Virtually Poker !!!
The general popularity of poker worldwide, and of online poker in particular, has been described by the venerable Doyle Brunson as being like “a tornado sweeping down the Texas Panhandle.” Millions have taken the plunge and the numbers continue growing exponentially. and I think this was one of the most strong driving point for RCS Technologies to start Cardskhelo.com, the first indian online card gaming portal offering NL Texas Hold’em, Teen Patti (Indian Poker) and Rummy.
I must admit I have been slow to warm to online poker and mainly because of the reasons such as the absurdly bad beats and suck outs, rumors of collusion between players, the use of “bots” (computer programs playing for the House), and so on. As most of these sites are set up offshore, and are completely unregulated. There’s an old saying in Vegas, “Don’t gamble with invisible dice.” When you tackle Cyber-Hold ‘Em you’re playing with virtual cards in a virtual game against unseen players, who, as far as you can tell, and despite the assurances of the poker site, might be virtual as well.
But anyways ignoring all the side-effects, I signed up with a popular poker site but had difficulty depositing money into my account. Apparently one will face difficulty depositing money into these accounts with an Indian credit card. Instead I was directed to wire the amount to a place in the Caribbean using Western Union, something I never got around to doing. So I couldn’t play in any cash games, and believe me the real poker action is only on the cash tables. So I half-heartedly signed out. One day i found cardskhelo.com and believe me the reactions were way too pleasant as in cardskhelo.com you don’t even have to deposit cash to be in real action tables. The business model is such that you get a monthly membership with a nominal fee, though the site provides gaming even without the monthly subscription but again who will not pay when you get a paid subscription in just Rs.200…..
With my paid membership and chip balance of 200 real points I started playing in small sit-and-go tournaments and did quite well. Within a month I had grown that 200 pts into a grand total of 75000. I started playing in more expensive tournaments, placing in a few, but mainly losing. My roll got whittled down to 30000, and I figured it was time to stop playing small-ball and make a move. I registered for a 27-player 20000 sit-and-go and within the first 10 hands I knocked out several players and was the chip-leader. I was in good form, catching cards and making the best of them with perfect raises and re-raises, stone-cold bluffs, and clever traps. I knocked out a few more players, and my virtual chip pile grew accordingly.
After an hour of exciting play I made the final table with a big chip lead over the other eight players. My cards went cold so I tightened up and let the others hack each other up. One player, Mr. Sam, with the avatar of a silhouette man in a bowler, was raising and re-raising like a madman and started accumulating a big stack of chips. Then I noticed something odd. On one hand, after two raises and re-raises, Mr. Sam moved all in pre-flop. One player called holding a nice pair of black pocket queens. Mr.Sam had nothing but a suited jack-four of hearts. Sure enough three hearts fell on the flop and Mr. Sam took down a huge pot.
Three hands later, we were down to eight players and on the bubble. Since only the top seven finishers won any money, the eighth man would be out with nothing. Though Mr. Sam was now the chip leader, I felt pretty good sitting in second place. I figured I’d play squeaky tight and wait for a real monster before I threw any more chips into the pot. Sure enough I got served up a pretty pair of kings on the button and when I sensed weakness at the table what with five limpers, I made a big raise hoping to take the pot down pre-flop. Everyone folded but Mr. Sam, who not only called but re-raised me with a huge overbet. Now, I had to think for a minute before I called that re-raise, wondering if he had caught a pair of aces and had slow-played them. But as I’ve written before, when I get kings I tend to play them as hard as I can. come hell or high water. If he had the aces, so be it, I thought. On the other hand, I had a real chance to take this bastard down. I hated the way he was playing, all the raising and re-raising with bad cards and all the suck outs he was getting. Time for his little rush to end. I moved all in. Mr.Sam called. I turned over my kings. He turned over queen-seven of spades. My heart skipped a beat.
When I hit another king on the flop I grew even more excited, but two spades fell with the king and I noted the flush possibility with some alarm. The turn helped neither one of us and for a second I fondly contemplated doubling up and becoming the overwhelming chip leader, then possibly winning this tournament and moving on to more expensive ones with significantly larger prizes . . . And when the third spade fell on the river, I had a sick feeling in my stomach – No! – and when all the chips slid in front of Mr.Sam’s flashing avatar and a message announced that I had finished eighth in the tournament, the ugly reality sank in, disgusting me so deeply I spent the rest of the day in bed.
But anyways look at the positive side if i could have made it, i would have some 200,000 pts. in my account good enough to get a Dell Laptop from cardskhelo.com shop….well i said better luck next time….and one thing after playing for so long I’ve become a die hard fan of cardskhelo.com!!!
Keep up the good work guys 
Author is a semi pro poker player and has won several poker tournaments in Goa.
