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leftytheclown Loyal user Illinois 255 Posts |
Musings on "Holdem' Magic" by Tom Frame
Texas Holdem’ is a great game. However, it’s not flashy. Amarillo Slim won the world series of poker on pair of deuces. Doyle Brunson won it all with a 5 and a 10 for hole cards. It’s more about math and aggressiveness than the hands. Tom Frame’s book, “Holdem’ Magic” tries to bridge the gap. My own contribution to the book Holdem’ Magic required six hands and used the Aronson Stack. Might be lots of work to arrange for your show. To find the combo, I ran it two, three, four, five and six handed until I hit a sequence where the “river” (last) card beat the best hand going in. Obviously I had too much time on my hands. Dennis Loomis (I miss him) let me post a four hand version on his web site. But without a story, it doesn’t sell. And your audience must understand the game. Maybe found an improvement. I played around (again!) with a three handed version, but no luck. Then I tried to rearrange cards without too much fuss and messing up the stack. Found one! This makes the story in my version more manageable and much easier. Interested? Too late, here it is. Aronson stack with the KD & 7D swapped. If you don’t know the stack, better get on it. Deal three hands, two cards each. Burn one and deal the Flop (three cards. Burn one and deal the Turn (4th card). Finally, burn one and deal the River. Dealer gets Aces and Fives. The first hand doesn’t get anything, but the second hand river’s a straight to beat the two pair. That would be “Bella” in my story. You would have the KC and 9S in the sealed envelope. You can still use the rest of the deck (38 cards) for other stack effects. Nick Pudar’s “Raining Cards” for one. Or Gene Anderson’s naming any card selected. He used a Si Stebbens setup. Happy Stacks to You. Keep smiling until then!
Lefty (aka) Sterling Dare
Author: Money Menagerie Book and DVD |
leftytheclown Loyal user Illinois 255 Posts |
More musings on the Aronson Stack
Simon Aronson developed his Poker Deals around 5 Card Stud, Draw, and the sucker 10 card poker deal within the stack. As a poker player, I grew up on 5 Card Draw and 5 Card Stud. Sadly, those games are gone. Holdem is King with Omaha, Razz, and other games as Jesters in the court. Of course you have to sell Holdem hands. I think it is worth explaining to your audience it is not the strength of the hand that matters. It is the mathematical (Bluffing is an art as well) odds of having the best hand at a given time. NOTE: I learned the hard way that betting all my chips with a 60 percent chance of winning, that I still lost 40 percent of the time! So once again I looked for Holdem Hands that fit the stack and allowed the 10 card poker deal and kept the 5 Card Draw deal without having to reset the deck. Caveats: The Holdem hand is 5 handed with the Big Blind player winning by drawing an inside straight. Two of the opponents get two pair and two players get a single pair. Again selling the odds of winning versus the “quality” of hands is important. When presenting the effect , if the magician is the dealer, he could talk about collusion or having a partner get the winning hand. Of course the Draw poker deal has the dealer winning with an awesome Royal Flush over 4 quality hands. Many thanks to Mr. Aronson’s hard work. The Holdem hand: 5H on top, deal 5 two card hands. They will be: Small Blind 5H/3S, Big Blind (winner) 2D/AD, 3rd player, KD/7S, 4th, 7D/5S and the Dealer, 8C/QD. Flop: Burn a card, deal three. First player gets a pair of threes, 2nd no improvement, 3rd a pair of 7s with a King Kicker, 4th will get a pair of 7s with a 5 kicker and dealer will get a pair of 8s. Something for everyone, except the BB hand (AD/2D). Burn a card and deal the Turn. 1st has 2 pair, 5s and 3s; 2nd has and inside straight draw and a flush draw; 3rd still has 7s, 4th hand now has 7s and 5s, dealer still has a pair of 8s. Burn one card and deal the river card which is a 4 which completes the 2nd hand's straight. That is around 12-1 against filling. Now discard the holdem hand, but manage to get the 4 of hearts (The winning River Card in the Holdem hand) on top of the stack and you can play the 10 card poker swindle. Then you are all set to deal the Draw Hand. Give it a try. Happy Stacks
Lefty (aka) Sterling Dare
Author: Money Menagerie Book and DVD |
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