Poker God Exists: Proof!

Just got back from six days of Poker in Las Vegas. I'll be posting some other information later, but thought I'd first offer proof that the Poker God does exist.


After trying unsuccessfully for five days to get my wife to join me in 1-5 Stud at the Orleans (rather than dropping her bankroll at roulette and Carribean Stud), she finally agrees on our last day in town. She'd never played live casino poker before. She's in seat 1, I'm in seat 3.


On her fifth hand, she's heads up with a guy on tilt who's been betting the max from 4th street on trying to buy some pots -- and he surely thinks he can take some money off my fishy wife. Much to my surprise she keeps calling.


I've told her about playing tight, and explained some very basic 3rd street opening hand requirements, but I'm still nervous watching her throw all of that money into the pot.


On 6th street, her board reads Ac Ts Jc Kc. The tilty player with a small pair on board tells her, "I don't think you've got that queen," and again bets the max, and my wife calls.


Tilty bets the river blind, my wife calls, shows the Queen, and tilty mucks. It was the Queen of clubs... and by the way, she had caught the ten of clubs on the river for the royal flush, which she didn't realize until the player in seat two pointed it out (the dealer missed it too, actually).


So the poker room manager gives her a jacket and a scratch off ticket worth between $25-$500 (it was for $25, of course), and during the next hand my wife tells me, "I'm still more excited that I got to talk to Penn & Teller after the show last night."


The Poker God does exist. His aim is just off a little.

rather than dropping her bankroll at roulette and Carribean Stud


I think both of those games would be more appealing than 1-5 stud with a $4 drop.

Are you honestly suggesting that I should abandon 1-5 stud in favor of Roulette and/or Carribean Stud as a means of improving my game while working on increasing my bankroll in order to confidently move up to 5-10?


If so, thanks for your suggestion, but I'll stick to stud. You and my wife can keep praying for 23 to come up on the roulette wheel.


If you're just commenting on the fact that the prohibitive rake (and jackpot drop, in some cases) makes the game tough to beat -- you're right. But on my trip, there were enough holdem players on the waitlist who were clueless about Stud, gambling drunks bleeding chips, and comps from the casino to make the game profitable for me. In fact, even if I just broke even, isn't there some value to working on my game (adjusting to table conditions, reading hands, spotting tells, card memorization techniques, etc.)?


I'll continue to try to build my bankroll and poker skills at 1-5 and move up to 5-10 ASAP. I think that's a better bankroll and skill-building strategy than Roulette or Carribean Stud.


But, that's just me -- I could be wrong.

Hello,DocK,

If I were willing to go against the odds,I would take my entire bankroll and put it on "red" at the roulette table. Then I would pray to the poker gods.

However,this would be the LAST time I would gamble at anything!--win or loss!

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As for car. stud. It's sort of like playing the slot.

It's OK to gamble about 50.00 but not more than that!

You just might be lucky!

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I do not know if 3 Brett ever played 1/5 with no ante for any length of time.

However,I played mostly 1/4and 1/5 with $4 drop AND a $1 jackpot drop.

After 9 years,I'm up 50 dimes.

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By the way.

Can you receive any room discount by playing poker at the Orleans?


Sitting Bull

No matter the rake, REAL poker is a game where after a losing session you can think (if you have passion for the game) about Why you lost.


Carribean and roulette is a game where after a losing session you cannot think about why you lost


I played one week long at Orleans tables (good action there) but I didn't get a cent of discount over my room rate.

By the way, is it open the new poker room?


Marco

Hello,Marco,

When I played in Laughlin,Nev., I was able to stay for 15.00 per day Sun-thru. 25.00 per day,Sat and Sun.

Nice place to play. ALL low limit games,however.


Sitting Bull

I suppose it's a good place to learn the game, but I wouldn't think you would need more than a few days at 1-5 before moving up. Your wife, (and possibly you), probably has a better chance of beating the other games, though.


Also, you won't learn much about reading hands, table conditions, etc, while playing with the clueless. And don't fool yourself about the holdem players. They may not play stud as well as regular stud players, but they have a much better understanding of poker in general.

TY for the suggestion Larry

Of course I have played low limit stud. Mostly in Colorado where there is nothing higher than 1-5. Yes, the game is beatable, but not for anything significant.


You didn't say how many hours it took you to make $50K, but if you are that good, you are wasting your time at 1-5. What are you afraid of? You should be playing 30-60 at least.


(btw, I'm up more than that this year.)

Hello,Brett,

These low limit games are definitely too boring for you!

What limits do you usually play? What games??

There are two reasons that I do not play in a higher limit game:

I do not have the bankroll to play in the 20-40 stud game that's spread on a regular basis about 1 1/2 hours away from where I live.

Even if I did have the bankroll,there is no game selection. There is only one table. and it appears as if it's a "polluted table"--collusion teams!

secondly,in my area,there is only 1/5 stud.

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I'm not a very good player,but I am a good player.

I'm fortunate that my opponents make SO MANY mistakes. I just don't make as many as they do,but I still make a lot of mistakes.


Congratulations on your success!

How did you do last year?

what is your hourly rate since you started playing?

How many total hours have you logged in since you started playing so far?

Happy Poker

Sitting Bull

Can you receive any room discount by playing poker at the Orleans?


I e-mailed their poker room manager before I left. He told me that for five hours of daily play, he could give me the "casino" rate, which was $49/$119, if I remember correctly. That was actually more than the rate I got from expedia.com.


Of course, it was Chinese New Year's and President's Weekend, so the casino rates might be lower on a regular weekend.

Marco --


The new poker room is still under construction. They're talking mid-March now. There's no definite answer on the smoking/non-smoking issue, but the answer I heard most frequently was that it will be non-smoking during the day, and smoking during graveyard.


You have to sign up for a special Poker Room card (separate from the Slot Card, although you'll have to have a Slot Card first) so they can track you play. They swipe you in and out at the start and end of your session. They pay you $1.50/hour in comps for the first four hours, then $.50/hour after that up to $9.00/day. You can use the comps for food (restaurants only -- no room service) or gift shop. You can keep the comps you earn "on account" for a long time to let them build up -- one of the locals swiping out before me had more than $600 saved up.


The Poker Room manager had told me that to get the casino rate for 5 hours/day, to make the reservation through the front desk as normal, and that the Poker Room staff would adjust the rates at the end of your stay. I didn't do that though, since the casino rate was actually higher than the expedia.com rate I got.

If you read my posts, you would know the answer to some of these questions. As far as the really personal ones, when David, Ray, and Mason answer them, so will I.