I love poker!!

MikeELP

MikeELP

Pattern Altitude
Joined
Jul 16, 2006
Messages
1,645
Location
El Paso, TX; Santa Teresa, NM
Display Name
Display name:
Mike Bruening
Just got home from an 8 hour poker party. :D

Bought in at $100....end of the night had lost $9 :mad:

Big winner at the table came out up $400!! :eek:

Playing cards with good friends, lots of good food, and abundant beverages. That's a fun Saturday night.
 
Me too, too bad theres nowhere in dfw to play.... or is there?
 
Home games with the boys is a good time. Making some real money at poker tables is a REALLY good time. Unfortunately the nearest casino to me is a 4 hour drive, soon to be a 2 hour flight, looking forward to that.
 
Played in the WSOP a few years back. Fun experience.
 
One of the (now retired) airline pilots used to have a regular game going in our neighborhood Essentially a two table tournament. $20 or so buy in. I won it one night (there's tomorrow's flying's gas money).
 
flyingron said:
One of the (now retired) airline pilots used to have a regular game going in our neighborhood Essentially a two table tournament. $20 or so buy in. I won it one night (there's tomorrow's flying's gas money).
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That's kinda how we get going...start the evening with a $20 buy-in tournament with a $2 limit. When that's done, the gloves come off and it's a no-limit cash game. Get's a bit pricey for my level of play. :D

But I manage to hang in there, and we've got a number of real sharks at our monthly gatherings. Not "professionals", but I'd be willing to bet that they could do well at any top level game. I'm always happy when I can grab a pot from one of them!
 
eman1200 said:
Home games with the boys is a good time. Making some real money at poker tables is a REALLY good time. Unfortunately the nearest casino to me is a 4 hour drive, soon to be a 2 hour flight, looking forward to that.
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The neighborhood I grew up in now has a co, and it has destroyed the economy. People who would have spent their money on hot rods or home improvement now pretty much lose it, and the maintenance money, and sometimes the mortgage and car payment to the casino.

I think it was really better when it was Vegas and Atlantic City and people would save up a budgeted amount to take a gambling vacation once or twice a year. Now they can take every pay check to the casino and cash it there for free, not like the check cashing place that wants 10%.
 
MikeELP said:
That's kinda how we get going...start the evening with a $20 buy-in tournament with a $2 limit. When that's done, the gloves come off and it's a no-limit cash game. Get's a bit pricey for my level of play. :D

But I manage to hang in there, and we've got a number of real sharks at our monthly gatherings. Not "professionals", but I'd be willing to bet that they could do well at any top level game. I'm always happy when I can grab a pot from one of them!
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The "ability to play well" is a fallacy beyond the basics of play; luck rules. If luck is not in your corner, I don't care how well you play, you will lose.
 
Henning said:
...People who would have spent their money on hot rods or home improvement now pretty much lose it, and the maintenance money, and sometimes the mortgage and car payment to the casino. .
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Casinos are not evil. People can do the same thing buying lottery tickets. I cannot count the number of times I've seen people "paying" for their groceries with a food-stamp card and then plopping down a C-note to buy lotto tickets and scratch off cards. State lotteries are the same as a casino. The state (or the casino) has the advantage. They use it to their benefit.

That being said, POKER is more a game of skill, not of chance. :yes:
 
Henning said:
The "ability to play well" is a fallacy beyond the basics of play; luck rules. If luck is not in your corner, I don't care how well you play, you will lose.
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Hogwash. Playing poker is a much about being able to read the other players as it is to the cards you are dealt.
 
MikeELP said:
Casinos are not evil. People can do the same thing buying lottery tickets. I cannot count the number of times I've seen people "paying" for their groceries with a food-stamp card and then plopping down a C-note to buy lotto tickets and scratch off cards. State lotteries are the same as a casino. The state (or the casino) has the advantage. They use it to their benefit.

