Anyone move to Vegas and start off grinding 1/2? - Page 3 - Las Vegas Lifestyle Forum - Las Vegas Entertainment and Living Information

Schmidt · 02-04-2012, 08:00 AM

All good advice in here !

thirtydollar · 02-04-2012, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poker_triad

In theory, it's very possible to average $15-$20/hour playing $1-$2 NL. Many recreational players do it putting in 20 hours per week and this usually leads many to ask the inevitable question of whether or not they can do this for a living. But our lives are full of circumstances and none of us live in a vacuum. Expand the 20 hours to 40-60 hours/week and I think you'll often see that most cannot maintain such a win rate.

For example, suffering a bad beat as a recreational player isn't that big of a deal. You can just go back home and start fresh in a few days and worst comes to worst you always have that paycheck coming at the end of the week. Now imagine that you have been playing for 8 hours, have managed to double your initial buy-in when you wake up with AA. You raise and meet resistance from the one player at the table that covers you. The money gets all in, he shows KK and the door card is a K. Now you not only have nothing to show for your 8 hours but you're down $300 and there is no extra money coming in at the end of the week.

Add to this spending 8+ hours a day with people whose company you wouldn't wish on Hitler and hopefully you can see my point. Plus there are many other distractions that will hinder your progress. Most come to Vegas with a preconceived notion of the "life". Women are for sale, booze is free and you can leak your money away in the pit 24/7. There is no way in a hell that you can partake or enjoy any of these things being a $1-$2 player. You have to get your monthly nut as low as possible, limit the food and drinks you get at a casino and tip like a nit.

Most are not able to do this and $1-$2 becomes a black hole from which very few escape. Just go play $5-$10 and ask any of the regulars how many of them truly grinded their way up from $1-$2. If any of them did, you'll often find that they had a tournament score along the way, grinded online to accompany their live play or just had money come in from somewhere else. I'm not saying it can't be done, but just that it really is rare and that you have to be one talented player and someone who is very disciplined in life to pull it off. I sort of liken it to a high school athlete who wants to become a professional one day. Just like it behooves them to get an education and have something to fall back on, the same can be said for those who try their hand at poker. Get a job or keep your job, and don't throw away everything else until you are absolutely sure and have every indication that you have and will continue to succeed at poker.

Excellent reply man. Well stated. I agree with everything that you said, just live with a few of the leaks lol.

Mr Grind · 02-06-2012, 09:30 PM

Great post guys.... 1-2 even having almost 0 to few leaks isnt gonna happen, If vegas is your dream come up with 15-25k and mix in 1-2 2-5 and Play MTTs at the V as much as possible till the score comes always mantaining your Bankroll properly....

Ech0s · 02-06-2012, 09:49 PM

hey i moved out here with only 1300 planning on playing poker. you could scrape by grinding 1/2 but its rough. I had my roll up to about 2700 one day and was at bellagio waiting for a seat and decided to play 2/5 while i waited. never went back to 1/2. i got lucky and had better than average cards my first two sessions and avoided any huge suckouts for about 10 days by which point i had a decent roll for 2/5. You can definitely live comfortably grinding 2/5, and im also an advocate of playing tournaments regularly trying to hit a decent score.

As a side note i would try to get at least 3500 before starting the grind. I did fine my first two weeks at 1/2 then hit a wicked downswing. I was down to 40 bucks at one point and had to put in serious hours at bills to recover. And that game is 90% of the time tougher to make money at than most 1/2 games because its all old guys folding everything but aces trying to get aces cracked or comp points or whatever. sometimes at night its alright but i dragged in more than enough 4 dollar pots to stick to bankroll management from then on.

$won_twiceAsSweet · 02-08-2012, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ech0s

hey i moved out here with only 1300 planning on playing poker. you could scrape by grinding 1/2 but its rough. I had my roll up to about 2700 one day and was at bellagio waiting for a seat and decided to play 2/5 while i waited. never went back to 1/2. i got lucky and had better than average cards my first two sessions and avoided any huge suckouts for about 10 days by which point i had a decent roll for 2/5. You can definitely live comfortably grinding 2/5, and im also an advocate of playing tournaments regularly trying to hit a decent score.

As a side note i would try to get at least 3500 before starting the grind. I did fine my first two weeks at 1/2 then hit a wicked downswing. I was down to 40 bucks at one point and had to put in serious hours at bills to recover. And that game is 90% of the time tougher to make money at than most 1/2 games because its all old guys folding everything but aces trying to get aces cracked or comp points or whatever. sometimes at night its alright but i dragged in more than enough 4 dollar pots to stick to bankroll management from then on.

So you started with $1300 , then your bannkroll went down to $40? And then you played the $1 blind game at Bill's Casino?

When your total bankroll was $40 and you were grinding at Billl's how much were you buying in for?..... $10?

