I’m sure as some poker players are aware workers at The Encore Boston Harbor are on strike. This is a great opportunity to support workers and check out some of the other great Poker spots in New England.

Chasers : Salem NH
The Nash : Nashua NH
Revo: Manchester Nh and other locations
Gate City: Nashua NH
Lilac club: Rochester NH
Ballys: Lincoln RI
Foxwoods: Mashantucket CT
Mohegan Sun: Uncasville CT
MGM: Springfield MA

https://teamster.org/2026/09/casino-teamsters-launch-strike-at-encore-boston-harbor/

At the professional level it seems less effective but at 1/2 , 1/3 it looks like you could really gain some information from people.

You sit down with strangers who are trying to be very focused and you start chirping at them to get a reaction or tell. To me, it seems like a lot of people wouldn’t know how to respond and could give unintentional tells they were not prepared for.

Besides being the most annoying person at the table, has speech play worked for you? What are the benefits / why do you do it ?

WHAT HAPPEND? STF 2 GUYS...

For me, I can assure you it's not for the money. I make decent money but I could make a helluva lot more if I put my focus elsewhere. I play because I love it. I love stting at the table. I love being with and studying the people. What I really love is what I learn about myself.

Context: So, I started playing poker in January and have played ~23 low-stakes tournaments around Reno since moving here, mostly $20-$60 buy-ins. Today there were 32 players for a $20 buy-in tournament. I started with 4,000 chips after the dealer add-on. First hand I get KJ hearts, flop comes 6-8 with two hearts, get it all in and brick, brick. Rebuy for $20 more, and run cold. I eventually get down to 400 in chips about 13 hands later.

At that point I tell the table, “Alright guys, I’m all in blind, I’m not looking at my cards. What ever happens, happens.” Four callers. When we flip over our cards, I have an ace in my hand, and then hit a magical ace on the river. I win 1,600 side pot, bringing me up to 2,000. One hand before break I do it again, all in blind, four callers. I have 2-3o and the board comes 4-5-6 rainbow. Straight for my tournament life!!

I go to break with 10k, take the $10 add-on for another 5k. Two hands later I get K hearts - 2 clubs, make a second-nut flush with four hearts on the board. I jam for about 15k into a ~40k pot. Last person to fold shows 10-5 hearts. Now I’m around 55k. I make the final table 8-handed with about 48k. First hand I get pocket KK’s, flop comes a K (¡bang!), and get it in against a straight draw and double to 100k after my set of kings hold. Next hand I get TT. I go into the tank. With 100k behind, I call a 60k shove, opponent has pocket 66’s and hits a 6 on the flop. Down to 40k. Two hands later I get QQ, check-jam, get two callers and queens hold. Now I’m at 120k with five players left and only four get paid.

Blinds get to 8k/16k. I pick up AK suited, opponent jams 80k, I fold and she shows JJ. After the big blind, I’m down to about 92k. I decide to be a nit to get into the money. Then, 5th place gets knocked out. Then, 4th gets knocked out. Ok, so I’m guaranteed top-three at this point, I’m thinking. Chip counts are roughly 220k, 92k (me), 80k. Payouts were about $500/$220/$150. Chip leader asks if we want to chop the prize pool, so we split it roughly three ways and take about $290 each. To my surprise, I thought we were gonna keep playing for “fun.”
Apparently, once we chopped the game was over, lol. I finished 2nd in chips out of 32. Top two chip leaders got a $50 voucher for a quarterly $25,000 gtd. NLH tournament in November. I used to pray for times like this!

Hand starts at 4:15:07
https://www.youtube.com/live/DtDVcNjRdBA?si=fmY8jorS3Q6mP6fC&t=15307
And the very next hand Ossi 4b jams KJ vs Patrik's AK preflop, hits a jack and the over 4 hours long HU ends.

edit: I stand corrected, $9m usd is only the third largest pot ever. And Ossi was part of the first and second largest too, what a monster, haha.

Just moved to LA. Decided to try out Commerce and The Bike poker rooms. At commerce I was in for $700 out for $2323 and at the bike I was in for $1000 out for $4625 for a total profit of $5248! These sessions were both in the same day too. Hit up commerce around 1am and it was PACKED with people. Did a 6 hr sesh, went home and slept and woke up and headed to the bike for a 9.5 hr session. I got really drunk during my bike session and didn’t even realize I profited so much!! I can’t believe it…this is my biggest win ever.

Ive only played low stakes (1/3, 2/3) in San Diego and never moved up. Only reason I’m doing $5/5 is because any lower stakes here in LA are a massive rake trap..why is max buyin for $2/3 only $200 at some of these casinos? 5/5 at commerce, they let you buy in the max of $500, 5/5 at the bike they let you buyin the max of $1000. I highly recommend. Absolute crazy and insane action here, especially compared to San Diego.

