Vegas Vic
02-15-2004, 03:10 AM
Last night, I stopped by the Texas Station casino for dinner. Afterwards, I had a little time to kill, so I sauntered over to the poker room. This is strictly a low-limit place, as the highest hold’em game is 4/8 with a half-kill. I haven’t played low-limit in a casino for a couple of years, and I was truly amazed at the horrible play. I’m talking about people literally giving money away. I’ll give one hand as an example.
I’m in middle position with AKo. Two limpers to me, I raise, get three callers behind me plus the original two limpers. Six to the flop for 12 small bets. The flop comes AA6 rainbow. The big blind bets, call, call, I raise, the two fish/calling stations call, the big blind re-raises, folded to me, I cap it, the two calling stations fold, and the big blind calls. I’m putting the blind on a weak ace. If she had 66 or A6, I think she would have slow-played it to build up a bigger pot. Surely, she wouldn’t have bet out under the gun. Heads up on the turn with 13 big bets in the pot. Turn card is a 3, completing the rainbow. She bets into me, I raise, then she re-raises. Now, I’m starting to get worried. I call, and we go to the river with 17 big bets in the pot. River card is a 10. She bets, I call, and she flips over 96o. Unbelievable. I turn over my AK, and the dealer pushes the 19 big bet pot over to me (took him two pushes to get it all over) as the table oohs and aahs.
I only played for two hours and made about $300. Keep in mind, this was at a 4/8 table. I saw numerous hands where these idiots were capping it with 2nd pair, ace high, etc.
I have a theory as to why casino low-limit players are much more horrible than their online counterparts. Online, the limits go down as low as .50/1.00. That’s where the worst of the worst reside. Then you have 1/2, 2/4, and 3/6 which are still filled with mostly bad players. At 5/10, the games start to get tougher to beat, and you actually see a fair amount of good players at this limit. Now, at the casinos, the bad players don’t really have a choice. At the Bellagio, the lowest limit they spread is 4/8. So, a terrible beginner (who would be playing .50/1.00 online) has no choice but to play the 4/8. I’ve come to the conclusion that online limits are about two to three times tougher than their live counterparts. The 5/10 Party game plays about like the 15/30 Bellagio.
What works best for me right now is a mix of play. I put in about 20 hours of live play at 15/30. This is what I consider to be “real poker”. It actually requires some deep thought as to how to play certain situations against certain opponents. I also put in about 20 hours online playing four low-limit tables simultaneously. This is what I call “ABC” poker - no bluffing, just play premium hands and pot odds. It’s like playing speed chess. Decisions need to be made in a few seconds, as you’ll see about 240 hands per hour on the four tables (compared to 35 hands per hour in a live game). A good player can easily make $40 per hour doing this, but you have to be able to multitask and make quick, accurate decisions.
I think the online and live games are going to get even better this spring, when the WPT starts a new TV season, plus the WSOP starts here in April.
I’m in middle position with AKo. Two limpers to me, I raise, get three callers behind me plus the original two limpers. Six to the flop for 12 small bets. The flop comes AA6 rainbow. The big blind bets, call, call, I raise, the two fish/calling stations call, the big blind re-raises, folded to me, I cap it, the two calling stations fold, and the big blind calls. I’m putting the blind on a weak ace. If she had 66 or A6, I think she would have slow-played it to build up a bigger pot. Surely, she wouldn’t have bet out under the gun. Heads up on the turn with 13 big bets in the pot. Turn card is a 3, completing the rainbow. She bets into me, I raise, then she re-raises. Now, I’m starting to get worried. I call, and we go to the river with 17 big bets in the pot. River card is a 10. She bets, I call, and she flips over 96o. Unbelievable. I turn over my AK, and the dealer pushes the 19 big bet pot over to me (took him two pushes to get it all over) as the table oohs and aahs.
I only played for two hours and made about $300. Keep in mind, this was at a 4/8 table. I saw numerous hands where these idiots were capping it with 2nd pair, ace high, etc.
I have a theory as to why casino low-limit players are much more horrible than their online counterparts. Online, the limits go down as low as .50/1.00. That’s where the worst of the worst reside. Then you have 1/2, 2/4, and 3/6 which are still filled with mostly bad players. At 5/10, the games start to get tougher to beat, and you actually see a fair amount of good players at this limit. Now, at the casinos, the bad players don’t really have a choice. At the Bellagio, the lowest limit they spread is 4/8. So, a terrible beginner (who would be playing .50/1.00 online) has no choice but to play the 4/8. I’ve come to the conclusion that online limits are about two to three times tougher than their live counterparts. The 5/10 Party game plays about like the 15/30 Bellagio.
What works best for me right now is a mix of play. I put in about 20 hours of live play at 15/30. This is what I consider to be “real poker”. It actually requires some deep thought as to how to play certain situations against certain opponents. I also put in about 20 hours online playing four low-limit tables simultaneously. This is what I call “ABC” poker - no bluffing, just play premium hands and pot odds. It’s like playing speed chess. Decisions need to be made in a few seconds, as you’ll see about 240 hands per hour on the four tables (compared to 35 hands per hour in a live game). A good player can easily make $40 per hour doing this, but you have to be able to multitask and make quick, accurate decisions.
I think the online and live games are going to get even better this spring, when the WPT starts a new TV season, plus the WSOP starts here in April.