SJ I don't want to overstep any boundaries but if you're struggling with the alcohol there is a Quitting Alcohol thread in OOT which is pretty supportive and helpful for people
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/3...6/index71.html

That sort of thing isn't for everyone though and I don't want to assume you want to quit or whatever. I just thought I'd post it in case you hadn't seen it and it might be helpful in anyway

Great thread! I really enjoy the way you tell a story.

I think you will do well, but will do even better with some live friends to hang out with. Are any of the regs semi-decent human beings?

Lol! I haven't yet run across a single $1/$2 short stack specialist, and I doubt that I ever will. A short stack in front of someone has so far been almost a 100% guarantee that they're not a good player.

The few exceptions to this have involved a good player who is either drunk, tilted, almost busto, or some combination of the three--the result being that they're at least temporarily a bad player due to these factors.

Thanks Rexx! I posted in that thread a few times when I was on the wagon. Here's my one year sobriety anniversary post. It turned out all right. I hope to make another one some day.

Good advice. Some of the regs are cool people and fine, and I can see myself befriending one or more, as long as it doesn't involve lending money.

The plan as such is--once I've firmly established that I can beat $2/$5 for a living wage, working at it somewhat less than 40 hours/week, I would like to start in with some volunteer work. I'm pretty sure I'll run into some good folks working in that racket.

Today I realized that I haven't played at the Westgate yet. From what I see in the literature, their poker room had a high-profile scandal a while back in which they were selling discounted late tournament entries to likely fish during an overlay spot, but denying the same discount to known professional players.

Sure, that's not cool, but if it pissed off enough pros, that meant that there may have been less pros playing at the Westgate. I doubted that it would affect the $1/$2 tables much, but if just a few NVG and LVL regs who were decent at the game were staying away out of sympathy, then so much the better for me.

The Westgate used to be the Hilton casino. And the Hilton used to have a great sub/hero (we call them grinders where I come from) shop. I can't remember the name of it.

They also had the Star Trek exhibit and Quark's bar. Back in the day, before grabbing my sub, I would stop by the bar for a Warp Core Breach: made from about 1 liter's worth of every type of liquor mixed together in a delicious concoction, and served with dry ice finish.



So the Westgate poker room: nice little place tucked next to a pretty awesome sportsbook; comfortable seats, friendly dealers, coffee and snacks available on the side, and not at all reg-infested. They only had one table of $1/$2 going on a Saturday night, though, so I don't know how much longer they can last with that kind of traffic.

We started the session with four Canadians at the table, all friends and all in their early twenties, so my first thought was--aw ****, I'm battling Pokerstars' 50nl lineup tonight. I quickly picked up that this was not the case: they were all bad players and completely new to the live game as well, to the point that they weren't tipping the dealer--none of them, on big pots or small.

What finally set me off were the three other players at the table: all Americans with live experience, who also decided that they weren't going to tip, apparently since the Canadians weren't doing it.

I'm almost never the guy who takes it on himself to tell other people what to do, but this was an egregious and deliberate violation of decency and etiquette on the part of at least three of the players, and it made me feel like I was Al Swearengen from Deadwood when one of his girls had been shorted.



So I was the ******* who made the announcement that everyone was going to be tipping the dealer from now on, because that's how it's done here in the US.

There was one hand of significant interest that I played today, but it's a complicated one, and it's getting late here, so I'll post it tomorrow.

Flamingo and Westgate: 8 Hours:
+$660

This puts us back in the green overall, for now.

Yes!!! You are now my 2p2 hero and I'm Aussie who are typically totally tipping shy. Well done.

I visited the Star Trek exhibition when I was in Vegas and did the two rides; I still have a "Tribble"! Are there any new Science-Fiction related attractions in LV?

Yes! Yes! Yes!!!! You set the table straight and you shared a picture of a death drink

First things first (not when I was younger and broker) these days I would tip the dealer 10-15 out of turn between pots and announce that I was back tipping for the table. Why? Because F the others at the table, that’s why! Then I would tip $3 on every pot under $20 and $5 on every pot over $20 just to send the message to everyone that tipping isn’t an option. If people still refused to tip I would make passive aggressive remarks until they started tipping, left, or the floor demanded I stop.

If there is only 1 table going on a Saturday night there isn’t nearly enough action for people to be stiffing the dealers. They are providing a service so we can enjoy a dumb degenerate game the least we can do is throw a white/blue chip their way every pot

We don't have many customs in the US, but tipping is one of them, and it should be respected when visiting us, like any other country's customs.

I don't know of any other Sci-Fi exhibits. I will keep an eye out, though, and report back if I find one.

Hey now, that's damn generous . I'm a bit more subdued, having to scrape together a living atm--but yeah, I tip every pot with the occasional exception of when I just win the blinds without limpers and get $3 out of it. Even then I tip more often than not. With limpers, if I pound and the limpers all fold pre (a $5+ win), I'll always tip a buck. Any hand that goes to post I tip a dollar or more.

As for all the hand analysis Natamus summed it up perfectly, you appear to give peeps way too much credit. In 1/2 NL mostly everybody is terrible, even those that you may have labeled differently, if you play with them
a little longer, you'll notice huge leaks.
As for the tipping maybe don't listen to Natamus.too much Tipping is fine and part of the US low rake environment but too much will eat into your hourly.
And for the alc you need to find your own way. I can only recommend not to play drunk, that will cut terribly into your winrate. I semifrequently have a beer or two during a session but that barely affects me, and if It were to go pro/play daily I would certainly look to cut this down.