Thats crazy brah ...i don't think even TBC's BR ever got that low

maxostoch · 02-08-2012, 12:57 AM

Good post this one i cant go to vegas yet because i am not 21, btw i will go when i turn 21.
gl.

Ech0s · 02-08-2012, 03:53 PM

haha come on now min buy in there is 20. i went for the old roll on the table of course.

but seriously it sucked ass.

chr_tz · 02-08-2012, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poker_triad

In theory, it's very possible to average $15-$20/hour playing $1-$2 NL. Many recreational players do it putting in 20 hours per week and this usually leads many to ask the inevitable question of whether or not they can do this for a living. But our lives are full of circumstances and none of us live in a vacuum. Expand the 20 hours to 40-60 hours/week and I think you'll often see that most cannot maintain such a win rate.

For example, suffering a bad beat as a recreational player isn't that big of a deal. You can just go back home and start fresh in a few days and worst comes to worst you always have that paycheck coming at the end of the week. Now imagine that you have been playing for 8 hours, have managed to double your initial buy-in when you wake up with AA. You raise and meet resistance from the one player at the table that covers you. The money gets all in, he shows KK and the door card is a K. Now you not only have nothing to show for your 8 hours but you're down $300 and there is no extra money coming in at the end of the week.

Add to this spending 8+ hours a day with people whose company you wouldn't wish on Hitler and hopefully you can see my point. Plus there are many other distractions that will hinder your progress. Most come to Vegas with a preconceived notion of the "life". Women are for sale, booze is free and you can leak your money away in the pit 24/7. There is no way in a hell that you can partake or enjoy any of these things being a $1-$2 player. You have to get your monthly nut as low as possible, limit the food and drinks you get at a casino and tip like a nit.

Most are not able to do this and $1-$2 becomes a black hole from which very few escape. Just go play $5-$10 and ask any of the regulars how many of them truly grinded their way up from $1-$2. If any of them did, you'll often find that they had a tournament score along the way, grinded online to accompany their live play or just had money come in from somewhere else. I'm not saying it can't be done, but just that it really is rare and that you have to be one talented player and someone who is very disciplined in life to pull it off. I sort of liken it to a high school athlete who wants to become a professional one day. Just like it behooves them to get an education and have something to fall back on, the same can be said for those who try their hand at poker. Get a job or keep your job, and don't throw away everything else until you are absolutely sure and have every indication that you have and will continue to succeed at poker.

Great post, I assume its right

RunninMan5K · 02-08-2012, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Grind

Great post guys.... 1-2 even having almost 0 to few leaks isnt gonna happen, If vegas is your dream come up with 15-25k and mix in 1-2 2-5 and Play MTTs at the V as much as possible till the score comes always mantaining your Bankroll properly....

Agreed, it is what I had to do. I was playing wayyyyyy too many tournaments and just 1-2 infrequently. I had 10K before a deployment, played only a few $160s at Noon for like 6 weeks at Venetian and grinded small sessions of $1-$2 for awhile at MGM and Planet Hollywood at night. Then, I went on a deployment and headed back to the city in a few days, but now I have 25K from SAVING MY FRICKING MONEY so playing a solid mix of good 1-2, 2-5 games, and tournaments once in awhile and getting a score is actually what will work, IMO.

I also have a stable job too...not so easy for people who, well, that 25K would be their "life" money. It is important to me, but I am not investing in the stock market or anything right now, and what else would the money be doing? Besides, if I grow broke by the end of the year, I can just go on another deployment and get more money (China loaning us FTW!)

I feel like such a bragger and a bum...I should be ashamed...I don't even buy ketchup, just pick up the packets at the local casino's, same for the other condiments...sighhhh

StarberryBSD · 02-15-2012, 02:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thirtydollar

Excellent reply man. Well stated. I agree with everything that you said, just live with a few of the leaks lol.

"and you can leak your money away in the pit 24/7" is like the best quote ever.

That's why I find those CityCenter condso so f'cked-up.

When I can't sleep, I turn on my PlayStation3....but at those condos...it's like..oh, I can't sleep, let's go downstairs and play some blackjack.... WTF? How does that not f'ck-up your life?

Cheers,

S

herbdizzle · 02-15-2012, 02:56 PM

If you are looking to use 1/2NL as a launching pad to the higher levels of cash game play you will need to put in LOTS of hours and use STRONG bankroll management to do so. If your bankroll is only several thousand dollars (2-4k) I would just grind away until your bankroll has at least doubled (6-8k) before I would consider taking some shots at the next level whether 1/3 or 2/5. When you make that leap be fully prepared to rinse and repeat if your bankroll drops down to its original level. If you put in 1-3 months of solid grinding and show consistent profit at 1/2 your bankroll and confidence coupled with solid money management should give you a good chance for success at the next level up.

It took me several times before I jumped levels but it was this approach I embraced before I finally did. My .02$

--Dizzle