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A Beginner's View of Live Poker |
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jewlian Canada. May 19 2008 02:27. Posts 153 | | |
TLDR, long ass blog post!
So my friends wanted to hit the casino today so I checked out the website and found that they did have no limit tables. Excited to try poker live, I called them up and reserved some seats (2.5hr wait, yuck long weekend) and made our way there. Having read Myth's articles about live hold em, I didn't feel hopeless because I knew there must be some players worse than me.
The tables were 1/2, max 100$ buy in (???) and considering my Pokerstars BR is 100, it was just intimidating once I sat down. My table was populated with young college students and middle aged casino regulars. There was this guy that tried to start a conversation with me but I ignored him and focused on my cards. That instantly labeled me as an asshole at the table and I could tell from their looks they wanted to bust my ass.
I folded the first few hands to get a feeling of a live game at a casino. I immediately identified the table as loose as people were betting like crazy with low pair or even nothing; Almost like 1/2cents at Pokerstars. The best thing in my mind was to tighten up my range and play premium hands only until I had some fear in them. Five minutes in, I get dealt AKo in dealer position. I raise about 8 dollars and everyone quickly folded except for this one, big black guy. I heard him earlier talking about Harrington's book so I figured he must know some OK poker. Boy, was I wrong.
So the flop comes out, A 2 4 rainbow. In my head i'm screaming OH I HIT OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG WHAT DO I BET LOLZZZZZZ but on the outside, I maintained composure and waited for him to make his move. He minraises me and I raised a significant portion of my stack to him back. He then says, "That's it? Isn't it past your bedtime kid?" Everyone got a good laugh but I maintained silence and watched him call. Turn comes, a Jack. By now I was thinking, "oh god what if he hit two pair or a set or something disgusting, omg omg" He raises me all in (he was deepstacked so he covered me well) and i'm sitting there, screaming internally. Did he hit something on the turn? Or was I being dominated from the flop? I don't know if it was a dumb call or not (you guys can criticize me later) but after a couple moments of deliberation, I called. After the river, he flips A 6. I have the superior kicker and double up within 5-10 minutes of sitting down.
The feeling of winning a huge pot live was amazing. Especially since I knew they all disliked me made it so much sweeter. I think the black man I robbed was the most well liked guy and some fat lady sitting beside him looked especially pissed.
Long story short, I lost my winnings nut flush vs set and the board paired on the river giving the guy a full house. I walked out of there without a word but after deliberating, I felt that I played the hand well and it was just bad luck. My friend who blows at poker won 300 dollars but surprisingly, I wasn't jealous. I knew that in the long run, i'd be ahead. I'm going to keep grinding microstakes on Stars for now and build up my BR so that I can continually buy in comfortably at live games if I get hit by a bad beat or something.
Next subject...
I've been talking to my friends about poker recently and this game seems to have a huge negative connotation attached to it when it comes to profitability. They love to play casually but when I mentioned a steady, consistent overall profit, they scoffed and said it was mostly luck. I've made the decision to stop telling them about what i'm trying to achieve on Pokerstars because really, it's pointless if they're so close minded. I'll let my wallet speak for itself when I get to a decent level. You guys are the reason why I believe that with improving your game constantly, profit is just one of the many benefits from learning no limit holdem.
Jew, out.
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Exhilarate United States. May 19 2008 02:34. Posts 5453 | | |
Good luck and keep grinding. Don't let haters get in the way, they say the same thing to me. |
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sniderstyle United States. May 19 2008 02:41. Posts 2046 | | |
wish I could get excited like you over such a small pot.
I feel like a hardened drug user who cant feel the high anymore. |
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| Genginho: lose today 100 dollar only because of fishs they called and had luck on river | |
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Tycho Netherlands. May 19 2008 02:52. Posts 1553 | | |
Just talk to some people on the table and have a good time. They will spew the same amounts of money to you and you'll have a better time and be less nervous. |
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H_ New Zealand. May 19 2008 03:32. Posts 159 | | |
I've tried to tell the most reasonable people I know about how poker isn't "all luck" but they'll have none of it. As far as the layman is concerned, the reason you win is because you get lucky. What the fish don't know can hurt them. |
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iakim322 United States. May 19 2008 05:14. Posts 1335 | | |
There was once a time a long time ago when I played 1/2 or 1/3 with a 200 or 300 cap buy in at Atlantic City. Even at the higher cap buy in, flopped Ace with AK is without question taken to the bank much less your $100 buy in at a live cash game. Judging the level of play at low level live cash games is inconsequential because it is almost inevitably going to be horrendous. Just stick to fundamentals. And try not to take yourself too seriously at the table. It's really not cool to be the perceived asshole on the table. You're still a micro stakes player for now even if you aspire to be successful. I really hated any kind of superiority complex vibes from people at live 1/2. It's the lowest of lows. At 1/2, a good amount of the people are there to just have fun and enjoy playing recreational poker. That's great for you...someone who wants to take their money and move up....so cater to that. It could also help relieve the boredom that comes with the beast that is full ring cash games too. Good luck. |
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SemPeR Canada. May 19 2008 05:30. Posts 2288 | | |
...makes me want to just cash out my roll and play like 10-bi-shot live poker until I'm properly rolled for 100nl online. T_T |
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lachlan Australia. May 19 2008 07:18. Posts 6991 | | |
| | On May 19 2008 04:30 SemPeR wrote:
...makes me want to just cash out my roll and play like 10-bi-shot live poker until I'm properly rolled for 100nl online. T_T |
you'll change ur mind when u play for 5 hours and it's 6am and ur tired and u finally get AA, get it all in preflop against JK and get sucked out on
its sooo slowwwww. its still kinda fun but to win u have to be tight and to be tight you have to be bored
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| full ring | Last edit: 19/05/2008 07:19 |
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eightfourO United States. May 19 2008 07:51. Posts 820 | | |
Yeah dont let them talk down to you. I started playing on pokerstars at the beginning of the year, and my friends were with me when i started. They asked what blinds i was playing and when i said 1 cent 2 cent they said they had 30 cents in their pocket and they could buy 10 orbits for me...
