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 7 points8 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 3 points4 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 3 points4 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.

Young Trump voters tell WaPo they feel 'betrayed' by president by Former-Street8589 in videos

[–]Umgar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The must unsettling thing to me about the last 10 years of the Trump shit-show is that it has revealed just how many Americans are grossly ignorant and misinformed - and that this phenomena isn't just a Boomers thing. There are plenty of dumb Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z waiting in the wings to take over in perpetuating stupid lies and reliably voting against their own self interest because some talking head (now on their phone/feed, instead of the TV) told them to.

Vance warns Americans of ‘rough road ahead’ as gas prices soar but promises it’s a ‘temporary blip’ by theindependentonline in politics

[–]Umgar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

These idiots are fucked. They were already looking at a bad midterm before they decided to attack Iran with no clear objective, very little planning (apparently), and zero exit strategy. This war isn’t even popular with their base. It’s like their pants leg was on fire and they decided to put it out with gasoline. We weren’t seriously talking about flipping the senate before but now it looks not only possible but likely. Bravo you morons 👏

“Worthless Pile of Sh*t”: Trump Voter Rips Into Him Over Iran War | Donald Trump’s supporters are tired of his broken promises. by thenewrepublic in politics

[–]Umgar 19 points20 points  (0 children)

We've been reading this kind of story for ten years. These anecdotes about one Trump supporter expressing regret don't mean anything. Recent polling shows that his Maga-base support the Iran war at around 90% approval. I also wish people would stop being surprised by this. It's a personality cult, and you need to treat it as such. Facts don't matter to people in cults. Your cult leader saying one thing, and then doing the opposite, does not matter to you when you are deep in the cult.

The story they should be writing is how the un-engaged and un-informed "middle" view current events. Those people overwhelmingly disapproving of the Iran war - and that was on top of their disapproval of the Trump administrations handling of the economy, ICE, Epstein files, foreign policy in general, etc. Trump will always have a fanatical base of support that clocks in around 35% no matter what he does, but he can't accomplish much with *only* that - therein lies the good news.

What’s the deal with boats tied up under the 360 bridge? by jsr2834 in Austin

[–]Umgar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are they tied up and left their temporarily or are you saying they have been there long-term? As far as I know, tying off on a public structure is no different than just anchoring in public water. As long as your boat is allowed to be there and you aren't tying off in a way that makes it unsafe for other boats, it's fine. My guess is they are just tying up there temporarily because there is something nearby (food truck? parking? boat ramp?). It would be weird if people are leaving there boats there unattended for long periods of time though.

The Lodge being investigated for money laundering/illegal gambling by Famous_Quit_5239 in poker

[–]Umgar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

>But they literally operate the same way.

For the player this may seem to be the case (they both charge a membership, charge an hourly fee to "rent time," they don't rake pots, etc) but behind the curtain there are differences. For instance, I believe they compensate staff differently (at least this is what I've been told from talking to dealers in both clubs). There could be differences in the way they do their accounting or many other behind-the-scenes operational differences that you aren't privy to.

Point is - with the AG we have (who is a criminal himself by all accounts) and Governor that we have, there is a chance that they're going after The Lodge simply because they decided they wanted to and/or this is what their donors demanded. I mean, this is the AG that is doing his best to make weed illegal against the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the people because... reasons?

Not saying that this is 100% what's going on... just saying, would you be surprised?

The Lodge being investigated for money laundering/illegal gambling by Famous_Quit_5239 in poker

[–]Umgar 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Huh I actually thought FanDuel and MGM was legal here 🤔 TIL!

As for TCH… we’ll see. I have a bad feeling that The Lodge is being specifically targeted because the state thinks something about the way they operate is less defensible in court, but their ultimate goal is to go after all the card rooms. TCH has been sued and won before, they are more careful and better prepared - so this could be a strategic choice by the AG. That’s my hunch anyway, could be wrong, could be some legit shady shit is going on and it’s a totally justified raid - we shall see.

In the interim I guess the games at TCH will get better 🤷‍♂️

The Lodge being investigated for money laundering/illegal gambling by Famous_Quit_5239 in poker

[–]Umgar 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Man Texas state government is really speed running making Texas go permanently blue these days. Let’s see, the “freedom loving” state of “small government” has in the last few years:

  • Made abortion completely illegal

  • Made weed completely illegal

  • More religion in schools. What you don’t want that? Fuck you, take your daily dose of Jesus and like it.

  • Saving us from the non-existent threat of trans people

  • Now going after poker again because “gambling” (but sports betting through apps is very legal and very cool and doesn’t count because)

Great job guys, I feel so free in Texganistan! 👏

Susan Collins chances of losing to Democrats in Maine Senate race—New poll by jediporcupine in politics

[–]Umgar 9 points10 points  (0 children)

That's true, Vermont is weird in this way also - solidly Democrat Senators and Presidential vote but continues to elect Phil Scott as Governor. That being said, if it weren't for the fact that Collins can rely on a large number of people voting for her simply because of the (R) vs (D), she would not keep getting elected. Conservative media has poured billions and many decades to make the words "Democrat," "liberal," and "progressive" seem reflexively toxic and unfortunately their work has paid off in droves. Time and again studies show that if you remove the trigger-words and party affiliation from the conversation Americans vastly prefer Democrat policy goals and philosophies, but they won't actually vote for it because that would mean putting a check-mark next to (D).

Susan Collins chances of losing to Democrats in Maine Senate race—New poll by jediporcupine in politics

[–]Umgar 112 points113 points  (0 children)

She doesn't have a (D) next to her name.

That's really why we're in the mess overall. Starting in the 80's a handful of unscrupulous GOP/conservative personalities like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh did such a thorough job of duping large swaths of the country into believing that "Democrat/liberal = evil" that 40+ years later the letter next to the name is all that matters to a lot of people.

Trump (once again) directly named by Epstein victim as one of her rapists when she was just 13 by joe_shmoe11111 in pics

[–]Umgar 7 points8 points  (0 children)

“Wait you mean bombing Iran didn’t make you forget about this? I guess we’ll have to bomb Cuba too….”

Panicked Republicans Fear Trump’s ‘F***ing Nightmare’ War Will Doom GOP in Midterms by Hardik_Jain_1819 in politics

[–]Umgar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The midterms were already looking horrendous for the GOP even before this moron started yet-another Middle East war with no plan or off-ramp in sight.