Oh and by the way. The Cleveland Browns are on the clock.

Although, they might have to work hard to get ahead if Jacksonville in the draft order.

The Browns will probably screw it up and pick Manziel over Clowney.

NL might seem like a no brainer from a $ standpoint, but if he wants a break from LHE, will NL really help him get away that easily? Also, you could learn stuff in NL that doesn't translate well to LHE and vice versa and end up worse at LHE than before. It may not be as clear cut as Doug seems to think it is.

I agree with this, but I hear M8trix has a regular 10/25 NL, which is probably as big as 80/160 LHE.

NL generally gives better WR/SD ratios, meaning you can win more per unit variance. It's also more universal (1/2-2/5 NL is all over the country, anything above 4/8 LHE is rare).

LHE is more subject to mathematical analysis and plays faster. Some specific advantages of LHE are that Bay 101 has a great LHE ladder, and SSLHE is 1000x more helpful than any other strategy forum.

I don't recommend playing O8 or stud unless you can find a ladder to climb.

If you do convert to NL, don't be a stranger.

If you're going to stay at"current stakes" (lhe or nl equiv) for a while, then there's not a lot of opportunity cost in spending some study and play time on o8 imo. if you're motivated to move up then continued focus on lhe is probably best.

either way you can have my outline of the SuperSystem 2 chapter on o8 if you pm me your email address.

Omaha, both hi-lo limit and pot-limit, are fun and I'm glad I put in the time to learn to play them relatively competently. Limit O/8 is easy to pick up, just play super tight, mostly draw to the nuts, and don't raise too often with a one-way hand. Discipline is the key skill.

But as a "serious amateur" you gotta learn no-limit to take full advantage of the opportunities in various card rooms. If you go on the road to some random casino, chances are that 1/2 no-limit and some 2/4 or 3/6 limit game will be your only choices. You want to have the confidence to jump into the juiceball no-limit game.

Yeah so I realized that what I've been thinking about its do I want to move up or branch out? I think the answer for me is move up, so that's where I should put my energy. If I want to try out NLHE or LO8, I'll play some micros online or something.

I've been told I know my way on a snowboard.

LO8 is not really worth learning playing live in the bay area IMO. By the time it's worth learning ($6 drop means you need to be playing at maybe 8/16 or 10/20+?), you should probably already be crushing 8/16 LHE or higher.

IOW, profitable (big enough) games don't run often enough to take away time from just getting good at LHE or NLHE, and the games need to be big enough to overcome the oppressive drop. So you should probably already be playing equally large stakes+ at a more common game.

I'm not sure how much money there is in live NLHE. How much do people make playing 2/5 $500 max-buy-in these days?

This all assumes you're trying to win money at poker. If you're not, then play whatever the heck is most fun!

I've heard something like 3-4 ptbb/hr and maybe 5 on the high end. WA has a $500 bet limit, so I'm guessing it's something like half that around here.

The best thing about playing badly, is that you have a chance to rectify it on the next hand. It's like you're allowed to commit horrible sins, and then can get absolved of them the very next hand.

If you allow yourself to be absolved of them, that is. Sometimes, forgiving yourself for playing badly is the hardest part of playing badly.

OK, so the wife now thinks she wants the Audi A5 Quattro. I know absolutely nothing about the car and I'm hoping one of y'all has some knowledge. She found a 2010 with 49k miles and it's in mint condition. Would like all opinions, but especially interested in reliability and durability.

Fwiw, I drove the vehicle today and really liked it altho I'm still partial to the Lexus 350IS.

so so true!

when you think about it more, we should do it also in our day to day life, most of our life mistakes are with/to people that we spend a lot of time with and care about dearly.

If you look at customer satisfaction surveys, you might find some amazing car that is super-reliable (say, an S2000) above the Lexus. That Lexus should be bullet proof (PM me the exact model and I'll hit consumer reports for you). At a guess, you're looking at a top 5 car of all cars made that year for reliability and overall satisfaction. I think my parents had an earlier model of that Lexus. It was bullet proof and nice enough to drive. Never had a bad Toyota, tbh.

That said, the Audi Quatro should be an amazing car to drive, and it should corner beyond belief for something that size. Not sure on Audi reliability, but it is German instead of French. Never driven one.

Audis are generally known for below average reliability.

Slight correction: the Lexus is the IS 350C (the hardtop convertible).

My friend had a horrible experience with an audi. My brief innernets search tells me that car has a timing chain, rather than a timing belt, which is a good start.

That was my concern and also what I'd heard. Didn't know if they'd made some great leaps in the past few years.

And Doug, the Audi was a kick-ass car to drive. Pretty sure the wife would never experience the ride like I did today. The problem I have with her is that if the car broke down in the next 50k miles, she'd become apoplectic and I'm sure I'd get blamed somehow.

Had an Audi out of law school and it was an amazing ride, but lived up to its reputation as a pain in the butt maintenance wise. Came in handy to have a cousin with a German automotive garage.
Definitely stick with Japanese if looking for longevity/reliability.
The G35 is a nice ride.

Confirm that. She had a G35 before she bought the Infiniti FX she's currently driving. Oddly, we drove a G37 last week and were quite disappointed in the ride and handling, which is why we started looking at Lexus.

While Audi and VW do have reputations for reliability problems, there is a difference between early 2000's Audis and post-2009 Audis, imo. Since this car is a 2010 I would be less concerned about it. Do you have another mechanic you can bring it to for a second opinion?

ETA: Audis also have a history of poor interiors, and things breaking like gloveboxes, cupholders, etc. Not sure if that's improved much or not.

I think we need a sslhe poll on what she should get. Here's the Lexus IS 350C:




Here's the Audi:




And there's also an IS 250C with black interior.

For her, I'd get the 350C. If she's going to be mad if the car breaks, you can't go wrong with the Lexus. It is like the old line "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM". Even it is does break, you can say "I honestly bought the most reliable car in the entire world". Have problems with the Audi, someone is going to point out that
Even if the model you pick is known to be better and you took it to a good mechanic before buying.

What does your wife say, Doug?

I've owned a 2010 Audi that we bought certified pre-owned about a year ago. In the past, I've owned an acura, a couple bmws and a lexus and this is our favorite car by a wide margin. Can't speak to the maintenance issues yet, as I haven't had to do anything that wasn't scheduled, but at this point I'd feel Ok about spending a few bucks given how much I enjoy the car. Definitely worth a test drive imo.

I like the middle one.