DEAL ME IN.. TEXAS HOLD'EM POKER.

Byline: BY MAL COOLHANDLUKE DAWSON

NEW players who want to be good at the game need to be careful when assessing their play. There are a couple of common mistakes new players make that lead them to draw wrong conclusions about the strength of their play.

After playing for a few weeks they start to form an opinion about their play, but their conclusions might be way off the mark. The problem is that in the short term anything can happen. A player may get lucky and think he's good at the game or get hit with a lot of bad beats and think he should give it up.

But over a longer period of time, say six months or more, a player is going to get a better idea of his or her ability to play the game. So keep an eye on your long-term play and don't let the bad beats get to you.

Sometimes you get spells when you can't do anything wrong and others when you can do nothing right. This is just the way the cards are falling for you, so taking your long-term results will help you to assess your play more accurately.

THIS week's bad beat was given again to me. I had raised pre-flop with Ace Jack suited and got four callers.

The flop came down Jack, 4, 6 rainbow (that's three different suits) and I bet 6,000. Billy called, the others folded and the turn card was another 6.

I went all-in for 12,600 chips. Billy thought for a few minutes and decided to call for his last 12,200 chips with Ace Queen and rivered me when a Queen came. I ended up making a great comeback, getting myself back up to 82,000 chips. Then I got pocket Aces against pocket Queens and Mark hit a Queen on the flop to put me out of the competition. The ladies weren't kind to me on Wednesday night!

BELFAST: The Winners club in the Yorkgate has its usual tournaments this week. Phone Peter or Jim on 02890 746952 for details. There's a charity tournament for the Marie Curie Cancer Care tonight - if you're interested in playing in it come along. There are many spot prizes to be won. The tournament starts at 8.30pm.

MAGHERAFELT: The Ritz and will now be running their regular tournaments every night except Saturdays. Phone Matt for details on 07866 694840.

LISBURN: The HIBS club has Texas Hold'em tournaments on Friday nights. The tournaments start at 8.30pm and there is an extra allocation of chips if you register before 8pm. Phone Josie on 02892 664804 for details.

NEWRY: The Frontier bingo club at John Mitchell Place has its usual tournament this week and you can phone Paul on 07967 633076 for more details.

BALLYMENA: Luckys bingo club on the Wakehurst industrial estate has its usual tournaments this week also.

Phone Paul on 07811 468392 for more details.

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