First Ever Time Playing Limit.. and it will be in a Casino.

but Im cheeeeeeeap!

haha, what could I expect as an average per night room charge? I will most likely choose which casino to go to based on the prices... since I can just go to another poker room.

[Vincent Lepore]

Do not, I repeat do not buy any books! None - nada - el Nino (is that right?) Anyway do not buy any books before your first time in a casino. If NL is your game and it is available then play it. Since you've never played limit I must assume that NL is your better game.

Go to a Casino that offers NLH with buy-ins and stakes that you can afford. Put youy name on the list. Do not worry about game selection or seat selection or coctail waitressess, although they are a big part of my casino selection. Don't worry about a thing. Take the most money you can afford and are willing to lose. Play until you lose it or get tired, then quit and go home. No marathon session please.

Then go home and think about it. Think about what you just experienced. Ask yourself if putting the time in that is necessary to become a proficient poker player is worth it. If you can answer in the affirmattive then worry about books and make 2 + 2 books your first choice. Sklansky, Malmuth, Schoonmaker, Feeney...should do. One other thing. It may take more than one session before you can make a decision.

Vince

[Vincent Lepore]

[ QUOTE ]
I bought into a 2/4 limit with $100 and in 2 hours I doubled my money while the other players kept pulling out their wallets. Maybe beginners luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

Beginners luck or not the fact that you read this book, maybe picked up a few pointers, and won now places it rightly or wrongly in your heart forever or atleast until you gain enough experience to look at it's value objectively.

Vince

well I'll be playing NLHE, and Im bringing in the neighborhood of 200-500, depending on my play leading up to my trip.

I have over 20k hands under my belt, and i do this online an average of 35 hours a week, so yes, I have the desire and determination to become a good poker player.

[MrGrob]

neither is SSH, or as I refer to it, "The Red Book."

[Vincent Lepore]

[ QUOTE ]
i do this online an average of 35 hours a week,

[/ QUOTE ]

So do you believe that you will make more money playing poker than doing something more creative with your time? Do you know that playing poker is a very small portion of David and Mason's income?

Think twice about spending your life at a poker table or behind a video screen flipping between games. Oh well.. who am I to talk.

Do yourself a favor ....enjoy yourself on your casino outing.

Vince

well, no I really dont envision spending my life behind a poker table... thats why I use online poker to pay for my computer science/computer graphics double major.

outta curiosity, what is your motivation behind ... apparently trying to convince me it's not worth it to play poker?

I just asked a couple simple questions, and this is a very interesting response.

[benkahuna]

Behemoth,

Everyone's advice here is excellent. SSHE is the [censored].

I started out in NL and have played limit online and in casinos after playing NL.
I think the most important thing for you to do is not even to read SSHE, but to learn how to reconceptualize how you see HE. I think the differences between limit HE and NL HE are bigger than those between PL omaha and NL HE. It's a very different game and you're going to have to get used to suckouts, not being able to protect your hands, and the much lower usefulness of aggression. Until you do and you can handle how this changes the game (and how stupid your opponents will be), I'll bet you'll have a rough time at limit.

But, maybe I'm just speaking to my own experience. I've been playing 6-12 limit lately at a local cardroom and have also played 3-6 at a number of cardrooms. If you play around these limits you'll find that people play consistently poorly and will often call you down when you're obviously strong, not be surprised when you've flopped a set and river a boat, yet still complain about it.

Play like you expect to get called on the flop with any pair and have people try to hit 2 pair even as late as the river.

SSHE is awesome, but you need time to do a few things:

1. Practice the theory.
2. Get used to the different environment that is live HE (and not just tells--it feels very different).
3. Get used to the differences between limit and NL.

I read WLLH first and played some limit online. I never followed the tightness of the advice in that work. I suspect almost no one does which actually makes it a better work than most people would guess. I think Lee Jones may have considered that most people will play looser than any advice given (because who wants to fold, it's more fun to play!) making it a better work than it initially appears to be. I read SSHE after that and had to adjust a little bit to play more like SSHE recommends (and I think its recommendations are optimal).

Best of luck to you! I wouldn't expect to definitely win at first because it's what you're doing is very different from what you're used to doing. Hope I'm wrong! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

If you're worried about tells, just watch the players on the flop and not the flop. Try not to react to the cards. Just play how you would and take advantage of the superstitions and uncritical thinking of your opponents. They'll tell you what they think about you, often directly.

Betting patterns will generally tell you MUCH more about someone's hands than tells.