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Card Games

Maister

Maister

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Thanks in large part to cable tv the game of poker has experienced a resurgence of popularity (particularly Texas Hold 'em). When my wife and I were last in the market to buy a house we looked at an older couples' home that was moving to Arizona in retirement. I remember the guy asked if we played cards and I told him 'not really'. He said that didn't surprise him and he found that the popularity of cards largely fell along generational lines - people born after television became popular were not nearly as enthusiastic about cards as the generation prior to. I suspect there's some merit to what claimed, but I find the popularity of Texas Holdem kinda ironic in this case.
When I was growing up we played alot of Fish, Gin, War, Concentration, Cribbage, and Kings in the Corner. Later on in the service I occasionally participated in my outfit's Hearts or Poker tournaments and in college we played a lot of Euchre and at least tried to learn how to play Bridge (never did get a handle on the bidding conventions!).
This weekend we were invited over to some friends (in his late 50's) house to learn how to play Pinochle. My wife is less than enthusiastic about the prospect, but I am kinda looking forward to the opportunity.
How about you - how often do you play cards? how old are you? and what games do you like to play?
 
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I play Go Fish, Crazy Eights and War with my six year old son about 5 times a week.

Once he understands better that facial expressions give away his hand and intent, we'll move on toward poker.
 
SGB said:
I play Go Fish, Crazy Eights and War with my six year old son about 5 times a week.

Once he understands better that facial expressions give away his hand and intent, we'll move on toward poker.
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I forgot to mention Crazy Eights but that was another very popular game from childhood.
 
Maister said:
How about you - how often do you play cards? how old are you? and what games do you like to play?
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On holidays we play poker with the family. I usually lose $20-40 :-( and the wife stops me from using chits (gift cards) or borrowing.

The wife and I regularly play gin rummy and I used to play spades and killer (a non-drinking variation of a$$hole) with many of my friends. Unfortunately, most people now prefer poker to rummy, spades or dirty hearts.

We do play darts (cricket) semi-monthly, as we have a board in our house.

We are in our mid-twenties.
 
michaelskis said:
I am not a big fan of card games. I am even less of a fan of gambling.
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Really? You do realize that all investing is nothing more than an elaborately clothed form of 'gambling'.
 
I don't play much, but my mom has taught my son a bunch of games and they play.

I guess I played cards quite a bit as a child, especially on road trips, or during hurricane power outages, etc.
 
Are you kidding me?

Maister said:
Really? You do realize that all investing is nothing more than an elaborately clothed form of 'gambling'.
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Massive difference in the two. With investing, you diversify where your money goes, while professionals analyze each and every little aspect of the market for each and every little stock, providing significantly less risk on investment. The statistical probability shows that over the long term, you will make a profit.

Gambling on the other hand is more about chance and statistical analysis shows that even when you minimize your risk based on the cards or other “values”, the risk always outweighs the benefits.

It is like the lottery. Better chance of getting hit by lightning, while wearing an elephant costume on the front steps brothel and being attacked by dogs, all at the same time, than winning it big in the lottery.

It is all about probability and trend analysis.
 
jmello said:
On holidays we play poker with the family. I usually lose $20-40 :-( and the wife stops me from using chits (gift cards) or borrowing.

The wife and I regularly play gin rummy and I used to play spades and killer (a non-drinking variation of a$$hole) with many of my friends. Unfortunately, most people now prefer poker to rummy, spades or dirty hearts.

We do play darts (cricket) semi-monthly, as we have a board in our house.

We are in our mid-twenties.
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We need to get together partner.

I grew up playing darts at least 1 hour a day (usually 2 to 3 hours in the winter) and can usually whip everyone even after a dozen pints -- the game doesn't matter.

When I was little we (the family) would play gin rummy. Dad used to have poker parties with his airman buddies back in the 70's and I usually bartended for them. At 12 years old, me and my brother (11) learned to play pinochle (double deck no 9's)(common among Air Force families and very heavy coffee drinkers). At college played more simple card games such as, spades, hearts and 10-point pitch.

Now I play 10-point pitch once a month with a group of folks in a larger town 22 miles away. Every Wednesday night I play duplicate bridge (by far the most challenging card game I've come across) at the club. I'm in my middle 30's and the other bridge players are over 55, many much older. I have played "Texas Hold Em'" style poker at the club a couple of times. The first time I failed miserably. The second time I won (no disclosure on the take). We also play "one-card" at the club occassionally depending on who's hanging around.
 
michaelskis said:
It is like the lottery. Better chance of getting hit by lightning, while wearing an elephant costume on the front steps brothel and being attacked by dogs, all at the same time, than winning it big in the lottery.
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First celery costumes now elephants. I was wondering why you were tying pork chops around your 'trunk' while holding that iron stake on that doorstep the other day.....

michaelskis said:
It is all about probability and trend analysis.
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Yes, that's what I said.
 
Poker has been a part of the family get-togethers on my mom's side of the family forever. Usually play dealers choice, but play a variety of games (stud, draw, 3-card, various wild card games). Usually see between $5-20 in a pot for a typical game.

