Dirty Doubles Stud Poker

Feature: Dirty Doubles Stud Poker 

In 1998, when a few of us got together is to play nickel, dime, quarter poker, I invented the dirty doubles poker game. Many card games use partners as part of the gameplay. 5 card stud poker intrigued me as an oppunitity to devise a partner type game for poker. 

Dirty Doubles is a stud poker game in which each player has the possibility to gamble with 6 up cards in a hand 1-6-1. The deal remains 1-3-1, but by random selection each player has a partner where both partners share the other partner’s up cards. Each betting player can use a combination from 5, 6, 7, or 8 cards to make a 5-card poker hand. The hand should be played with and even number of players, preferably 6, however, a variation can be played with an odd number of players.

The Game:

Each player has a partner. The stud up cards are shared between each partner in thus increasing the possible winning hand combinations. For example, in 1-3-1 five-card stud, the partners each have 2 down cards and share the 6 up cards to develop a winning hand. Betting intensity draws more commitment to remain in the hand.

 Table terms:

·   Mud is the name for the 6 up cards.

·   Dirt is the name for the partner’s 3 up cards.

·   Prospect is the name for the player’s 2 down cards.

·   Water is the money in the bet pot.

·   Slush is the alphabet suit rank, clubs (lowest), diamonds, hearts, spades.

Strategy:

Gameplay follows traditional betting and order of play. The betting deal is one card down, three up, one down (1-3-1). All players see all the up cards. Each partner’s betting tactics are as an individual player.

Order of play:

The first deal is non-betting and determines partners. On the first deal, the dealer in left to right order, deals each player an up card. 

·         When any two players have a pair, those players are the dirty partners.

·       This continues in rotation until each player has a partner.

·         When all players have a partner, the deal stops.

·         The dealer collects the cards, shuffles, and deals as any stud game.

·         Deal, play, betting protocol, and raises proceed as any 5 card stud game.

Because six cards are face-up, five up cards may be a rank order pat hand. However, each player still has two prospects down cards to improve the pat hand. The prospect cards may improve the rank order. If the rank order remains the same, prospect cards may use the suit rank to substitute for a rank card. The suite order is alphabet order, clubs (lowest), diamonds, hearts, spades (highest). If the pat hand stands the final call, the players split the pot.

However, the partners continue to play until the last call requests all players to show their hands. If the partners with a pat hand defend against other players, the winning partner is the one with the winning 5 card hand.  If the other players fold, the partners bet and play against each other. Both partner’s up cards contribute to a winning hand. Every game has one winner. The better must declare the play’s 5 cards from the two down cards two and six up. Cards do not self-declare.

Dirty play happens when one of the partners decides to fold, then the other partner my choose to play or fold the up cards. If a partner chooses to play the folded hand, the player partner must match all checks and bets to folded hand just as if the folded player hand was still in the game. Normally, raises are not allowed on the folded player’s cards. Before the first deal, the dealer may announce dirty raises allowed.

Number of players:

Odd: When an odd number of players wish to play dirty doubles, the seat to the right of the dealer is the odd player hand called the slop player. The dealer passes out the partner's hand just as if a person was sitting in the chair. When a player pairs with the odd hand, the partner may choose to play just like a folded hand where checks, bets, and raises would be played by a real players.

Only 2: When 2 players wish to play dirty doubles,

The challenge:

Dirty doubles increase game intensity by distributing winning hand, prospect combinations increases pot growth and raises player psychology attention. Since the first deal determines partner section and dirty double card play position order, traditional stud betting tactics dynamics change due to up card locations.

Dirty Doubles introduces the concept of prospect bidding. Normal poker odds are a frequency based on a deck of 52 cards with four suits of the same 13 values. In dirty doubles, the deck size for a poker hand increases by 3 times the number of players. A game of six players is a 70  poker deck where  3 times 6 plus 52  is in play 70 cards. While the dirt cards are from the same standard deck, the dirt’s suit and face values are essentially random arbitrary hand fulling opportunities*. 

