(For reasons that will become obvious, I chose to keep this entry separate and not to link to it from my regular blog about my year in Israel.)

Israeli Poker Rules 2019
Israeli Poker Rules 2020
Israeli Poker Rules Games

Dec 03, 2020 While Israeli security is on high-alert both on the country’s borders and at its embassies and consulates around the world, the working assumption of the intelligence community is that Iran won. United Arab Emirates Prohibited and Restricted Items. FedEx Cross Border is unable to ship prohibited and non-approved restricted items on behalf of its customers. FedEx Cross Border has prepared a global list of prohibited and restricted items that apply regardless of a shipment's destination.

I love playing poker, especially Texas Hold 'em. Back in the States, I play quite often. There's the Friday night cash game at PJ's, the Monday night tourney at Gochnauer's followed by the lucrative cash game, and Gottlieb's on Thursdays when I don't have soccer. There are monthly tournaments in Pennsylvania, and occasional games at my house. Also, Delaware Park Casino has live poker games and is 90 minutes from my home, and I went to Atlantic City twice and Las Vegas once the last year. I get to play plenty, and as all poker players will typically claim, I'm slightly ahead for the year (and paradoxically most players are well above average).

I arrived in Israel almost two months ago, and I tried very hard to find a live poker game, but to no avail. I asked virtually everyone I came in contact with professionally and personally if they played poker or knew anyone who did, and in the few instances where someone knew someone, my attempts to follow up and get invited to the game failed. In desperation, I played a little online, but it's not the same experience, and I don't really like it. Having exhausted my entire network in Israel and the States and still finding myself unable to satisfy my urge to play live poker, I decided to take a step that in hindsight seems pretty stupid and yet something that I'm surprised took me that long to think of. Searching the Internet for 'home poker games Tel Aviv' and 'live poker Israel', I came across a site that lists home games in cities around the world. As an expert specializing in Internet security, I have some training in identifying sites that are less than wholesome, and this one definitely rubbed me the wrong way. There were invitations to log in with Facebook, clearly a phishing tactic, flashing lights near the top of the page resembling the less than savory establishments that used to inhabit Times Square before it was cleaned up, and several other telling signs that this was not the most reputable site on the Internet.

But, this was the closest I had come to finding a live poker game, so I started following links, telling myself all the while that I would never enter any personal information on this site, nor trust anything that I read there. There were listings of poker games in and around Tel Aviv, but no phone numbers or email addresses. To get further information, you had to register a username and password with the site, or just enter your gmail or Facebook credentials. I had seen enough. Still, I noticed that one of the listings mentioned a regular game several times a week, tournaments, free food, drinks, and yes, there was a phone number there. Interestingly, the exchange part of the phone number, the three digits before the last four digits, was 555, just like phone numbers in the movies designed to fool the audience into thinking that in make believe land, all numbers contain that exchange. Was this some kind of joke? I decided not to waste my time with it.

Israeli Poker Rules 2019

But, I couldn't get it out of my mind, and a couple of days later, I searched for and found that site again. This time, I summoned up some nerve and called the number. A rough male voice answered, and I said, in the most authentic sounding Hebrew that I could muster, that I was calling to get details about the poker game. There was a pause on the other end of the line for what seemed like an awkward interval. I said, 'Hello?' And he said, yes, well, uh, so, let me give you a number to call. This guy will take care of you. And he gives me the name Yaniv and a phone number. I asked him if he could give me his name so that I could tell Yaniv he sent me. I was a bit concerned that I had just made contact with the Israeli mob and that Yaniv was going to set me up to rob me, kidnap me and sell me into slavery, or perhaps a worse fate. My first test was that if he won't give me his name, I will just drop the whole thing. But the guy give me his name, Ronen.

Okay, so I have a new lead for a live poker game in Tel Aviv. This is good, but also nerve racking. Am I really going to show up with money in my pocket to presumably play poker based on a connection that I made through a random unhealthy looking Internet site? Probably not. But what harm is there in calling Yaniv? So, I dialed the number, and someone who sounded very busy, like he was in the middle of something, answered, 'Halo'. I said that Ronen suggested that I call you about getting into a poker game. He said, we play tomorrow. Call me in the morning, and I'll give you details, and he hung up, just like that. I imagined that he needed a day to arrange the trap, hire some thugs, get the body bag, etc.

Israeli Poker Rules 2020

The next day, Tuesday I had a conference call scheduled in the evening, so I couldn't play poker, but I called Yaniv anyway, and I got his voicemail. I left a message saying I was the one who called yesterday, and I can't play tonight, but let me know when there is another game. Yaniv didn't call back which wasn't that surprising. So, I sent a text message to his number, and he texted back (in Hebrew) that there was a game Thursday at 9:30 pm. On Thursday, understanding Yaniv's favorite mode of communication, I texted him asking for the address. He texted back an address right away and repeated that the game is at 9:30 pm, and that the buy-in was 400 shekels (approx. $114) with rebuys for the first two rounds.

Now what?

If I told Ann exactly what happened and how I got into this game, she might not endorse the idea whole heartedly. I was thinking that if a friend came to me with this proposition, I would tell him he was crazy. But, if I just told Ann that I was playing poker and left out the other details, it wouldn't feel right. So, I printed out directions to the game that night and made a copy for Ann. I told her the story and wrote down Ronen's and Yaniv's names and numbers, and told Ann that if something happened to me, she should give these to the police to help locate me. Looking back, this was not the best approach. But, I promised Ann I would be careful, and that I would go early and stake out the house and not go in if the people resembled those at the Thursday night game at Gottlieb's in any way.

About an hour before I was going to leave home, we got a call from the States telling us that our dog Mendl, who was with us for 14 years, had died. Ann took it very hard and was in tears as soon as she got off the phone. He was terminally sick when we left for Israel, and we knew he didn't have a lot of time left, but all the same, it was very sad. It may seem heartless and insensitive, but one thought that jumped into my mind was that I probably wasn't going to get to play poker that night. But, about 20 minutes later, Ann was much more composed, and I offered to stay home if she wanted some support, but she said that she was okay and that I could play. This reinforce my opinion that I have the absolute best wife in the world (Although I couldn't help but think that if she really loved me, she would never let me go to play a game that attracts degenerates, and that I found on the Internet in a foreign country.)

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous driving downtown Thursday night with fifteen hundred shekels ($429) in my pocket. I brought extra money to allow for a rebuy and to play in a cash game after I was eliminated from the tournament. The GPS guided me to a part of town that I had never seen before, and my heart sank. It looked abandoned and seedy. Run down warehouses, not that well lit, and the kind of place where in the US, I would stay away from after dark and even during the day. I made up my mind that I would drive by the address and then just turn around and drive home. This was too scary and not worth the risk ju