Absolutely. If you can't laugh at a bad beat, you definitely shouldn't go pro. The roll required to laugh it off can vary wildly by person though. If you are ever mid-hand thinking about the actual $$$ value of what you are wagering, you shouldn't be playing at that level.

I guess it depends on what you want your winrate to reflect. If you are like me, and want it to reflect nothing but your hourly profit based upon skill, then the only thing you deduct is tips to the dealer, and you do not include freebies or cash promotional wins. I tip the servers out of my pocket, because that is an entertainment expense.

Agreed, nice post Dickie.

That's not the way it works. You are not risking 1k to win $60.
If you are going to work with percentages, then you have to look at 100 instances of the same scenario & assume variance evens out over 100 hands, which is laughable. But anyways.

53 times you'll win 1k = $53,000 & 47 times you'll lose 1k =$47,000, so you net $6000.00.

Now, if your average all-in hand preflop takes 2 minutes to complete [from the time of the deal, to the winner being shoved the pot & the next hand dealt out], you will complete those 100 hands in 3hrs & 20 minutes, or ~3.3 hours.

$6000/3.3hrs = $1818.18 per hour win rate for those 100 hands.

Laughable. You could lose 12 in a row.
I believe it was the 2nd time Johnny Chan won the WSOP Main Event, that when it was down to 2 tables, he won 12 all-in coin-flips in a row. Either him or his opponent had a PP & the other AK. Chan won all 12.

If you confirm this on the internet, please give me the link, because I have searched to no avail. But I swear I remember hearing it on t.v. during a poker show.

That is why he had such a huge chip lead going into the final table.

When mine was only 2k, I wouldn't even consider calling 1k with QQ, even if my opponent showed me AKo. I played every hand as if my life depended on it. It severely hampers your win rate. Today I would snap call despite how bad I'd been running.



I will give you an example, however, I'm sure you're going to think I'm making this up, because I'm going to tell you it happened yesterday.

Flop comes KJ6

A deep pocketed retiree, who loves to gamble bets ~1/3rd the pot. The 2nd player flats. I have AA

I 'pot it.' ~$80. Deep Pockets, who I've played with for over a decade in home games & who has me pegged as a NIT, thinks he can blow me off of my hand & nervously announces all-in & then pushes all $800 of his chips into the center.

The 2nd player tanks. He wants a chip count, because he has ~$750 in front of him. [turns out he had started with $200] and finally folds. I collect my ~$250 and call.

Dealer runs them out & Deep Pocket turns over his KTo that didn't improve.

2nd player had mucked a set of 6s! Claims he had worked too hard to build up that $500+ profit to risk it on one hand. He felt strongly that it had to be set over set.

Now I don't blame him. If I had been him, back when my roll was thin & knowing Deep Pockets as I do, I would have already cashed out, waited an hour & bought back in for $300.00. That way, I avoid situations like the one he found himself in.

You're saying 3k is a sufficient bankroll for 1/2. I do not believe that. For me, personally, to be able to play poker the way it's suppose to be played, I keep my bankroll over 9k. I know a guy who is a grinder in a 2/5 game, rarely suffers a really hard hit, averages 1k profit per week & has only a 6k bankroll. I couldn't do it.......too much stress.

He's a pro at selectively pickin' his spots.

Can you go on a 10-15 BI downswing? If so, would you not like something left? I never have, but I don't have to worry about it. A 15 BI downswing would leave me with 15 BIs & my worse downswing was ~$1300.00. It's comin' though, ain't it? Afterall, I'm not leavin' the table anymore when I have $800 in front of me & 3 players have me covered.

Or is it comin'? Squid says he's worse downswing was 7.5k [in a much bigger game] & I'm probably as good as him........amirite?

30 buy-ins not enough IMO, for a pro with no outside income and family. Is my guess %75 of pros started with way less, than 20 though. 5-10 buy-in roll is laughable for serious pro.

As a rec, I would try to keep 10 buy-ins for lowest stake possible. Willing to take shots with anything else in bankroll.

My hours at table fell dramatically in 2015. But I still see zero profitable "pros" at 1/2. Watch a ton of people try.

OK, I just spend 45 frikken minutes putting out the dumpster fire that this thread had become. Don't make me do it again.

Most of the idiotic 5-10BI BR straw man argument is gone, along with most of the responses (even though individually most of them were OK, it was just clogging the eff out of the thread), and all of the derail.

Reminder: This is not the chat thread. If you see trolling, hit the report button, don't counter-troll or "save" the thread by going completely off-subject.

I changed the job part but really A+ /thread.

Seriously, you could lock up the thread with this piece of advice concluding it.

Idk... counter trolling is pretty +EV in terms of improving the quality of my life.

Avaritia, are you still doing the full-time live pro thing after quitting your job? Or are you back to doing your job and doing the semi-pro poker thing?

Tips are a cost of doing business. If you have to sit there and have someone bring you food and water, it is a cost. Just like if you travel for business and have some one serve you, it is a business cost, not a personal cost.

Completed my first session of the new year up $296 in 1:30 hrs. Table was juicy but the gf wanted to meet up. -ev boys.

@ohmyrage - True, but it has nothing to do with poker

What is the Commerce and Bicycle Casino version of the 1/2 nl game in Vegas? Ive heard the smallest nl games in LA are unbeatable because of the rake..tks.

The game has a 20bb min/max buy-in.

Bicycle has a 2/3 game that I think is 100 BBs

At bike you can also buy-in for $60 for their 1/2 game.
My bad, what I said above applies to commerce and gardens.

So here are my numbers, all at 1/2:

2015: 132 hours played, +$424, $3.21/hour
2016: 12 hours played, +$985, $82.08/hour

It's good to run like God!

It's not necessary, though. I very rarely order a drink while at the table. Only when I'm up a buy-in or two and I'm trying to promote a table image of a guy on positive tilt.

When you're travelling for business, you don't usually have the option to make yourself meals. But when you're playing poker, you can always grab a drink yourself on the way back from the restroom, or simply not drink at all while playing.

Keeping track of tips seems tedious, but to each there own. I'd probably care more about it if I was a pro, as a rec player I definitely chalk it up to cost of doing business.

Not drinking because you don't want to tip a buck is kinda cheap IMO, including water. Granted, a few places I play don't have free booze, that's definitely different.

I track my tips, but it doesn't change my tipping behavior. It's just so easy, that it's like "Why not?"

When you realize that WR is mostly product of your surrounding, you would then find this topic really silly.

can you explain?

Playing with donkeys who will call you down 3 streets with TPNK, 2nd pair, 3rd pair is going to effect your WR more than the $5/hour you tip the help. Learn to find these people and tipping becomes moot

ahhh gotcha...for some reason...it didnt want to compute haha

thanks