Making a living at 1/2 NL?

[DaveduFresne]

I'm mostly an online player but occassionally venture to a local casino which unfortunately isn't very local. Anyway, I always play the 1/2 NL game there and almost invariably at least triple my buy in (I'd say 2/3 times I come home ahead and its usually 300-400 ahead).

However, I've only been maybe 12 times so perhaps I've had a tremendously lucky streak.

Try not to laugh, but I currently play .25/.50 NL online four tables for a living, so any cautions about how bad of a lifestyle playing poker is for a living is not really relevant to me. However, I'm not making the kind of money at it as I used to as tables have tightened up considerably over the past year, and my bankroll has been pretty much treading water since then. (I was making 700-1k a week, now its down to 400-500).

Live games are just so much looser than online games its rediculous. Based on my limited experiences at the casino, I could easily see making 1-2k a week....am I having pipe dream thoughts or what?

I've been playing live my whole poker career. Right now I'm netting 5k a week playing 500NL tables. Of course, this has only been recently, so I can't say how long this streak will last.

Being in the same situation as you, (wondering why/how long I can make so much money live) I'd like to ask any experienced players the same question:

Is it possible to make consistent winnings at live NL (even 1-2)?

[Ratman138]

Log your live hours, cash in, cash out and figure an hourly rate. after 500 hours you should have a pretty good idea. good luck!

[TM1212]

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Log your live hours, cash in, cash out and figure an hourly rate. after 500 hours you should have a pretty good idea. good luck!

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more likely then not, are figureing in your gas, tips, rake, ect, online will be much more profitable. If this is a very loose ( which almost all are) 100 0r 200 max game u can expect to make 20 dollars an hour max with less varience then most 10-20 limit players.

But I'd simply recomend you go up in limits in your online play, try .50-1, 8 table .25-.50, set goals to move up in limits to improve yur amount of income.

[KramerTM]

Pipe dream, IMHO.

[Percula]

I really doubt you are going to kill a 1/2 for 1k to 2k a week. There is just not enough money on the table for the number of hours/hands you are going to get in versus the variance you are going to get at this low limit.

If you can find a larger buy-in cap like S13 has, then yes you have a chance.

A few things to keep in mind...

You are going to have a much larger range of skill sitting with you live than online. Not many 5/10, 10/20 players coming down to 0.25/0.50, but there are quite a few 40/80+ LHE and higher NLHE players passing thru your 1/2 game, if for no other reason than there is a board for their game of choice.

Also the bad players are going to be REALLY bad! Afterall if you are going to play online, you have to download and install software, find someway to deposit money, etc, etc. It does not take anything for someone to say "hey honey you keep playing the slots I am going to play some of this Texas Hold'em poker everyone is talking about!" Remember you can not bluff a fish...

You are going to be playing a lot fewer hands per hour, a lot fewer! NL games move slow, top that with about a max of 40 hands per hour, you will be lucky to 20-30 at your table. This not only has a effect on your hourly win rate, but tends to beat the snoot out of disipline. Very easy to get bored playing live NL.

You are going to have to deal with things live that you would never have to deal with online... Like who has the winning hand. Pissed off drunks that can reach out and touch you. Dealers and floor that do not know the rules, or refuse to enforce them. Etc, etc.

Now that I have painted a pretty negitive picture...

Playing live is a blast and can be very profitable. Game selction is critical! Find the table without the regulars, with the drunks and newbies. Try to find a higher cap than the typical 1/2 game. Get there on the weekends and give it try, see where you come out and look at it again.

[lefty rosen]

Play 500 NL and I all you need is one double through a day on average to make 2.5 K a week. Very doable as the players are still atrocious even at this level. Much of your profits are eaten up by expenses at the 100 NL level(casino food is expensive and gross if you care for fitness and gas is extremely expenisive these days). The only thing is that losing a few 500 dollar buy ins may tilt you if you are not accustomed to it.....

[betgo]

I would consider your experiments of playing live 1/2 NL. You might try staying over and playing 2 or 3 days straight. I don't think it is impossible to make $1K/week at 1/2NL. If you are successful at 1/2 though, you might try playing 2/5NL. If you can make a living at 1/2NL, you might do better at a higher level. I assume the guy playing 500 max was playing 2/5 (or maybe 1/3 or 5/10).

[DaveduFresne]

I find that .50/1 is so much tighter than .25/50 online that the risk/reward is not worth it for me. 1/2 is tight also except for the weekends, and while I'm comfortable playing 1/2 live its too high for me online. (I could be wrong but I believe variance is much higher when tables are tight.)

If I could ever learn to play 6 max I could probably make a lot more money online, but somehow I always seem to get crushed.

[DaveduFresne]

Yeah, 2k is probably pushing it with the rake and all, but 1k has to be attainable. I don't really tilt and rarely make mistakes (except for being perhaps a little too tight at times) but I also have a good knack for sniffing out bluffs.

The one thing I would hate about playing live all the time is my back kills me after eight + hours of playing live. Even though there's less hands per hour, I still find it more enjoyable than four tabling online, but perhaps thats because there's more of a novelty factor for me.

I've only got a 5k bankroll, so I need to save up more before I could do something like this, but its something I'd like to try out in the next year or so.