So ya.

I turned 18 about a week ago, and i've been really anxious to test out the local casino. The lowest stakes available are 1/2.

My question: Is there any reason to put it off; what should I do to ready myself?

I'm not going to find any lower stakes, but i'm not positive where i'm at as a poker player. Is this weekend a good idea for primal test run?

thanks.

Good Luck

When old crusty men call you "the kid", resist the temptation to call them old crusty men.

Play like a nit and you will at the very least be a small winner.

There is a very good thread in B&M about first time live play. Let me see if I can find it...

While you wait, read this thread...http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/27...-easy-1021276/

Always "pull out" if you're going commando.

1. Play tight

2. Don't bluff

3. Play IN POSITION!!!!!!!!

I actually recommend the opposite of the first two.

This is your first time, set aside few hundred dollars and just go and have fun. What's the point of playing a game if the first thing you ever do is to NOT have fun.

Well, i couldn't find the thread I was thinking of, but here are a couple with some good nuggets in them.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/27...-time-1000786/

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/32...-newby-181228/

Making money is fun imo

Making money in poker is work, work is not fun. Money is fun.

Maybe not after you've done it a ton, but for his first time he'll prob just enjoy making money and the challenge of playing good poker.

you should probably just play limit the first time you are there. go for a couple of hours and see what the atmosphere is like. take a break and watch the NL. do you know anyone who plays regularly where you are going? sweat them a bit if you can.

Read the card room specific regulations

Well, TR:
My two friends and I jump out of the car, and on the way in, i am hit on by two asian GUYS. Awesome, I can tell it's going to be a good night.

I brought around around 200$.

To shake off the nerves I figured I would start at the roulette wheel. Took out ten bucks, and threw it on black, rolls around, and BOOM! I immediately grab for my winnings and the the kid running the wheel the goes: "WOAH WOAH WOAHHH, you do that again imma break off your arm". I feel like a pregnant lesbian at this point.

Took the ten i won and put it on black a second time; put the original ten in my pocket. I was successful again, shew, rush, and decided i would be a big spender. I throw the 20 I just won on red, and I feel like I had just taken down the house. Don't patronize my spirited naivety lol.

Glowing over my win, I head over to the poker room...

The main buy-in at the 1/2 tables is 200$. I felt like I would be ok with 50bbs so I exchange my money for chips and I walk around and check out the table dynamic at each of the tables before I decided to sign up. Fish? yes. All? seemed like it.

My initials are called and i sit over at the table between a fat guy wrought from head to toe with skull tattoos and florid lettering, and a man who seemed to have a very happy life, a wife, two kids, a weekend mistress, and no ****ing idea what the percentage is against hitting a gutshot straight draw.

The other players, to my left. Fat guy, tats, noob, guy with eyepatch, donk, LAG kid with southpole apparel, another kid TAG i guess, tourist, tourist, happy tourist with a mistress.

I sit and am given the BB: 44. lol.

Guy to my left, fat man with tats, shoves all in, [ i am think the "teh ****?"] for about 60$. folds around to an old guy, know as donk prior to this, with a Syracuse hat, that calls. To the old guys left, the LAG shoves all in, and folds all around. hand is dealt, 3h9h10c9d6h. Fat guy shows AQ, old guy shows K10, LAG shows AQ.

sigh.

So I have been at the table about an hour, win a couple small hands, and my stack is around 110.

The aforementioned LAG had about 300 when I sat down, made some very bad plays, lost that, added another 100, lost that, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Action: Folds, to my right, where guy raises to ten, he raised light previously a few times and I figure he is doing the same from a tell I though picked up, i raise to 30, the LAG who is down quite a bit calls, as does the initial raiser. I have AcKc.

Flop: 5s6c10c
Check. I raise to 35$, LAG raises to 100, guy to my right folds. I figure I'm at no less than a coinflip, I call.

Turn: Qh
River: 5d
I'm slightly annoyed and show my hand, LAG shows 10h7d.

I laugh, walk away, and smoke a cigar.
I then decide I didn't like the way i played that hand, and I notice i still have around 140$.

I go back in the poker room. I buy in for another 100$,

I go and sit at the table I had just lost at, looking for redemption, this time lol. RACHE?

About an hour into it again, nothing dissimilar to my previous engagement, at about 120$ when I'm dealt Ad10d on the button.

A couple people limp before me, so i make 14$, the LAG calls, as do two others.

Flop: 9d6h8d. Check, raise to about 20, i call, as does the lag (the player that checked folded).
Turn: Jd. To my right raises to 40, I go all in, the LAG calls, and so does the the initial raiser. Yes, i'm fkn pumped.
River: 5c

I show, i win, i rake in the chips, i laugh at the LAG who showed me TPTK for some reason, and i get up and walk to the counter to cash out, where i realize i hadn't brought my i.d. with me, i call myself a fkn noob, and look for my two friends to ask if one of them would cash it in for me but i didnt know where they had gone off to, prolly to gawk at slutty looking waitresses, so i just went to the counter, apprehensively, and set my chips under the cage.

Luckily i didn't get carded and the night played out like a disney movie. gg to me. thanks for all of your input and i apologize for the length of the post.

Nice TR. Thanks for sharing. The next time gets easier, and after about 10, it's routine.

thanks for that. It's odd though, I seemed to have overestimated the overall play, i had read that 1/2 games live are equivalent to .01/.02 online, after my xp a few days ago, i can not dispute.

the 1/2 tables at my casino are regd the fk out 100% of the time. /rant

I did play at some church festivals tho, and It must have been a tournament becuase in an hour I had every chip on the table, I had a cop escort me to my car, thuglife /brag

willyshakes, if your bored do donkeytest.com its pretty cool, Idk if its accurate at all but its got some interesting questions.

Glad you had fun. Two things you can take away from this--if you're first to act after the flop, it's a bet, not a raise. And never laugh at or berate other players. It is -ev.

kk. And btw, i doubt that i laughed at him. Probably just quietly to myself. Or, i hope i did.

Ship the money