Pretty lame joke but a month later i told them i turned 30 bucks into $180 in a month...that shut them up pretty good  |
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| I am a god damn Rootin Tootin Shootin Cowboy!! | |
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KeyleK_uk United Kingdom. May 19 2008 07:53. Posts 1687 | | |
| | On May 19 2008 04:14 iakim322 wrote:
There was once a time a long time ago when I played 1/2 or 1/3 with a 200 or 300 cap buy in at Atlantic City. Even at the higher cap buy in, flopped Ace with AK is without question taken to the bank much less your $100 buy in at a live cash game. Judging the level of play at low level live cash games is inconsequential because it is almost inevitably going to be horrendous. Just stick to fundamentals. And try not to take yourself too seriously at the table. It's really not cool to be the perceived asshole on the table. You're still a micro stakes player for now even if you aspire to be successful. I really hated any kind of superiority complex vibes from people at live 1/2. It's the lowest of lows. At 1/2, a good amount of the people are there to just have fun and enjoy playing recreational poker. That's great for you...someone who wants to take their money and move up....so cater to that. It could also help relieve the boredom that comes with the beast that is full ring cash games too. Good luck. |
Everything what he just said esp the last half.
and also he put it in a really nice way too.
I wouldn't have been so nice about it
(good luck) |
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| poker is soooo much easier when you flop sets | |
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lol full ring 1/2 cashgame live -> down here it's usually a huge limptastic hit-or-miss-ament
typical 1/2 hand:
utg limps
utg+1 limps
utg+2 folds
utg+3 limps
hijack folds
i in the CO make it 16 to go with any 2
btn folds
sb folds
bb calls
utg folds
utg+1 calls
the rest folds
flop comes A26 rainbow
bb checks
utg+1 checks
i cbet 30 into 55
bb instafolds
utg+1 sighs and folds
utg+3 shouts "OMFG LOL i had 62dd!!!!"
really sucks for the recreational players who really want to see flops cheap but cant
and when they randomly do call pf with a marginal hand like any coordinated two and brick out on the board, they check/fold and resume limp/folding for the next half hour... |
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| | Last edit: 19/05/2008 10:34 |
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jewlian Canada. May 19 2008 13:18. Posts 153 | | |
| | On May 19 2008 04:14 iakim322 wrote:
There was once a time a long time ago when I played 1/2 or 1/3 with a 200 or 300 cap buy in at Atlantic City. Even at the higher cap buy in, flopped Ace with AK is without question taken to the bank much less your $100 buy in at a live cash game. Judging the level of play at low level live cash games is inconsequential because it is almost inevitably going to be horrendous. Just stick to fundamentals. And try not to take yourself too seriously at the table. It's really not cool to be the perceived asshole on the table. You're still a micro stakes player for now even if you aspire to be successful. I really hated any kind of superiority complex vibes from people at live 1/2. It's the lowest of lows. At 1/2, a good amount of the people are there to just have fun and enjoy playing recreational poker. That's great for you...someone who wants to take their money and move up....so cater to that. It could also help relieve the boredom that comes with the beast that is full ring cash games too. Good luck. |
I'm actually a social person and I didn't feel like I was superior, although I could see how it might be seen like that. The problem is that if I get engaged into conversation, it will actually distract me from the game because i'm so undisciplined. I suppose I could say a few words here or there but i'm sure that as I get more comfortable with my own game, i'll definitely open up. |
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lachlan Australia. May 19 2008 23:22. Posts 6991 | | |
| | On May 19 2008 12:18 jewlian wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 19 2008 04:14 iakim322 wrote:
There was once a time a long time ago when I played 1/2 or 1/3 with a 200 or 300 cap buy in at Atlantic City. Even at the higher cap buy in, flopped Ace with AK is without question taken to the bank much less your $100 buy in at a live cash game. Judging the level of play at low level live cash games is inconsequential because it is almost inevitably going to be horrendous. Just stick to fundamentals. And try not to take yourself too seriously at the table. It's really not cool to be the perceived asshole on the table. You're still a micro stakes player for now even if you aspire to be successful. I really hated any kind of superiority complex vibes from people at live 1/2. It's the lowest of lows. At 1/2, a good amount of the people are there to just have fun and enjoy playing recreational poker. That's great for you...someone who wants to take their money and move up....so cater to that. It could also help relieve the boredom that comes with the beast that is full ring cash games too. Good luck. |
I'm actually a social person and I didn't feel like I was superior, although I could see how it might be seen like that. The problem is that if I get engaged into conversation, it will actually distract me from the game because i'm so undisciplined. I suppose I could say a few words here or there but i'm sure that as I get more comfortable with my own game, i'll definitely open up.
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fair enough, but normally theres not too much to have to think about just play tight and bet top pair all the way to the river and u'll make profits |
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