AB has this completely right. One day tickets? O M G. $208 per day? Makes $7 rake and free drinks in a 4/8 game seem like a deal.

The vast majority of 3-6 and 4-8 LHE players are playing the game as a social activity rather than with a serious expectation to make money in the long run. There is a small handful of people who casino hop the local games to take advantage of wherever the best promotions are and if they are disciplined about it, they might manage to eek out a small winrate for doing so, like $10/hr, but these are the exception.

Most the regulars are just retirees gradually feeding money into the game while living off their social security and pensions.

Heading to Scottsdale for bachelor party and will be at talking stick probably Today tomorrow and Saturday. Definitely playing 1-4 today.

Kinky. Have fun.

Donkey sighting

One week left in feb and we’re only on the second page of this nc thread? Did LHE die or something?

Folks around here too busy crushing to spend time on forums?



(not me. Can't remember last time in casino)

The Hustle is Real.

Never underestimate a 13 year old on the court just because he's wearing an ankle boot.

For you artsy fartsy types here's my interpretation of the cliffs in Dieppe, Normandy in black and white.



For the White Zombie fans who can relate:



a proper shoutout list is currently too long to post. maybe later.

Some new blood in the forums that I've noticed though, 2028 crushers imo.

Personally, I started playing Magic again after a 20-year break and haven’t had much of a desire to go to the cardroom. Played poker twice this year so far and not since mid-Jan

Congratulations on playing Magic again!

I haven't played Magic in like 10 years but those $20 3v3 money drafts at GP, PT, etc were one of my greatest memories during Senior year in HS & couple years in College since non of those involved being sober during if I recall

With that said, live poker is still epic and I'm also on break since mid Jan 2020 but hopefully I can return for some phenomenal games via random trips to Commerce with my best friend if market isn't too rewarding.

I've made a conscious decision to play a lot of poker again. Been fun, actually, taking most of the last couple of years off has reinvigorated me again. Winning money doesn't hurt either.

Seen some good looking Bay 80 games posted on social media. Is that what you’ve been playing?

I doubt congratulations are in order as, like poker, I am eminently mediocre. I did feel like I was spending way too much time in the cardroom around last summer and I think I was allowing it to make me into a worse person, even though the miserable **** quotient is truthfully relatively low.

The main problem is, even if I can beat the local $6/$12 for $1/hr, that's better from a dollars and cents perspective than time spent on Arena, but whatever. Can't booster draft in the cardroom

Yes, that's what I normally play. Social media, what, where?

I need stories of LHE degen. Surprisingly enough, there’s still no poker in Abu Dhabi.

I did get to play poker in Manila for like 3 hours. I had a 6 hour layover en route to Japan for snowboarding. I c/r turn with nut flush draw and jammed river when I got there. I was jamming all rivers. But that’s the extent of the action.

Last fall I won $5 satty to $100 tourney. Sold 75% of my action. First place paid $2.4k. Paid out about $1.7k. Took what was left to limit holdem table where endboss was waiting. Played some $20/$40 hu. Did well. Moved to $30/$60, which even ran 4 handed for a little while.

Fast forward to now. I have a new to me Ford F-150 runs great. End bosses don’t want to play me. However I’m busto right now.

Now THAT’S a ****ing champion. We need the back to robusto part of this feel good story.

Well I did happen to find a recliner on the road yesterday. loaded it up and now my grind station is complete. so i got that going for me.

As I said in a recent O/8 thread, this may be the dirty little secret of low-limit poker—that almost no one's winning in the long term. I'm talking $6/$12 and under. I think maybe 5-10% of players are up at the end of the year, and another 5-10% are roughly even. That means 80-90% are down. Some games are unbeatable under certain conditions (e.g., shorthanded with a prop), and some games are unbeatable period (e.g., $3/$6 Stud with a drop of $4 + $2).

In The Psychology of Poker, Alan Schoonmaker describes the motivations different people have for playing poker: not just to win money, but also for social contact, as a competitive outlet, for the intellectual challenge, for the thrill of gambling, because it's addictive, etc. Most of us play for some combination of the above.

I would add to that list the fantasy of winning a jackpot. Like the fantasy of winning the lottery, those thoughts can be very pleasurable even if the desired event never occurs—and indulging that fantasy can be a strong motivation to continue to play after years of regular losses.

Indeed, in the 25+ years I've played poker in Bay Area card rooms, I've seen a proliferation of promotions of all kinds (in the rooms that allow them, anyway). I think a lot of players go to the card room hoping to win a high hand bonus, for example, without any expectation of beating the game.

Do people realize how much they're losing? Some do; probably most don't. Most of the players at these stakes don't keep accurate records of wins and losses and hours played. When you don't keep records, it's easy to delude yourself that you're a winning player when you're not—you just focus on the wins and conveniently forget (or downplay) the losses.

It's true that other adult recreational activities—like golf or skiing or being a [49ers/Giants/Warriors/Sharks] season ticket holder—can cost thousands of dollars a year. But I don't think many losing poker players make that calculation. I think they're simply in denial about how much they're losing.

Last time I played, random guy I've never seen before walks in carrying $20k in bricks of 20's. Asks the floorperson "what kind of chips are those?" as he points at the 80 LHE game. Buys in for $5k, posts UTG a live straddle.

Next question was "do they have a roulette table here?".

How much did he win?

Congratulations on Japan for snowboarding as well as Poker in Manilla! Both sounds epic!

*Bad Beat LHE Degen 2019*
Think I played 9pm - 8am after work on a weekday 90% of time after 9-10 hours at a semi high stress IRL Finance job in the city. Epic no sleep work days next day with phenomenal highs from lack of sleep+coffee only.

*Good Beat LHE Degen 2020*
During LAPC, played at Commerce Jan 18 - Jan 20 only playing 20/40 but played 16-18 hours a day nothing except LHE. Had epic session to end +4000 for the trip preflight home so solid considering I lost approximately 3k total prior two nights?

Bad beat of that trip is my best friend got buried at 60/120 on 1st night. Specifically, he flopped top set w QQ in pf 5 way capped pot then lost vs runner runner gutter or 1-2 outer on river.

He won most of it back to break even on trip after I left on Tue Jan 20 but he stayed until Jan 22 so maybe Variance

*Bad Beat LHE Degen 2020*
Got buried vs whale when it got HUHU which is sadly last time I played LHE but thankfully, only 8pm - 8am that time and overall, only lost like 38 big bets that night Went straight to work though that day and sadly been too busy at work & life to get back for more LHE

Ive only played poker once this year. I guess I am growing up?

Gave up the beer, did you?

Or went busto?