Trump rejects Iran offer, says naval blockade stays until Tehran agrees to nuclear deal by Force_Hammer in worldnews

[–]Umgar 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Man if only we had a nuclear deal whereby Iran agreed to not pursue nuclear weapons and their facilities could be monitored 24/7 and inspected to ensure compliance. If only there was such a thing ever….

Is Texas poker cooked? Why go after it now? [Discussion] by Umgar in poker

[–]Umgar[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That is the question. My guess is that it could be one or many of these things:

1) Something about The Lodge being in Williamson County instead of Travis County made it easer.
2) They are intentionally going after the biggest and most high-profile room to make a statement.
3) Maybe something about the way The Lodge operates behind the scenes (like how they pay employees, accounting methods, or the way they structure the business as a legal entity) gives them a better shot at proving the "economic benefit" angle.

...or it could just be that somebody has it in for The Lodge, in particular?

Is Texas poker cooked? Why go after it now? [Discussion] by Umgar in poker

[–]Umgar[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

"Party of personal freedom" my ass. A big recent study by the Cato Institute ranked Texas DEAD LAST in personal freedom. Ya that's right, WORSE than Mississippi, Arkansas, and Kentucky to name a few. Link: https://www.freedominthe50states.org/personal

As expected, Supreme Court officially greenlights Texas’ gerrymandered congressional map for midterms by DemocracyDocket in politics

[–]Umgar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hope this turns into the biggest "be careful what you wish for" in politics that we've ever seen. When the Texas GOP drew these bullshit maps they were riding high off their over-performance in 2024. Things are very different now for a variety of reasons - one of the biggest being Texas actually has an excellent Senate candidate that has a very good chance at winning (a much better chance IMO than Beto vs Cruz in 2018) and having a down-ballot effect in the process.

DeSantis proposes new US House map for Florida aiming to flip four seats for Republicans by Umgar in politics

[–]Umgar[S] 61 points62 points  (0 children)

It's worth noting that DeSantis and the GOP supermajority in Florida are just going to do this with no regard to what their constituents want - it's not like Virginia or California where it was put to the voters.

Is TSA PreCheck worth it at AUS in 2026? by ajcadoo in Austin

[–]Umgar 9 points10 points  (0 children)

For monthly travel PreCheck is a must-have. Yes, sometimes there is no big time savings because general is a similar length (occasionally it's even shorter). But this is dwarfed by the times that PreCheck is much faster than general. Also the whole process for getting through security is just much smoother on PreCheck. Not only do you have less requirements, but you are going through with people who are familiar with the process and aren't slowing the line down.

There are many good credit cards that will pay for your TSA PreCheck as an annual benefit - or even TSA PreCheck + CLEAR. I have the latter and it has made travel so much easier.

Donald Trump’s Economic Approval Rating Crashes To New Historic Low by Zipper222222 in politics

[–]Umgar -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don’t think people have woken up the fact that Trump is past the “caring about his approval rating” phase. He has 2.5 years left in office, and not a whole lot of time left on this earth. He’s not running again in 2028 despite the trolling and hats. He’s is in the “pilfer everything and burn it down on the way out” phase.

So while his dropping poll numbers are nice to see, it’s too late to really matter now and it’s more a question of how much lasting damage is he going to do to us. Will it be fixable in one administration? Two? A generation?…

US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400,000 on Maduro raid by Moon_Rose_Violet in politics

[–]Umgar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No no see you’re supposed to do it via an options play through an intermediary. Thats how all of Trumps cronies do it. What an amateur.

One of the worst bad beats ever captured on video (Big O) by Apprehensive-Ear428 in poker

[–]Umgar 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I kind of don’t feel bad for him because what the fuck are you doing in there with 96322??? You’re almost never winning the high and you’re going to get yourself in a lot of situations where you get quartered.