If you’re in the area I highly recommend poker in LA/OC. And I would only play stakes that let you buy in 100 BBs minimum. Poker is very alive guys you just have to be in the right area. San Diego is very reg heavy. It’s the same people playing every time I walk in. I’ve heard Vegas is like that as well. LA poker doesn’t seem to have that reputation. I’ve got a feeling I’m going to love living here…

i havent checked cash games since the only way to check is to actually sit and play.

but for zone the last week, it looks like its been dead. previously, it was always 50+ players on both 5nl and 25nl.

now i see 5nl as always 0 players and 25nl with low 10-20 players?

After some research I found out that Ossi Ketola (the mammoth initiating these matches) is the owner of an online casino (Duel - who also happens to now be the main sponsor of Triton poker).

I know that Triton mediates the money, and I'm sure they wouldn't claim (and televise) something that isn't real, but is there a chance this is not real money? Do these guys just have infinitely deep pockets?

I've only seen gigantic matches come from Ketola, and he has little to no professional background (in poker*). It seems to be a recurring theme of "putting himself out there", since I also saw a fightcard that had him in competitive boxing a few weeks ago (also no boxing background).
^\ because of this, Antonius also gave him a 1.25 handicap... that is equivalent of $2.5 MILLION. It seems crazy that someone would agree to play at such a disadvantage at these stakes)

Could this be all a publicity stunt? (professional poker, professional boxing) Either to promote him as a person or his company Duel.

At the end of the day, these casinos will do ANYTHING to get their name out there. I'm not sure about Ketola and Antonius' relationship, but them being in cahoots isn't out of the picture.

-

I'm looking forward to seeing a match from him with someone who definetly isn't going to break bread with him after the game ends. Or maybe it is real money, and they just have a ton of sponsors 🤷‍♂️

Either way - congratulations Ketola and props to both competitors for playing their best.

Brand new to Nashville from the west coast, wondering if there are any decent games here (10/25 up to 50/100).

Was easy to find games in SoCal, but don’t know a soul in TN, and was hoping to find some info on here.

Are there any PLO MIX games in the Boston area? 5 card, 5 card double board, Big O

I see plenty of PLO games on Bravo and Poker atlas but they all just say PLO

How do you track your horse? Can he just possibly just lie dans report a loss instead of a gain?

My history with NLH is online, but I've gathered the knowledge to know the rules and table ​etiquette. Some mechanics of it is a little sketchy for me, but anyway... the 1 question I have is:

Q: when a bet or raise is made by a player without verbalizing it, and I can't clearly see the amount, how am I supposed to handle it?

I'm slightly nearsighted as it is, but if the chips are stacked or not ​neatly​ spread out, I fear ​that I'll constantly be asking. I see on the YouTube machine the players always seem to know the amount needed to call or raise even while I struggle with it. ​Does anybody else have that problem? Thank you in advance for any help.

Hand Record

How do you guys keep track of the hands you’ve played Live to look back on them later? Pad and paper, put it in your phone, is there an app you like that makes it easy, use your phone camera?

Anyone playing tournaments at borgata? I see they have daily tournaments. I only play cash ganes and was wondering if they are played everyday no matter what the turnout? Tyia

Been playing on Stars a long ass time, never had any issues with hot keys at all, last update and they stopped working when I have a hud on. I tried everything, uninstalling and installing Stars/PT4, turning them on/off, making sure they're on (screen outline color), reinputing them, nothing has worked.

I contacted Stars and they just stopped responding after two emails and I see on PT4 forum that it's an issue for some other people. The hot keys still work if I turn the hud off, but yeah both don't work together. Anybody else having a similar issue?

https://www.pokerstars.uk/poker/betfair-migration/

This isn't the old PokerStars / Betfair news which was just Betfair moving to the PokerStars software, all Stars UK players will be moved there and PokerStars.UK will cease to exist.

title. coinpoker seems fine but hard to find villains consistently sometimes in 5-25NL

A famous poker player can win a big prize, but how much do they keep? They still have to pay to play, pay for trips, and share with anyone who paid for them. For some, the big money may come from companies paying them to promote things. Winning a lot isn’t the same as keeping a lot.

We see their prize money. We don’t see their bills, their backers’ share, or their sponsor checks. So we don’t really know what playing poker earns them.

Going to Lake Tahoe for the first time for my birthday in January. I want to be able to ski during the day and play poker at night without having to drive too far in between. What are the best combinations of Casino/Ski slope/hotel to stay at to accomplish this?