[Cactus Jack]

One of the things I look for is the players who are reaching into their wallets after getting down to the felt. I never let my stack get that far down, and have not seen good players do it, either. I can, however, go for many, many hours without reaching into my money clip for another Ben Franklin. It's rare I have to.

I played 3/6 once at the Fitzgerald downtown. There were 6 players for three hours, tops. I never rebought, but didn't make much either, for the longest time. It was amazing how the stacks shrank--FAST. Finally, I got some hands, made some nice pots, and left. I was the only person at the table that had not rebought. The rest had gone down the slot next to the dealer.

If ever there was any doubt about the impact of the rake, it was right there in front of me that day. Wow.

To get back to my original comment--I've played many times for hours without winning a pot, or even more than one. But to go for 2 1/2 hours without seeing a river in a 4/8 limit game is a pretty danged long time of seeing really bad cards. No rivers. It was very weird. That I lost only 16BBs is not too shabby, I guess.