16 The Newbie Chronicles: Softcore Grifting :- Food

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For the first time in three years I appear to be getting close to getting a job that will provide a steady income. During the three years when I had an unsteady income I devised a variety of techniques that helped me survive financially.

Since poker players are often looking to cut costs in order to build a poker bankroll I thought that I would share some of these techniques. I call these techniques “softcore grifting.” “Grifting” because they tickle the underbelly of society, and “softcore” because they are not too wicked.

I once spent three months in Germany. Early on I discovered that a local market had a one pound bag of cookies on sale every day. I would buy a bag every day and eat the cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On the weekends I would go into Munich and eat the free bread in the cafes, walking out before the waiter took my order.

Using this technique I spent less than $50 per month on food for three months. I thought this was quite impressive, but then I discovered that it is possible to eat well for free.

Large hotels and colleges are constantly giving away free food. At major hotels there are multiple business meetings and conferences almost every day. The vast majority of these meetings serve snacks or meals. At colleges, students regularly have study breaks with free food and when companies come to recruit they often give away free food to get students to come visit their presentations.

When trying to get free food from a hotel the first rule is to dress to impress. Wear a suit, a tie, and a jacket. Shave. You are going to be going into a business meeting so you should look like you belong in a business meeting. Once you are in the hotel you need to find out where and when the meetings take place. Often the hotel will list these on a sheet near the concierge or the front desk. If they don’t, then you need to ask someone at the concierge or the front desk. The person you ask will pull out a sheet which lists all of the day’s events and you will need to read this sheet upside down and select the event that you want to attend.

Once you know the time and the location of the event you need to get past the registration. The key here is to show up half an hour early or half an hour late. Since you will be impersonating someone who is attending the event you want to avoid bumping into other people who might recognize that you do not belong. Typically there will be a registration list. You need to read this registration list upside down. Sometimes there will be name tags on a table. You can just pick one of them up. Obviously, once you are inside you should immediately remove the name tag. If someone starts asking questions, simply walk away.

This is the most important rule of crashing a hotel event. At the very first sign of trouble simply walk away. There are many other hotels that serve free food. As in poker, you should always be looking for the softest game. At the first sign of resistance simply excuse yourself.

After you have done this a few times you will get a good understanding of how the process works at each hotel and how good the food is. Personally, I’ve found that the Ritz-Carlton has the best food but they also have the best security.

Getting free food at colleges is much easier. There is almost never a gatekeeper. If you look older than 25, try to go to a college that has graduate students.

Finally, I’ve noticed that poor food has recently become much cheaper. Both McDonald’s and Burger King now have a dollar menu. I have tried McDonald’s Big ‘n Tasty, a hamburger which is neither big nor tasty but does cost only one dollar and it does have quite a few calories. The cheapest food I have found is Maruchan Noodles which, when purchased in packages of twelve, costs only eighteen cents per package.

Using these techniques just about everyone can drastically reduce their food costs. I look forward to your comments.

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Comments on Comments

On the issue of whether betting a flush draw with two opponents is a value bet we have succeeded in achieving great clarity because Louie Landale (LL) has provided a definition with which Pudley4 (Pud) appears to agree. Here is the definition: A bet is a value bet if there are n callers and the probability of winning by the river is no less than 1/(n+1). So, for example, if there are two callers on the flop (n=2) and the probability of winning by the river is 37% then the bet is a value bet because 37% is greater than 1/(2+1)=33%.

So the only question that is left to answer is whether or not there is at least a 33% chance of winning with a flush draw by the river. If there is, then a bet against two opponents is a value bet. I don’t know what the answer is (LL provides some analysis that suggests that you might need three opponents), but this is a question that has to be answered by looking at real data. If I ever get to Phase 2 I will look at 10,000 hands and give you the results.

If betting against two opponents with a flush draw on the flop is in fact a value bet then the goal should be to get as many bets into the pot as possible in this situation. Jones appears to want 4 opponents to check-raise. I’m curious to know what Pud and LL need to see to check-raise or raise with a flush draw on the flop.

On the issue of river bets, I think there is a possibility that Pud and I may have different editions of the Jones book. Pud says that he is referring to a section in which Jones is discussing “betting when you will be called.” In my book there is no such section. I am referring to a section titled “Betting only when you want to be called” in which Jones specifically says that you should “only bet on the end if you’ll have the best hand most of the time when you are called,” but then says (in the same section) “if you think you can make some better hands fold, it may be to your advantage to bet.” My gripe here is that if better hands will fold to a bet, then this needs to be included in the EV calculation but Jones is not doing this because he says that you need to have the best hand “most of the time” when you are called. If there are in fact better hands which your opponent will fold, then you may not need to have the best hand most of the time. LL appears to agree with me. He writes, “your objections are also sound” but notes that Jones’ advice is “pretty sound most of the time.”

Modest Homer J. Simpson provided some additional data on his success in making $1,000 per month after studying for only one month which suggests that his results are not as impressive as they look at first glance. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] I’m curious to know whether this success rate continued or if it was just something that lasted one or two months.


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Goal Update

This past week, I spent approximately 13.25 hours on poker: 5 hours reading 2+2, 4.75 playing PokerPages tournaments, and 3.5 hours playing ring games.

I did not spend any extra money this week. I have spent a total of $438.46 out of my $1000 budget.

An update on each of the four goals (which are to be accomplished by 3/30/03):

1. Read and study Jones’ “Winning Low Limit Hold ’Em”
I have confirmed one out of the three points I need to achieve this goal. A second point (river bets) is pending a discussion with Pud and LL. A third point (flush draw value bet) is pending an analysis of 10,000 hands.
I have now found another error based on the analysis of the second hand that I published in the last Chronicles. Jones is very, very tight when it comes to betting second pairs on the flop in the hopes of sucking out to second pair or better. In the hand that I posted last week in which I was trying to suck out with second pair, the majority of posters said that it was correct to bet and even those who thought it was correct to fold thought there might be situations when it was correct to bet (except for angelo alba). Jones is quite clear that he suggests folding with second pair: “Normally, it’s best to check and fold when you flop second pair.” He goes on to give an example in which a player has both a flush and a straight draw, along with second pair, and he says that he wants 12-1 odds in that situation. He also says: “In a low-limit game, this decision is even easier because you are up against many opponents, and at least one of them will have top pair or better.” This second sentence suggests that he is recommending a fold because you are unlikely to have the best hand. It is, of course, correct that second pair is unlikely to be the best hand against a large number of opponents, but against a large number of opponents second pair will often have the odds to suck out to two pair which would make betting correct. In short, I think that there are quite a few cases in which betting with second pair is correct. I await your confirmation.

2. Beat Acespade
Goal Completed on 11/5/02.
Over a period of 100 hours (3600 hands) I beat Acespade’s best lineup at the rate of over 4 BB/hr.

3. Beat Masque World Series of Poker
Goal Completed on 11/17/02

4. PokerPages 85% rating in one calendar month playing 20 tournaments
My PokerPages rating improved. I played two tournaments during the past week and finished #1 out of 106 and #68 out of 173. My rating is now 81.34%.