Posted Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:35 am GMT by BassHunter
This weekend, I travelled to Vegas and decided to gave Hold 'Em a shot in a live environment. I started out cautiously taking $100 to a $1/$2 limit table. When I first sat down, I felt a little intimidated because everyone seemed to know each other and the dealer. Right away it seemed like they tested me by raising a lot more than when I was observing before sitting down. Unfortunately, the hands I had were marginal so I had to lay them down w/o a bet a lot off the start. They tightened back up. About 1/3 of my stack was gone before I won my first hand which made me feel a lot better. I started to get in a comfort zone. From there Id go down a little, then up a little. After about 2 1/2 hours, I found myself up a paltry $5. I was due for a win and hoping to go up big with a bigger pot. My opportunity came about the 5th hour with a AT suited. The pre-flop was raised twice around (I called hoping everyone stayed in for a nut-flush draw) and suprisingly 8 of 10 called. The flop came up garbage with no draws at all except an Ace. Someone opened with a total of 4 of the 8 laying down. Three called (including me) and one raised. One caller didn't seem like a good player, the other was a loose, drunk calling station. The raiser was also loose and drunk but seemed like a good player otherwise. I put the drunk good player on an Ace and the other two on garbage. The turn was a rag. I open to get an idea on the good guy. The two other original callers layed down and the good player called. At that point, I figure he might have a medium kicker (but so did I). On the river he checked and I figured I had him, but I just checked for the showdown. We were both sitting at opposite ends of the table. He flips his cards and I see A-7 (there was also a 7 one the board). I muck to the two pair. The dealer calls "A-9-8 wins the hand". Ace-nine??!!! I look again, and the 7 I thought I saw was a damn nine. I beat his kicker by one card and I MUCKED IT!!!!!! It sickened me. I literally wanted to throw up. After four more hands, I managed to talk myself into forgetting it and continue. The next hand I get into, I take a bad beat from the drunk calling station. Holding A-Q, the flop comes up K-J-10. I said screw it and bet the hell out of it. Three callers including the calling station. Turn is a K. I bet, everyone bails except the drunk. River comes up 4. I bet, drunk calls. I flip the straight. The drunk flips his cards and says, "You got me, I had 3 kings". He was sitting next to the other drunk at the other end of the table. Thinking I made up for my major screw up, I get ready to get my chips. Then the dealer points out to the drunk that he didn't have a 3-of-a-kind, but rather a full house. He was holding K-4 and didn't even realize it. That was it for me. I went away from the table about $40 light with a lesson learned. Other than those two episodes, I still felt confident. I felt I played well and wanted to go back when my head was on straight. There is good news however. The next day, I took the remaining $300 of my $1000 total bankroll to O'Sheas and hit a craps table that was hot from 3pm to 11pm. At the end of the night, I cashed in $2150*. Because of that, I never made it back to the poker tables. Anyway, sorry for the long story. I just had to get that off my chest. But now I know to be more careful. 8)
*-It would've been $2250, but on a dare, after cashing, I went back and put $100 down on a field bet and lost. :x 
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Posted Tue Oct 19, 2004 12:19 pm GMT by MasterShake
First time at a cardroom table is definitely a nervous rush. Even the second time I went I could feel my heart pounding. The atmosphere is just so exciting. You'll do better next time, and the next time and so on.
Posted Wed Oct 20, 2004 8:12 am GMT by Matt T
I still get nervous at the very beginning of a tourney if I'm involved in a hand. I often wonder if that will ever stop. Yet if I make it to the final table, by that time I'm perfectly calm.
I used to love Blackjack and Craps but Poker cured me of all that. Ever since I started playing poker, I can walk into a casino and not have the slightest urge to play anything else (I do it all the time). I'm sure the fact that I lost fairly consistently before and I win more than I lose in poker influenced that. That and the dealer hitting soft 17. I HATE THAT RULE!
Posted Wed Oct 20, 2004 8:47 am GMT by Flitred
I know what you mean, Scanx.....Craps/blackjack/roulette...the odds are ALWAYS stacked against you (ie house always wins...er... has an edge anyhow). Exception being the come out bet on Craps (man, i love craps)
Poker is more Player vs. Player, with the house taking a 'hosting' fee. The house doesnt' care one way or another who wins, so longs as they get their set rake. It's a lot easier taking money from someone with equal odds, than it is from someone with greater odds of winning than you.