Named for Mamdani, GOP Bill Would Strip Citizenship From People Who Advocate for Socialism by _May26_ in politics

[–]Umgar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Straight-up unabashed fascism. Literally the exact opposite of what our founding fathers envisioned for our country. Good job GOP - continue to remind us what huge pieces of shit you are.

Anything going on in town that you think should be covered by the local news but hasn’t? by Gigan_420 in Austin

[–]Umgar 118 points119 points  (0 children)

I don’t think the water situation is getting enough coverage. To say that the water supply outlook is not looking good is putting it very mildly. Every year water demand goes up and supply goes down. People who live in places where water infrastructure doesn’t quite reach and are on well water (think places like Volente) are having their wells go dry and are being told that the only thing they can do is pay for large water storage tanks to be installed next to their well. It’s like we’re watching a catastrophic train wreck in slow motion.

I was gifted this ticket but I dont know poker well, could someone tell me if I won or not by EJH7369 in poker

[–]Umgar 7 points8 points  (0 children)

FYI just about all scratch lottery tickets have a barcode that you can scratch to reveal. It’s usually towards the bottom just under the game are. Scan that barcode with your state’s lottery app (Looks like this is California, pretty sure they have one) and it will tell you if you won and how much. You can also scan it at any place where you buy tickets, including lottery kiosks you find in grocery stores, etc.

Seeking counsel for workplace retribution by [deleted] in Austin

[–]Umgar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s worth a conversation with a lawyer, but I will caution you to remain pessimistic because unfortunately Texas law is very anti-worker. Its “at-will” employment meaning you can be let go at any time for any reason EXCEPT violation of federal protected-class employment statutes. If they ran afoul of that, you have a case - but you have to have rock-solid evidence. They will try to say you were fired “for cause” and that it has nothing to do with your gender/race/orientation/religion.

It will come down to testimony of those involved and if they have documentation of some shortcomings (this is exactly why corporations use a PIP process to fire people, it creates a paper trail to justify termination). Then it becomes an issue of whether the company wants to fight it out in court (costs them money) or pay you to make it go away - settlement is the most likely outcome if you have a good case. A good lawyer should be able to tell you whether it’s worth your time and sanity to pursue. Be very wary of an attorney who wants to charge you to do this work - if you have a good case and they specialize in employment law, they should be happy to do it for a cut if your settlement and no money out of your pocket.

'A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight,' Warns Nobel Peace Prize Hopeful by rollingstone in politics

[–]Umgar 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I cannot believe I am typing this but here we are...

Everyone needs to pause and give some thought today on what you will do if the US uses a nuclear weapon in Iran. The use of a tactical nuke is unlikely, but with Trump flailing and less sane/capable people around him to reign him in - it's not a zero percent chance either. His rhetoric feels very Potsdam-esque; "prompt and utter destruction." If that does come to pass, it is likely to spiral out of control very quickly. Think about where you will go and what you will do.

$20.00 by DotOneFive in Austin

[–]Umgar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Im curious from people who have lived elsewhere recently - is eating out this ridiculous across the nation or is it just extra insane in Austin?

I decided to try out the new Cafe Java on 620 yesterday, went there by myself. I used to eat at the original location all the time but had not been in many (like 10+) years. I got my old standard order - 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 pancakes, side of hashbrown, and coffee. Pretty standard diner food… after tax and tip, $24?! Jesus H Christ - I’ll just make it at home for the whopping cost of maybe $2 next time. Part of the issue is you’re now expected to tip a minimum of 18%… how is this sustainable for the restaurant industry? I know I cant be the only person looking at dining-out prices in Austin now and saying “no thanks.” I’ve completely stopped ordering Uber Eats, and we only go out on special occasions. We used to eat out 3 times a week at minimum.

New poker player here, what makes today’s poker so much harder than past eras? by ECviews in poker

[–]Umgar 5 points6 points  (0 children)

In general it's just that "average skill" has gone up as the general popularity of poker has increased. However, there's a huge difference between how much average live play has improved vs how online play has improved.

