First,

Thanks Steve B. for the link to the Hold'em demo. Great tool... It advised me to fold a bunch of times where I would not have on my own - and the adviser was correct.

I played Texasa Hold'em yesterday and today for my first couple of times in a "real" Casino.

At one point it was an $8 raise to me. I wanted to call. I only had $5 in chips left in front of me. I reached for my wallet and was told that I could not purchase anymore chips at that time because I had already seen my cards. They said I could put in the $5 I had in front of me and that would cover the raise.

I lost the hand and then bought more chips.

BUT ---------My questions are...

QUESTION #1 - It seems unfair to the player to my right and anyone else who called that I did not put in my "share" of the raise. Would I have been penalized any $$ if I had won the pot?

QUESTION #2 - WHAT if someone else around the table to my left had reraised? I had no more chips in front of me. Would I have been forced to drop out when the reraise got back around to me since I did not have anymore chips available to me at that time?

QUESTION #3 - WHY was I allowed to call an $8 raise with just $5? Seems like an unscrupleous player could always keep his stack of chips "low" and take advantage of this...

QUESTION #4 - WHY wouldn't they let me add more money/chips from my wallet? It seems like the more money on the table the better for the other players and the house.

Thanks,

Steve "Tournament Toast" Snowden