Levels playing field.
Posted Wed Oct 20, 2004 9:47 am GMT by american mutt
| BassHunter wrote: | I beat his kicker by one card and I MUCKED IT!!!!!! It sickened me. I literally wanted to throw up.
Then the dealer points out to the drunk that he didn't have a 3-of-a-kind, but rather a full house. He was holding K-4 and didn't even realize it. |
That just sucks man. bad night, except for the craps run 8)
Posted Wed Oct 20, 2004 11:35 am GMT by BassHunter
It did indeed, but I will say it didn't sour me on playing casino poker rooms. Despite the horror stories, I did have fun and after getting into it, I didn't feel like I was out of my league at all like I expected. It was a great experience and I can't wait to do it again. Both of those bad examples had nothing to do with the casino environment. The first was just stupidity on my part and the second wasn't even all that bad. I get rivered all the time and I river people all the time. That didn't bother me; only the fact that the guy didn't know what he was doing and didn't know he won just honked me off. As for odds, you guys are right. My plan was to take my last $300 to the craps table first because its one place I can get back to even FAST and as you say, the odds are the best in the casino (pass line bets anyway). If that didn't pan out, I was going to finish back in the poker room. But of course that didn't happen. By the way, here's some talking points to show you how hot the table was:
• I only started with $50 of the $300. that's what turned into $2,250.
• One of my buddies started with $40 and he cashed out for $1,700.
• My other buddy also made around $2,000.
• The dealers had so much in tips, they had to empty their box twice; in one case, every player put a nickel on a hard way for the crew and it hit for about $750.
• The hardways were so covered with chips throughout (they were the most on fire), that you could barely see any green under them. Toward the end, every player was playing every hardway on every roll (except off for come-out)
• The house lost so bad, they had to replenish the table's chips in order for the game to continue.
Here's the one that amazes me the most:
• During the 8 hour run, the dice only went around the table ONCE meaning the average turn for ALL shooters was 1/2 hour long. Oh, MAMA!!!
Posted Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:02 pm GMT by Matt T
Wow, that is a hot table.
If I could only convince them to let me play the Pass line on the come out roll and then switch to the Don't Pass line after the point is established, I'd be on it like a bum on a ham sandwich.
Posted Wed Oct 20, 2004 1:44 pm GMT by Flitred
In the craps 'supersystem' book, that's exactly what he tells you to do.....Basically you play a pass bet until point is established....then once the puck is "ON", put your odds down for the pass bet, place chips in the 'Don't pass' spot, and just ride it all out playing the odds.....the Pass/Don't Pass cancel each other, so you're just playing the odds.
Posted Wed Oct 20, 2004 1:56 pm GMT by Matt T
Actually, what I meant was 'move the chips from the Pass to Don't Pass' which they wouldn't allow you to do.
I don't really understand the system you're talking about. I thought that once the point is established, you can not remove a Pass line bet and you can not place a Don't Pass bet. Once the point is established, the odds are that it WON'T pass. Casinos don't like to let people place bets in which the house has a disadvantage (unless that bet must 'ride it out' such as the Pass line bet). What am I missing?
Posted Wed Oct 20, 2004 2:14 pm GMT by BassHunter
We were talking about this earlier in the trip when encountering cold tables. The tables at Imperial Palace where running games at 10x odds at certain times. I told my buddy we should place a pass-line bet and lay it off with a Don't Pass. Then if a difficult point is established like a 4 or 10, take full odds on Don't Pass and no odds on Pass. Do the opposite for 6 & 8. I don't know if this is allowed, but we never tried it. What we did do that seemed to work a lot was lay-off the pass line bet with a C&E. Any craps or 7 was giving us money and a yo gave us both bets. The only thing that didn't pay was a craps after the place bets went on. But that really didn't give us action on the hot table. We got it there from hard-ways and pressing place bets 3 or 4 times. My one buddy kept wanting to bet a midnight during the point, but we told him if he messed with the karma of the table, we were going to roll him in the parking lot. 
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