Oct. 25, 2003

If you're a frequent computer user with email relatives, business contacts and pals in your address book, you probably get some of the many pass-along messages that act as Good Samaritan warnings that clog the arteries on the Super Highway. I am fairly safe, I think, in declaring 90 percent of these messages to be -- at the very least hoaxes and/or urban myths. Sometimes they're actually harmful in that they contain Trojan Horses or viruses that can do significant damage to your computer. Almost always, they are punctuated by a warning of something bad or a statement of something good, which will occur if you pass the contents on to at least ten of your friends.

Significantly, except for the Netherlands lottery-winner scam, I've never seen a single one that pertains to gambling yet alone poker! This surprises me because people have fallen all kinds of these things. (If they hadn't, then why in the heck do I keep getting them in my email?)

Nobody begging for money for a stake, no one asking for help because Daddy lost the rent money in an online poker room then took off. Nothing in the scam department!

And no hoaxes. Nobody's been solicited to join a cyberpoker game with money only to find the poker game doesn't exist. At least that's not the direction folks intended their enterprise to take. (Yes Virginia, casinos, sportsbooks, poker rooms have folded leaving "investors" behind.) And I haven't seen anyone sending messages to friends telling them to pass along a message because for every one that gets back to Mr. Hi-Stakes Poker Player, said Hi-Stakes will donate a buck to some charity. (This phony did circulate about Bill Gates of Microsoft.)

Now in the myth and urban legend department, we're talking a horse of a different stripe. These things even get posted to newsgroups as well as forwarded as emails. Sometimes they are true, sometimes they are partly true; sometimes they are downright maliciously untrue.

1. For example, good old Hi-Stakes won a million bucks in the World Series of Poker a few years back and within three months he was broke, borrowing money for his next tournament buy-in.

True? Untrue? Partly True?

2. In this case it's true because it's a fact that after a relative newcomer to the million-dollar circle arrives, at least three or four old timers try to get his or her money. It's part of the poker world. Pick a big (in stature) champ and ask how many times he's invited a new champ to a weight loss contest or a golf game. That's all part of the game, you see, and if the new champ, heady from victory, tries to dance to their music, well, yes, he does lose way too much of that prize money. Also remember this, many winning players get to the game with OPM, other people's money, and don't get the lion's share of the prize.

3. Another example: Poker rooms are full of cheats.

True? Untrue? Partly True?

We'll have to opt for the partly true response because wherever you find money floating around, you will probably find someone looking for a way to get that money without earning it. I have acquaintances who claim they've been cheated via collusion and to hear their tales, I'm inclined to believe some of them. I have witnessed a couple of instances where tournament opponents have splashed the pot in an attempt to hide the fact that they are not contributing the appropriate amount, which is definitely cheating. (Sharp dealers will catch this because they know the exact amount in the pot and will gently notify the player of the "mistake.") So, yes, people cheat and no, poker rooms are not full of cheats.

4. How about this? If you want advice on how to play poker, post a question on the newsgroup rec.gambling.poker for polished, informative, honest assistance.

True? Partly True? Untrue?

Here's a sticky situation and my response has to be qualified by noting that this is MY opinion. In my opinion, the last place you can expect to get good advice about poker is from this particular newsgroup. If you like gossip, spin, backbiting, smart-assed remarks, allegations and accusation, then go for it. Read every post. Not that you won't find good information there but you're going to have to wade through a lot of flotsam to get to it and I'm sure you have better things to do with your time.

5. Or thisŠ You won't ever get good advice from anyone who plays poker. (After all, why would they want to tell you how to beat them?)

True? Partly True? Untrue?

This is one I can answer with confidence as untrue. When you were in elementary school, teachers showed you how write. You didn't learn how to create an article, an essay or a novel. But if you had the fundamentals -- the ones you learned way back then -- you had the building blocks and all you needed was your own creative mind.

No poker book, no matter how solid, can teach you everything you have to know to be a winner at the game of poker. But every single one of them has something that will help you along the way. When you combine this with your own creative mind, you can be a real killer at the table. Besides, if you don't learn how to play and you lose your first bankroll, you might never come back. And then where would the "regulars" get a game.

And lest you think every forum or group on the Internet is as populated with garbage men as rec.gambling.poker, take a quick look at the forum at www.pokerpages.com. Read through some of the posts and compare them to the previously mentioned group. This is one I can recommend, no myth, no hoax, and no garbage.