That being said, POKER is more a game of skill, not of chance. :yes:
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Casinos are evil because of why they exist and what they do. It's evil to harm the stupid just because they are stupid.
 
MikeELP said:
Just curious..how much did it cost you to buy in? Sounds like something I'd like to try some day.
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The tourney I was in $1500 buy in. They had (and maybe still have) cheaper ones. I got knocked out at about the 50 percent remaining mark. I was at a table of 10 with 4 American pros I had seen on TV, and a European champion to my left. I knew I was toast when I sat down. I didn't feel as bad when I looked a couple tables over and saw Hellmuth leaving at the same time as me.
 
Henning said:
Casinos are evil because of why they exist and what they do. It's evil to harm the stupid just because they are stupid.
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Ok...so explain state lotteries. Are they also "evil"?

I've played at casinos more times than I can remember. Usually blackjack and video poker. Won some times. Lost some times. Win or lose, I consider it entertainment. Some make a living at it, and some are just addicted to it.

So are you suggesting that casinos and state lotteries be eliminated just because they are not required to run a credit report and do due diligence on each person who decides to play? :dunno:
 
EdFred said:
The tourney I was in $1500 buy in. They had (and maybe still have) cheaper ones. I got knocked out at about the 50 percent remaining mark. I was at a table of 10 with 4 American pros I had seen on TV, and a European champion to my left. I knew I was toast when I sat down. I didn't feel as bad when I looked a couple tables over and saw Hellmuth leaving at the same time as me.
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Sounds like fun, Ed....especially seeing Hellmuth getting knocked out. :D

Was that back when it was at Binions?
 
EdFred said:
I didn't feel as bad when I looked a couple tables over and saw Hellmuth leaving at the same time as me.
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I would have paid good money to watch that. Maybe not $1500, but it's surely worth a couple C notes to see him get shelled.
 
SmashTime said:
Me too, too bad theres nowhere in dfw to play.... or is there?
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A few underground games exist. But to get in, you gotta know someone who knows the "owners" of the game.

For DFW your closest legit games are Winstar and Choctaw casinos
 
Got pretty into poker and studied it heavily for a few years. Had fun playing but ultimately it's a grind. Especially if you're going to try to go pro. Most of the pros make their "nut" on endorsement deals and appearances and what-not. Yeah they have good and years playing poker, too... But they're not just about poker when it comes to monthly incomes.

Have a former co-worker / network engineer friend who wanted out of IT and is playing semi-professionally now. Last time I saw him he was at the shooting range and I didn't know he was a member of my club.

Chatted for a while and he admitted he'd gotten into firearms training and was taking it very seriously because he was playing in some games where there was a lot of cash around and he was a bit nervous walking around at night with a wad of cash that big in his pocket. Especially after winning big.

Which probably means he wasn't ways playing at, shall we say, games that were reporting income and losses to the IRS.

(Actually I joked with him about that and he said he was and always had reported his correctly, since he was doing it as a legitimate business venture.)

He seems to enjoy it. But it's a job for him nevertheless. Just a lot less boring than making routers do their routing thing. It was paying his travel and lodging expenses plus enough to eat and get by when I ran into him. He joked that he wasn't funding his IRA as much as he wanted to. :)

I don't want to say anything that would give away who he is, but he had some physical characteristics that worked in his favor and probably made people think he was a bit of an idiot if they didn't pay attention to how he played his hands. A little stereotyping goes a long way toward beating your opponent in the mind games department if they're not serious about the game.
 
MikeELP said:
Ok...so explain state lotteries. Are they also "evil"?

I've played at casinos more times than I can remember. Usually blackjack and video poker. Won some times. Lost some times. Win or lose, I consider it entertainment. Some make a living at it, and some are just addicted to it.

