Borgata $20/$40, Two Staking Opportunities

[dabluebery]

I was down in Atlantic City this weekend for a poker trip with a friend of mine. My normal comfort zone for live games is between 5/10 and 10/20, inclusive. My favorite AC game is the pink chip at trop. I'm a standard SSHE disciple, learned to play in the micro-limit forums when Bison was king.

My friend plays 20/40 and higher. He played the Borgata game Thursday night and told me I "had to play it," it was "Candyland." Since I'm a bankroll nit, I told him that was out of my comfort zone and wouldn't play.

He offered two opportunities;

1) Crossbook 50%, equally split winnings and losses when we're both seated at 20/40.

OR

2) He'd stake me for half of my buy-in.

Just to get this out of the way, there's no way I'd play 20/40 and revert to some weak-tight strategy where I'm dead money to the other TAGs. A bet is a bet.

20/40 Borgata Pros...... What's the right play?

[Mike Gallo]

Take a shot.

NineinchAl could answer better than me.
I do not think I have ever seen that dude with less than 5 racks of red at the table.

[nineinchal]

[ QUOTE ]
Take a shot.

NineinchAl could answer better than me.
I do not think I have ever seen that dude with less than 5 racks of red at the table.

[/ QUOTE ]

I buy in for six racks, this way when I get scalped it looks like I'm winning.

But seriously folks, I recently dropped down to 10/20 due to my bankroll considerations. I sunk about 200 benjamins; which was my entire bankroll into my Boardwalk apartment with the 20/40 I won in that game.

I started off by getting staked 60/40, 60% for me and 40% for my friend Fat Slim. He would play 2/5 NL while I grinded 20/40. He was happy to do it too, since every time I romped through "Candy Land" it was the all you can eat buffet for a decade. In fact whenever we made this deal, we never lost even one time.

After a few months I pumped up my roll to about 6 or 7 grand, I had the confidence to run on my own. Fat Slim wasn't too happy since his gravy train ended. However, I will seek him out to get back in. Gotta be careful though in 20/40 though; sometimes these waters are shark infested, so its more like "Jaws" than "Candy Land." Gotta know your players.

[*TT*]

6-7k in a 20/40 game is less than 175BB, its really not enough to safely play because your risk of ruin is too high. Assuming your standard deviation is 25BB/hour and you make a solid 1BB/hour (very realistic for a live game for a good player) you have a 57.12% chance of going broke. If your SD is 15BB ($600/hour) then you have a 21% chance of going broke. If you increased your BR to 10k you have a bit more than 10% chance of going broke with the same standard deviation. In order to reduce your risk of ruin to 1% you need a 20k bankroll.

For those of you who are interesting in bankroll management please read Mason's excellent book Gambling Theory and other topics.

[nineinchal]

[ QUOTE ]
6-7k in a 20/40 game is less than 175BB, its really not enough to safely play because your risk of ruin is too high. Assuming your standard deviation is 25BB/hour and you make a solid 1BB/hour (very realistic for a live game for a good player) you have a 57.12% chance of going broke. If your SD is 15BB ($600/hour) then you have a 21% chance of going broke. If you increased your BR to 10k you have a bit more than 10% chance of going broke with the same standard deviation. In order to reduce your risk of ruin to 1% you need a 20k bankroll.

For those of you who are interesting in bankroll management please read Mason's excellent book Gambling Theory and other topics.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am aware 6 or 7 k is not enough to avoid the risk of ruin at $20/$40. I was prepared to step down to 10/20 if I went down to $3k or so. However, I hit a good streak to the upside. I am one of those who read Mason's book and understand its implications. That's why I am grinding at $10/20 at this point. I will never have to go broke at 10/20 even if I have to dig into my pocket, since I got that kinda cash. I also anticipate I will safely be able to step up into 20/40 sometime early 2008.

"Gambling Theory and other Topics" was the most important work that I read in order to understand the swings I have to be able to endure in the course of becoming a winning poker player.

Thank you Mason...

[BK1248]

STAKING PEOPLE IS A BAD IDEA! if they are so good why would they need staking, id just play urself if u studied SSHE, if u can beat .25-.50 cents on stars u can beat a live 20-40 game easy.

[jeffnc]

[ QUOTE ]
STAKING PEOPLE IS A BAD IDEA! if they are so good why would they need staking

[/ QUOTE ]

I've thought about this for about 6 hours, and I can't think of any possible reason.

[ QUOTE ]
id just play urself if u studied SSHE

[/ QUOTE ]

hee hee

[StrictlyStrategy]

God is it really that good? I'm there every week and on weeknights it's like "decent" at best. For a live game that is.

[dabluebery]

I played it, taking the crossbook with my buddy. I held my own for about 5 hours in two separate sessions on Friday afternoon and Friday night, down $300, 7 bets. My buddy destroyed his tables and took 60 bets out of there.

My tables were both good. There were three (or so) pro's at each table who played differently than the fish did, but even they didn't impress me..... I felt I was playing as well as they were. The bad players were absolutely horrible. I'm always amazed when I move up how people play poker for "real" money and have no idea what they're doing.

[SellingtheDrama]

If you can't play comfortably with your money one level above your normal game, you probably shouldn't play it with someone else's money.