Casinos

Ah poker. The cards are a cruel mistress indeed. Been grinding online micro stakes for a while now trying to build up a decent roll. Occasionally I'll walk in a casino and play a tourney or cash game. Would love to just play poker all day and give these keys back to the company lol

 

Be careful what you wish for.

Bankroll management is the key. For limit have at least 300 big blinds, for no limit have at least 40 maximum buy ins, and for tournament at least 100 buy ins. Tournament poker IMHO is a LONG grind to make money.

 

200 dollars in a pocket. 10 a game. Winnings go into other pocket. When first pocket is empty you will either have winnings in other pocket more than you came in with or somewhat less. That's how I do it. Not necessarily 200... but it's a figure to give a idea.

 

My wife will spend money at black jack or the slots and not think about it. We went to the closest casino to us, Hollywood in Toledo and she sat next to me at the slots, I played, won $1100 and she lost $50. When I won, she was happy, yelling and attracting attention while I sat there just waiting for the machine to stop so I could cash out. I went to the window, got my money and told her we are leaving, she was pissed off because she thought it was money to play more - nope it is going home.

 

I dislike a celebrating audiance. I'll share something here...

When I win what I consider good money? I'll keep my body language and face normal or better yet a little bit busted. That way I am not targeted by predators in the parking area. You can examine a group of truckers and tell which one potentially have won pretty good at least once a day.

 

On a rare occasion I was in "casino" in Indiana truckstop. I cashed out at $50. Other driver lost everything in pocket, went and got cash advance to buy fuel, lost the fuel money in slots and then asked me for a loan. I told him NO! I'm thinking he was down $500 when I departed and he had NO FUEL!!

 

That's sad. In poker you sometimes feel bad taking someone's rent money. But it's your job.

 

Actually that's addiction. It will destroy the gambler who throw the money down like that extreme amount and killing his truck for no fuel.

When I first learned how to game in the casino, I had trouble with addiction until a very good card shark came to sit down in our tavern and play a few hands with me. He got to talking. By the time I get through the DeKrupter, I knew and learned enough to do gaming one way. Walk in with however money there is to play, not associated with ANY other moneys needed for bills etc and play. One pocket holds the money and winnings to the other pocket. When first pocket is empty, it's time to find dinner, tip the table boss and go on down the road. Maybe a couple hours worth of mindless card turning to relax. IF I win something great. If not? It's usually a good time believe it or not.

Addicts have a tiger by the tail and they are getting fang and claw to death and all for a tragic waste. Shameful.

 

What it isn't already lol

 

Funny story about my last visit to the Tulalip casino in Tulalip, WA. That used to be my home turf and I had a delivery in Everett with a pickup in Blaine the next afternoon. I parked at the Cabela's and walked over (they eliminated the on site truck parking and I didn't know they had a shuttle from the truck stop just north of there).

It's Friday night at the end of the month. That means payday for folks at the poker tables. Money to gamble away.

When I look at a no limit table the first thing I do is count how many maximum buy ins are on the table in stacks of chips. A tight, unappealing table has 10 or less. A good action table approaches 20. I got seated at a $500 table ($3/$5 blinds) and there were over 30 buy ins. That's over $15K in play!

I bought in for $500 and was the short stack. My game plan as always was to play very tight, only entering a pot if I held premium cards. During this time I assess table dynamics. Who's on tilt? Who's the table boss? Who's gunning for who?

It quickly was apparent that the big stack at the table, with over $4K in chips, was the boss. He raised BIG on EVERY hand. Pots were huge as multiple players called his $50-100 preflop raises. Table boss was LOUD, obnoxious, and VERY drunk. Every time he won a pot he made sure the whole poker room knew it and would rub it in. He was going all in on the flop on draws and hitting them.

He was also on an unbelievable winning streak. It seemed like every flop hit his hand, frustrating good, tight players I knew.

In short. The table was PERFECT.

After a couple of hours I had built my stack by entering few pots. I had worked up to almost $3000. Meanwhile Table Boss had stopped hitting every flop, but continued his hyper aggression and had a little less than me.

Then I got pocket aces on the button. Table Boss was two seats to my right. Every player limped in before TB and he fired out a $75 raise. The guy to my right called. I raised to $200. I wanted to get heads up, but the initial limper flat called $200 and TB called.

An ace came on the flop, with no threat of a flush or straight draw. It checked to me and I fired out another $200, limper called and TB raised to a total of $600! I had a read that limper would fold and TB was simply putting me to the test with a bluff. So I pretended to go in the tank for a minute and called. Limper folded.

The turn brought no danger, no flush or straight draw. TB checked. I fired out $400, wanting to appear weak. TB called.

The river brought no danger. TB checked. I fired out another $400. IMMEDIATELY TB WENT ALL IN!!!???

That surprised me. I had to look at the board to see if I had made a mistake, missed a potential straight. Nothing. I called.

TB jumped up and slammed his cards face up on the table and yelled, "BRING IT!" Everyone looked puzzled at his cards. The dealer said, "Bring what?"

"Don't slow roll me, bro! Bring it!"

The dealer said, "There's nothing left to bring, that was the river".

TB had gone all in with a straight flush draw...on the River.

TB didn't say a word and fast walked out the door with a chorus of laughter following him and dozens of players rushing over to look at the cards and the mountain of chips being bulldozed my way.

It took me an entire round back to the button before I stacked them all. After TB left the action dried up. I cashed out after playing another polite turn of the button. I caught a taxi back to the truck.