So are you suggesting that casinos and state lotteries be eliminated just because they are not required to run a credit report and do due diligence on each person who decides to play? :dunno:
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Lotteries are really no different, they just got sold by a different lie. It's not the chance part, it's having a rigged game, and every game is rigged by how it's structured. The real problem though is the result, it is set up to do nothing but harm, at least lotteries were supposed to mitigate negatives in society, but they haven't been executed in that fashion.
 
Henning said:
... It's not the chance part, it's having a rigged game, and every game is rigged by how it's structured..
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And you are correct, although I consider the term "rigged" a bit unsavory since it implies that the casino is doing something underhanded, which is simply not the case.

All casino games (and lotteries) have a built-in mathematical house advantage which is how they keep operating. No different than the profit margin factored into any product or service.

Rule #1 of casino gaming: The house has the advantage.

Rule #2 of casino gaming: Rule #1 never changes.

:D
 
MikeELP said:
And you are correct, although I consider the term "rigged" a bit unsavory since it implies that the casino is doing something underhanded, which is simply not the case.

All casino games (and lotteries) have a built-in mathematical house advantage which is how they keep operating. No different than the profit margin factored into any product or service.

Rule #1 of casino gaming: The house has the advantage.

Rule #2 of casino gaming: Rule #1 never changes.

:D
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Rule #3: If somehow you change rule #1, you're going to jail.
 
Henning said:
The "ability to play well" is a fallacy beyond the basics of play; luck rules. If luck is not in your corner, I don't care how well you play, you will lose.
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Hogwash, you can calculate odds as you go, and of course if your'e observant you can likely tell when the other fellow is bluffing and when he isn't.

I used to play with a group in DC, very friendly, never came out less than $20 in the hole. Cigars, chips, beer. Weekly game, one of the very very few things I miss about DC.
 
I was in a nice game many years ago in Reno, and several of us were doing quite well. Then, a guy sits down at the table, and pretty much everyone went cold except him. I always suspected he was a shill, but of course there's no way to prove it. Anyway, I was up a few hundred and left in time, guessing the rest of the folks sitting there took a bath after that. BTW, I was 'chided' by the new guy for leaving with my winnings. Plenty of D-bags in the poker game.
 
docmirror said:
I was in a nice game many years ago in Reno, and several of us were doing quite well. Then, a guy sits down at the table, and pretty much everyone went cold except him. I always suspected he was a shill, but of course there's no way to prove it. Anyway, I was up a few hundred and left in time, guessing the rest of the folks sitting there took a bath after that. BTW, I was 'chided' by the new guy for leaving with my winnings. Plenty of D-bags in the poker game.
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That's the good thing about private games. You have to be invited by someone already in the group. And if you behave like a jerk, you aren't invited back. :nono:
 
MikeELP said:
That's the good thing about private games. You have to be invited by someone already in the group. And if you behave like a jerk, you aren't invited back. :nono:
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But with private "closed circuit" games, in the long run you just keep passing money back and forth among your friends. May as well play with no money. Gotta have some outside money coming in. :)
 
Mike B., I just noticed a billboard advertising the WPT will be at the Choctaw casino. That's the closest it's ever been to us Texans. KDUA (Durant, OK) is very close if you decide to attend and get a photo with Vince or Mike.
 
EdFred said:
Rule #3: If somehow you change rule #1, you're going to jail.
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Not always true. The casino may simply ban you from playing there. Card counters at Blackjack come to mind. There's few places where there's a law against it.
 
MikeELP said:
Playing cards with good friends, lots of good food, and abundant beverages. That's a fun Saturday night.
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:yeahthat: I found two regular home games after moving to NJ about 3 years ago. It has largely kept me sane, and thus employed and married.

I've played in home games and in casinos; there are different reasons to do either. Yes the game incorporates an element of chance, but I believe it is ultimately a game of skill. Despite my affection for playing as an avocation, I harbor no delusions of playing full-time or professionally. It seems to me much like cooking -- which I also like to do -- being that its a very different proposition to cook a good meal then sit down to eat it with friends or family, vs. doing it hundreds of times a night for strangers then going home too tired to enjoy any meal. If anything, I could imagine someday acquiring a small RV (the 4-6 wheel kind) and touring all public poker rooms in the country, though I could easily see that taking at least a year if not two, and my kids would miss me (I hope :lol:).
 