I picked up Hold 'Em about 5 years ago, and play online every now and then, and have played in 3 live charity tournaments. Just learned to play Omaha in the past 2 years, and actually find myself enjoying playing it more than Hold 'Em.

And to answer the demographic questions: I'm just about 32 years old and have been playing poker with family and friends since I was 15.

I completely disgaree with people that think poker is all luck. There's skill involved in the probabilities and knowing when to commit your money and when not to. The skilled players can, and many do, make a living out of playing poker.
 
NHPlanner said:
I completely disgaree with people that think poker is all luck. There's skill involved in the probabilities and knowing when to commit your money and when not to. The skilled players can, and many do, make a living out of playing poker.
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If poker is all about luck why do we see the same faces in the finalists rounds of every flippin' poker tournament?

Skill in cards is the ability to detect patterns of behavior exhibited by other players and taking into account probabilities.

:8: Oh, you got to know when to hold 'em know when to fold 'em know when to walk away and know when to run......:8: :-D
 
Maister said:
If poker is all about luck why do we see the same faces in the finalists rounds of every flippin' poker tournament?
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Agree completely. The lone tournament out there that isn't dominated by the pros is the World Series of Poker Main Event, simply due to the incredible number of entrants (over 5600 this year) many of whom qualified in cheap online tournaments and have no readable style of play, which gives skilled players fits, since they're so hard to get a read on. Also, with that number of entries, luck is a big factor in beating out over 5000 people.
 
I'm particularly curious about how popular cards are outside the US and what games are played.
 
We used to have a poker game every week. We called a different game each hand rather then play hold 'em all night. Also go through spells playing euchre over lunch hours. (with real cards, no YAHOO games here)
And after holiday dinners, we have had up to 5 euchre tables going at once.
 
I am in my 20s (I say mid, some say late) and last year when my Gram passed away, G taught us to play Canasta. Now, most of my friends have learned and we often play on rainy Sunday afternoons. I also know how to play Hearts and Spades. With the kids, we generally stick to UNO, and for an insane night (as far as card playing is concerned), we have a game called Killer Bunnies that has like 6 additional decks and all these crazy rules, but once you learn, it's really fun! (Your bunnies are trying to attack other bunnies using any weapon from carrying an anvil through quicksand to nuclear weapons and UFO obductions.)
Oooh, with my parents we also play Dutch Blitz and Skip-Bo (the former more often than the latter), but my dad just had his second brain surgery so he doesn't play much anymore.:-( :-(
 
I like to play cribbage and played lots of card games as akid. Wih i could remember how to play canasta.
 
Cribbage is huge up here (we even sit around and play crib on breaks sometimes). I never played it much growing up, but it's pretty easy to catch on to and it's quite fun.

Growing up, I played pinochle with my family quite a bit. I have since forgotten how to play, but I remember it being fun.
 
My wife's family plays cards fairly often - gin rummy, mainly (I think). I don't usually get involved as I never really played cards growing up.


I do like to play solitaire, (with real cards, not on the computer).





Oh, and strip poker ;) :-D :a:
 
michaelskis said:
Massive difference in the two. With investing, you diversify where your money goes, while professionals analyze each and every little aspect of the market for each and every little stock, providing significantly less risk on investment. The statistical probability shows that over the long term, you will make a profit.

Gambling on the other hand is more about chance and statistical analysis shows that even when you minimize your risk based on the cards or other “values”, the risk always outweighs the benefits.

It is like the lottery. Better chance of getting hit by lightning, while wearing an elephant costume on the front steps brothel and being attacked by dogs, all at the same time, than winning it big in the lottery.

It is all about probability and trend analysis.
Click to expand...

Just poking fun here, but aren't there dozens of professionals who analyze each and every aspect of the NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL landscape that, in the end, helps the informed bettor make a choice on how to invest? So-and-so is injured, and will miss the next game; the team from ABC is winless in their last six on Thursday nights -- these are examples of tips that are on ESPN every day that help the gambling addict manage a profit if "invested" wisely.

And it's nothing different than watching CNBC and hearing that the "word on the street" is that XYZ company is going to report that their quarterly earnings are going to be lower than expected.
 
Used to play poker in high school. Worked well, since none of us could completely rememeber the rules, the winner came down to who could create the most convinceing, irrational argument. And do that far better then i play poker....
 
Maister said:
How about you - how often do you play cards? how old are you? and what games do you like to play?
Click to expand...
Before I was born, my dad was a card-sharp and semi-professional gambler. He basically made a second income gambling. So, when I was growing up, I could not have a relationship with my father if I did not play cards. I deal left-handed because I learned to deal at age 4, before I understood that when you are facing someone, his right is on your left. I mirrored what dad did, thus I deal left-handed in spite of being right-handed. I played a LOT of cards growing up: rummy, solitaire, double-solitaire, black-jack, several types of poker, and probably a few others. I haven't played cards in a long time and probably don't remember most of the rules. But it was a big part of my childhood.
 
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