What do you do at the tables?

[sternroolz]

Caveat...I play limit holdem. I would do things differently if I played NL.

Ok, so poker gear is tennis shoes or comfortable black shoes, jeans, t-shirt, and blue hoodie. I plop down at the table and set down sunglasses, cell, and one of various silver strike tokens for a card holder. I get chips(normally 2-3 racks worth) and immediately stack them into a super duper castle which everyone unnecessarily marvels at. The sunglasses are basically unnecessary as I only use them if I am really tired to hide my bloodshot eyes. Since I never play tired, I don't really need the sunglasses. Anywho, at this point I get into the game at Commerce, curse Hawaiian Gardens for having Guiness thereby forcing me to order some(Guiness is so yummy [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]), and in Vegas search for the nearest hottie cocktail waitress I can oogle and order free alcohol from.

During the course of the session I typically shuffle chips until my hands are tired. I alternate between obsessing on games on my cell phone, playing with my chip stack while imagining I'm Scrooge McDuck on a pile of gold, and getting the table happy/exited/tilted by pointing out how much I hate money and suck at poker.

[nineinchal]

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I progress to bloody mary's, since I figure that is lowest in calories of all the alcoholic drinks

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Consider a rum and diet coke (or vodka and diet, or jack and diet). That's about as low calorie as you can go. If you ask nicely they might even put a maraschino cherry in it for you.

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Why is a rum and coke fewer calories than a bloody mary? Especially with the maraschino cherry? Please reveal your sources Kurt...

[rubixxcube]

I eat when i'm hungry, i usually will eat before i play. I also like to play a lot of different games. So i'll play one game for a few hours, get up when hungry and eat then go play something else.

I pee when i have to but try to time so i miss UTG+2-UTG and come back for the blinds.

UTG2-UTG are the 3 toughest spots to make money in flop games. i don't like missing late position hands(the easier seats to come to play the tougher position).

Also i play a lot of mixed and stud games so in stud its easy since there is not blind to miss. usually I go potty, and smoke a cigarette and drop a $20 in a slot machine while smoke.

I do not stack my chips evenly at all, i don't like to know what i have in front of me as i don't want it to affect my play. I play limit games only so the exact number in front of me is not important. I can usually glance at my stacks and somewhat approximate where i am at pretty close anyway. Plus its also a nice surprise when i think i'm up about 150 and then i rack up and realise i am up 180 or something, or think i'm down 100 but find its only 60. I play 10/20 - 20/40 so its all read chips and its easy to be off by a few in a quick look.

No ipod, no sunglasses i like to pay attention.

I will chat and be neighborly with the people next to me, i suggest anyone who is not to change that.

I find when i am Nice to my neighbor they are more likely to give me a free showdown, or free card, or not bet a monster to be my friendly neighbor and usually don't get mad if i bet into them later. Also i have a friend that has a very short temper at the poker table and is not known for making friends at the table as a result, he gets no free cards/showdowns or any friendly courtesy.

may seem silly but saving a few extra bets in a limit game is very helpful.

7 or more players in a flop game and i chop. 6 or less no chop. When short handed if you inform the players next to you that you don't chop 6 handed nobody usually has a problem, especially if I am SB and toss the BB my SB as i fold. Also i can count on 1 hand the number of times there is a chop in a live game in Atlantic city in a single day at my table, so you can't be losing that much by chopping even if the BB/SB is terrible as if rarely presents itself.

/End Rant TL/DR

[KurtSF]

Diet coke, not coke. Let's just consider the alcohol in the two drinks the same

Diet soda is zero calories. Zero carbs. Zero Sugar.

Whereas 12 oz of tomato juice has 60 calories, 15g carbs, and some natural sugars from the fruit.

Although you do get lycopine from the juice. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Googled source. You'll have to look up the cherry yourself.

[MandM_WSU]

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Stacks of 20, pyramid tower.

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Standard for me. The bigger the pyramid (actually the correct geometric term would be 'triangular prism'), the higher the stack. With $1 chips a 5-stack pyramid is $100, 10-stack is $200, 15=$300, etc.

[ungarop]

I love this post. I think nineinchal is my long lost older brother...

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1. I never talk about how hands are played at the table, ever.

3. I never wear sunglasses, that would be rude and tighten up the bad players.

4. Ditto for the i-pod.

5. I eat if I am allowed.

6. I take my bathroom breaks after I play my middle position hands.

7. My card protector is my left hand.

8. I chop every time.

9. I chit chat or I am quiet, it depends upon whatever will keep the bad players around.

If I am asked by another player how well he played the hand or if he played the hand correctly, I always retort, "You played that hand really well."

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[danb2001]

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9. I chit chat or I am quiet, it depends upon whatever will keep the bad players around. If I talk, I make a lot of jokes about how, fat, old, how much I suck at poker, how stupid I am, what bad luck I get, how much I drink and eat, porno, girls, anything but the game in progress or the quality of the play of the other players.


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No doubt, same with me. I love talking about sports or whatever the other players want to discuss, although I loathe discussing poker strategy at the table. It's like tapping on the fish tank--no need to wake anyone up. If someone starts talking odds or strategy, it's fun to refute their arguments and/or talk about luck and gambooling.

[nineinchal]

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I love this post. I think nineinchal is my long lost older brother...

[ QUOTE ]
1. I never talk about how hands are played at the table, ever.

3. I never wear sunglasses, that would be rude and tighten up the bad players.

4. Ditto for the i-pod.

5. I eat if I am allowed.

6. I take my bathroom breaks after I play my middle position hands.

7. My card protector is my left hand.

8. I chop every time.

9. I chit chat or I am quiet, it depends upon whatever will keep the bad players around.

If I am asked by another player how well he played the hand or if he played the hand correctly, I always retort, "You played that hand really well."

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Yeah, Sklansky and Malmuth wrote many essays about this. What surprises me is that many 2+2ers I have played with choose to disregard this very valuable info and chase the fish away.

[nineinchal]

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9. I chit chat or I am quiet, it depends upon whatever will keep the bad players around. If I talk, I make a lot of jokes about how, fat, old, how much I suck at poker, how stupid I am, what bad luck I get, how much I drink and eat, porno, girls, anything but the game in progress or the quality of the play of the other players.


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No doubt, same with me. I love talking about sports or whatever the other players want to discuss, although I loathe discussing poker strategy at the table. It's like tapping on the fish tank--no need to wake anyone up. If someone starts talking odds or strategy, it's fun to refute their arguments and/or talk about luck and gambooling.

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I don't even bother to refute it. I find it positive EV to ignore it and change the subject to some other topic.

[danb2001]

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I don't even bother to refute it. I find it positive EV to ignore it and change the subject to some other topic.


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Fair enough--I kinda argue for a living, so I tend to have fun with it and not argue in a serious way. I see why it might might be +EV to just talk about footbaw & take others minds off the cards, though.