AggieMike88 said:
Mike B., I just noticed a billboard advertising the WPT will be at the Choctaw casino. That's the closest it's ever been to us Texans. KDUA (Durant, OK) is very close if you decide to attend and get a photo with Vince or Mike.
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I'll have to look into that. Thanks, Mike!
 
denverpilot said:
Not always true. The casino may simply ban you from playing there. Card counters at Blackjack come to mind. There's few places where there's a law against it.
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You are somewhat correct, but card counting does not actually alter the mathematical edge that is built into the game to the casino's advantage.

Thus it does not violate rule #3 which is why the casino will just give you the boot (calling you an "advantage player") instead of having you arrested. :D
 
MikeELP said:
You are somewhat correct, but card counting does not actually alter the mathematical edge that is built into the game to the casino's advantage.

Thus it does not violate rule #3 which is why the casino will just give you the boot (calling you an "advantage player") instead of having you arrested. :D
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IIRC, in NV the house can simply bar counters (or anyone, with some limitations) from playing; but in NJ they cannot. Those used to be the only two jurisdictions anyone would need to know, but since Indian casinos and plain old gaming proliferation, each state makes their own rules, which can vary. Even without the power to bar counters, the house can make it unprofitable for a counter to play while still getting plenty of action. No mid-shoe entry on $25 tables; cutting 3 decks off an 8 deck shoe are both pretty effective at telling counters to go away.
 
I am sure the casinos make quite a bit off of bad card counters, too. If it were easy, everyone would do it. The fact of the matter is that to do it effectively, you have to be pretty obvious with respect to your bet sizing. Then they just ask you not to come back and arrest you for tresspassing, not card counting.
 
steingar said:
Hogwash, you can calculate odds as you go, and of course if your'e observant you can likely tell when the other fellow is bluffing and when he isn't.

I used to play with a group in DC, very friendly, never came out less than $20 in the hole. Cigars, chips, beer. Weekly game, one of the very very few things I miss about DC.
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You can calculate all you want, remember what you are calculating: odds. That means you are calculating your luck required ratio. Just because the odds say that this situation will hit 1 in 3 times, that does nothing about the other two. All gambling is luck based. The trick is knowing when to walk away from the table, and if you do the math, it says "never sit down" if the numbers are all that matter. That's why pro gamblers are broke, lucky, or place show bets on horses and behind the line bets on the crap table.
 
Henning said:
You can calculate all you want, remember what you are calculating: odds. That means you are calculating your luck required ratio. Just because the odds say that this situation will hit 1 in 3 times, that does nothing about the other two.
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True, but run the regression analysis enough (i.e., play enough hands), and the actual results will approach the expected outcome.
 
Henning said:
That's why pro gamblers are broke, lucky, or place show bets on horses and behind the line bets on the crap table.
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Many are broke. The really goods ones have good bankroll management.
 
Henning said:
The neighborhood I grew up in now has a co, and it has destroyed the economy. People who would have spent their money on hot rods or home improvement now pretty much lose it, and the maintenance money, and sometimes the mortgage and car payment to the casino. .....
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eh, I dunno. if not for the casino in WV I would have no reason whatsoever to go there, I mean, it's WV..........(sorry WV guys, jk).

so I go there, stay in hotels, eat their cr@ppy food, play the local golf courses, and try to win some money in poker. I also tip the drink girls, more to the ones who show more cleavage, I mean come on. that cleavage IS the local economy.

now take that casino out of cross lanes, wv and I probably never would have seen that town ever.

speaking of that casino and poker, as soon as this dang work project is done I'm headin up there. y'all have been warned!
 
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