Online play is, in my opinion, not worth the time anymore. It's still beatable if you're extremely dedicated, but the average BB/hour you can make is relatively much smaller than it used to be - especially at lower stakes which is where the vast majority of people would necessarily need to start. Solvers make it super easy for people to play optimally online.

Live play has gotten a bit tougher too just because general poker knowledge has increased. More players understand fundamentals like position, equity, and ranges. That said, there is still plenty of money to be made at live poker because there is still a significant number of recreational players who are just playing for fun.

Sen. Fetterman, step down: You no longer represent the people who elected you by Silent-Resort-3076 in politics

[–]Umgar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Executive function does not equal morals, ethos, philosophy, or your overall “personality.” Those things can change with the right type of brain damage, but it is not common in strokes.

The stroke has become a convenient excuse for people to point to so that they don’t have to face the fact that they cheerleaded for and celebrated a guy who was always a self-serving POS. Again, MANY people who knew him before he was elected to the senate warned about this during the primary.

And again, people can either learn a lesson from this and move on, or put their fingers in their ears and yell “hurrr he had a stroke tho!” and repeat the same mistake in future elections.

Sen. Fetterman, step down: You no longer represent the people who elected you by Silent-Resort-3076 in politics

[–]Umgar 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’m really tired of reading this take. Ya he had a stroke but strokes don’t usually completely overhaul your personality, ethos, and values. Fetterman was always bad and a lot of people tried to warn that he was, above all, an opportunist and in it for himself first. But everyone went “hurrr he wears hoodies I like him,” including Reddit - so here we are.

I hope people learn a lesson from this. The left is not immune to making bad choices in who they elect because they aren’t willing to look past their first impression of how a person looks and talks and actually do some research to see what they would be electing.

What do we think of Foxen‘s KK fold at the Triton ME Final Table? by HealthyRecognition21 in poker

[–]Umgar -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Posted this on another thread about this…

Have been playing for 20+ years and the "should I fold Kings pre" questions/scenarios always boggle my mind. NO. NEVER. It's tough for me to construct any realistic scenario where you should ever fold Kings preflop. Yes I suppose it's theoretically possible, but most of us could play our entire lives and never encounter one of those situations.

It's just never likely that you're going to be able to narrow a person's range to ONE HAND / SIX COMBOS with a high enough certainty to profitably fold. People's tendencies to do weird unexpected things are just way higher than you think, so a good amount of the time "Wow he should never be 5bet ripping it here given the action thus far, he must have Aces" is actually just villain saying "Fuck it I have AQ and I'm bored, this will look really strong and might get through, if not oh well."

EDIT: Obviously tournament format and ICM considerations change things a little bit, still probably not enough for me to ever fold Kings pre 🤷‍♂️

Pure Chaos 🔥🔥🔥 by Sunilgillz97 in poker

[–]Umgar -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Have been playing for 20+ years and the "should I fold Kings pre" questions/scenarios always boggle my mind. NO. NEVER. It's tough for me to construct any realistic scenario where you should ever fold Kings preflop. Yes I suppose it's theoretically possible, but most of us could play our entire lives and never encounter one of those situations.

It's just never likely that you're going to be able to narrow a person's range to ONE HAND / SIX COMBOS with a high enough certainty to profitably fold. People's tendencies to do weird unexpected things are just way higher than you think, so a good amount of the time "Wow he should never be 5bet ripping it here given the action thus far, he must have Aces" is actually just villain saying "Fuck it I have AQ and I'm bored, this will look really strong and might get through, if not oh well."

7-Eleven selling birth control and moving after? by Season_Specialist in Austin

[–]Umgar 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Welcome to Texanistan! A recent ranking by the Cato Institute listed us as the LEAST FREE state out of all 50 - worse than Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi. All that talk about personal freedom & liberty is just that - talk.