showing up early

[Guruman]

so for fun I decided to go to bed last night at 8pm, wake up at 4am, and drive an hour to the Wstar to try to pick on the degenerates who had been there all night. I was the only new face in the room until probably 8:15ish.

I found a fairly quiet room filled with mostly young guys who had indeed been there all night and who had varying degrees of blurred vision. The tables tended to run short, and I had three tables break out from underneath me before things stabilized around 9am. I played 1/2 nl and finished up around 3.5 buyins thanks to a couple of deep pocketed donators that I managed to make hands against. Around 9 am I also got a big laugh because the front desk phone started lighting up with wives and girlfriends calling to see where the hell some of their men were at.

compared to going out on the Friday night before I generally found

Pros:
-slightly better drive out, WAY better drive back. On the drive back I was rested and it was daytime as opposed to me being exhausted and it being 3am Saturday with the drunk crowd on the streets.
-ability to table and seat select. Many of the tables were running 5-8 handed, so I had the opportunity to exercise a little seat selection before things stabilized
-food service was available. On a typical Friday night at Wstar you can't get food to save your life. On an early Sat am the 3 member service crew keeps up fine
-chips were quicker. People sitting in or getting stacked were able to have chips in pots very quickly compared to when that happens on a friday and you have to listen to the dealers yell for checks 5 times before a runner shows up.

and of course

-I was the only rested person in the room and was able to make good, clear decisions easily while other were just trying to catch hands or dump stacks and go home. Good stuff.

--

cons:
-players were tighter and more straightforward. I managed to land a couple of big fishies, but I think they were the only two playing my game. Everyone else in the games was bordering on rock/competent. Reminded me of playing at WPEX a little.
-the whole process of sleeping, going, and coming back is extended a bit. I went to bed at 8pm and got back at around 1pm the next day. typically I'll head out around 7pm on a Friday and come back and sleep until 11 or noon the next day. I also ended up taking a nap today, probably because my clock had to make those swings.
-players from bigger games would occasionally sit in while they were waiting for their games to make. You don't see this on a Friday night because those game are already running. These players are pretty good.

--

that's all I got. Anyone else ever try being the only rested one in the room?

[steamboatin]

When I go to Vegas or Tunica, I get up early to play against the sleepy drunks but the sleepy drunks seem to run really good every time I try, but my sample size is small.

[Chipr777]

I like to play very early in the morning when most of the players have been up all night. It's a different animal then playing at say noon when all the local nits and "pros" come out to play.

[baggins]

i've done it. i like to come home from work and take a nap for a few hours. then i head down to the casino around 10 and there's plenty of games, lots of people going home, but there's a lot of people getting tired. and i'm ready to go all night.

[KurtSF]

There was a thread about this recently in the Psuchology forum I believe. But I'm a search moran and can't find it. In that thread it was mentioned that Sklansky had written something about showing up super early when the all-nighters are not sharp. Has anyone read anything like this?

[pfapfap]

I deal graveyard shift, so I see a lot of play during this time.

Before I got my electric shock collar installed, I'd float a lot instead of working, mostly playing 3/6 and 6/12. I don't really play much live any more, but I've found 4-8am to be one of the most difficult times to profit. They're bad players, for sure, but it's harder to get the huge pots. They're more sober (or at least less drunk) than other times, and the whole "aw, c'mon, throw in some chips!" comraderie you get at other times is mostly gone. It's a bunch of angry, sullen people rapidly becoming more angry and sullen as the buzz wears off and they realize where they are and how much they're stuck. They'll lose it all, for sure, but it a grumpy time doing it. When you stack someone, there won't be anybody else to take his/her place. I've been a lot more comfortable, generated larger pots, and had more fun playing on a weekend morning or a Thursday evening.

[Cleave]

[ QUOTE ]
I deal graveyard shift, so I see a lot of play during this time.

Before I got my electric shock collar installed, I'd float a lot instead of working, mostly playing 3/6 and 6/12. I don't really play much live any more, but I've found 4-8am to be one of the most difficult times to profit. They're bad players, for sure, but it's harder to get the huge pots. They're more sober (or at least less drunk) than other times, and the whole "aw, c'mon, throw in some chips!" comraderie you get at other times is mostly gone. It's a bunch of angry, sullen people rapidly becoming more angry and sullen as the buzz wears off and they realize where they are and how much they're stuck. They'll lose it all, for sure, but it a grumpy time doing it. When you stack someone, there won't be anybody else to take his/her place. I've been a lot more comfortable, generated larger pots, and had more fun playing on a weekend morning or a Thursday evening.

[/ QUOTE ]

I must agree. When I go to Vegas from the east coast, I know I'm going to wake up early no matter what time I go to bed. I've had this theory that I'm gonna make money early in the morning, but it doesn't aways pan out. What I try is to nap until 1 or 2 am and then go down and play from 2 to about 5. This is prime drunk and all-in time. Just remember you will get drawn out on and this is also the time a lot of money leaves the table.

[Mike Gallo]

I used to play the overnight shifts on the weekends in Atlantic City.

I would get home from work around 6, sleep and/or relax till around 11:00 pm and start playing at around midnight.
I usually would play until the next morning and do it again Saturday night.

I prefer playing overnights, especially at the Taj Mahal.
The games would become very loose aggressive at the wee morning hours.

[DZgroundhog]

I've tried this a couple times...showed up around 5am on a Saturday morning planning on playing 1-2 until the weekly 10am tourney. The first time, there was nothing but tired, good players who were pretty deep-stacked and there wasn't much action unless two big hands collided because nobody wanted to lose their big profit on a marginal hand. The second time, I showed up and there was only one table running with two people on the waiting list so I got to sit around for a couple hours reading magazines. By the time they got a second game going, it was filled with players who were early risers and well-rested.

I've found the juiciest games to be when I've shown up around 11 or midnight. They tend to be fairly deep-stacked and there's always at least one drunk/donk who ran like a god for the past few hours and is just waiting to give away his chips.

Although I'm sure this is different in Vegas or AC where it's more of a party atmosphere.

[pocketpared]

Lots of players arrive early to take advantage of the all night players. Just make sure you don't shave, wear rumpled clothes and don't talk a lot or the other early risers will know what you're doing and tighten up against you.