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housenuts
07-27-2004, 01:30 AM
i've been playing online poker for the last 6 months and playing fairly regularly. i went to the casino for the first time the other night and played in the $2-$4 hold'em game. i bought in for $80 and cashed out with $190, 6 hours later. is it reasonable to expect I can make this sort of profit time and time again? i feel i was playing solid poker. i was only playing premium hands, whereas others were playing 60-70% of hands cause they felt like $2 was nothing. i feel if i go again and be patient like i was i could be successful again. is this flawed thinking?

phixxx
07-27-2004, 04:29 AM
My first experience in poker was exactly like this. I went over to a friends house who was playing 1/3 limits, a huge step from what I'd normally been playing. I played very solid poker the entire night, normally playing nothing but the top 10 or 15 hands. I left with 60 dollars that night, but the next time I went I was down 30 in less than half an hour. If you're unexperienced in situations that require some wisdom of the game (knowing when to fold second best hands, etc.), you'll end up losing pot after pot. Consistant results will eventually come after you experience the game enough.

donkeyradish
07-27-2004, 06:44 AM
I think the biggest factor is probably, who else is at the table when you are playing. You have to have someone at a table playing badly; its primarily other people's mistakes that contribute to your profit.

BarronVangorToth
07-27-2004, 07:50 AM
[ QUOTE ]
i've been playing online poker for the last 6 months and playing fairly regularly. i went to the casino for the first time the other night and played in the $2-$4 hold'em game. i bought in for $80 and cashed out with $190, 6 hours later. is it reasonable to expect I can make this sort of profit time and time again? i feel i was playing solid poker. i was only playing premium hands, whereas others were playing 60-70% of hands cause they felt like $2 was nothing. i feel if i go again and be patient like i was i could be successful again. is this flawed thinking?

[/ QUOTE ]


I think there are other things that you may not have considered or, considered and then discounted. A big factor is the unknown, especially when you're young. I play at a lot of casinos as I travel quite a bit and while I am 30, I'm "one of those" 30-year-olds that gets carded on a fairly consistent basis. Which means when I sit down at a table people invariably start wielding all of their preconceived notions. I'm guessing you're young as well and that will contribute to your profit.

I was at the Mirage in Vegas a few months ago and it took 'til the end of the week for the locals to stop thinking of me as a tourist (which, I guess, technically I was) and start realizing that my bets and checkraises might actually mean that *shocking* I had a hand, unlike other tourists/young guys they played against.

I've always maintained that live games are much easier than online games, despite the # of hands per hour, as a lot of the "regulars" and "locals" at casinos have this mentality.

PLUS, remember, as you said, people saw two dollars -- two dollars, I want your two dollars -- as nothing. Probably a few people at your table go there after work and play for a few hours and lose $100 and don't care as it's just a night of entertainment so what's the difference between dropping $100 between dinner and the bar or at the poker table.

It won't always be like that ... but I think it's definitely "easier" your first few times before some people start to recognize you.


Barron Vangor Toth
www.BarronVangorToth.com (http://www.BarronVangorToth.com)

playerfl
07-27-2004, 09:46 AM
low limit casino games are different. there is a social atmosphere, there is drinking, and there are people on vacation. A $1/$2 game plays about like a .25/.50 online unless you get a really bad table ( filled with local regulars). This means more aggressive betting and very little folding. This exaggerates your swings and makes the results of any one session less significant. Limits of $2/$4 and below in a casino are for fun and learning, nobody makes any significant money at these tables except the casino.

Kurn, son of Mogh
07-27-2004, 09:58 AM
4.5 bb/hr is unrealistic long-term.

Even though you may have played quite well during this session, you also probably got 1) more than your share of good hands and 2) You hit your good hands more than you might expect to in the long run.

Now that doesn't mean you can't build your bankroll at that game. It just means that you'll have to expect some fluctuations. 2.5 bb/hr may be possible if you're *that* much better than the crowd, but you'll have to play about 1,000 more hours to know if you can really do that.

Al_Capone_Junior
07-27-2004, 11:44 AM
[ QUOTE ]
went to the casino for the first time the other night and played in the $2-$4 hold'em game. i bought in for $80 and cashed out with $190, 6 hours later. is it reasonable to expect I can make this sort of profit time and time again?

[/ QUOTE ]

The fact you asked this question at all shows you are highly inexperienced and have no real idea of what it's like to play poker all the time. In one six hour session you made nearly $20 an hour, or nearly 5 big bets per hour. This is absolutely unsustainable, I don't care what claims people make, they are simply full of it and lying. ONE big bet per hour in a live game is sustainable if you are a good player. Given you posed this question tho, I doubt you currently are good enough to make even one big bet per hour at all but the weakest games. Those that refuse to accept such realities are only fooling themselves.

al

housenuts
07-27-2004, 02:45 PM
thanks for the replies and bringing me to terms with myself so i won't go back and lose my money thinking i'm some kind of wunderkind

LetsRock
07-27-2004, 10:56 PM
You shouldn't expect that kind of success most of the time. It may not have seemd like it, but you just had a very good run of cards to make that kind of profit in a 2/4 game.

You're likely not going to like the variance that you "owe" from that session.

wangarific
07-28-2004, 11:08 AM
[ QUOTE ]
ONE big bet per hour in a live game is sustainable if you are a good player.

[/ QUOTE ]
I believe this is probably the most valuable information for you right now, what you can expect as a reasonable take per hour, because it's hard to know what's good when you don't have a lot of experience. And 5 bb/hr is nice to get sometimes... better than < 0 bb/hr which you will probably experience much more often in your young career. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

housenuts
07-28-2004, 01:32 PM
say a real pro like lederer or phil ivey were to join in a $2/$4 game for fun. what would you expect their BB/hour to be?

playerfl
07-28-2004, 02:14 PM
Limit poker was invented to slow down the rate of loss of newbies and keep the rake flowing to the casino's ( rakes are often 10% at low limit tables, even online). I don't think it matters if you are world class or not at a $1/$2 table.

playerfl
07-28-2004, 02:14 PM
by the way, in jax are you playing on a gambling boat ?