Nasty dirty doubles:

Normal dirty doubles play is with the stud up cards. Nasty dirty doubles in 1-3-1 stud allows the betting partner to play the last down card from the other partner’s hand. The last down card stays down and unknown to the betting partner.  All payers may look at their 5^th card. Before the 5^th card bets, the betting partner may declare his down card as nasty and chose to risk play using the partner’s unknown 5^th  card. The other partner’s hand becomes the moral hand.  The betting partner uses hid 1-3 cards and the moral hand’s 3 up card and the down card. The moral hand down card stays unknown to the betting partner until the game’s last call.  When players declare their poker hand, the betting partner declares using the last four cards from the moral hand and the first four cards from the nasty hand. The moral hand down card may or may not be in the declared poker hand.

*Random as cards dealt in play rotation (horizontal), arbitrary as a dirt set (vertical) in the mud.

 [JF1]

Veteran: First Principles of Veteran Benefits

Veteran: First Principles of Veteran Benefits

Anytime an area of interest transforms into another area of interest, the process of transformation requires three steps. The first step is accepting the original area of interest, the last step is generating the intended area of interest. In between are the transformation rules. The rules act as a catalyst where the meaning of the original can become intended. The process of information transformation happens everywhere.

As you read these words, the eyes scan the symbols and transform the words into thought. In between are the multiple transforms where each transformation rules contribute to the eventual intended area of interest. In arithmetic, the predicates, add, subtract, equal are the rules for transforming numerical values. First-principles is another name for the intermediate rules. Each principle is a valid test for both the original and the intended area of interest.   

For veterans' benefits, the Law is the original area of interest with the statutes contained in US Code Title 38, Veterans' Benefits.  In most cases, the intended area of interest is the Title 38 Code of Federal Regulations Veterans' Benefit used to define the business practices of the  Department of Veteran Affairs (VA).  Title 38 also establishes the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) with statues from 38 U.S.C.  7251–7299. The Department of Veteran Affairs operates as an Executive Department of the United States President.  The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims operates as a Federal Court, not as part of the VA.

The CAVC charter is Title 38 Statues. The Count has intermediate rules that are the principle to transform the Statues into the Count's judicial practices. The VA creates the regulations without intermediate rules where the regulation is in the VA's business interest  Therefore, the regulation may not be in the veteran's interest.  

The First Principles (or Rules)

This is my proposed list of the missing first principles. The list begins with the missing definition for Title 38.  

1. Title 38 USC Veterans' Benefits is Congress's lifetime wellness grant of benefits to each honorably discharged veteran for the veteran's national service with the Department of Defense. 
2. Title 38 statutes define the grant's services.
3. Congress allocates funds from the Federal Budget to pay the fees for the services.
4. A veteran's benefit is the paid fee for a Title 38 service.
5. By Law, the veteran owns all benefits.
6. The DVA and the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims are Title 38 services.
7. Veteran disability compensation is a Title 38 service.
8. The DVA is an agent of Congress to administer the Budget's allocation and to provide Title 38 services.
9. Title 38 is a set of business rules for Title 38 payouts.
10. Once a veteran always a veteran.
11. To receive Title 38 services, the veteran must register as a client with DVA.
12. The DVA is not a veteran, therefore the DVA cannot own benefits. 
13. The DVA is an agency, not a club, veterans are clients, not members.
14. In all agreements between the veteran and the DVA, the veteran is always the first party principal. 
15. For veteran's medical treatments at a community provider, the DVA establishes an expressed agency with the provider thereby the medical expense is the same as if the treatment occurred at a DVA facility. 
16. A medical expense is a fee for medical service.
17. A treatment for an episode-of-care may include one or more medical expenses. Medical trauma may include one or more episodes-of-care. 
18. The purpose of insurance is to reduce the insured liability. The payout from the insurer is the insured's property.
19. An insurance company may act as the insured's agent to make claim payments. The payment is exactly the same as if the insured paid the claim.
20. The Goodwill Grant is the veteran's volunteered permission given to the DVA to used the veteran's private insurance for cost recovery at a DVA faculty. The grant permits the DVA to be a principal to make cost recovery claims with the insurer. 
21. The DVA has a fiduciary trust responsibility to use the Goodwill Grant's private information only within the DVA and not with any DVA's agents. 
22. The DVA may assist Congress in determining a veteran's eligibility for a particular service, once eligible, the DVA cannot deny the service as a veteran's benefit.
23. All veterans at the time of active duty discharge are eligible for Title 38 benefits and may register with the DVA for Title 38 services.
24. The DVA cannot deny an honorably discharged as a client.
25. The veteran has the responsibility to use Title 38 services for the veteran's wellness.      

