I have to agree with this. If you actually take the time to engage some of these people, your time spent at the tables will be much more enjoyable.

There are days when the experience is miserable and there are days when you can have a ton of laughs even if it's a losing day. Just come ready to exercise the social muscle.

Yes and no.

Many successful people have elitist view to things and can often be the worst sore losers.

Interesting take, imo.

I've just gotten back from a Vegas trip where I got in a rather lol ~11 hours of pokering, but it was different experience for me simply because I was playing with all randoms (instead of my usual 99% reg filled room back home). I'd guess ~9 of those hours the table I was at was fairly pleasant and happy and entertaining, although I too question exactly how genuine that environment really is (although, I'm guessing that applies to most people in most other environments too).

GcluelessgenuinenoobG

I meant to introduce an ante to increase the action regardless of the stakes. In a $2-5 game it could be $1. A $5 ante in a 5-10 is a bit extreme a $2 ante would suffice. So when I open for $30 in a 5-10 there would be say $33 in the pot 9-handed instead of $15 allowing me to play a much wider range and to 3 and 4 bet light at higher frequencies. Some people play tourneys for the long shot aspect of it or to get on t.v. I play them for fun because the antes allows for a much more aggressive style.

It is a good remedy if you are playing at a table with no limping in and preflop raises commonly take down the blinds. If the game is playing aggro then it really isn't necessary.

I think making the minimum buy in 100BB's would be all that is needed in order to create action.

There would be so much, "HEY thats my ante, HEY NO THATS MY ante". From what I have seen in terms of reg scumminess this would slow the game down a ton.

The dealers are used to enforcing it in tourneys often enough. Don't think it'd be that bad.

Antes are terrible for the game from a longevity perspective.

Anything that puts more money into the pot kills poker faster ftr.

That is only the case if you think dead money is finite. Don't forget that at most casinos the vast majority of gamblers don't play poker. Graton Casino has hundreds of players betting thousands per hand on blackjack and baccarat every day yet we can't even get a 5-10 game any more. Making the game more exciting could attract these players. No one likes to play with nits and antes are kryptonite to nits.

We have all seen action players sit down, proclaim the game is dead, and proceed to straddle and encourage others to also. Unfortunately this usually has the opposite effect since though the game is now bigger it is likely also tighter. People who will not call $75 from the button with pocket 6s or AJ suited will certainly not call $150. With antes however people tend to open for the same 3X. Possibly because they are accustomed to tourney small ball sizing.

Accurate stat keeping since Sept 2014

Mixture of 1/3 and 2/5

I play about 25-30 hours per week.







I'll be happy to answer any questions you guys may have!

Thanks

It appears the site you are using is being blocked by the site's decency filter (ie blocks curse words and such)

Thanks for the stats pooky. Why such short 3 hour average sessions? Is that from switching between 1-3 and 2-5 often or extreme game selection? Also it looks like you earned 50K this year vs 30K last year is that from playing more 2-5?

I game select pretty hard....

I just ran into some pretty ugly variance in the beginning of 2015.

The past 1000 hours, I have actually played the majority of my sessions at 1/3

Those stats are excellent then. You might even earn more from 1-3 than 2-5. Sadly this is why all the bigger games are dying. It is irrational to play bigger to earn less hence the bigger games break.

Nice stats pooky, thanks for posting.

Would be curious as to the 1/3 vs 2/5 breakdown; similar, or different?

Gguessing604isyourareacode?G

Confirmed itt: DC is not married.

And if you're making a career playing poker, at some level I really hope you enjoy the game.


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As far as the live casino poker scene being an energy suck/ depressing sight, it bothered me at first but as I change my mindset it becomes much easier to just accept. By mindset, I mean, to view being in the casino for what it is to me. It isn't about making friends, it isn't about being nice, and it isn't a therapy session to talk to people about your life or theirs. It's about money. Will some small % of players genuinely want to talk about their life or yours? Maybe, but an even smaller percentage of them are going to want to do that while losing money which is what most of them will inevitably do. I feel like for most people who are playing poker "professionally" whether in their head or in reality they are in an interesting/transition/lonely period in their lives. For most of us it is human to want to socialize and not feel like you are alone but that didn't help me at all except to serve as a delusion in reference to my emotional approach to navigating the live poker casino environment. But thats the problem, in the casino all there is is you, the money you win or lose and the decisions you make. The more hours I log, the more this idea sinks in and the easier it becomes to accept. I'm sure this idea has been repeated over the forums many times and is an extremely simple concept for many people on these forums but it took me a while to figure it out.

And exclude the fish who buy in for 30-50BB try to run it up and end up buying in a bunch of times? No thanks. Those tools make up a significant portion of my player pool and my win rate.



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FWIW, I don't think this view is correct either. It is basically why young players come into poker rooms wearing hoodies and headphones, because they think the game is ONLY about winning money.

I don't think this is right. It can't be that going to play poker is about making money for most people, because most people lose money at the casino. It has to be about something else (social aspects, enjoying the game, getting away from the wife, etc.) I don't think all these people are deluding themselves into thinking they're winning tons of money. If you don't provide an environment where others get the non-monetary value out of poker, they won't keep playing.

min at 1/2 here is 50bb but so much this, a lot of the 50bb players have 6 more 50bb bills in their wallet ready to go

Thankfully those players are generally terrible at playing short stack poker, and they make up a decent chunk of our winrates

+1

I have limited exposure but the thing I like most about high stakes is people are more chill, at least ime. Better conversations, interesting backgrounds, etc.

Also they know the rules/flow of the game.

Dealer deals a premature burn and you might get some jokes about dealer always has a premature problem, or you might get some bets on whether same suit comes back out, etc.

Premature turn at 2/5 or lower equals heated arguing with the floor, yelling at the dealer, and disagreement for the next 2 hours between 4 players on what should have happened.

I have always told my gf that I feel most relaxed at high stakes, even though the money actually means alot to me at that level. I think this is a big reason why.

Not saying I don't like playing with people who don't even know the rules of the game, just that, I dunno, it grinds you down after awhile.

For someone playing full time I think money should be the number one goal. I'm not saying don't be social but to expect to gain from the social aspect of the poker room is setting yourself up for disappointment and distraction.