Imagine that you've just sat down at a $1/$2 table where two players are facing off over a pot on the river. There's $342 already in the pot and Player 2 has shoved for his remaining $134.

Player 1, deep in the tank, shows everyone his AK on this board:

AJ9KQ

Not seeing how the hand played out, my thought here would be that Player 1's top two pairs is a bluff catcher only on this board. It's pretty, but that's all it is. Bluff catcher. Player 2 has to be bluffing here 28% of the time to warrant a call. At $1/$2 that's not happening at anywhere near this rate. Fold and deal the next hand.

That would have been my play a couple of weeks ago, before I started getting my work in on ranges and how they change as the board develops and the bets go down. So let's back it up.

Pre: UTG opens to $12, MP calls and CO calls. I wake up on the Button with AK. Without reads I would 100% bump it up to $40 or so here.

In this spot, though, I'd been playing with UTG for 2 hours and I know that he likes to get in cheap from all positions, and then he likes to make little probe bets on the flop, so if I don't blast him out pre, he's good for building a nice pot with me in position if I flop gin.

I call and the blinds fold.

(Pot $50) (4 players)

Flop: AJ9

UTG bets $12, MP calls, CO calls, I raise to $60. UTG calls, MP calls, CO folds.
(Pot $242)

MP started with $256 and I cover. He has $184 behind after the flop.

Turn: K

UTG checks, MP donks $50, I call. UTG folds. And here's the inflection point: if MP has a set or a straight on this board, all the nickels are going in right here--every last one.

No one is going to let two people draw to the straight or to one of two flushes for the price of a 1/5th pot probe bet. And remember, it's UTG that likes the little donk bets, not MP. I don't have much of a read on MP except that he's not terribad. It's possible that it's a suck bet designed to get me to spazz, but I think that's overthinking it.

Knowing the final board, let's look at draws and made hands right here, before the Q hits. Did he stick around after my big flop raise with a naked back door diamond draw, hoping to go runner runner? Unlikely except for maybe JT for a pair and the royal draw (and the $500 promotional payout if he hits the royal). A Tx on the flop is the more likely scenario for a hand that can call big on the flop, donk small on the turn, and will beat me on the river. Say AT, QT or KT.

But that is iust 4 combos that are beating me on the river. Now look at 6 combos of AJ, 3 combos of J9s, A9, and KQ

(Pot $342)

River: Q

MP tries to shove his remaining $134 and flubs the motion, getting only $45 across then pushing the remainder afterwards.

The dealer does not catch it, but CO and the SB immediately speak up and call him on his flubbed string bet. I'd been enjoying a nice friendly dynamic with CO and SB, and this is why it pays to be a good guy at the table and not to be a bored grumpy lump all the time.

The dealer admits that she didn't see the bet and looks to me to see what I want to do. This fiasco happens before I've had time to really rewind the hand, at the point where it looked to be leaning towards a fold for $134, but would have been a snap call for $45, all day and all night, Sunday to Monday.

I took the honest path: his intention was to shove. There was no attempt whatsoever to angle me on this. I told the dealer that I would accept the shove and that I would need some time to think about the hand.

(Pot $476)

Even given a bunch of time to think, I couldn't count the various combos as above in real time. All I could come up with is--given the action on the flop and turn--I didn't see that many tens and diamonds, and I saw at least as many worse two pairs. And for calling $134 into $476, that was more than good enough for a call.

I was (I thought obviously) exaggerating with the tipping. Except for the shame. Shame those *******s

I totally agree. I've had arguments with Australians about tipping in the US. If you don't believe in tipping that strongly don't visit places where it's the norm otherwise you're just being bastardly cheap and stiffing some poor worker. It won't change the system. If you don't like it don't go. I feel really angry just writing this post tbh.

I love the discipline.

I do actually remember that post in the Quitting Alcohol thread SJ, apologies I didn't remember it was you.

I always tip. It's stupid. Like, really really stupid. But I do it.

I'm beginning to think that the player pool has improved here in Las Vegas in the last year or two, similar to what happened online in 2010-2015, but not as much of an improvement ofc.

It makes sense that the improvement live would lag behind online, given that everyone plays way less hands per hour and that jumping tables to bumhunt is more tedious than online, consequently giving some of the worst players more time to go broke or otherwise give up.

There are still plenty of bad players at $1/$2, but they don't generally make for interesting spots in hand histories. Therefore my HHs, with a few exceptions, are skewed towards interactions with better players.


Same. I don't love tipping, but it's expected and everyone does it. I've run across very few people who don't, so I was very surprised to sit down at an entire table that wasn't, and I felt like I had to be the guy who put a stop to everyone completely stiffing the dealers.

No worries

You're reminding me that I need to start exercising again. Damn.

Yesterday found me at a really wild game at the Flamingo, with 4 Canadians from the Northwest Territories straddling every hand and throwing around huge pots like they were playing something between $2/$5 and $5/$10. Swongs were crazy and I ended up on the wrong end of it.

Flamingo: 5.5 hours:
(-$720)

a+ blog, a+ content. ty for sharing

are you tracking your results in any app or excel?

Can’t wait

Thanks tbh! I have Poker Bankroll Tracker for android on my phone. It's all right.

I'm starting to keep reg players notes as well. I don't know any names so I have to use descriptive nicknames like Big Head Freud, Asian Gallagher, Lex Luther and the like.

nice, good to track your stats to reality check yoself sometimes.

Personally, my opinion of any reg at a 1/2 game is that they suck bc they are regs at 1/2. While biased, it is more often than not correct. Stop giving these foools so much credit

Good meme

1-2 pro is an oxymoron

I'll keep that in mind