The First Test of a Regulation

For a regulation to be valid, the regulation must pass the Title's wellness test (Rule 1).

Does the regulation provide for the wellness of the veteran?

If the regulation does not pass the test, the regulation fails the purpose of Title 38 and therefore the regulation does is not comply with the Law. While the DVA is a business operation, the DVA must conduct its operations as an agent of Congress. Rule 1 states the purpose of Title 38 is to provide services for veteran's wellness. Rule 1 applies to the DVA. 


                                    

About Me: My Multiple Sclerosis Story

About Me: My MS Story

My name is Joseph. In 1989, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Since then, my MSer story has traveled many roads. Today, I will share the story of some of my adventures. I want to thank each of you for being here. Whenever we can come together to hear and discuss MS, I believe each of us receives energy to continue the adventure. 

Almost every story has a hero. My story has many. I was born in a small town in central Nebraska. We lived on the old family homestead farm without indoor plumbing or running water; three years later, when we moved to the big house, my mother told my dad she wanted an indoor toilet and water in the house. I can still see dad’s solution: a 50-gallon drum on the roof with a hose piping water from the well and electric cord attached to the stock tank heater keeping the drum’s water from freezing. By the time I was seven, I had three sisters and a brother, and we left the farm and moved to Denver. 

Life with MS is like farming; praying each year that the crops don’t fail, yet knowing it’s going to happen sooner or later.

I remember my grandfather, who was one of my first heroes, telling me, “Joseph, I had a great life. Farming is hard. We struggled through the Depression. We have a great family. I started with my dad’s horse to plow fields. We bought land, tractors, and cars. We replaced oil lamps with light bulbs. We went from listening to the radio to watching television. I got to see a man walk on the moon!” Just as he was a farmer, he planted that memory in me. Personally, when I am older and my daughter is grown, maybe I will have a grandchild who I can tell, “I had a great life. I received the cure for multiple sclerosis!” 

In 1968 at 18, I enlisted in the Marine Corps, which began my career working on computer-based Tactical Data Systems. I loved the technology, and I was never bored because there was always something to learn. In 45 years of working with computers, I experienced many changes first hand. The early computer programs were modified by re-wiring circuits, then machine-level switches, hole punch cards, monitors, mainframes, PC, PDA, cell, and so many other great inventions that changed our lives. MS cut that journey short.

Everyone with MS remembers their first relapse and the scared feelings after the diagnosis—“You have MS.” For me, those words came in 1989, while I was living in New York. When I was still single, after a long business trip to Japan, I was happy to be home, but also very tired. I was going down to the basement where I kept my office, and I slipped and rolled down the stairs. I lay there for 30 hours, thinking I’d broken my back, and then somehow found the strength to get up to drive myself to the emergency room. To this day, I have no idea why I didn’t call an ambulance. I’ve since learned that it’s okay to ask for help.

While I was in the hospital, the doctor told me X-rays showed a lesion on my spine at the back of my neck that looked like cancer. I was still in pain and the doctor’s words didn’t register. Meanwhile, my left hand was numb, and my arm was curled to my chest, frozen, unable to move. The doctors recommended surgery, saying the paralysis would kill me. Tests done the night before showed the lesion was shrinking and they decided not to operate. After days of testing and no clear diagnosis, incredibly, I was sent home under the care of my neurologist. 

Three months later, I was stumbling and dragging my left foot. An MRI showed new scarring in the brain and my neurologist confirmed the diagnosis — multiple sclerosis. When I was first diagnosed, some people would shun me, not come into my office, walk out of meetings, or not shake my hand. I remember well those first days of being shunned. I didn’t blame them. At the time, truthfully, I didn’t know any better myself. MS is something to fear, but it is also something to understand. 

