first 20-40 game

[adsman]

I play 2-4 on party poker and I do very well, but my big desire is to sit down at a real live brick and mortar table. Unfortunately I live in Europe and the closest casino is in Barcelona where they offer the nice low limit of 20-40 hold em. I have heard it mentioned that players who do well on the internet can generally play higher in B&M cardrooms, but am I an idiot for even considering this?

[La Brujita]

You are not at all an idiot for considering it given it is a big desire of yours.

The most important question is how much would it hurt you to win or lose say $1000? If you have a good job and can view it is an entertainment expense you might want to consider going for it. You can always just set a stop loss amount and play until you lose that amount.

Heck many people go skydiving and do other things that cost a lot of money for the thrill.

The second consideration is what is the likelihood you will lose some or all of your money. That is a much more difficult question to answer in a vacuum but I will say this generally, if you play 17% of hands you are much less likely to get run over than if you play 35% of hands.

I play live much less often than most other posters here but I played 20-40 in AC last week and won $1000 in three hours. My experience is that it is much easier to lose a certain amount of money than win the equivalant amount (don't know why that is it just seems to be the case) so perhaps that may be a bit of a benchmark.

I thought the game was pretty soft but I would say it was tougher than a Party 2-4 game. Good luck if you go.

[edtost]

20/40 in the us plays much tougher than 2/4 online, but as its the lowest limit at the room you're going to, it may be ok. going over there and just watching the game for a while may be a good idea, looking for things like lots of cold-calling raises, etc. bad 20/40 players are usually a different breed (much more aggressive) than bad 2/4 players, but maybe you'll get lucky. if the game does play very aggressively, and you're not used to that, i would recommend strongly against buying in, no matter how bad they seem.

[Barry]

I played in that Euro 20/40 in Barcelona about 2 years ago. It was very soft, almost like a 4/8 game in the US.

At the time, I wasn't playing that high, but the game looked so juicy, I just couldn't resist.

[marrek]

[ QUOTE ]

My experience is that it is much easier to lose a certain amount of money than win the equivalant amount (don't know why that is it just seems to be the case)

[/ QUOTE ]

This is off topic a bit, but the above is a pshycological thing, though abosutely true. Most people will hedge their bets ( in anything) when winning, and go for broke when losing.

Mark

[adsman]

[ QUOTE ]
I played in that Euro 20/40 in Barcelona about 2 years ago. It was very soft, almost like a 4/8 game in the US.

At the time, I wasn't playing that high, but the game looked so juicy, I just couldn't resist.

[/ QUOTE ]

Juicy as in passive? What would you recommend as a buy-in? I was thinking of sitting down with a grand. Thanks for the posts and advice by the way everyone. I figure I'll be a rail-bird for a little while. Off to Barcelona next week.