Vancouver Casino Experience
I decided to play my first live limit hold'em 6 - 12 game at the casino in Vancouver. (buy-in $130) What a blast ! I was very curious to see how I would play in a casino environment. I've played alot of online hold'em on pokerstars.com (freeroll) & a few home tournaments. At first I was nervous & I think others could sense that I've never played hold'em at the casino before. After a few hours of getting a feel of the game, I felt alot more comfortable. I was actually starting to focus & read how others
would play their hands.
After 10 hours of play my net take home was $335.00. I know that I was lucky to come up with a profit especially my first time at the casino. I was expecting to lose a max. $200.00.
I'll be at the casino again in a few weeks to see if my previous winning was just pure luck. (max. 6 hours per session) My wife will kick my $#% if I play 10 hour again.
From what I hear, NL tournaments will be starting in Vancouver sometime this year. In the meantime, I'll continue practising & learning.
would play their hands.
After 10 hours of play my net take home was $335.00. I know that I was lucky to come up with a profit especially my first time at the casino. I was expecting to lose a max. $200.00.
I'll be at the casino again in a few weeks to see if my previous winning was just pure luck. (max. 6 hours per session) My wife will kick my $#% if I play 10 hour again.
From what I hear, NL tournaments will be starting in Vancouver sometime this year. In the meantime, I'll continue practising & learning.
Comments
Read my "wife abuse" post. This may be the solution for you.
http://pokerforum.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=175&sid=71de4a5693dbe6bc7cb83b251c62108c
Out of about 5 or 6 years playing poker now, my single best winning session remains the *third* session I ever player (up $495 at 3-6). However, thinking back to that time period, I am convinced without a doubt that I was a losing player at the time. I've only just recently figured out why my best session came so early on, and when I was a bad player.
One of the fundamental ideas in terms of thinking about poker in the long-term, is that of risk adjusted return. That is players who are willing to gamble (playing a lot of bad starting hands for example) have much more potential for much a high *single session* profit simply due to the variance. How many times have you heard that a certian "wild" player has just had an enormous winning session the other day? The downside is the potential for losses is also there.
What you have to realize is that good players are almost *never* going to have these gigantic winning sessions, but they will avoid large losing sessions for the same reason. And if you read any good poker writer, they will tell you that preventing loss is equivalent to making money in poker. (It's not exactly so, since there is a simple way to minimize your losses: fold every hand. But the basic idea is right.)
So the next time someone tries to impress you with a disproportionally large single session result, just say "wow" and look impressed. And then invite him to your game. 8)
ScottyZ
And just to be sure, I would *not* necessarily call this a disproportionatly large win. This is just under 3 big bets per hour, which is well within the realm of posibility for solid play.
Actually, I have gotten to thinking that about 5-6 hours is about the perfect length of session. Also be aware of your own feelings while playing. If you start having thoughts related to how long you're staying (e.g. guilt over staying too long, pressure to play more hands because you're leaving soon, etc.), then it's time to go. Sometimes, it's the "non-poker" decisions that can swing you from being a long term losing player to a long term winning player (and, perhaps more commonly, vice versa).
ScottyZ
Let's say he runs into someone like KWplayer for example.
KW says "I won over 1K at a 1-2 NL game"
This is a BIG win in a few short hours.
Now are friend says "wow" and invites KW to his game.
Now are new friend is broke and never wants to play poker again.
I wonder how many (bad player) poker spirits you guys have broken playing NL. I think you should stick with limit, so the weakies are only *somewhat* depressed from week to week. 8)
Wasn't there some kind of saying about a goose and golden eggs...
ScottyZ