Every MSer I have talked to has experienced some denial. My father showed me the courage and my mother cured my denial. One day while shopping for new shoes the numbness in my fingers made it difficult to tie the laces. Mom saw me struggling and noticed a clerk some feet away. In a clear, distinct voice said, “My son has MS, he needs help getting these shoes on.” Mom did not know it. But, my mother's love cured my denial with a few simple words. 

In 1993, I began taking a disease-modifying drug to help control my disease by reducing the frequency of relapses. But by 1994, I was no longer able to work. On December 8, 1994, the doctor told me I had no choice but to retire or be confined to a wheelchair. As I was walking out the door, I had to hold on to the wall to stop me from falling. I was in shock. I cursed, “Damn it MS! You stole my career. You stole my life.” The walk to my car took forever. January 1, 1995, was not a happy New Year.

The next month, I met Debra, the woman who would become my wife. She refused to give up on me, and two years later, we were married. From the moment we met, she became my hero. I also say, she became my “Happy Heart.” I went from age 46 to 16—I would leave love notes on her car and sign them with a heart that had a smiley face inside. One day, she asked me what that was and I said, “Well, that’s my happy heart.” 

My wife and I had been married for seven years, and my daughter was about five. At that time, I had numbness throughout my left side, and I used a cane in my right hand to help me walk. One day, my wife said, “Joseph, you don’t hold my hand anymore while we’re walking.” I started analyzing what she said, and I answered as an engineer, “Well, I don’t get any charge out of it.” She was hurt, and said, “I can’t believe you just said that to me.” I was surprised, too. Several months later we went to the Can-Do program at the Jimmie Heuga Center in Vail. We were listening to a lecture, not specifically on this topic, but we both had a revelation and realized a truth about MS numbness. One of the reasons for holding hands is that it feels good. Because my hand was numb, the emotional mental impulse to reach out and hold her hand got lost because of the MS. I realized it was numbness and had nothing to do with my love for my wife. We’ve worked around it…sometimes we’ll be walking and she’ll bump me and I know what that means. It elevates my awareness.

After 19 years of living with MS, my physical condition had become very stressful. I was putting on weight. Walking was fearful. After my first relapse, I walked almost everywhere with a cane. By 2008, at times, a second cane was close at hand. The situation was worsening. My excuse was MS. My daughter was getting older and my wife was taking on more responsibility. I started to change my thinking, creating a desire to overcome my lack of mobility. What followed were days, then months, and then years of personal training. I have biked five MS 150s, and two 400 mile multi-day treks, and broken both my arms. 

In 2013, I started to lose the feeling in my right foot, making it difficult to slip my feet into the bike pedals. My normal way of getting on the bicycle was to lay it down, stand on my “MS” leg, and swing my good leg over. And then stand the bike up. But this relapse made it impossible for me to do that, and that was my second worse day with MS. All that training, all that work, all those perfect miles: Gone.

After two weeks, with treatment, I noticed gradual improvement; however, the damage was done by that relapse still kept me from cycling. I still look at my bikes. I look out the picture window, look at the mountains, and watch great riding days pass, determined to someday ride again. 

Our journey with MS is mapped by relapses and remissions. With the modern treatments for relapses, the personal challenge is to stay in remission. Each day of remission is a chapter in a hero's journey. I’ve learned that one of the hardest things to overcome is myself; but I’ve also come to realize that I, too, am a hero on a journey. Every person with MS lives their own hero’s journey. The day you hear the words, “You have MS” the story began. Along the way, we meet mentors, support partners, treatments, remissions, and the disease. Because we adapt, the journey continues. MS is just an excuse for an adventure. 

For me, the word “hero” stands for “Helping Everyone Respect Others.”  Remembering how I was once shunned, I educate others that MS may be something to be afraid of—but it’s also something to understand. You can be your own hero by being proactive, discover, learn and know all your options for your MSer life. I’m grateful to my wife and my daughter, and to all the heroes I’ve met along the way. And, each of you—you are all my hero, too.