Beginning 1/2 NL grinding in Vegas

[the_casino_kid]

i'm in the same boat kinda as this guy but ive been playing for around 4 years online now beating the games, although i just can't stand the online games anymore. It's not the same as a live game, not even close.

i could play for hours to stack someone at a rate of 60-80 hands per hour. but when i hit a casino i walk away with two stacks in 40 minutes. The games at casinos are crazy soft.

I've been saving up a bankroll for casino niagara, and the fallsview, which i live near ( in niagara falls canada. Usually when i play there i play the 1/2 games (100 max), so i only really need 2k.

usually when i play there i just steal blinds if I can to stay afloat, till i hit a monster or get some big pockets.
then when im a deep stack i just play more lag and just clean up.

have not had the opporitunity or the bankroll to play in the higher stakes games yet but look forward to it one day.

[pig4bill]

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My general strategy is raising up big cards and big pairs preflop to isolate against 1-2 players, and limping connecters and small pairs and going for the implied odds of hitting the sets, flushes straights etc against the fish that overplay their hands.

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Vegas 1/2 doesn't work that way. Much of the time if you make a standard raise of 3 to 5 times the big blind, you'll get 3 or 4 or 6 callers. Make it 7 or 8 times and you get no callers. Seldom can you get only 1 or 2 no matter what you bet.

In addition to the bankroll advice from others, I would sit in a few games to watch how they go. Don't play anything, just pay your blinds for 3 orbits, then go find another game. 30 or 40 bucks invested this way can save you some bucks when you're ready to play for real.

[ubvol]

he's not kidding about how those games go. I'm living in CA temporarily, and I went out to Vegas a couple weekends to try some live 1/2.

I thought the same strategy would work fine, but it's so different. I still haven't gotten used to it. I got lucky the first week and cleared like $1000 on a $150 buy-in. I mostly played very tight and only pushed my bets when I was a big favorite.

the next week, I went again, expecting the same outcome. It goes without saying that I lost most of what I'd won the first week, and was baffled by the result.

Expect to see a LOT of longball at 1/2 in Vegas. People will sit down with $3000 in their pockets and continually go all-in with their $200 buy-ins until they have a $400-$500 stack at the table. Then, those same folks will bet huge (a $20 standard raise is not unusual), and bully all the tourists out of their $300-$400 that they came to play with, usually $50 or so at a time.

Until you can figure out how to neutralize or somehow take advantage of that kind of play, expect to be very frustrated at Vegas 1/2.

[AlaskaGal]

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which book would apply the best for playing low stakes NL live? I've all the "must read" poker books and i'm a cardrunners member. But if I was going to reread something to sharpen my game, what would apply? other than caro's book of course.

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This is the book you need. Specific to low limit No Limit cash games:

http://www.amazon.com/No-Limit-Texas-Hol...5598&sr=8-1

[ubvol]

awesome. thanks! I just ordered the new 2+2 book that also seems to cover the same ground.

[the_casino_kid]

[ QUOTE ]
he's not kidding about how those games go. I'm living in CA temporarily, and I went out to Vegas a couple weekends to try some live 1/2.

I thought the same strategy would work fine, but it's so different. I still haven't gotten used to it. I got lucky the first week and cleared like $1000 on a $150 buy-in. I mostly played very tight and only pushed my bets when I was a big favorite.

the next week, I went again, expecting the same outcome. It goes without saying that I lost most of what I'd won the first week, and was baffled by the result.

Expect to see a LOT of longball at 1/2 in Vegas. People will sit down with $3000 in their pockets and continually go all-in with their $200 buy-ins until they have a $400-$500 stack at the table. Then, those same folks will bet huge (a $20 standard raise is not unusual), and bully all the tourists out of their $300-$400 that they came to play with, usually $50 or so at a time.

Until you can figure out how to neutralize or somehow take advantage of that kind of play, expect to be very frustrated at Vegas 1/2.

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man your whiny...if you lost 1k at a 1/2 table in b+m then you have alot more to think about..i have NEVER lost that many buyins at a casino at that level. You should be analyzing your game.

if your losing 5 buyins in one night at one table, then your just playing horribly. I dont care what anyone here says about variance. At that level the variance shouldnt be that high. if people are going all in all the time then just wait till you have a big pair and call and stack them...i dont see the problem here.

[ubvol]

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man your whiny...if you lost 1k at a 1/2 table in b+m then you have alot more to think about..i have NEVER lost that many buyins at a casino at that level. You should be analyzing your game.

if your losing 5 buyins in one night at one table, then your just playing horribly. I dont care what anyone here says about variance. At that level the variance shouldnt be that high. if people are going all in all the time then just wait till you have a big pair and call and stack them...i dont see the problem here.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, i understand I'm probably sucking somehow to've lost back what I won, but at least $300 of that was losing to 3-outers and flush draws when I was ahead with all my chips in.

The rest is because I haven't figured out how to deal with the guy who will raise you on every card regardless of what you have. I got sucked out on by people outdrawing me when I bet the pot with top pair so many times it was ridiculous.

When the cards are going your way, having a lot of players who don't give a flying fart about their $1000 is great. When the cards aren't cooperating, that can be your death. . . .

[the_casino_kid]

when people re-raise you alot like that you have to either play big pot poker or be a nit..if someone goes over top of me alot ill just go waaaay overtop and see what he does, most of the time they fold like an umbrella..

as for people drawing out on you, thats just bad luck. If you get a really good draw just start REALLY overbetting the pot with them and throw people off. make people have to commit their stacks on their crappy draws and two outers.

[ubvol]

yeah, I think that's exactly my problem out there: I don't really know anything about "big pot poker". I wasn't exactly expecting to see that at 1/2. When I did, I just avoided it at first and got lucky. of course, that didn't last.

Any suggestions on where to begin learning about big pot?

My background is mostly in SnGs, and small-stakes multitable tourneys, which I do ok at. (5-10% ROI)

[Dadswell]

If you want to be a pro you have to play like a pro and there's no better book to teach you than Play Poker Like the Pros by Hellmuth, the name of the book says it all.