Quote:
Originally Posted by dgiharris
I dunno,
everywhere I play 2/5nl at seems pretty damn soft and beatable.
I've played in CA, NM, AZ, and Vegas
You obviously got your good players and winning players and semi-pros... but there are more than enough fish, droolers and bad regs.
I think the term "solid" is one of the most overused terms in the casino in regards to so-called decent players. No. Most regs and even most winning regs have big holes and leaks in their games. They've custom built a style of poker that doesn't necessarily revolve around extracting max value, but rather around "not losing". Every single time I play, my table will be infested with so-called "solid" players all jawing on and on about "don't wanna be greedy... that's what you get for slowplaying... I hate getting my aces cracked that's why I raised so much... How could you call with that when I raised $35 pre (nevermind that we are 300bb deep) etc etc"
Imo, yes, fish and droolers and mouth breathers are great sources of profits. But to me, an equally big source of my profits come from prison raping so-called decent players. They often have no clue how to play deep and their custom built "not losing" strategy sets them up to make all kinds of mistakes, the biggest one being betting in such a way that the only had that calls them is a hand that beats them. That is based on their pathological fear of "not losing".
Anyways, just my random two cents.
I agree with this 100%. I play an exploitive strategy, tailoring my game to the weaknesses of particular individuals at a table as well as exploiting the collective table dynamic. The better I know the regs in a room, generally the more my WR goes up.
Half the room thinks I'm some uber shark, other half an uber fish. That's because my style varies fairly dramatically depending on the day/table. (Don't get me wrong, most of the time it's ABC cruise control, but when there is a play or player to exploit, I'm on it.)
I also like using players' strengths and weaknesses against each other (Simplified example: building a nice pot IP when you have an ep pf aggrotard and a station, then pot controlling/building as needed later streets).
In a pretty good hand reader, so that allows me to spew a bit more than average without sacrificing too much short-term EV. I'm also able to build the image I want (for a few months at least.)
While I probably don't win any Sklansky bucks with my play, my live results have been consistent for more than a decade. Right now I play in a casino that has some of the juiciest 2/5 and 1/2 action (and 1/2 is just so easy to exploit... Keep building small pots till u get the nuts, then jam), I've actually been sacrificing a bit of my business to play as often as I can (dynamic will soon change as 2 rival casinos are opening and will start dividing the player pool.)
Only drawback is 5/10 and higher rarely gets going, and the 5/5 PLO game (a game where I doubt I have an edge) draws much of the money.
Still, I have it good. While it's still way early, I currently have a W/R above $100/hr at 2/5. (About 400 hours, 150 of which have been tracked by live journal). My 1/2 is at about $90/hr, but that is because I only have about 20 tracked hours...I just started incorporating 1/2 into my table selection when 2/5 is slow and as a way to reduce variance/ get hours in while not on "A" game.
While of course I don't think these rates are sustainable, I do think at this particular casino a WR between $70-80/hr is (and seems to be what the top
Pros there make.)
I definitely have leaks/holes in my game, but am starting to figure out how to mitigate them against players that used to give me trouble. I approach each table (and each player) like a puzzle. Generally, give me enough time, and I'll eventually figure it out.
Really curious to see where my WR falls after
1000 hours. Since there really is nowhere for me to move up (the 5/10 when it does go is a nitfest and usually not worth it to play when 2/5 is juicy), I'll be "stuck" here for awhile.
Also, I generally play from 9-5 weekdays. Rarely get an opportunity to enjoy the very, very good weekend games.
Of course, all this may be the ruling delusions of a fish on a heater.
Last edited by King Fish; 05-28-2013 at 09:31 PM.
Reason: Apologize for any typos/rambling. Written on an iPhone while waiting for my daughter to fall asleep :p