision was (1), to establish a more dominating image, then any borderline decision

Different method

that can be either call or raise without me firing you (including fold-call-raise) should be simply: Raise. Any borderline decision that can be either fold or

The secret is that there’s a whole different method, one that doesn’t involve the cards, but only the understanding that you will be facing borderline choices. You will use the method when you wake up.

Instead of letting your exact situa-

What should you do to please me?

Those cards can be anything, as long as you’re presented with two or more choices that are reasonable. Doing it that way, you’ll be acting in accordance with what you need to accomplish. Most of your decisions will be borderline, and you’ll know how to handle each one in advance.

You will modify your choice based on strong tells or other indicators, but whenever the decision remains borderline you’ll know what to do. And you won’t wait for the cards to arrive to decide.

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my fingers. d win. Clap!”

tion dictate your decision, you will make a choice before the cards are dealt! You’ll decide what mode you’re going to be in regarding borderline decisions.

You’ll choose one of these: (1) I need to establish a more dominating image; or (2) I need to slow down.

Even though I teach more complex sets of objectives, you’ll just stick with those two for now.

call should be simply: Call. If your predeal decision was (2), to slow down, then you’ll fold instead of call and call instead of raise.

This powerful and profitable method is yours now. It belongs to you. You’ll find that most of your borderline decisions won’t be difficult. They won’t be made in accordance with the actual cards.

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